Real estate Web site Zillow has inked its first agreement for a bulk load of property listings with a prominent real estate brokerage company.
Zillow today announced an agreement with ERA Franchise Systems LLC in which the brokerage company will feed about 80,000 property listings onto Zillow.com each day. The deal gives ERA’s property listings free exposure to Zillow’s consumer base, while beefing up the number of for-sale listings displayed at Zillow.
Zillow.com attracts about 4 million people each month. According to a Wednesday count at Zillow.com, the site has more than 237,000 for-sale listings, while about 89,000 properties at the site carry a “Make Me Move” price set by owners. Value estimates, dubbed “Zestimates,” are available for 70 million homes.
Today’s ERA deal is the first official listings agreement announcement from Zillow. So far, the site has attracted listings individually from consumers and real estate agents who can log on and mark a property “for sale.” Zillow officials have said that brokers have asked the company about the ability to send bulk listings feeds to the site.
In May, Zillow’s Jeff Somers said at a Realtor conference in Washington, D.C., that the company was in discussions about accepting broker feeds of for-sale listings.
Today’s agreement falls in line with ERA’s listings distribution strategy, according to company executives. ERA in 2006 began sending listings to Trulia.com, a real estate search site, and Google Base, a free classified listings service offered by Google.
“Our listings distribution initiative aligns marketing strategy with consumer behavior — 80 percent of all buyers are now starting their search online,” Brenda W. Casserly, president and CEO of ERA Real Estate, said in a statement Wednesday.
ERA listings will go live on Zillow.com later in the fourth quarter when Zillow also expects to launch its bulk listings feed capability for brokerages. The bulk listings feed functionality will enable brokers to send large numbers of listings directly to Zillow at no cost.
Consumers who find for-sale listings from ERA on Zillow will be linked back to ERA.com for follow up with agents, according to today’s announcement.
ERA’s real estate network includes more than 38,000 brokers and sales associates throughout the United States and 44 other countries and territories.
