RISMEDIA, April 11, 2007-Trulia.com, the national residential real estate search engine, announces the addition of four highly respected real estate industry executives to its Real Estate Advisory Board: Howard W. "Hoby" Hanna, IV, executive vice president, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services; Ben Phillips, vice president, New Product Development, Realogy Franchise Group, Realogy Corporation; Michael Saunders, founder and president, Michael Saunders & Company, and chairman, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; and David Therrien, chief technology officer, Keller Williams Realty International.
This seasoned team of real estate visionaries will advise Trulia on its strategy for delivering consumers the neighborhood and home search experience online. Trulia.com enables consumers to search through neighborhood market data and residential real estate property listings using interactive heat maps, neighborhood guides and property listings in all 50 states. Unique to Trulia is the search engine's focus on connecting consumers to property information online-the listing broker or agent, and the person most likely to have sat at a homeowner's kitchen table.
"I am thrilled to work with an online organization like Trulia that is as focused as I am on delivering consistent marketing value to the real estate industry and on responding to the needs of brokerages of all sizes and affiliations," stated Trulia advisory board member Saunders, who has built an independent brokerage of 18 full service offices serving Southwest Florida for four decades.
Trulia's other new advisory members boast notable accomplishments as well: Phillips was largely responsible for Realogy's deployment of the proprietary LeadRouterTM lead management system for brands including Coldwell Banker®, ERA® and CENTURY 21®. Therrien, who developed his own real estate business that generated $13 million in one year, now heads up research, development and technology tool integration for Keller Williams, the fourth-largest U.S. residential real estate franchisor known for its highly successful "agents as partners" business model. And Hanna has played a major role in Howard Hanna Real Estate's rapid climb to 5th largest full-service brokerage in the U.S. and the 4th largest privately held U.S. real estate firm.
Explained Trulia CEO and Co-Founder Pete Flint, "Trulia has built an advisory board of real estate super stars who represent a range of industry interests and brokerages-large and small, traditional and tech-focused-to ensure we are offering an efficient, effective means for real estate professionals to market property listings online, ultimately benefiting home buyers and sellers."
"We couldn't have built a more well-rounded team of real estate experts. Hoby and Michael are extremely well respected for their strategic leadership growing strong, independent brands; David's technical leadership has been integral to Keller Williams' rapid adoption among agents; and Ben brings high-level representation from the largest franchisor brand in the industry," added fellow Co-Founder and COO Sami Inkinen. "Having grown their businesses over the course of more than one real estate cycle, they all know what it takes for agents to succeed and deliver value to consumers in any type of market."
Hanna, Phillips, Saunders and Therrien join fellow broker and industry leaders from across the country including: Anthony Azar, CEO, Realty Executives Southern Arizona; Sherry Chris, COO, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation; Bill Plattos, COO and general manager, First Team Real Estate; Van Davis, consultant and Former CEO, Foxtons; Michael Koval, SVP and CIO, Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.; Jonathan Miller, president/CEO, Miller Samuel Inc.; Robert Moles, chairman, Intero Real Estate Services; Steve Ozonian, chairman, Realty Information Systems Inc./Help-U-Sell Real Estate; Michael Pappas, president, The Keyes Company; Bob Peltier, president, Edina Realty, Inc; and Kaira Rouda, COO, Real Living, Inc.
For more information, visit www.trulia.com.
