RISMEDIA, March 7, 2008-OpenHouse.com, a consumer destination site for open house listings nationwide, announced that it has successfully begun receiving bulk data feeds from the real estate industry at large. Real Estate One®, an independent real estate brokerage firm headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, is the first outside company to post its open house listings on OpenHouse.com.
Previously, OpenHouse.com accepted listings exclusively from real estate brokerages affiliated with its parent company, Realogy Corporation, and its franchise brands: CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, ERA® and Sotheby’s International Realty®.
“We are pleased to have Real Estate One participating with automatic daily uploads of its open house listings to our site,” said Ben Phillips, vice president and managing director of OpenHouse.com. “We have committed to accept bulk data feeds of open house listings from any brokerage firm or franchisor in the industry without charging any ongoing fees for this service.”
A family-owned business established in 1929, Real Estate One is the largest real estate firm in the state of Michigan and is known as an innovator in the industry. The company also owns and operates brokerages in Michigan under two other local brand names: Johnstone and Johnstone, a well-respected Grosse Pointe firm established in 1919, and Max Broock Realtors, established in 1895. In 2006, Real Estate One was involved in 16,000 transactions generating $3.1 Billion in home sales. Today, the company has 65 offices and approximately 1,800 sales associates throughout Michigan.
“We have always focused on innovative and efficient ways to serve our customers, and our marketing agreement with OpenHouse.com is an extension of that philosophy,” said Dan Elsea, president of brokerage services for Real Estate One. “We look forward to the additional exposure that our open house listings will receive on the site.”
OpenHouse.com currently allows consumers to search by price, date/time, location or number of bedrooms. The site will remain neutral at all times and will not allow searches by specific brand or brokerage name.
OpenHouse.com has made the commitment that it will not accept any real estate brand, brokerage or ancillary service advertising on its site.
“It’s important to note that all customer leads from OpenHouse.com go directly to the listing brokerage or agent, and we do not redistribute the open house listings or leads in any way,” said Phillips. “We are the Switzerland of open house sites.”
According to the company, OpenHouse.com has created a comprehensive listings distribution agreement for all non-Realogy brokers who are interested in posting their open house properties on OpenHouse.com. There will be a nominal, one-time, set-up fee to establish each broker’s incoming data feed that will vary depending on the technical complexity of the set-up, but there are no recurring fees charged for the posting of open houses. Any franchisors or brokers interested in establishing a bulk data feed to list their company’s open houses on OpenHouse.com should send an e-mail to Inquiries@OpenHouse.com in order to receive a copy of the online listings distribution agreement.
For more information, visit www.OpenHouse.com.
