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CoStar Group Announces Acquisition of Houses.com URL
WASHINGTON -- CoStar Group, the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces, announced its acquisition of Houses.com, setting the stage for its entry into residential real estate marketplaces. On December 16, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission cleared CoStar Group's acquisition of Homesnap, Inc., which provides real estate brokers with a mobile platform and other technology for managing and analyzing their listings and the housing market. CoStar Group has been successful for many years running marketplace verticals in the commercial real estate space with Loopnet.com, Cityfeet.com and Showcase.com; the multifamily space with Apartments.com, ForRent.com, ApartmentFinder.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com and Apartamentos.com; the land space with Land.com, LandsofAmerica.com, LandWatch.com and LandandFarm.com; and the businesses for sale space with BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com. With the acquisition of the Houses.com domain name, CoStar Group plans to develop a vibrant national marketplace for agents and owners to successfully sell homes without disenfranchising or disintermediating valuable real estate agents in the process. About CoStar Group, Inc. CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP) is the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. Our suite of online services enables clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on commercial property values, market conditions and current availabilities. STR provides premium data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality sector. Ten-X provides a leading platform for conducting commercial real estate online auctions and negotiated bids. LoopNet is the most heavily trafficked commercial real estate marketplace online with over 7 million monthly unique visitors. Realla is the UK's most comprehensive commercial property digital marketplace. Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder.com, ForRent.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, Westside Rentals, AFTER55.com, CorporateHousing.com, ForRentUniversity.com and Apartamentos.com form the premier online apartment resource for renters seeking great apartment homes and provide property managers and owners a proven platform for marketing their properties. CoStar Group's websites attracted an average of approximately 69 million unique monthly visitors in aggregate in the third quarter of 2020. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar Group maintains offices throughout the U.S. and in Europe, Canada and Asia with a staff of over 4,300 worldwide, including the industry's largest professional research organization. For more information, visit www.costargroup.com.
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Free Google for Real Estate eBook Now Available
Google processes around 70,000 searches per second and over 5.8 billion searches per day, but Google is more than just a search engine. Google offers internet users a large range of tools and services free of charge. Learn how to use Google's free products to grow, manage, and organize your business with the Google for Real Estate eBook. This free guide will walk you through what each of the programs does, why you should use it, and specific examples of how the program can help your business. Programs covered include: Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Keep, My Maps, My Business, and Analytics. Download Google for Real Estate for free here! To view the original post, visit the Homes.com blog.
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Chrome Extension Brings Contactually Functionality to Gmail
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.realestate Top-Level Domain to be Available Through GoDaddy
WASHINGTON (October 23, 2018) – The .realestate domain, launched by the National Association of Realtors®, in partnership with Second Generation, Ltd., will be available for purchase through GoDaddy next month. Due to the anticipated demand for the .realestate domain, GoDaddy, get.realtor and more than 20 other registrars will offer .realestate starting November 26, following closing of NAR member pre-sale on November 16. The .realestate domain is free of restrictions and will allow real estate entities and professionals to creatively market properties and geographic areas served, along with personal brands and specialties. The domain leverages real estate as a descriptive and internationally known term. "NAR is excited for GoDaddy and other registrars to formally recognize the international appeal of the .realestate domain when it is rolled out to the public on November 26. Through GoDaddy and the launch of the .realestate domain, real estate professionals and businesses will better connect with homebuyers, sellers, investors and owners. From day one as NAR's CEO, my goal has been to leverage new technologies to ensure Realtors® and real estate professionals market their businesses in the most innovative and effective ways possible," said NAR CEO Bob Goldberg. NAR members with an active .realtor™ domain are eligible to participate in the exclusive pre-sale of the .realestate domain, prior to the general release on November 26. While the .realtor™ top-level domain is available only to NAR members and affiliated Realtor® organizations and businesses, the .realestate top-level domain will be available to the general public following pre-sale. "The real estate market is always pushing innovation, from virtual reality walkthroughs to leveraging the cloud for transactions and now domain name extensions," said GoDaddy Senior Director of Product Marketing, Paul Bindel. "The beauty of .realestate is that it tells visitors exactly what to expect when they visit the site. It's memorable, easy to spell and descriptive, all great traits for a domain name." GoDaddy, the world's largest domain registrar, powers the world's largest cloud platform dedicated to small, independent ventures. With 18 million customers worldwide and 77 million domain names under management, GoDaddy is the place people come to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers and manage their work. For more information on the launch of the .realestate domain, visit www.get.realestate. Throughout the application, review and development process of .realtor™ and .realestate, NAR has worked closely with Second Generation, Ltd., an investment firm and experienced registry operator for multiple top-level domains including .jobs which was launched back in 2005. The National Association of Realtors® is America's largest trade association, representing 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
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NAR Applauds Introduction of 21st Century Internet Act
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Net Neutrality Rollback Put Consumers, Main Street Businesses on the Defensive in Digital Era
WASHINGTON (December 14, 2017) – The Federal Communications Commission today announced a rollback of net neutrality rules, sparking a swift rebuke from the nation's 1.3 million REALTORS®. "The internet as we know it today is a fair and open platform that puts everyone on a level playing field," said National Association of REALTORS® President Elizabeth Mendenhall, a sixth-generation REALTOR® from Columbia, Missouri and CEO of RE/MAX Boone Realty. "FCC's rollback of the Open Internet Order will mean higher costs and slower service for millions of American consumers and businesses. REALTORS® have strong concerns about what that might mean for the way consumers search for homes online and real estate is transacted." The FCC's Open Internet Order went into effect in 2015. The rule required that broadband networks remain free of restrictions on content and platforms, while treating all content that flows through the network equally. What that means is internet service providers aren't allowed to block, throttle or discriminate against internet traffic, such as streaming video or drone photography, among other applications. Earlier this year, however, the FCC announced that it would reconsider those rules. REALTORS® raised concerns with formal comments to the agency in July that a rollback of net neutrality rules could raise costs on business owners, like real estate professionals, who make heavy use of technology and online platforms. In particular, NAR noted that paid-prioritization models and other anti-competitive practices could put small businesses at a significant disadvantage. For example, NAR said, larger companies could pay for internet fast lanes that deliver content to consumers faster on some websites than from others. NAR believes consumers would suffer from downgraded services across the internet in such a scenario. At the same time, small businesses that either couldn't pay the new fee or couldn't negotiate such an arrangement for themselves would face a significant competitive disadvantage, losing customers to faster websites. Mendenhall says that the majority of REALTORS® operate small businesses, with typically no more than two principals, and that NAR will fight for its membership on this issue with the hope that net neutrality rules will be reinstated. "The last thing small businesses need today is additional costs and competitive disadvantages that put them on the defensive," Mendenhall said. "This isn't just an issue for Silicon Valley or large telecommunications shops. This is a main street concern that affects businesses and consumers across the country. We intend to make our voice heard on this important issue." The National Association of REALTORS®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
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10 Reasons Why You Need a .Homes Domain
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Registrations For .Homes Domains Now Open
  Norfolk, VA – May 12, 2016 – Dominion Registries, a division of Dominion Enterprises, the owners of Homes.com, announced today the opening of general availability of the new .Homes top-level domain. It is the first time the general public can acquire a .Homes domain name to represent their residential real estate businesses online. Industry leaders and early adopters have already secured their .Homes domain names by registering domains matching their trademarks. Companies like Keller Williams, Coldwell Banker, State Farm and Geico have already secured their .Homes domain names. The registrations are not just from North American companies, companies in Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia have also secured .Homes domains for their businesses. "We believe there is a real need for a safe, secure and relevant namespace dedicated exclusively to the residential real estate sector," said Jim Schrand, director of corporate strategy for Dominion Enterprises. The availability of .Homes domain names represents a ground-floor opportunity for real estate professionals. Not only can they get a great domain name, they can also get a name that intrinsically defines their business, contains valuable search keywords, and is easy for consumers to remember. "Whether renting or buying a home, or researching or reviewing service providers, it's important for consumers to trust and feel secure with the information they find online." The .Homes domain extension offers memorable naming options while providing a trusted and safe online experience for consumers. That is because every owner of a .Homes domain name has been validated as a legitimate entity that provides products or services exclusively for the residential real estate industry. The full list of eligible registrant categories can be found on the Domains.Homes policy page in the Eligibility Criteria document. It includes groups like residential real estate agents, brokers, multiple listing services, builders, appraisers, inspectors, and mortgage and insurance providers, among others. Every domain name applicant is verified to ensure they meet eligibility qualifications before the domain is released for use. Consumers can trust that websites ending in .Homes are safe and secure and provide relevant content to the residential real estate community. For more information about acquiring .Homes domain names, visit www.Domains.Homes.
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.Homes Premium Domains up for Grabs
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New .Homes Sunrise Period Starts Today
  Norfolk, Virginia (March 9, 2016) – Homes.com®, a top consumer real estate resource and leading provider of marketing solutions for real estate professionals, announced today that the sunrise or trademark period for the new "dot HOMES" or .Homes top-level domain is now open for eligible trademark holders. Whether renting or buying, the process of finding a new home is one of the most important financial decisions made by consumers. A .Homes domain name offers a memorable option for real estate professionals, instantly conveying trust and building credibility with consumers looking for their next home or home-related services. "Unheard of since the .com boom, real estate professionals have a ground-floor opportunity to own a memorable domain that aligns with their marketing efforts and focus on serving the home industry," said David Mele, president of Homes.com. "Now they can finally buy their name, business name, niche market or local area to help them stand out from their competition." A .Homes domain name is available exclusively to businesses that provide products or services to the residential real estate community. This includes real estate agents, real estate brokers, mortgage professionals, property managers, builders, property appraisers, property inspectors, property insurance providers, multiple listing services and real estate associations. All domain name applicants will be verified to ensure they are relevant to residential real estate and meet the eligibility qualifications. As a result, consumers can trust that websites with .Homes domains are safe and secure, offering reliable and meaningful real estate-related content. .Homes Launch Dates Sunrise or Trademark: Through May 6, 2016, registration of .Homes domain names will be available to eligible trademark holders. To apply for your trademarked name, visit www.dominion.domains. Open Registration: Begins May 12, 2016. For more information about .Homes domain names and registration details, please visit www.domains.homes. Homes.com, a division of Dominion Enterprises, is the premier marketing partner for .Homes domains through Dominion Registries. Dominion Registries is a division of Dominion Enterprises and operates the Top Level Domain (TLD) namespace for .Autos, .Boats, .Homes, .Motorcycles and .Yachts. For more information on .Homes domains, visit www.domains.homes/. About Homes.comHomes.com is a top real estate search destination, visited by more than 14 million consumers each month. Homes.com leverages search visibility to connect this in-market audience with real estate professionals in their local areas of interest. Homes.com offers the following real estate marketing and media services: brand advertising, property listing exposure and syndication, search engine marketing and instant response lead generation to help real estate agents and other real estate related partners succeed online. For more information, visit www.Homes.com. About Dominion RegistriesDominion Registries, a division of Dominion Enterprises, is the operator of the new Top Level Domain namespace for .Autos, .Boats, .Homes, .Motorcycles and .Yachts.Dominion Registries provides high-quality, industry-defining website addresses to the automotive, marine, powersports and residential real estate communities. Working in partnership with the industries they serve, Dominion's new domain name extensions deliver industry-specific internet content channels that are safe and secure for both businesses operating websites and consumers who seek relevant content to make important purchasing decisions. For more information, visit www.dominionregistries.com. About Dominion EnterprisesDominion Enterprises is a leading online marketing and software services company offering client solutions across multiple targeted business verticals. Our widely recognized B2C web and mobile portals, including ForRent.com, Homes.com, CycleTrader.com and BoatTrader.com, generate nearly 30 million unique visits monthly. Our B2B cloud SaaS solutions directly support clients in establishing their online and mobile brands, generating leads, and managing customer relationships. Dominion Enterprises has more than 40 businesses and 3,000 employees in our Norfolk, Va. home office, across the U.S., and internationally.
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5 Reasons Why You Should Use brokerWOLF Hosting
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.REALTOR Top-Level Domains Will Soon be Available to Realtor® Associations and Brokerages
  WASHINGTON, April 16, 2015 -- The National Association of Realtors® top-level domain .REALTOR will be available to local and state Realtor® associations as well as brokerages in the U.S. and Canada starting May 7. NAR was one of the first associations approved to offer a top-level domain and among the first in the real estate industry to commit to this new technology. Since the .REALTOR top-level domain became available to NAR members in October 2014, more than 95,000 domains have been claimed. Now boards, associations and brokerages will have the opportunity to register for the domain, which lets consumers instantly know that they are working within the Realtor® community, the most trusted source for real estate information and with agents who subscribe to NAR's strict Code of Ethics. As the Internet begins to evolve and divide into industry-specific categories, NAR believes it's important for the Realtor® community to lead the industry and create an exclusive namespace for itself that consumers instantly recognize. "Early adoption of new technology is a vital part of how Realtors® conduct business, and NAR is committed to staying on the forefront of the latest online tools," said NAR President Chris Polychron, executive broker with 1st Choice Realty in Hot Springs, Ark. "We hope associations and brokerages can take advantage of the .REALTOR domain to create an online space where home buyers, sellers and investors, as well as Realtors®, can go to find the most trustworthy, reliable real estate services and resources." NAR has also entered into an exclusive marketing partnership with the Canadian Real Estate Association, the exclusive licensors of the Realtor® mark in Canada. CREA associations and boards will also be able to use the domain to provide consumers in Canada with the same advantages. NAR made an early commitment to adopt this technology and began applying for the .REALTOR top-level domain eight years ago through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization that coordinates domains and Internet Protocol addresses around the world. Throughout the entire process, NAR worked closely with Second Generation subsidiary Real Estate Domains, LLC, an investment firm and registry operator for the top-level domain .JOBS. For more information on claiming the .REALTOR domain, which is available to associations and brokerages starting May 7 at 10 a.m. CDT, visit www.about.REALTOR. The Canadian Real Estate Association is one of Canada's largest single-industry trade associations, representing more than 111,000 Realtors® working through some 90 real estate boards and associations. Second Generation Ltd ("Second Gen"), headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is an Embrescia family investment firm that actively works with talented management teams to develop businesses that have potential for significant growth and long-term value. For over three decades, Second Gen and its affiliates have owned and operated FCC licensed radio and television properties super serving markets throughout the United States as well as investing in manufacturing, real estate and medical innovations. Among its diverse investments, Second Gen is the owner of the .JOBS top-level domain on the Internet sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management. The National Association of Realtors®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the "News, Blogs and Videos" tab on the website.
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Realtors® Applaud New Net Neutrality Rules Preserving Equal Access to the Internet
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Your Year in Email: Introducing Our Email Report Card App
When was the last time you checked your inbox? I think I can make a safe bet that you did it at least 10 seconds ago (or just now with me just mentioning the word inbox, you probably couldn't help yourself). I think I can also make a fair assumption that everyone is pretty good about checking their emails, but when it comes to responses, how to respond, and the maintenance of our contact bases, we start to fall off course. So really, how well are you doing with your email? Introducing Our Email Report Card App That's where we, Contactually, come in. Today we're launching our 2014 Email Report Card to give you even more insight into your email and just how was you did you in 2014 with your inbox. We're reviewing your 2014 year in email and tell you if you are an A+ email wiz or if you're falling a little short. From the mood of your emails to your most popular subject lines, we'll tell you where you are kicking butt and where you could improve to be even more effective with your email. Get started with your own Year in Email Report Card here. To view the original post, visit the Contactually blog.
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Automate Your Business With zipForm® Plus and Zapier
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NAR Wins Rights to .Realestate Top-Level Domain
  WASHINGTON, October 6, 2014 – The National Association of REALTORS® has won the rights to the new .realestate top-level domain. NAR intends to use the .realestate domain along with the recently acquired .REALTOR domain to create order for real estate information on the Internet and to provide NAR members with tools that help brand themselves as the most trusted, valued source of real estate information. While .REALTOR will be used exclusively by NAR members and its affiliated NAR business partners, it is anticipated that .realestate will have wider business applications. NAR encourages members to participate in the .REALTOR domain launch later this month, during which the first 500,000 members who register will be awarded a free one-year license, and procure the domain names they want and as many as they wish to creatively brand themselves. "NAR is thrilled that it has acquired the rights to the .realestate top-level domain," said NAR President Steve Brown, co-owner of Irongate, Inc. REALTORS® in Dayton, Ohio. "As the leader in the real estate industry and the 'voice for real estate,' NAR has been a pioneer for new technology in the digital space and intends to use the .realestate domain in conjunction with the .REALTOR domain to build an online space where home buyers, sellers and investors can find credible and professional real estate resources and services." NAR Senior Vice President of Marketing Bob Goldberg is excited about how these acquisitions will help transform the way REALTORS® do business online. "Obtaining this top-level domain along with .REALTOR will solidify NAR and our members' standing as groundbreakers in the rapidly changing real estate environment and change how the Internet is used to educate and connect with consumers, not only today, but in the future." NAR applied for the top-level domains through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, the organization that directs domains and IP addresses for the Internet. Throughout the process of acquiring the .realestate domain, NAR has worked closely with Second Generation subsidiary Real Estate Domains, LLC, an investment firm and registry operator for the top-level domain .JOBS. "We are pleased to have helped our partner NAR navigate the complex process of applying for and acquiring a top-level domain," said Tom Embrescia, chairman of Second Generation, Ltd. "NAR continues to prove to be a trailblazer for cutting edge, real estate technology." Details on business rules, pricing and the launch date of .realestate will be available in the second quarter of 2015. For more information, visit www.realtor.org/topics/top-level-domain. Second Generation Ltd ("Second Gen"), headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is an Embrescia family investment firm that actively works with talented management teams to develop businesses that have potential for significant growth and long-term value. For over three decades, Second Gen and its affiliates have owned and operated FCC licensed radio and television properties super serving markets throughout the United States as well as investing in manufacturing, real estate and medical innovations. Among its diverse investments, Second Gen is the owner of the .JOBS Top Level Domain on the Internet sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management. The National Association of REALTORS®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
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Renovus to Launch Re|Drive in Newly Re-Designed App
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Homes.com® Takes Giant Step in Evolution of Website Domain Technology
  Norfolk, Virginia, August 26, 2014 – Homes.com®, the online real estate resource and leading provider of real estate marketing solutions, has secured the top level domain, ".homes." Long known as simply ".com," ".org," and ".net," the internet is experiencing monumental changes with the creation of nearly 2,000 top-level domains, altering the way consumers search for homes online. A longstanding leader in search solutions and web technology, Homes.com continues to prove itself as the frontrunner in providing innovative tools and resources for partners and consumers across the country. "The .homes' top level domain assignment marks an evolution in how consumers will search for home-related goods, products and services," said Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions and Homes.com. "This step revolutionizes the industry by providing real estate professionals with an opportunity to affordably secure a domain name that streamlines the search experiences of consumers. Real estate professionals will have the convenience of procuring a domain name that includes their city or perhaps their individual or business name." Consistently standing out as a leader in enterprise level solutions for real estate partners, Homes.com will roll out the ".homes" domain in the near future, appealing to all industry professionals. The program will offer impactful solutions for industry partners and allow real estate professionals the opportunity to champion an easy to remember domain name resulting in quicker access by home seekers. In the past, purchasing a name like seattlehomes.com was highly unlikely, but through Homes.com, names like seattle.homes can now be an option. To receive updates on how to secure a Homes.com ".homes" domain, sign up for alerts at http://connect.homes.com/dothomes/. About Homes.com Homes.com is a leading provider of real estate marketing and media services, including brand advertising, property listing exposure and syndication, search engine marketing and instant response lead generation. Homes Connect by Homes.com offers the real estate industry's first-ever, all-inclusive marketing platform for agents and brokers featuring single-login convenience. Over 12 million consumers visit Homes.com each month to search nearly 3 million properties for sale or rent, to locate real estate agents in their area, and to find useful home buying tips. For more information, visit www.Homes.com.
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NAR Announces Launch of .REALTOR Top-Level Domain
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Zapier: Making Happy Grasshopper Easier Than Ever
Happy Grasshopper is proud to be integrated with a pretty awesome list of of applications and tools that help you amp up your business. One of the newest (not to mention one of the coolest) is Zapier. What's Zapier, you might ask? Put simply, it's a free service that integrates the services you use with the other services you use. If you're a Gmail user, Zapier can connect it with DropBox. If you use HighRise, Zapier can connect it with Google contacts. And now, if you're a Happy Grasshopper user, Zapier can connect your account with other services you use, such as Follow-Up Boss. Pretty cool, right? SUPER-cool, actually. We had a chance to sit down and talk with Wade Foster, Zapier's co-founder and CEO, about how they started, what Zapier does, and why we're all really excited about the integration between Zapier and Happy Grasshopper. We mentioned it was cool, right? Zapier was founded in October 2011, in the same way lots of companies get started. They saw a need that the founders, themselves, badly needed to fill and that no one seemed to be doing anything about. Similar to IFTTT (if-this-then-that), a service that enables customers to connect channels with personally created or publicly shared profiles known as "recipes", but for business rather than personal use, Zapier allows you to take one of its integrated services and make a rule or a "Zap" for how it talks to another service. In the case of Happy Grasshopper, if you have contacts that are in your Follow-Up Boss database, you can have them sent directly to Happy Grasshopper, so those contacts get the nurturing attention they need and deserve (how it works is pretty awesome). Wade told us, "Yeah ... in my former life, I was working at a mortgage company and ran into problems like this all the time. I needed the various services I used to talk to each other, but there was no way to make that happen. I'd search through user groups and find comment after comment after comment–some that were as many as four years old–that showed people screaming out for a solution to this problem. So, we created Zapier and now have more than 250 services that we can connect for our users." Zapier makes sure data is where you want it, when you want it. "Our customers make what we call a Zap that says what they need to happen," Wade said. "From there, we do the rest. We make sure the data from one service is connected to the data in another. It's great because not only have we figured out how to make these connections and tap into the APIs of all these services, we've done something that saves our users a ton of time and, by extension, a lot of money, too." If you're looking for ways to make using Happy Grasshopper even easier, pay Zapier a visit. The service is free to use and its setup is super-easy. There are no developers to hire, no outrageous fees. Zapier is, put simply, an easy solution to a problem that plagues lots of people. Give it a try today and make your Happy Grasshopper happier than ever. To view the original post, visit the Happy Grasshopper blog.
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BIRDVIEW Technologies Introduces 4-Step System
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Zillow Acquires Postlets
Today, I'm happy to announce that Zillow has acquired Postlets, a leading online real estate listing creation and distribution platform. For those not familiar with Postlets, it's a great service that enables individual agents, property managers and landlords to distribute their listings across 13 real estate and social media websites, for free. Real estate professionals love Postlets because you create a property listing just once, and Postlets automatically distributes it across the Web. Plus, when you create an account on Postlets, you get a personalized landing page so you can showcase all of your "Postlets" in one place. You can then customize your personal gallery with a company logo and an "about me" page where you can describe your services and upload a personal photo to help you gain even more exposure. And it's free. Postlets has an interesting background: It was founded in 2005 by Asher Matsuda and Raymond Chen, who started the company as a side project. Today, the site boasts over 500,000 registered users who currently send more than 350,000 for-sale and for-rent listings across the country. Ask anyone in the industry, and they'll tell you that Postlets is a great tool for agents, property managers and landlords looking to promote their listings and manage their online presence, for free. As part of this acquisition, Postlets will continue to send listings to its current distribution partners. We're thrilled to have the Postlets brand, and its talented founders join the Zillow team. If you haven't tried Postlets yet, set up your free account today to get started. If you would like to read the original article by Spencer Rascoff, Zillow CEO, please click here. Learn more about Zillow.
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Houses.com Adds Timeshare Auctions
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Leading Real Estate Brokerages Adopt the Roost Facebook App
  Solution drives engagement and maintains brand integrity for real estate companies seeking to expand and improve their social media efforts SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., APRIL  20, 2010 -- Roost, Inc. (www.roost.com), a real estate technology company that displays over four million real estate listings and provides advertising solutions to real estate agents and brokers, announced today that 12 of the country’s top real estate brokerage companies have signed on to its Facebook-based platform, Social Real Estate?. Roost’s brokerage solution is an extension of the free Social Real Estate? Toolkit it released earlier this year and is the first Facebook application to integrate a full, MLS-compliant property search. Companies that have executed agreements with Roost include Michael Saunders & Company, Intero Real Estate Services, Surterre Properties, Real Estate One, Houlihan Lawrence Real Estate, RE/MAX Alliance Group, Amelia Bullock Realtors, Century 21 Advantage Gold, Zephyr Real Estate, FresYes Realty, Seven Gables Real Estate and Jordan Baris Realtors. “It was clear to us that Facebook was full of opportunities for our company, but we had concerns about approaching it in a way that was both effective and coherent from a brand perspective,” said Chris Meyers, COO of Houlihan Lawrence, a real estate brokerage in New York with over 1,200 agents. “Roost’s solution made it easy to move forward confidently because it’s based upon content we know consumers want and customized to reflect the values of our brand.” Gino Blefari, President and CEO of Intero Real Estate Services, a Silicon Valley-based brokerage with over 1,800 agents said, “Facebook is a now mainstream phenomenon – one any real estate company that expects to continue engaging consumers simply cannot ignore. Roost helped us cut through the hype and confusion around Facebook to connect meaningfully with home buyers and sellers.” Agents within each brokerage can also take advantage of MLS search on their Facebook presence via a premium application that will be available early this summer. Brokers pay Roost a monthly flat fee for the solution. “The fact that so many leading companies have partnered with us so quickly is gratifying, and signals a shift toward a more proactive and strategic approach to social media within the real estate community,” said Alex Chang, Roost’s CEO. “We plan to continue expanding the Social Real Estate? Toolkit to support this movement.” To review the first two “live” brokers on the platform, go to: http://www.facebook.com/InteroRE?v=app_4949752878 (Intero Real Estate Services) http://www.facebook.com/HoulihanLawrence?v=app_4949752878 (Houlihan Lawrence Real Estate) More information about the Social Real Estate? Toolkit can be found on Roost’s Facebook Fan Page or Roost’s Facebook Application Page. About Roost, Inc. Founded in San Francisco, Calif. in 2007, Roost is a real estate technology company that develops social applications that compliment its award-winning search engine. When combined, this Social Real Estate? Toolkit allows real estate agents and brokerages to establish a professional presence within various social media networks and leverage those networks to engage with their social graph to generate business. To discover more information about Roost’s industry-changing applications, please visit http://www.facebook.com/RoostApp. To start your home search, visit http://www.roost.com. For Press Inquiries, Please Contact: Derek Overbey Roost.com 415.742-8059 [email protected] For Sales Inquiries, Please Contact: [email protected]
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Tungle Expands Executive Team
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LinkedIn Joins Forces with Tungle
Announced today on LinkedIn’s blog is Tungle.me’s integration of the LinkedIn Widget. This is an exciting announcement because it not only brings together the scheduling power of Tungle.me and LinkedIn’s 55 million+ member network; it also makes meetings happen even easier for you (just when you thought it couldn't get any easier). We're super excited about the integration, becuase we truly believe that these two services were made for each other.  We all know that looking someone up on LinkedIn is an integral part of planning a meeting (whether you are the meeting planner or an invitee). This is one of those relationships that just makes sense. You now have one-click access to everything you need to know about your meeting participants, right from your Tungle.me meeting pages—current roles, company profiles, past and present affiliations, recommendations, network contacts and so much more. It’s all just a click away. As if scheduling a meeting with Tungle wasn't already super fast and easy, you now can get your pre-meeting recon done right from your meeting invitations. So forget the searches. Forget Google (sorry our friends at Google), forget the new browser, forget the extra leg work all together. Just point, click, and make meetings happen.
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iPad Available in US on April 3!
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RISMedia to Introduce the Real Estate Social Marketing System
RISMEDIA, February 26, 2010—John Featherston, CEO and publisher of RISMedia and chairman and co-founder of the Top 5 in Real Estate Network®, announced today that RISMedia and 1parkplace, under the direction of Allan Dalton, chief marketing officer of RISMedia and president and co-founder of the Top 5 in Real Estate Network®, along with Steve Hundley, founder and CEO of 1parkplace, have developed what will be branded as the RISMedia Real Estate Social Marketing System(SM). This transformational system will be launched at this year’s RISMedia Leadership Conference—“The Real Estate Social Media Summit," being held June 9-10, 2010 at the Hilton Rye Town in Westchester County, New York. For more information on the conference, or to register to attend, click here. Featherston announced that Dalton and Hundley have spent the past several months, along with the RISMedia and the 1parkplace developmental teams, creating what will be branded as “The Real Estate Social Marketing System(SM).” “This much-needed system,” Featherston stated, “will merge only the more strategic purposeful and real estate-relevant functions of existing social networking and social media resources available to real estate companies, agents and networks.”  “The level of frustration that has been expressed by thousands upon thousands of interviewed real estate professionals regarding the chasm that exists between their time spent engaged in social networking training, education, classes, and in social networking activity itself, compared to any significant and measurable ROI is startling,” said Dalton, a former 20-year president and owner of a 32-office real estate company. “Our research has provided irrefutable evidence that the preponderance of real estate professionals who claim to be significantly involved in the conventional practice of social networking and social media and who have built an enviable aggregation or community of ”so-called” or liberally defined friends, fans, followers and users are struggling to attribute much, if any, additional income for what has become a pressing time-management issue to some and almost an addiction to others.” Dalton, former CEO of Realtor.com®, also shares that many real estate professionals report that they are experiencing conflicted feelings, or an approach-avoidance conflict, regarding how some consumers might be viewing their online activity within certain communities as representing a real estate-related form of trolling. Given how most consumers already enjoy relationships with at least several real estate professionals leads one to wonder if social networking and social media, if not elevated to real estate social marketing, does not, in a sense, represent “chasing a solution to a consumer problem that really doesn’t exist.” Dalton specifically suggested that “mere social networking, meaning connecting friends, fans, communities and even tribes, although a much more efficient way to promulgate oneself and one’s brand, without a strategic purpose or providing valuable content, is like inviting 100 people to your home for dinner and not feeding them.” “Real estate professionals are far too hardworking, knowledgeable and skillful to miss out on how these great qualities can be best reflected through a more strategic online marketing strategy,” he said. Therefore, according to RISMedia and 1parkplace, the Real Estate Social Marketing System(SM) needed to be developed in order to properly integrate the best of social networking and social media as a more forthright, clear, consumer-acceptable and strategic use so that real estate professionals can better serve the needs of the real estate marketplace. 1parkplace CEO, Steve Hundley, who is responsible for much of the technological integration of this new, robust solution, suggests that a major paradigm shift is necessary—one where forward-thinking real estate professionals recognize that yesterday’s approach of personal promotion and contact management must give way to what he has coined as “content management.” “The difference between contact management and content management, when one considers how consumers want content more than being contacted, is similar to how social networking/social media is different from real estate social marketing,” Hundley asserted. Featherston summarized this major company announcement by offering, “In my 30 years as CEO and publisher of a real estate-based media company, I am thrilled that what we in publishing refer to as ‘the new age of citizen journalism,’ or the ‘democratization of information’ is now empowering consumer-centric real estate companies and agents to go beyond making superficial networking contacts and elevate these potentially invaluable online relationships with exciting real estate content. That said, information or content alone does not spell success, nor does networking as a stand-alone. Real estate success is achieved when the two converge for the purposes of strategic real estate social marketing.” Featherston added, “We look forward to enabling all real estate professionals who want to strategically insert themselves through the targeted use of actionable real estate content and who are interested in measuring their online ROI and SEO to join us at our industry-altering social media summit, where they will be most welcome.”
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iseedocs™ Goes Live on Major U.S. Carrier Network with Remoba Email Service
TORONTO and SANTA CLARA, CA, Jan. 5 /CNW/ - iseemedia, Inc. (TSX-V: IEE), a leading provider of technology and services that allow mobile phones to be experienced like desktop devices today announced that it has begun commercial deployment of iseedocs™ on the T-Mobile Network in the U.S. with Remoba. iseedocs enables instant attachment viewing and navigation without having to download content. Handsets provide access to enterprise email, calendar and contacts. The combined offering is now being rolled out to T-Mobile customers as a choice download with affordable email data plans. "As more people travel and work from multiple locations, mobile phones must perform more complex tasks and access email with sizeable attachments," said Anthony DeCristofaro, President and CEO, iseemedia. "iseedocs is the ideal solution to perform this task on mobile phones. We are excited to be working with Remoba to deliver a complete PC experience on T-Mobile sidekick handsets." Unlike most email attachment handlers, iseedocs delivers a document index which is also the document management system. All pages, images and graphs are accessible on demand. Unlike other attachment viewers, iseedocs does not download the document to the mobile device, but streams pages as they are requested. The user can also zoom and pan the document, providing a higher degree of information than is normally available on mobile devices. Using a Smart Adaptation Engine, iseedocs maintains virtually all document formatting and content. So if a chart embedded in the Word document is too small to see, the user can zoom in to view more detail. If a 30-page document is being viewed, and the reader needs to view page 21, they can access the page directly through a table of contents or page thumbnail navigation. "We provide the Smartphone alternative for consumers and business users without the costly data plans, proprietary devices and IT infrastructure modifications," said Guru Thalapaneni, President and CEO of Remoba. "iseemedia serves as the perfect complement so users can readily manage their everyday activities directly from their mobile phones. More importantly, we help network operators to control their bandwidth costs while allowing them to offer new services on mass market devices. We look forward to expanding our efforts with T-Mobile as we make steady progress with this launch." The mobile phone application allows users to access business on their mobile phones. It can securely access email stored on servers and perform almost all the functions through the mobile phone just the way one would do from a home or office computer. The application can be downloaded to the phone like any ring tone or game, and setup by entering username and password. About Remoba: Remoba is a leading developer of high-value, and affordable mobile phone software that makes "Every Phone a Smart Phone." Remoba provides Wireless Access to Email, Contacts, and Calendar from the Desktop, Corporate Server, or Hosted Server on most Cell Phones. Remoba is based in Hayward, CA, with a development center in Bangalore, India. For more information please visit www.remoba.com. About iseemedia: iseemedia, Inc., is a software development company focused on the commercialization of a Service Delivery Platform (iseemail™) for delivering Blackberry-like email services to the mass market and an advanced Content Delivery Platform (iseedocs™) for rich media adaptation and extremely cost-efficient delivery to mobile devices. The Company maintains a broad portfolio of issued and pending patents that support authoring, streaming and interactive viewing. iseemedia is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange (Symbol: IEE). Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations, which involve risks and uncertainties associated with iseemedia's business and the environment in which the business operates. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking, including those identified by the expressions "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but reflect iseemedia's current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including the matters discussed under "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Filing Statement filed on March 31, 2009 with the regulatory authorities. iseemedia assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information contact: David Berman, CFOiseemedia, Inc. (905) [email protected] PropertyMinder Launches New Interactive Map Search Platform Zillow Launches A Free Online Agent Endorsement System Free Expert Q/A Session! Tighten Up for 2011!
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