Nearly 700 agents with Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Re/Max Results will receive more prominent placement and brand exposure for their property listings on listing portal Trulia.com under a partnership announced by the companies today.
"Our No. 1 priority is to provide our agents with the tools they need to effectively market their properties," said Marshall Saunders, broker-owner of Re/Max Results, in a statement.
Re/Max Results, which operates in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market and western Wisconsin, is the second-largest affiliate of global real estate franchisor Re/Max, according to today’s announcement.
The deal is similar to one Trulia signed with San Francisco Bay Area brokerage Alain Pinel in March, which gives the brokerage’s listings "premium placement" on the portal, said Ginger Wilcox, Trulia’s head of industry marketing. Trulia is one of the most visited real estate-related websites in the U.S. and claims to get an average of 23 million unique visitors visit to its website each month.
"In today’s real estate market, home sellers want to work with brokerages who provide them with prominent exposure on sites where homebuyers are looking," said Matt Dollinger, Trulia’s head of industry relations, in a statement.
Re/Max results is a competitor with Edina Realty, the largest brokerage in the market with more than 2,100 agents and 60-plus offices in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
In November 2011, Edina Realty, citing a desire to direct more traffic to its own website and an aversion to ads next to its listings on Trulia, announced that it would stop syndicating its listings to the portal. In May, the brokerage pulled its listings from Realtor.com for the same reasons.
Other brokerages have also complained about advertisements and the accuracy of listings on third-party search portals that aren’t operated by brokerages or multiple listing services. But some of the biggest names in the business continue to enter into agreements that boost their visibility on third-party sites, which tend to attract more traffic than MLS- and broker-operated websites.
Pittsburgh-based Howard Hanna, for example — ranked by Real Trends as the fourth-largest brokerage by transaction sides in 2011 — said in February it would pay a seven-figure sum (between $1 million and $10 million) for special treatment of its listings on Trulia and Zillow.
Last June, the nation’s largest brokerage company, Realogy Corp. subsidiary NRT LLC, announced it had signed agreements to add advertising enhancements to 100,000 property listings on Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com and Yahoo Real Estate.
Under the terms of an agreement announced in April 2011, Trulia also offers brokers affiliated with Realogy subsidiary Century 21 Real Estate LLC discounts on premium listings. As part of a listing syndication deal announced in March 2011, Re/Max agents and brokers receive "partner benefits" on Trulia Pro and Trulia Local ads.
Trulia has agreements with "hundreds of brokers and franchisors across the country," Wilcox said eariler this year.
