Only Mortgage App to Offer Personalized Loan Quotes, Real-Time Rates and Mortgage Calculators in One Place

SEATTLE, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Zillow® (NASDAQ: Z), the leading real estate information marketplace, today announced the launch of the free Zillow Mortgage Marketplace Android™ App giving home shoppers on-the-go access to the innovative loan shopping experience of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. Also available for the iPhone®, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is the only mobile app with personalized loan quotes, lender ratings, real-time rates and mortgage calculators all in one place.

“Since we brought Zillow Mortgage Marketplace to mobile in June 2011, the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace app financial calculators have been used more than 1.5 million times, proving people want access to mortgage and financing information when they are out looking at homes,” said Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. “With the Android app, we were able to take advantage of the unique menu functionality that enables users to easily share information, such as mortgage rates and loan quotes, from every page.” 

The Zillow Mortgage Marketplace Android App gives home shoppers access to:

• A payment calculator that helps consumers estimate what their monthly payment will look like for a particular home.
• An affordability calculator that helps shoppers narrow their home search to homes within a specific price range, based on income, down payment and monthly debt information.
• A refinance calculator that allows consumers to compare their current loan and new loan quote to estimate potential savings if they refinance.
• A mortgage shopping experience that enables users to request and receive personalized loan quotes, read lender reviews and connect with a lender.
• Sharing functionality that allows shoppers to share current mortgage rates, calculator results and loans requests via email, Twitter® or text message.

The Zillow Mortgage Marketplace apps are available for download for free in the Android Marketplace and iTunes® App Store.

Zillow is the leader in mobile real estate with the most popular suite of mobile real estate apps, available on every major platform. In January 2012, more than 140 million homes were viewed on Zillow Mobile, which is more than 53 homes per second.

About Zillow, Inc.

Zillow is the leading real estate information marketplace, providing vital information about homes, real estate listings and mortgages through its websites and mobile applications, enabling homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters to connect with real estate and mortgage professionals best suited to meet their needs. More than 30 million unique users visited Zillow’s websites and mobile applications in January 2012. Zillow, Inc. operates Zillow.com, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Mobile, Postlets^® and Diverse Solutions^™. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow.com, Zillow and Postlets are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc. Diverse Solutions is a trademark of Zillow, Inc.

Android is a trademark of Google Inc.

iPhone and iTunes are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.

Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc.

SOURCE Zillow, Inc.

In a statement on their website RealEstateCommercial say:

“Zhuhai Huachen are heavily involved in the property market in China and have taken steps to invest in Australia and in particular in Real Estate Commercial.

Li Dan Financial Manager of Zhuhai Huachen Constructions stated ‘We are very happy to commence an association with Real Estate Commercial in Australia and here in China through their website www.zhongguorec.com, this is our first overseas venture and we see the business development between Australia and China growing in the future. We were impressed by the development to date of the website here in China and see the synergy between the real estate markets in China and Australia in the next few years as a fast growing market, particularly with more and more Chinese looking to invest in property overseas, with Australia high on that list. We will be looking to invest further in the Australian Company during their capital raising program through ASSOB (Australian Small Scale Offerings)’

The Company shortly will be undertaking a capital raising program on the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board where they plan to raise a total of $1.2 million with investors owning around 30% of the Company.”

RealEstateCommercial.com.au currently has 250 clients and over 10,000 listings online.

It also plans to release a new residential portal website for the Australian / Chinese market.

Sheraz Dar, marketing director of DPG, was bullish in reporting the figures. “While we are very pleased to see these results, we believe that this is only the beginning. Our campaign continues into February and agents are set to benefit even more,” he said.

Kevin Doyle, SVP, GM Apartments.com presents check to Ed Shurna, exec director, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

An Apartments.com spokesperson just told us that in its hometown of Chicago, Ill. more than 100,000 people were homeless in 2011, and in the US 3.5 million are homeless. So, Apartments.com solicited nationwide participation and greater attention through its  “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” Facebook initiative.

As part of the campaign, Apartments.com promised to donate $1 to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless for every new “LIKE” it received on Facebook  from November 1, 2011 – December 31, 2011.  February 2 Apartments.com SVP and GM Kevin Doyle  presented a check for $15,000 to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. 

“The relationship touched everyone involved especially the Coalition as they rely on donations and grants to serve the Chicago area,” the spokesperson told us by email.

Here’s the announcement: 

APARTMENTS.COM DONATES $15,000

TO CHICAGO COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS

Facebook Campaign Generates Awareness and Funds for Local Charity

CHICAGO—(February 2, 2012) — Apartments.com presented a check for $15,000 to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless yesterday at the culmination of their “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” Facebook initiative.  As part of the campaign, Apartments.com promised to donate $1 to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless for every new “LIKE” it received on Facebook from November 1, 2011 – December 31, 2011.

“In every aspect, this campaign was a huge success. We received overwhelming positive feedback from our Apartments.com staff and customers, as well as the general public,” said Kevin Doyle, senior vice president and general manager of Apartments.com.  “We know $15,000, by itself, won’t bring an end to homelessness, but we hope it helps the Coalition to be able to continue the monumental good they do each and every day.  It was an honor for our organization to be able to do our small part on behalf of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless this past holiday season.”

The Chicago-based advocacy group was selected as the beneficiary of this inaugural campaign as the leading voice for the homeless in the city of Chicago, where Apartments.com is headquartered. It was estimated that last year more than 100,000 people suffered from homelessness in Chicago¹ and an estimated 3.5 million people each year experience homelessness². Apartments.com designed the initiative to generate nationwide participation and help bring greater attention to this widespread issue across America.

“Chicago Coalition for the Homeless was founded over 30 years ago on one simple premise: that in a just society, housing is a human right.  To that end, we work with families, youths and adults, advocating to better lives through access to shelter, housing, jobs and schools,” said Ed Shurna, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. “The staff of Apartments.com clearly knows the importance of housing and we are grateful to have their generous support.”

The Apartments.com campaign, “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” aims to heighten visibility and bring in funds to benefit organizations that advocate for and serve the homeless. ”Like” the Apartments.com Facebook page for updates on next year’s “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” initiative.

About Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is a non-profit organization that works with people hurt by homelessness. Guided by its belief that housing is a human right in a just society, the coalition seeks to prevent and end homelessness by addressing its root causes. Its community organizers offer monthly outreach at more than 20 emergency shelters and transitional housing facilities across Chicago—reaching out to mothers with children, unaccompanied youths, children and teens struggling to access public schools, ex-offenders and low-wage workers. For more information or to donate to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, visit their website. 

About Apartments.com
Apartments.com  is a leading national apartment Internet listing subscription service with more than 50,000 unique addresses representing millions of rental units from managed properties, newspaper classifieds and for-rent-by-owner properties. By incorporating the most relevant products to reach renters including personalized searches and highly visual ads featuring live chat, real-time rent, online video walk-through demonstrations, professional photography, a mobile website and iPhone and Android app, Apartments.com creates easy access to its listings. Providing unmatched exposure to its advertisers through an intuitive name, strategic search engine placements, featured partnerships including Yahoo! Real Estate, Univision and more than 120 newspaper websites and innovative emerging media, Apartments.com reaches millions of renters nationwide, driving both qualified traffic and highly-engaged renters to leasing offices nationwide. Apartments.com is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures, LLC. The Apartments.com network of apartment rental websites includes Apartment Home Living , a leading social media apartment website distinguished by a “live for fun” community experience, proprietary lifestyle matching and local living guides to help renters find their perfect place to live.

RentGeek asked for our age, gender, marital status, number of kids, income (we skipped that one), type of property we’re interested in, how we get around (this being Vancouver, “car sharing” was an option), pets, where we eat (at home or in restaurants), whether we work out or do yoga (we made ourselves sound a little buffer than maybe we actually are), what kind of coffee we drink, what we do on Friday nights (clubbing it or movie at home?) and, of course, how much we are willing to spend.

We were then presented with three communities, each with a Google Map and recommended properties. You can see how your survey affected the rankings; review a demographic breakdown according to the 2006 Canadian census; and check out a number of “hip” reviews of the neighborhoods by locals (we tried to chat with them, but RentGeek is not a real estate/dating site, at least not yet).

All in all, the experience was easy and we left with the feeling that RentGeek kind of did read our minds, even if it was all just algorithms. It’s certainly a model worth considering stateside.

• There are about 13.6 million occupied homes in Canada. Of these, 9.6 million are owner-occupied, including 5.8 million with mortgages and 3.8 million without mortgages.
• The total value of owner-occupied housing in Canada is estimated at $3 trillion.
• Mortgages and lines of credit for these homes amount to $982 billion. That means Canadians have about $2 trillion in home equity, equal to 68 per cent of the total value of housing.
• Two per cent of homeowners (about 150,000 to 170,000) may have negative equity in their homes.
• Twelve percent of mortgage borrowers said they would have some problems if interest rates rose by even less than one percent.
• The average dwelling value (as estimated by the occupants) is $316,000.

The full report can be downloaded here.

In part this is a reflection of general trends in the market, but it is also the return on the company’s efforts in the digital sector, including digital direct marketing services for real estate agents.

According to the company, January 2012 is already looking good with 146 new contracts signed for clients online. Acheter-Louer is looking to expand its services this year notably with mobile products, but the full (and verifiable) figures won’t be published until the end of April.

A few weeks ago Berlin-based 9Flats.com came up with the good idea of pulling an investor in who can reduce its advertising costs (here). German Media Pool Venture Capital (www.germanmediapool.com), a company which provides media advertising space in exchange for shares, agreed to provide media space in exchange of an undisclosed number of shares in 9Flats.

Today Airbnb.de, the German portal of U.S-based Airbnb.com, announced it had also found an investor who can be helpful with advertising. And not just anyone: Germany’s Axel Springer Verlag.

Axel Springer acquired a small (undisclosed) stake in Airbnb for an undisclosed cash amount plus media space. For the latter, the two parties entered into “a strategic marketing partnership”, Airbnb said in a media statement. (Full statement in German.)

Airbnb was launched in the U.S. in 2008 and operates internationally, but Axel Springer will only help it with advertising space in Germany. The advertising space will be giving in “its many online and print publications”, Airbnb said.

Another tit-for-tat: Axel Springer agreed to give Airbnb.de an “exclusive partnership” in the accommodation rental section of Axel Springer’s real estate portal Immonet.de. (A few weeks ago 9Flats and ImmobilienScout24.de concluded a “strategic cooperation agreement”. Then 9Flats managing director Stephan Uhrenbacher told Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) ImmobilienScout24 would, among others, help 9Flats win new inventory, ie. listings.)

9Flats was launched in Germany last year and is slowly internationalizing. At this stage, Airbnb is the more international player, with a presence in 19,000 cities and 192 countries (Airbnb statistics).

Apart from Axel Springer, the following venture capital firms are invested in Airbnb: Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, General Catalyst, Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital and SV Angels.

Gunnar Froh, Airbnb country manager for Germany, said his firm was happy to have gained Axel Springer as an investor and „close partner in future “ in Germany.

Venture capital firm T-Venture invested a multi-million euro amount in 9Flats.com recently. ImmobilienScout24.de is Germany’s biggest real estate platform and Immonet.de the second biggest. Both T-Venture and ImmobilienScout24 belong to German telecommunication giant Deutsche Telekom.

According to SNAL (short for syndicat national des aménageurs-lotisseurs), the portal “is a unique location, where all sites on offer are brought together in a targeted way”.  To help navigation, users have geo-locating functionality, which displays all listed sites on Google maps in plan and satellite view.

The portal was needed, because building sites are not normally listed on traditional real estate portals, SNAL said.

In this position, Wergin will be responsible for the entire technology department, including the central IT areas of architecture, development, project management and production, the company said in a media statement.

Wergin (on photo left) comes to ImmobilienScout24 from online games firm Bigpoint, where he was chief technical officer, responsible for development, localization, quality assurance and project management.

He had also done stints at Vodafone (as head of development), student network StudiVZ (as chief product officer) and Lycos (as managing director of communities and communication), ImmobilienScout24 said.

Photo courtesy of obs/ImmobilienScout24.

Zillow has just launched a mashup with Facebook, which lets consumers get advice from their social media friends as they search for a home to buy or rent. We tried it. Not only did we find two friends in the very zip code in which we wanted to make a purchase, we also found out that we have Facebook friends in 44 US states and 207 cities.  It’s very easy to use and could be immensely useful for those who are making a move to an area about which they know little. While in theory there’s much out there about neighborhoods and cities – schools, shops, cost of living and so forth – how do you find out the truth about the safety of the neighborhood, or whether the residents there keep their barking dogs in at night, or keep their yards looking nice? Your friends who live there will tell you, of course. We like this new Zillow feature.

Here’s the announcement, and a graphic of our search in a specific Phoenix zip code: 

Zillow Launches Social Home-Shopping Experience, Neighborhood Advice

Home Shoppers Can Now Connect With Facebook Friends to Find Neighborhood Information While Searching for Homes on Zillow

SEATTLE, Jan. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Today leading real estate information marketplace Zillow® (NASDAQ:Z) announced the launch of Neighborhood Advice on Zillow.com®, a social home-shopping experience that helps buyers and renters learn about neighborhoods from their Facebook friends.

While shopping on Zillow, users are prompted to activate Facebook® Connect and then see locally where their Facebook friends live or “check-in” the most.  As shoppers search for homes in a specific city or neighborhood, Neighborhood Advice will recommend Facebook friends connected to the area to contact for personal tips and advice.

For example, if a user is searching for homes in the San Francisco neighborhood of Noe Valley, Neighborhood Advice will identify friends who have shared that they live in Noe Valley, or who frequently “check-in” to places in Noe Valley. The home shopper can then send these friends a private direct message on Facebook to ask questions about the neighborhood.

“When people are looking to rent or buy a new home, they always ask friends, family and co-workers questions about different neighborhoods. Neighborhood Advice takes this further and deeper by allowing shoppers to quickly and easily tap into their broader online social network as they shop for homes on Zillow,” said Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow. “Integrating social media tools and friend networks into the core Zillow home-shopping experience is yet another way we are giving our users access to previously hard-to-find, yet sought-after, information.”

About Zillow, Inc.

Zillow is the leading real estate information marketplace, providing vital information about homes, real estate listings and mortgages through its websites and mobile applications, enabling homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters to connect with real estate and mortgage professionals best suited to meet their needs. More than 23 million unique users visited Zillow’s websites and mobile applications in December 2011. Zillow, Inc. operates Zillow.com, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Mobile, Postlets® and Diverse Solutions™. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow.com, Zillow and Postlets are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc. Diverse Solutions is a trademark of Zillow, Inc.

Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.

SOURCE Zillow, Inc.

Samuelson told the Inman News conference crowd that the impetus behind the product was the whopping 45 percent of weekend traffic coming to Realtor.com by way of mobile devices.  

The tool is free, and in about two weeks will be available to agents who validate their MLS ID and status. Once the agent chooses a property listing, the mobile website is generated instantly. In addition to photo and other data, the mobile SPW has its own short-form URL, QR code and PDF.

There will not be any advertising on the mobile sites, Samuelson told Inman News. “This is strictly for the agent,” he said.

We first reported about the upcoming move on Dec. 8, 2011.

„This is part of our overall growth strategy,“ Marc Stilke, managing director of ImmobilienScout24 said today.

„Austria is a first step and will be followed by other international markets. Austria is a big-potential market for us. Firstly, because many advertisers already list across borders. Secondly, because our brand enjoys high awareness outside Germany,“ he added.

Schenner said he and his team aim to become Austria’s number one real estate portal. “We have already signed up 28 of the 30 most important agents and agent organizations and aim to have 400 agents on board by the end of 2012. In other words, half of the potential agent market,” he said.

Check out Schenner’s profile page and photo on Xing.

Until Mar. 31 agents can list free. Then a price model with “very fair and reasonable rates” will be introduced, the company said in its statement.

Read the complete statement (in German) here.

Before assuming this to be solid information on consumers in general, one must take into account the source of the survey respondents. Of the 400 respondents, 300 heard of the survey while visiting one of six local US MLS-owned sites. The other 100 were consumers who had recently bought or sold a home, provided by a paid list service. No one attempted to solicit consumers while they were visiting Zillow, Trulia or Realtor.com, unfortunately. 

Of those who preferred third-party (non-broker) sites, the reasons, in order of ranking, were ease of use, information comprehensive and up-to-date, information the same as Realtors use, no sales people calling on them, and the ability to localize search. Some mentioned the ability to be alerted about properties, area information on the site, a mobile app, and agent reviews from past customers.

Participants said overwhelmingly that they thought of the MLS as the source for the best property information, and considered the word MLS to stand for high-quality, educational, objective information.

Based on the study, WAV Group recommended that the association proceed with ICANN application for registration for the dot-MLS. The application window is January 12 through April 12.  The stumbling block, however, according to a recent MLS Domains site post by the group’s attorney Brian Larson, is that the number of MLS groups committed so far is not sufficient to guarantee approval by ICANN.  The 250 domains already purchased represent a little more than one third of the number needed to make this project viable. It seems that many groups have said yes, but only should ICANN approve the application. Their putting their money where their mouths are can’t be a given, of course.

We have to wonder as well about the wisdom of making a decision to go forward based on results of a seemingly-skewed study. We’re not doubting the wisdom of the project – just the value of the guidance. Here’s access to a PDF of the complete  WAV Group report.

ImmobilienScout24.de is Germany’s biggest real estate platform. Both T-Venture and ImmobilienScout24 belong to German telecommunication giant Deutsche Telekom.

In January last year ImmobilienScout24 first referred to its “strategy for growth”, which is a plan to become the first port-of-call for all real estate-related themes – not only the renting and selling of homes and commercial property.

Since then it has done a lot to turn this vision into reality. For instance, it:

• Acquired and incorporated the moves portal Umzug-easy.de into its own move portal to create Germany’s biggest move portal.
• Invested time and effort into the communal accommodation portal Roomiez.de (mostly for students).
• Invested in short-term co-working space facilitator Deskwanted.com (mostly for freelancers and other creative workers).
• Invested in an app called bauen l wohnen l leben 24, with information and services related to homebuilding. At the time ImmobilienScout24 said the app is “an extension of our service offering in the field of homebuilding”.

These are all start-ups. In most cases ImmobilienScout24 invested a small amount (a few hundred thousand euro) and offered the team office space, and other support (eg. help with online marketing, legal advice and general counselling) for a pre-specified period. In effect, ImmobilienScout24 bought itself time (at a rock-bottom price and almost no risk) to see how the business ideas develop in the market and (probably more important) to get to know the teams behind the ideas.

This is, incidently, also the approach of Naspers’ Brazilian subsidiary BuscaPe to acquiring the best new ideas and heads behind the ideas. Read about BuscaPe’s approach to acquiring new ideas and talent here.

In the case of 9Flats.com the investment was made by T-Venture, probably because 9Flats.com didn’t fit into the “low capital, low risk” model followed by ImmobilienScout24.

In a next step, ImmobilienScout24 and 9Flats will conclude a “strategic cooperation agreement” (reported here). This was confirmed by 9Flats managing director Stephan Uhrenbacher, who told Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) ImmobilienScout24 will, among others, help 9Flats win new inventory (more listings of accommodation).

9Flats launched in the first quarter of 2011. To date it has facilitated the renting out of 25,000 rooms, reported FTD. It earns a commission based on the value of accommodation sold – the host pays 3 percent and the guest 12 percent. 9Flats.com handles the payment procedure.

Two other investors in 9Flats, namely U.S.-based venture capital firm Redpoint and Hamburg-based risk-capital provider Eventure Capital Partners, also injected more capital this week. But, that’s not all: according to start-up magazine Gruenderszene.de, a fourth investor joined the party, namely German Media Pool Venture Capital (www.germanmediapool.com), a company which provides media advertising space in exchange for shares. As with the other three investors, the value of the injection given by German Media Pool Venture Capital was not disclosed.

9Flats needs all the help it can get, because it is up against competitors which are extremely well-financed.

In the middle of last year the German brothers Samwer (also known for making a killing last year when they sold their Facebook shares) launched Wimdu.com with a reported $90 million U.S. in the kitty. The other big competitor is U.S-based Airbnb (in Germany at Airbnb.de). In the second half of last year it got a capital injection of $112 million U.S..

Uhrenbacher said the capital will be used to “drive the international expansion of 9Flats forward”. It already operates in a range of European countries and the U.S.. At the time of writing this, 9Flats had not responded yet to a question whether country offices and teams will be set up.

In October last year, Airbnb.com teamed up with Berlin-Based Springstar to help Airbnb with its internationalization strategy. That was after it had bought the Hamburg-based competitor Accoleo to kick-start its campaign in Germany (read here).

The fight is on…

Roman Bodnarchuk, the founder of the appropriately named CondoOutlet, says he wants to capitalize on the booming condo marketplace in Canada’s biggest metropolis: about 30,000 new condos were sold in the greater Toronto area in 2011, he says, but “in spite of this hot market, most buyers are stuck purchasing their condo with very little information about one of the biggest investments of their life.”

CondoOutlet says that it features “the most comprehensive condo listings of existing and new builds,” although the site doesn’t indicate exactly how many properties it lists, other than there are some 200 HD video tours and 13,000 floor plans.

The CondoOutlet TV show, which airs on a local Toronto station, “takes you behind the scenes to meet the architects, engineers and developers behind the condos,” according to the CondoOutlet website.

CondoOutlet has its eyes on two other condo markets – London and Dubai – and maintains offices in both.