NEW YORK — NestBuilder.com, a video-centric listing portal and agent directory that launched nationwide last week, will soon include new-home inventory thanks to a partnership between the site’s operator, RealBiz Media Group, and new-home search startup Builders Update.
The partnership, announced today at Real Estate Connect New York City, adds the more than 100,000 properties in Builders Update’s database to NestBuilder.com, including new homes, homes under construction, and floor plans. The site, owned and operated by real estate tech firm RealBiz Media Group, already includes listings from multiple listing services, many of them represented exclusively through video on the site.
NestBuilder.com expects to showcase more than 1 million homes in video format by the end of March, RealBiz Media said.
“The addition of new-construction homes directly from builders strategically complements NestBuilder.com’s listings of homes on the resale market. With this partnership, NestBuilder.com is now a resource that encompasses a full range of available homes on the market at the community level,” said Steve Marques, RealBiz Media Group president and chief revenue officer, in a statement.
Both companies emphasized that the partnership is rooted in their shared focus on the agent community. NestBuilder.com listings connect consumers directly to the listing agent at no fee, and consumers interested in Builders Update’s inventory are connected to registered agents, rather than to homebuilders.
“This partnership greatly bolsters NestBuilder.com’s unique ability to put homebuyers into direct contact with real estate agents. The agreement provides a strategic addition to the site’s services through Builders Update … which shares our vision of providing real estate agents cutting-edge tools to increase their leads and listings,” said William Kerby, RealBiz Media Group’s CEO, in a statement.
In August, Builders Update was granted a patent for its online search engine, which connects prospective buyers of new homes to real estate agents. The company covers 100 of the nation’s top metros and claims to display more than 80 percent of the total new-home inventory available in the U.S.
In October, Austin, Texas-based Builders Update signed its first deal with an MLS, the Austin/Central Texas Realty Information Service (ACTRIS), which is owned and operated by the Austin Board of Realtors.
RealBiz Media is also a virtual home tour provider and counts more than 250,000 real estate agents and brokers as clients. The company’s “Home Tour Network” video-on-demand platform powers the realtor.com cable television channel.
Last year, RealBiz licensed its MicroVideo App to ERA Real Estate, Prudential Select Properties and California-based Century 21 Hometown Realty. The app generates branded property video microsites for all qualifying listings in the brokerages’ systems, with the intent of helping to drive more traffic to their websites. A new version of the app is set to be released this month.
