Press Releases

123 Movers.com Now Provides Free Moving Quotes for RealEstate.com Vistors

Jason Cook — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:56:00 GMT

Leading resource in moving leads and advertising is now providing those with real estate needs easy access to qualified, pre-screened moving companies.

Fort Lee, NJ (PRWEB) June, 2009 – 123 Movers.com, a leading online moving portal and a division of Dominion Enterprises, has partnered with RealEstate.com to provide free moving quotes to those looking to buy or sell a home on this industry leading real estate web site.

Those who now visit RealEstate.com can reap the benefits of receiving free moving quotes from the qualified, licensed movers that are listed on www.123movers.com, and available across the U.S. RealEstate.com visitors can find the free move offer on the RealEstate.com homepage via the “Get Moving Quotes” section on the left side of the homepage and click on the “Get Started!” link that takes visitors to a short moving form that appears in order to receive quotes from moving companies. The quotes they receive are from moving companies that must pass a rigorous screening process as well as abide by a code of ethics to maintain their visibility on 123 Movers.com. The people who submit their information to receive free online quotes from 123Movers.com will only be contacted by movers who comply with state and federal rules and regulations.

About 123Movers.com
Individuals and businesses rely on 123movers.com to reduce the cost, legwork and stress of moving by connecting you to licensed and insured pre-screened movers and advanced Internet tools to ensure your relocation is on-time and within budget. 123Movers is a moving directory that connects you with moving companies who offer you FREE MOVING QUOTES online in a convenient and quick manner. You compare and choose the moving company that offers the best quote. Plus, 123movers.com offers extensive guides, tips and articles on relocation, including packing guides and cost-of-living calculators.

For more information, please visit www.123movers.com or email us at bizdev@123movers.com.

About RealEstate.com
RealEstate.com gives consumers a better way to buy or sell homes through a comprehensive suite of real estate services, tools and helpful advice. The site provides access to more than two million homes for sale, 97 million home values and a unique deep-dive view into more than 22,000 cities reaching every metropolitan area in the U.S. The company also operates five distinct business lines including RealEstate.com, REALTORS®, an Internet-enabled real estate brokerage that operates in 20 markets with more than 1,200 sales agents; a Broker Network, a strategic lead generation program for real estate brokers that provides them with incremental, targeted, and high-quality leads; iNest, a lead generator that specializes in newly-constructed homes and offers consumers an exclusive cash bonus program; Domania, a provider of innovative customer acquisition and retention products for banks, mortgage lenders and REALTORS®; and also, a network of geo-targeted advertising opportunities throughout the RealEstate.com portal.

RealEstate.com is a division of LendingTree, LLC, a Tree.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: TREE).

REALTOR® -- A registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.

Parent Company Tree.com Announces Acquisition of Home Improvement Professionals Directory Service, Done Right!®

Jason Cook — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:07:00 GMT

Newly Acquired Site Provides Lead Generation for National and Local Contractors; Matches Consumers with Pre-Qualified Home Improvement Pros

July 1, 2009 – CHARLOTTE, NC – Tree.com today announced the acquisition of certain assets of Pasadena, CA-based Done Right!®, an online directory service providing trusted lead generation and marketing services for home improvement professionals across the country. As the newest service offering from Tree.com, Done Right! provides contractors and home improvement professionals with new, unprecedented access to millions of qualified consumers nationwide. As a part of Tree.com, Done Right! is poised for aggressive growth, looking to rapidly expand into new markets across the country, while also deepening its merchant base in existing markets.

Launched in 2005, Done Right! maintains online home improvement professional service directories across the nation with a focus on helping consumers find and hire the best contractors for their specific projects. Covering a wide range of home repair, remodeling and improvement specialties, all Done Right! service providers are highly pre-qualified, pre-screened, endorsed, and relentlessly reviewed.

The broad array of services Done Right! offers as well as their differentiated approach to screening their network of home service professionals will play an integral role in fueling Tree.com’s growth into this new vertical. Done Right! will now be able to market its services to the considerable consumer base of the Tree.com brands, while quickly leveraging their access to additional marketing and technology resources to grow their own consumer acquisition strategy.

"The acquisition of Done Right! perfectly complements our mission of offering a trusted source of information that enables consumers to make smart, well-informed decisions based on expert guidance and personalized support across a wide variety of service offerings," said Greg Hanson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Tree.com. "We’re excited to enter this new market with its untapped opportunities for rapid growth, and we’re on track to continue helping contractors both large and small expand like so many other providers in our network."

In a marketplace where choice is more important than ever, smart decisions are required – from the start. Tree.com is rapidly expanding to provide a wealth of offerings from insurance to education, to home improvement and more.

About Tree.com
Tree.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE) - is a leading marketplace providing consumers access to businesses and professionals when searching for products and services essential to key decisions in their lives. Tree.com is focused on empowering consumers to make smart, well-informed decisions based on expert guidance and personalized support across a wide variety of service offerings including financial services, real estate, education, home services, insurance, and automotive services.

Media Contact: Jesson Burnam
Resound Marketing
609-279-0050 x104
jesson@resoundmarketing.com

RealEstate.com Unveils New Website Featuring ‘Town Square"

Bru5W — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:16:00 GMT

CHARLOTTE, NC, June 10, 2009 - Today RealEstate.com rolls out its all-new website, offering even faster, easier access to nearly three million homes for sale, as well as current home values, local resources and advice for homebuyers and sellers. At the heart of the website is Town Square^SM, a real estate social network that creates an open dialogue between homebuyers, sellers and real estate professionals through blogs, forums, wikis, groups and more.

Driven by consumer feedback, the all-new RealEstate.com offers more direct access to the information homebuyers and sellers want, whether they are searching for a home or looking for advice. This includes a tighter integration between the website's search feature and hundreds of useful tips, tools, community guides and other information. Simply enter a phrase like "moving" and get a checklist on "choosing the right moving company," an article about "how to avoid moving scams" and more. As always, the website is seamlessly connected with RealEstate.com, REALTORS®, the company's full-service real estate brokerage, and its broker partners - so consumers can also get immediate live feedback from real-world professionals on specific listings.

Accessible at http://ts.realestate.com or via the RealEstate.com home page, Town Square^SM brings the worlds of online and in-person real estate together in an interactive social community. By visiting Town Square^SM, consumers can access expert insight from agents, share their experiences, learn about emerging real estate trends and search an A-to-Z encyclopedia about all-things-real estate. For real estate professionals, Town Square^SM offers an opportunity to connect with interested homebuyers and sellers, network with other agents, share tips and best practices and blog about the latest real estate news and happenings in their area.

"Our mission has always been to immerse consumers in the data they need to make smart, well-informed real estate decisions, while also delivering expert guidance and personal support through our local brokers and agents," said Rick Finch, Vice President of Marketing, Product, and Operations. "The combination of our website, brokerage network and now Town Square^SM offers a complete suite of resources for consumers to do this, creating a content-rich, highly intuitive experience for their individual buying and selling needs."

About RealEstate.com

RealEstate.com gives consumers a better way to buy and sell homes through a comprehensive suite of real estate services, tools and helpful advice. The site provides access to nearly 3 million homes for sale, 97 million home values and a unique deep-dive view into more than 22,000 cities reaching every metropolitan area in the U.S. RealEstate.com also features Town Square^SM, an online community designed to facilitate an open dialogue between homebuyers, sellers, brokers, and local real estate professionals.

The company also operates five distinct business lines consisting of RealEstate.com, REALTORS®, an Internet-enabled real estate brokerage that operates in 20 markets with more than 1,300 sales agents; a Broker Network, a strategic lead generation program for real estate brokers that provides them with incremental, targeted, and high-quality leads; iNest, a lead generator that specializes in newly-constructed homes and offers consumers an exclusive cash bonus program; Domania, a provider of innovative customer acquisition and retention products for banks, mortgage lenders and REALTORS®; and also, a network of geo-targeted advertising opportunities throughout the RealEstate.com portal.

RealEstate.com is a division of LendingTree, LLC, a Tree.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: TREE).

REALTOR® -- A registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.

RealEstate.com expands to 1,200 agents, plans further growth

Bru5W — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:32:00 GMT

Real Estate Broker's Insider, Jeff Ostrowski, May 2009 issue

RealEstate.com, Realtors is the rare brokerage that closed more deals and generated more commissions in the fourth quarter of 2008 than in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company says its closings spiked 55 percent over the year as RealEstate.com embarked on an aggressive strategy of recruiting agents and buying companies.

Launched in March 2006, RealEstate.com, Realtors now has 1,200 agents in 20 markets. It aims to continue that growth. “Our company is starting in one of the worst real estate economies in our lifetime,” says Victor Vaca, national vice president of sales at RealEstate.com.

To keep growing, RealEstate.com, a division of Charlotte-based Tree.com, has built a call center recruiting team, Vaca says. The company has bought lists of agents from multiple listing services, and its recruiters are calling agents to pitch the business model.

A primary selling point: The leads generated by the popular RealEstate.com site. In March, it ranked 20th among Hitwise’s list of the most popular real estate websites. Vaca’s pitch: “Say you’re doing 10 deals a year. Imagine doing all the deals you’re doing now, and we can feed you another five to 10 transactions a year.”

To generate leads, Vaca says, RealEstate.com is spending “a ton” on search engine marketing and search engine optimization. A typical RE/MAX agent, Vaca says, might spend $40,000 to $60,000 a year to generate online leads, RealEstate.com is doing the lead generation for them.

“We are going to fight this very expensive battle,” he says. Agents do pay for the leads. For closed transactions where the lead came from RealEstate.com, the agent pays a 35 percent “success fee.” Even so, Vaca says, it’s not all about the leads. “You don’t come here for the leads. You come here for the leadership,” Vaca says. RealEstate.com brokers train agents how to respond to leads and how to build up their repeat and referral business.

But responding to leads is a key part of the business model. A consumer who makes a request on RealEstate.com can be on the phone with the call center in seconds, and

on the line with an agent in a couple minutes, Vaca says. “We want to provide a worldclass consumer experience to the customer that’s on the phone,” he says.

Leads are doled out based on where an agent does business and also based on the agent’s success in converting leads. Vaca admits the demands of responding instantly to leads can be grueling, so agents are able to call time-out. If an agent will be out with a client or dining with her family, she can hit an online “pause” button that means leads won’t come to her for a time.

But in a slow market, agents find RealEstate.com’s lead machine a boon rather than a burden. “They love having leads delivered to their cell phones,” Vaca says. RealEstate.com has grown not only through recruiting but also through acquisitions. Its most recent deal, announced in late 2008, was for Tampa, FL-based New Homes Realty Inc., which had 200 agents and brokers.

In 2007, RealEstate.com bought Distinctive Homes and Land of Tucson, AZ, and it also took over a brokerage in Salt Lake City. RealEstate.com has kept many of the agents after mergers, in part by keeping on a manager from the acquired company. “Trying to keep that family whole is important,” Vaca says. RealEstate.com has offices from New England to Southern California, but Vaca notes that the company isn’t investing much in office space. Its Los Angeles office reaches through Central California because most of the agents work from home.

“We opened with 3,000- to 4,000-square-foot offices, but we can function with half that space or less,” Vaca says. “We have a very efficient, very scalable operation.”

Contact: Victor Vaca, RealEstate.com, Realtors, www.realestate.com.

RealEstate.com, REALTORS® Launches Real Estate Channel on YouTube

Greg Hanson — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:05:00 GMT

CHARLOTTE, NC, March 17, 2009 – RealEstate.com launches a real estate channel on YouTube for its RealEstate.com, REALTORS® company-owned brokerage found here: http://www.youtube.com/realestate. RealEstate.com, REALTORS® will display real estate listings from 20 national markets on YouTube in a video format by collaborating with CirclePix, a national provider of virtual tour services, offering an additional level of exposure for sellers and their listings.

Visitors to the new RealEstate.com, REALTORS® YouTube Web site can search for videos of thousands of homes for sale by entering in criteria such as MLS number, address, city or zip code. After browsing listings details and a virtual tour of the inside and outside of the property, a visitor can call 1-866-285-3226 to be directly connected with a local real estate agent. An agent will help guide the potential home buyer through the MLS listings and set up appointments to view houses for sale.

"Launching RealEstate.com, REALTORS® on YouTube creates a new, fantastic vehicle for us to reach consumers in way that makes real estate shopping fun and easy," says Greg Hanson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of RealEstate.com. "With the help of CirclePix, we can now provide a way for potential customers to see a virtual tour of available properties while giving our more than 1,100 real estate agents greater exposure to their real estate listings. It's certainly a win-win for our customers and our agents."

According to a January 2009 comScore survey, nearly 77% of total U.S. Internet users viewed online videos, and YouTube attracted over 100 million viewers to its millions of online videos. Mr. Hanson adds, "We know most home buyers start their search online. We also know that Internet users are diverse and that videos of homes for sale provides a new outlet for home shopping versus seeking a local real estate brokerage Web site in each market they are searching. Showcasing our listings to this highly engaged, Internet-savvy audience creates a huge opportunity of greater exposure for our seller's listings."

The RealEstate.com, REALTORS® YouTube new channel can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/realestate

About RealEstate.com, REALTORS®
RealEstate.com, REALTORS® is an Internet-enabled real estate brokerage. It is a local, on-the-ground brokerage operation that complements the national RealEstate.comWeb portal and operates in 20 markets nationwide with more than 1,100 sales agents.

RealEstate.com, REALTORS® is service of RealEstate.com and is a business of Tree.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE).

REALTOR® -- A registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.

RealEstate.com launches on YouTube

Greg Hanson — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:59:00 GMT

Charlotte Business Journal

March 17, 2009

RealEstate.com has launched a real estate channel on YouTube.

The site, at www.youtube.com/realestate displays real estate listings from 20 national markets in a video format.

Visitors can search for videos of homes for sale by entering criteria such as MLS number, address, city or ZIP code. They can then get in touch with a local real estate agent to set up appointments to view houses for sale.

RealEstate.com is based in Charlotte’s Ballantyne area. It is a division of Tree.com Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE), parent company of Charlotte-based LendingTree and GetSmart.com.

RealEstate.com has operations to 20 markets nationwide and employs more than 1,100 sales agents.

The company operates a Web site that provides access to more than 2 million homes for sale.

Tree.com Announces New Leadership Appointments at RealEstate.com

Greg Hanson — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:11:00 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 4, 2009 – Today, Tree.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE) announces new leadership appointments at RealEstate.com.

Tree.com named Greg Hanson Senior Vice President and General Manager of RealEstate.com. In this role, Mr. Hanson is responsible for leading continued growth and innovation in all segments of RealEstate.com. Mr. Hanson was previously the Vice President of Product Management where he developed RealEstate.com into one of the most widely visited Web sites for consumers looking to buy or sell a home. In January 2009 alone, RealEstate.com had more than two million visits and 25 million page views.

With the company for more than three years, Mr. Hanson was previously responsible for overall development and design of several key company technology initiatives such as expanding RealEstate.com to more than 22,000 locations nationally, RealEstate.com Mobile, RealEstate.com terrain and traffic mapping, RealEstate.com listings API, as well as ramping up RealEstate.com to be one of the most powerful listings engine of homes for sale across the country. Hanson will report to Tree.com Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Lebda.

In addition, Victor Vaca, formerly the Vice President of Sales for RealEstate.com, REALTORS®, has been named the National Vice President of Sales for all of RealEstate.com combining business development efforts at each of the RealEstate.com units into one streamlined team reaching builders, real estate agents and broker partners. He leads a newly created U.S. sales team that covers four national regions including Northeastern Region led by Regional Vice President Mark Jeffers, Southeastern Region led by Regional Vice President Kurt Gleeson, Central Region led by Regional Vice President Dave Clark and Western Region led by Regional Vice President Bill Yeager.

Mr. Vaca has been with the organization for three years and has successfully grown RealEstate.com, REALTORS® to 20 markets across the U.S. and more than 1,200 sales associates. Mr. Vaca is an accomplished real estate industry veteran with experience growing and developing sales divisions across multiple verticals in large regional and national brokerages including Coldwell Banker United, REALTORS®.

"The appointments of Greg and Victor come at the perfect time for RealEstate.com," says Doug Lebda. "This new structure enables us to continue executing our strategy to grow traffic at RealEstate.com while reorganizing our field sales structure to better monetize business and remain extremely focused on cost."

Added Hanson, "I am incredibly excited to lead RealEstate.com. We will continue working hard to make RealEstate.com the best destination online for consumers looking to buy and sell a home, while also creating an efficient engine where we can better service those customers. We're moving away from a multi-unit sales force effort and instead, are better aligning our team and creating more ways than ever for builders, real estate agents and broker partners to easily work with us to reach the millions of highly-motivated consumers that visit our site."

For more information about RealEstate.com, please visitwww.realestate.com or www.tree.com.

About RealEstate.com
RealEstate.com gives consumers a better way to buy or sell homes through a comprehensive suite of real estate services, tools and helpful advice. The site provides access to more than two million homes for sale, 97 million home values and a unique deep-dive view into more than 22,000 cities reaching every metropolitan area in the U.S.

The company also operates five distinct business lines including RealEstate.com, REALTORS®, an Internet-enabled real estate brokerage that operates in 20 markets with more than 1,200 sales agents; a Broker Network, a strategic lead generation program for real estate brokers that provides them with incremental, targeted, and high-quality leads; iNest, a lead generator that specializes in newly-constructed homes and offers consumers an exclusive cash bonus program; Domania, a provider of innovative customer acquisition and retention products for banks, mortgage lenders and REALTORS®; and a network of geo-targeted advertising opportunities throughout the RealEstate.com portal.

RealEstate.com is a division of LendingTree, LLC, a Tree.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: TREE).

RealEstate.com Acquires Assets of New Homes Realty, Inc.

Allison Vail — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:04:00 GMT

Acquisition Boosts Company's Expansion of RealEstate.com, REALTORS® Into Six New Markets, Increasing Agent Team by 18%

CHARLOTTE, N.C., December 8, 2008 – Today RealEstate.com announces the acquisition of certain assets of Tampa-based New Homes Realty, Inc. New Homes Realty is an online real estate company operating in 11 metro areas across the country and utilizing a network of approximately 200 licensed real estate agents and brokers. In addition, the company developed a family of Web sites, including its flagship NewHomes.com, to provide interested home shoppers a data base of thorough real estate information for new and existing homes.

The purchase will expand RealEstate.com, REALTORS® in its existing 14 markets, as well as enable the company to grow into six new areas including Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, and the Washington, DC/Capital region. In addition, the New Homes Realty's family of Web sites will now be run by RealEstate.com. The acquisition also allows RealEstate.com to add another lead generation component to its growing real estate portfolio, which already includes iNest (www.inest.com), a leading real estate broker specializing in newly-constructed homes.

"The acquisition of New Homes Realty assets is a perfect fit with our growing RealEstate.com, REALTORS® division," says Bret Violette, president, RealEstate.com. "The company had a long-standing reputation as being one of the best brokers in the new homes segment and will allow us to quickly add a group of talented and extremely skilled agents to our team who are already in the field working with customers. We are also excited to incorporate the New Homes Realty lead generation assets into our company allowing us to better compete for and service those looking to purchase a new home."

"Our team of experienced real estate agents and brokers is excited to join RealEstate.com, REALTORS® and begin working with high quality consumers ready to transact on a new or existing home," says Kurt Gleeson, formerly of New Homes Realty, and now the vice president of sales for RealEstate.com, REALTORS®. "RealEstate.com drives some of the most qualified and interested home shoppers in the industry so we look forward to working together and gaining the steady flow of customers ready to buy or sell their next home."

RealEstate.com, REALTORS® is a local, on-the-ground brokerage operation that operates in 14 markets across the country with more than 1,100 sales agents. This acquisition grows the operation to 20 markets and 1,300 agents.

Financial terms of this acquisition were not disclosed and are not expected to have a material impact on the consolidated financial position or results of operation of Tree.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE).

About RealEstate.com
RealEstate.com gives consumers a better way to buy or sell homes through a comprehensive suite of real estate services, tools and helpful advice. The site provides access to nearly 2 million homes for sale, 97 million home values and a unique deep-dive view into more than 22,000 cities reaching every metropolitan area in the U.S.

The company also operates five distinct business lines consisting of RealEstate.com, REALTORS®, an Internet-enabled real estate brokerage that operates in 14 markets with more than 1,100 sales agents; a Broker Network, a strategic lead generation program for real estate brokers that provides them with incremental, targeted, and high-quality leads; iNest, a lead generator that specializes in newly-constructed homes and offers consumers an exclusive cash bonus program; Domania, a provider of innovative customer acquisition and retention products for banks, mortgage lenders and REALTORS®; and also, a network of geo-targeted advertising opportunities throughout the RealEstate.com portal.

RealEstate.com is a division of LendingTree, LLC, a Tree.com, Inc. company(NASDAQ: TREE).

Acquisition Boosts Company's Expansion of RealEstate.com, REALTORS® Into Six New Markets, Increasing Agent Team by 18%

Greg Hanson — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:22:00 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C., December 8, 2008 – TodayRealEstate.com announces the acquisition of certain assets of Tampa-based New Homes Realty, Inc. New Homes Realty is an online real estate company operating in 11 metro areas across the country and utilizing a network of approximately 200 licensed real estate agents and brokers. In addition, the company developed a family of Web sites, including its flagship NewHomes.com, to provide interested home shoppers a data base of thorough real estate information for new and existing homes.

Financial terms of this acquisition were not disclosed and are not expected to have a material impact on the consolidated financial position or results of operation of Tree.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE).

About RealEstate.com
RealEstate.com gives consumers a better way to buy or sell homes through a comprehensive suite of real estate services, tools and helpful advice. The site provides access to nearly 2 million homes for sale, 97 million home valuesand a unique deep-dive view into more than 22,000 cities reaching every metropolitan area in the U.S.

RealEstate.com is a division of LendingTree, LLC, a Tree.com, Inc. company(NASDAQ: TREE).