SAN FRANCISCO — ZipRealty’s “Powered by Zip” referral network will be sticking around after brokerage and franchise giant Realogy acquires the real estate brokerage and technology firm for $166 million sometime this quarter, according to ZipRealty CEO Lanny Baker.
At Real Estate Connect, Baker told Inman News that more than half of Powered by Zip’s 21 broker partners are already affiliated with either Realogy’s company-owned NRT firms or one of Realogy’s franchise brands. Realogy’s franchise brands include Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby’s International Realty.
In regards to the non-Realogy-affiliated firms, Baker said ZipRealty is “totally committed to supporting them” as well.
As part of the acquisition, Realogy will get not only ZipRealty’s residential brokerage operations in 23 markets, but the Powered by Zip technology platform, which generates and manages leads for firms in the PbZ network. In May, ZipRealty began offering the platform as a “white label” solution for brokerages.
Onstage, Realogy Franchise Group President and CEO Alex Perriello said the platform, which he called a “turnkey local broker solution,” would be made available to all Realogy franchisees.
However, whether the white-label platform would continue to be offered to non-Realogy firms was “not hammered out yet,” Baker said.
ZipRealty’s display of Internet Data Exchange listing data in markets where it does not provide brokerage services, but rather partners with a local brokerage firm that does, has been an issue of concern to some industry observers. Typically, only MLS members or MLSs themselves are allowed to display IDX data on public-facing websites.
Companies that join an MLS to obtain access to its IDX listing feed without providing brokerage services by directly representing a buyer or a seller in a transaction are sometimes described as “paper brokerages.” Such firms often use IDX listings to capture consumer leads through websites or mobile apps and then send those consumers to agents at other brokerages for a referral fee.
ZipRealty has said that it’s acting on behalf of partner brokerages who are MLS members to display IDX listing in Powered by Zip markets.
The 21 Powered by Zip markets include Albuquerque, New Mexico; Atlanta; Brooklyn, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Greater Hudson Valley, New York; Philadelphia; Jacksonville, Florida; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Long Island, New York; Miami; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tennessee; Palm Beach, Florida; Pittsburgh; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Salt Lake City; Sarasota-Naples, Florida; St. Louis; Tampa, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; and Virginia Beach, Virginia.