Online home goods retailer Overstock.com on Monday announced plans to invest in the real estate industry with a property management platform and search portal later this year.
Houserie, which provides organizational tools for landlords and those who manage various properties, launched on Monday as part of the Overstock.com brand. The company also will launch O Real Estate, a consumer-facing property search portal, later this year, executives said.
“We’re always finding ways to use our technology to help customers find just what they want for their homes,” Seth Moore, Overstock.com senior vice president of strategy, said in a prepared statement. “Adding real estate to the mix was a natural fit for our brand.”
Created in 2013 and purchased by Overstock.com in February, Houserie provides services such as tenant screening, payment management and landlord-tenant communication. Landlords will also be able to use it to keep track of residents’ identity, credit and eviction history.
Later this year, Overstock.com, a 20-year-old home goods retailer headquartered near Salt Lake City, expects to launch a site O Real Estate as a rental and home sales online search portal.
While details for the home search portal were scarce, O Real Estate is part of Overstock.com’s wider efforts to create a platform in which customers can find, rent and furnish in one place.
“Although Houserie is the first phase of O Real Estate, we look forward to providing a best-in-class site experience for customers throughout the other phases of Overstock’s entry into real estate,” Moore told Inman.
