Homescape, the online real estate venture operated by a group of five newspaper publishers, has inked a new partnership with a major U.S. brokerage franchise company that will beef up Homescape’s property listings to more than 2.7 million.
Homescape today announced an agreement with Keller Williams Realty that will add an additional 75,000 listings to the Homescape Web site.
The move comes a few months after Homescape announced it was changing strategies to work directly with brokers and agents to gather property listings from markets around the country. The company formerly was a private brand that acquired listings via the more than 100 newspapers that comprised its network, which limited the company’s coverage to only those markets where it had newspaper relationships.
Homescape says it aims to provide a comprehensive resource of property listings and real estate information to consumers online. In addition to listings, Homescape.com includes new construction, open house and other newspaper classifieds content, as well as home valuations, local market snapshots and the ability for sellers to add a single home listing.
The company in August said it already had formed partnerships with some regional brokerage companies, including Prudential Fox & Roach, Prudential California, ERA Masiello, GMAC Real Estate of Atlanta, and Prudential Gary Greene.
Homescape is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures, which is owned by five major media companies — Belo Corp., Gannet Co., McClatchy Co., Tribune Co., and Washington Post Co.
Classified Ventures also operates national listing sites for rental units and autos at Apartments.com and Cars.com.
