Editor’s note: ZipRealty operates brokerages in 19 markets. A previous version of this story stated that ZipRealty had brokerage operations in 20 markets including Long Island, N.Y., where it shuttered business in 2012.
ZipRealty Inc. launched a mobile-optimized version of its website today featuring full-screen photos on property detail pages and geolocation-enabled search.
The new mobile site from the San Francisco Bay Area-based company, which operates brokerages and referral services in 34 U.S. markets and was ranked the 13th largest brokerage with 14,255 transaction sides by Real Trends in 2011, is the company’s first mobile-focused site.
ZipRealty’s previous website, which was accessed by both desktop and mobile devices and had similar layouts, was still popular with homebuyers on mobile devices.
Screen shots of a listing detail page on ZipRealty as it showed up on mobile before today’s launch (left) and as it looks now (right).
The site captured 2.55 percent of all Web traffic from mobile devices in March, sixth-most of any real estate site in the U.S., according to Experian Marketing Services. That was more than twice the 1.08 percent market share it drew from desktop computers that month.
ZipRealty has mobile apps as well, but the new mobile-optimized site, which visitors on mobile devices are automatically directed to, allows users to utilize ZipRealty’s home search and real estate info without downloading an app.
“Our mobile website features were greatly inspired by the website, yielding a consistent user experience,” said Jamie Wilson, senior vice president of technology at ZipRealty.
ZipRealty, like Seattle-based competitor Redfin, accesses data from multiple listing services in the 20 markets where it has brokerage operations. in 15 other markets, it operates a referral/technology service, “Powered by Zip,” that features a consumer home search site powered, and hosted, by ZipRealty (with the local partner brokerage’s branding in the top right of the desktop version of the website) with leads funnelled to that market’s partner brokerage.
Brokerages in the Powered by Zip network now include: Fillmore Real Estate in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Century 21 American Homes in Queens, Nassau and Suffolk (N.Y.) counties; Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers in Atlanta; Westchester, N.Y.-based Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Rand Realty; Long Realty in Tucson, Ariz.; Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston in Raleigh, N.C.; Coldwell Banker Hearthside in Philadelphia; Bob Parks Realty in Nashville, Tenn.; Coldwell Banker Vanguard in Jacksonville, Fla.; Prudential Utah in Salt Lake City; Prudential Tropical Realty in Tampa; Illustrated Properties in Palm Beach; William E. Woods and Associates, Realtors in Virginia Beach, Va.; Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Miami; and Century 21 Premier Group in Minneapolis.
Since January 2011, ZipRealty has closed down brokerage operations in 16 markets: Fresno, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Naples, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Miami; Palm Beach, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; Hartford, Conn.; Long Island, N.Y.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Tucson, Ariz.; Atlanta, Ga.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Philadelphia; and Salt Lake City. The company also shuttered the Westchester-Bronx portion of its New York office in 2012.
ZipRealty maintains brokerage operations in the following 19 markets: Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Md.; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Orange County, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Richmond, Va.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C.
