Broker Public Portal (BPP), since its launch with Homesnap in January 2017, has grown from serving 45 multiple listing services to more than 120 MLSs today, representing 800,000 real estate agents and brokers, according to an announcement from the company. As a result, Homesnap has become one of the nation’s most collaborative consumer real estate apps. Real estate agents have invited more than 19 million clients and contacts to access MLS listing data, and 8.5 million consumers have engaged with their agents through Homesnap.
BPP is owned and operated by real estate brokerages and MLSs to deliver, through Homesnap, a better home search experience, with the same comprehensive, real-time MLS data used by real estate professionals—the people who list and sell homes, not ads.
“In just 12 months since the Broker Public Portal went live with Homesnap, our growth blows the doors off even the most optimistic estimates,” says John Mosey, vice chairman of BPP and head of NorthstarMLS, which supports over 17,000 REALTORS® in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. “This should quiet the naysayers who wrongly believed that a well-designed, industry-led effort couldn’t succeed. Well, millions of consumers and hundreds of thousands of agents have demonstrated that the industry was in fact searching for just this solution.”
BPP with Homesnap is designed to help real estate professionals generate listing exposure and leads and encourage prospects and clients to connect and collaborate directly with an agent. Mosey says that it has already become one of the most successful, “if not the most successful industry-born technology initiative in real estate history,” noting BPP with Homesnap now features over 100 million property records and over 59 million active and sold listings.
“We have created the industry’s largest private real estate marketing network delivering more listing exposure opportunities and direct client engagement opportunities to agents than ever imagined,” Mosey says. “Finally, real estate agents have a real alternative.”
A Better, Ad-Free Experience
Steve Barnes, co-founder of Homesnap, attributes the breakneck pace in MLS, agent and consumer adoption and engagement to delivering what consumers and agents want, and what the real estate industry needs.
“First and foremost, Broker Public Portal with Homesnap is free of advertising pollution, which makes us different,” says Barnes. “We deliver a better home search experience with the most accurate, up-to-date property information, content straight from the MLS, along with direct access to the listing agent who knows the property best, or to their own agent.”
Barnes emphasizes that BPP with Homesnap is the only national online home search experience that gives consumers access to the same real-time information as the professional REALTOR®, directly from the MLS.
“That’s a big reason why Homesnap is so popular among buyers and sellers,” Barnes says.
For agents, the demand for Homesnap Pro is “on fire,” says Barnes. “Homesnap Pro’s popularity is soaring, as we continue to see adoption rates far exceed that of most broker-offered technology, with MLSs reporting, on average, 40-50 percent adoption rates.” Barnes also notes that adoption rates are particularly high among high-producing agents.
Homesnap Pro delivers access to the MLS on the go for agents, with a mobile app branded for each agent, featuring MLS agent-only listing information (sales history, agent deal flow, showing instructions, commission splits), a full MLS roster for agent-to-agent interaction, built-in private messaging to engage buyers and sellers, an agent safety timer, Rapid CMA, agent marketing tools and more.
Cost Advantage
Agents pay no additional fees to have their listings exposed to millions of consumers every month other than their normal MLS dues. Agents’ contact information appears exclusively next to their listings for free, and other agents are not allowed to pay to advertise on those listings.
BPP’s Mosey and Homesnap’s Barnes both believe that the record pace Homesnap has achieved will continue because of several competitive advantages.
“We already start from a position of unmatchable advantage,” says Mosey, noting that its content uniquely comes directly from the MLSs that provide the real estate data that makes the real estate market work in America.
“Most importantly, Broker Public Portal has something companies that sell ads do not have: MLS and broker ownership that always puts industry stakeholders’ interests first!” Mosey says. “Now we have the compelling technology with Homesnap that directly helps our agents open more doors for more buyers and sellers, instead of having to go somewhere else, and we’re going to make that technology better and better and better.”
Barnes echoes Mosey’s point about technology prowess. “We must be doing something right when many of the smartest people in real estate, and some of the brightest people in technology, invest in your company,” Barnes says.
Many of the top MLS and independent brokerage leaders serve on BPP’s board and have invested in BPP. Homesnap investors include venture capital firm Revolution Ventures, founded by online pioneer Steve Case.
“As we continue to scale even larger, our ability to provide more collaborative features for agents and consumers will increase as we make significant investments in the Broker Public Portal and Homesnap,” says Barnes.
For more information, please visit www.brokerpublicportal.com or www.homesnap.com/bpp.
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