Memorialize home sales through photos of buyers and sellers, and shower them with free education. Those were recommendations tweeted multiple times for #madREskillz this week, in what was perhaps its most earnest iteration.

Some nifty technologies also surfaced during the contest, including cutting-edge 3D video renderings  produced by James Stanley Designs and Vine, an app that allows you to shoot and tweet six-second looping videos.

Oh, and Corcoran revealed that it’s absolutely killing it on Tumblr. We explored that social media platform’s marketing potential in a post earlier this week, by the way.

Scroll through the some of the best entries below, and be sure to vote for the winner on our Facebook page.

It sounds like every entrepreneur’s dream: You’re invited to pitch your idea for a real estate tech startup on a nationally-televised reality show, to a panel of judges that includes business luminaries like Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban.

But then it turns into every entrepreneur’s nightmare. Not only do you not get the $250,000 in seed funding dangled before competitors, but the judges are mostly unimpressed with your idea — or worse.

That’s pretty much how things went for Bill Lyons, founder and CEO of Revestor, when he appeared on the ABC reality show, “Shark Tank.”

As Inman News readers know, Revestor is a real estate search portal aimed at helping homebuyers and investors find good deals by evaluating listings to identify those with the highest potential returns.

According to a summary of the show — which first ran in November, and is scheduled to air again tonight — Barbara Corcoran can’t get behind Revestor because she “doesn’t understand how it’s possible to make estimations on value.”

Mark Cuban, “hates this type of business, so he’s out,” and Daymond John “follows his lead.” Robert Herjavec “doesn’t believe Bill has a real business concept, so he’s out.”

Kevin O’Leary “believes Bill is going after real estate investors, which is a smaller subset of all real estate buyers … He’s out, too. Bill will have to find another investor for Revestor.”

While others might have been tempted to throw in the towel after such a public drubbing, Lyons said his faith in Revestor’s model was unshaken.

“We’ll have fun (watching the show again) tomorrow night, ” Lyons said Thursday. “We’ll get beat up again, but it doesn’t matter to us. If we had a (shoddy) product, I would want to jump off a bridge.”

Without Shark Tank seed capital to take his company to the next level, Lyons said Revestor relied on “human capital” instead: time, sweat and blood.

The results will be on display today, and in coming weeks, as Revestor relaunches with a new Premium offering that lets users adjust criteria like downpayment amount, mortgage rate, property management fee, estimated rents, and investment strategy before conducting searches (the free version of the site allows users to adjust those factors one by one on the listing detail page, after conducting a search).

For brokers and agents, an even more intriguing service is in the works: Revestor plans to give members of more than 100 multiple listing services the ability to evaluate Internet data exchange (IDX) listings using the Revestor platform.

In markets where Revestor is able to partner with an MLS,  Lyons said, agents and brokers will be able to enter their client’s criteria into the Revestor platform to find properties that fit their needs as soon as they come on the market. Brokers and agents will also be able to give them direct access to the IDX-powered Revestor platform as a password-protected virtual office websites (VOW).

Revestor currently relies on listing syndicator Listhub for listings, and that information can be 24 to 48 hours behind IDX feeds provided by MLSs, Lyons said.

While that’s fine for many consumers, serious investors in hot markets like San Diego and San Francisco want to know as soon as a properties with the highest “cap rates” and cash flows come onto the market.

Lyons thinks some of the criticism that Shark Tank’s judges leveled at Revestor was off the mark– the site isn’t really trying to predict what a property will be worth in the future, for example, and he thinks it has the potential to be just as valuable to consumers as investors.

“I’m not saying tomorrow we can be Zillow’s biggest competitor, but we’d like to be up there,” Lyons said. “We want to be a legitimate competitor” for consumer traffic.

He attributed some of the difficulty of explaining what Revestor does to the fact that there was no wireless Internet capability in the television studio where Shark Tank was taped. Instead of walking judges through the site on his laptop, he said, he had to use cardboard cutouts of homes for visuals.

But Lyons isn’t at all bitter about the experience. He’s even promoting tonight’s repeat of the “Shark Tank” episode in which Revestor gets raked over the coals.

“We’re just stoked to be on there again,” he said. “There’s no way we could have gotten all this user feedback that’s driven the direction of the site” since the show aired, he said.

Lyons said about 90 percent of people that contact the company “see the potential” of what Revestor is trying to do.

Another 10 percent “think because the Sharks abused us, they can abuse us. They won’t even go to the website.”

What do you think are the most important attributes of a successful real estate tech startup? Leave your comment below.

It’s almost certain that fewer borrowers will qualify for mortgages, and it’s likely that many who do qualify will pay higher interest rates when an “ability-to-repay” rule announced by federal regulators in January takes effect next year as part of implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

That’s according to a 28-page analysis by lawyers with K&L Gates. Even if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau amends the rule to address some industry concerns, “the mortgage banking industry — and consumers — will face a very changed lending environment,” the analysis concludes.

Those most affected include borrowers who do not have stellar credit or whose debt-to-income (DTI) ratios exceed the 43 percent cap for loans entitled to a “safe harbor” from litigation, and mortgage brokers who charge fees of 2 or 3 percent. Loans originated by those brokers will probably not qualify as “qualified mortgages” because they will exceed the 3 percent points and fees maximum.

“Some industry observers seem to consider Chicken Little an optimist — not only is the sky falling, but the earth is trembling and the seas boiling,” the K&L Gates analysis concludes. “But everyone appears to agree that the (proposed rule) has caused the ground to shift beneath our feet.” Source: klgates.com.

Lender Processing Services Inc. may soon be back under the umbrella of title insurer Fidelity National Financial Inc. if reports of a $2.9 billion acquisition pan out.

Fidelity reorganized its title insurance and mortgage loan processing divisions into separate companies in 2006, with FNF’s mortgage loan processing division becoming Fidelity National Information Services Inc. Fidelity National Information Services spun off LPS in 2008.

LPS is in “advanced negotiations” to sell itself to Fidelity National and private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bloomberg reports, citing “a person with direct knowledge of the matter.” Source:bloomberg.com.

Social media has changed everything — even the National Association of Realtors. And there isn’t any way for NAR to take it back.

I wasn’t at NAR’s midyear meeting in Washington, D.C., an annual event where the association’s board of directors weighs policy changes recommended by various committees. I was home in Minnesota working with clients during the busiest time of year for real estate sales.

But I was able to get information about what was going on at midyear through social media. Just because I couldn’t be there doesn’t mean I wasn’t interested in what was going on in Washington. The dues I pay to NAR, and my role as a real estate agent, make me just as much of a stakeholder as any NAR committee member.

Not only did I get real-time information this year, but I was able to discuss it with other members from around the country.

NAR employees and volunteers like that social media allows them to communicate with members. But they seem to struggle with the idea that NAR members can also have private and public discussions amongst ourselves — sometimes disagreeing with NAR policy, or even with the way our associations are run.

NAR and the local Realtor associations in my area recognize only one kind of involvement by members, and that is volunteering to be on a committee. Members who merely pay dues are left out of the conversation. But social media is slowly changing that, even though some members and even employees seem to fight it every step of the way.

Discussions among members are sometimes shot down by NAR volunteers and employees. The idea of transparency is new to some NAR leaders, and they almost seem threatened by the idea that general members are starting to speak out.

They don’t seem to recognize that it’s OK to have discussions and arguments, and that they may ultimately strengthen the organization rather than weakening it.

Taking a defensive posture does not engage members. An engaged membership is more likely to take the time to debate issues and to understand them.

Because there are 1 million of us, there are bound to be members who do not agree with what the leadership is doing. It is better to have engaged members who argue than to have apathetic members who do not care.

NAR needs to recognize that because the organization is so large, there will always be members who do not contribute anything but money — and that’s fine because money pays for staff and programs.

But NAR cannot retain members simply by telling us how important NAR is. We need to see the value and understand it. The real estate industry is facing great disruption and change, and nothing is guaranteed or sacred — not even the National Association of Realtors as we know it today.

When members have public discussions, it isn’t at all unusual for those discussions to be disrupted by NAR leaders and employees trying to control the conversation and redirect it in an effort to protect the organization from some real or perceived harm.

We live in a society where asking questions and debating issues is allowed and even encouraged. Transparency in all things should be encouraged. In an era of social media, there really isn’t any way to hide from it, and there certainly isn’t any way to control it.

There are people in the organization who are still in denial and have not embraced the changes society has pushed onto them. An organization cannot just use social media to communicate with members without those members communicating back to the organization.

Change isn’t always easy but social media is changing NAR, and it will never be the same. There are members including myself who had never heard of NAR’s midyear meetings until we started interacting with other members on the Internet. Social media is and has been the disruptor that is changing NAR, and it reaches beyond NAR leadership and into the general membership.

During this year’s midyear meeting, agents from around the country were reading coverage on Inman News and discussing proposed rule changes that could affect our local MLSs. We have opinions because the decision will impact our businesses on a local level. Some of us have informed opinions, even though we did not attend the meetings.

There is more than one way to get NAR members to participate. Using social media is a great way to engage members — or it will be when it becomes more of a conversation. The next step should be to live-stream the midyear meetings onto the NAR member website so we can all hear the debate.

One NAR staffer told me there is nothing to hear! All the more reason to live-stream it.

Being able to see the meetings and listen would help newer members (who may not have the funds to travel to Washington, D.C.) understand the organization and feel like they are part of it.

Objective five in the 2012-2014 strategic plan is to: “Strengthen relationships with Realtors and within the Realtor community.”

The plan specifically mentions both social media and using social media to engage members. There has to be a conversation, and it isn’t always going to be pretty.

It will take some effort on the parts of NAR leadership and employees to be inclusive and tolerant of people who have new or different ideas. Members will disagree and argue and have to learn how to respect differences.

Teresa Boardman is a broker in St. Paul, Minn., and founder of the St. Paul Real Estate blog.

Yes, it’s located on a 50-acre lot in a locale that’s highly desirable to 1 percenters: Greenwich, Conn. And while some might worry that a 13,519-square-foot, 12-bedroom, 9-bath home might come across as slightly ostentatious, the fact that it was built in 1898 could appeal to the nouveau riche. But is any single-family home worth $190 million?

“The thing about ‘vanity pricing’ is … it does provide exposure,” observes the Los Angeles Times’ Lauren Beale. “There’s nothing quite like planting a for-sale sign at the top of the price spectrum to draw notice.”

Beale notes that many homes that are priced in the stratosphere are marketed as pocket listings, never appearing in a multiple listing service. The Greenwich mansion above that may illustrate an example of ‘vanity pricing’ is listed in the MLS — with the highest asking price of any home on realtor.com.

Beale recalls a home in Beverly Hills that was marketed a few years ago at $165 million, but did not sell. Source: latimes.com.

A judge’s ruling that casts doubt on the legality of using Airbnb to rent out apartments in New York for less than 29 days may be the least of the popular website’s worries. Airbnb, which is thought to be headed for an initial public offering this year, may also put users in jeopardy of breaking prohibitions on subleasing that are a common feature of leases all over the world, Quartz’s S. Mitra Kalita points out. Source: qz.com

Developers and architects in Manhattan have found a winning formula for turning even tiny lots into piles of cash: Secure the air rights and build towering, pencil-thin condo towers with incredible views that buyers will pay equally incredible sums for.

There are currently 49 Manhattan condo buildings with units selling for more than $15 million, up from 33 in 2009, the New York Times reports, citing CityRealty. That’s partly due to rising home prices, but another 20 or so high-rise condo buildings are under construction or planned.

Developer Bruce Eichner plans to build a condo tower that will soar nearly 800 feet into the air on a lot south of Madison Square Park that’s just 50 feet wide, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“So long as the zoning in key parts of Manhattan is without height restrictions and developers can assemble the needed air rights from neighboring property owners, the building boom stands to change the New York skyline, sprinkling it with needle-like towers that reach to the skies,” the Wall Street Journal surmises. Source: therealdeal.com.

Copyright 2013 Inman News]]> http://www.inman.com/wire/condo-boom-transorming-new-york-skyline/feed/ 0 http://www.inman.com/wire/ellen-degeneres-and-portia-de-rossi-buy-santa-barbara-villa-as-weekend-getaway/ http://www.inman.com/wire/ellen-degeneres-and-portia-de-rossi-buy-santa-barbara-villa-as-weekend-getaway/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 15:06:01 +0000 Inman News http://www.inman.com/?post_type=wire&p=63937

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are ready to call Santa Barbara, Calif., home again, at least on the weekends when they’re not staying at one of their other California homes.

Having made about $4 million in 2008 flipping a mansion in neighboring Montecito for $20 million (Google Chairman Eric Schmidt was the buyer), the couple have reportedly purchased a 10,500-square-foot Tuscan-styled villa on a 13-acre estate in Santa Barbara that was on the market for $26.5 million.

The house sits at the end of a quarter-mile-long driveway and is not visible from the road. DeGeneres and de Rossi also purchased a 3.8-acre property next door, presumably for the additional privacy it will afford. Source: huffingtonpost.com.

Sales of new single-family homes were up a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent from March to April and 29 percent from a year ago, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

There were an estimated 156,000 new homes on the market at the end of April, which represented 4.1 months of supply at April’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales: 454,000 per year. The median sales price of new homes sold in April 2013 was $271,600; the average was $330,800. Source: census.gov.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.59 percent with an average point of 0.7 percent for the week ending May 23, up from 3.51 percent last week but down from 3.78 percent a year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans also ticked higher, while rates on one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs remained the same. Source: Freddie Mac

Marking another attempt to introduce consumer-professional matchmaking into the real estate industry, theSweeten aims to pair people eyeing renovations or remodeling projects with vetted contractors who are the most qualified to execute them.

The site also may prove a resource to brokers. One already plans to partner with theSweeten in order to better serve clients who are mulling remodeling projects.

Currently, many home remodeling pairings between professionals and consumers are relatively arbitrary, often resulting in mismatches, said the company’s founder and CEO, Jean Lauer.

“The market is really inefficient. Often firms get inquiries for projects that they’re not really interested in,” she said. “There’s no marketplace … this is where you hear all the horror stories.”

There are already referral sites like Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor (formerly ServiceMagic) that steer consumers to contractors listed in their directories. But those sites still don’t provide sufficient guidance, sometimes connecting consumers with contractors who aren’t really equipped to handle their projects, Lauer argues.

TheSweeten, however, holds a consumer’s hand throughout the entire search process, and even up until a project’s completion, she said.

To use the service, a consumer submits a project description that includes a timeline, budget and photos. Then it selects three contractors from its Rollodex of contractors that it determines are most qualified to take on the project, and invites them to offer bids based on the project description. The consumer then reviews the bids and picks a contractor.

“It’s really about understanding who’s the right fit for the $5,000 bathroom,” she said. “We only get compensated if we make the right match … our focus is making sure we get the right firms in front of the right projects.”

In addition to providing a source of business for contractors, theSweeten also may enable brokers to offer more value to clients. Last month, the company said it was in talks with a major New York City brokerage about a partnership.

In such partnerships, agents could tap theSweeten for estimates of potential remodeling projects that clients ask about, as well as its network of remodeling specialists, said theSweeten co-founder Preeti Sriratana.

“Even though they may have a couple names, they don’t have the resources and depth that we have,” said Sriratana, speaking of brokers who advise clients on remodeling projects. “We would be able to say, ‘Oh, we’ve done projects in that building before … we can tell you average price per square foot.’”

Currently, theSweeten serves only New York City and  has an active contractor membership of around 120 that it has selected from more than 2,000 applicants since launching in July 2011, Lauer said. To apply for membership, contractors ranging from “tile guys” and landscapers to architects and interior designers must undergo an hourlong interview, submit four references and later meet for an in-person interview, Lauer said.

A survey the company conducted showed that, on average, 75 to 80 percent of inquiries that contractors receive through theSweeten’s network translate into work, Lauer said. She said that, in comparison, the typical conversion rate in the industry is about 50 percent. The same survey also found that the network appeared to boost a member’s revenue by 15 percent.

The site earns money by charging members a commission ranging from about 1 to 3 percent on projects that they receive through it .

Contact people and companies mentioned in this story: Jean Lauer, theSweeten

Do you think theSweeten could be a useful resource for you? 

When it came to selling his Miami Beach, Fla., mansion, New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez really stepped up to the plate. And then, you could say, he hit a grand slam.

The baseball star just cut loose the 20,000-square-foot home for $30 million, earning him a $15 million gain, TMZ reported. Source: TMZ

Is your to-do list out of control? It is if you’re working at full capacity and can never complete everything on it.

Taming your to-do-list can be easier than you realize provided that you know what to do, and it’s also one of the most important steps you can take to avoid stress-related illnesses, including heart disease and cancer. Here are five easy-to-implement tips that can help you rein in your unruly to-do list.

1. Confront the beast

When you confront your beastly to-do list, you must be willing to face the truth about what is really going on in your business and personal life. The following exercise will take some effort, but the results are worth it. Here’s what to do:

For the next three days (a week would be even better), keep track of each activity in which you engage. This includes how many times you send text messages, how much time you spend on social media, how much time is devoted to phone communication, as well as how much time you spend in the various parts of your business. For example, track how long you spend prospecting, working on existing transactions and troubleshooting transaction problems.

Also be sure to note how much time you spend with your family or loved ones and how much time you spend engaging in self-care — this includes exercise, getting ready for work, preparing meals, etc. You should also track time spent in the car, as well as how much time you spend playing games, watching TV, gossiping at the office, or engaging in other activities that are not related to your business or self-care.

2. How many billable hours did you really have?

Once you complete your tracking for three days, calculate how many hours you actually spent delivering real estate-related services to your clients. Some people call these “billable hours.” In other words, if you billed for your services and had to assign that activity to a specific client you are working with, how many hours would you have logged over the three-day period? If you logged 18 actual billable hours over the three-day period (that’s 30 hours per week), your business should be doing well. (Please note that billable hours do include prospecting time.)

Next, note how many hours you spent in nonbillable activity. You may have been away from your house for 12 hours, but how many hours did you spend in activities that did nothing to build your business? Most agents are surprised to discover that a big part of their busy day had nothing to do with helping them grow their business.

3. What are your priorities?

The next step in taming your to-do list is to go through your activities for each day and place them in either the business or personal category. Divide your list into two different areas: business and personal.

Next, place your “billable hours” at the top of your business list and then rank-order these. Repeat the process with any remaining “nonbillable” activities.

Once you finish your business list, go on to your personal activities. Make sure that your personal self-care activities are ranked at or near the top of your list. You can’t nourish and care for others if you don’t nourish and care for yourself. Make eating well, exercising, and taking time off to relax and unwind a priority.

4. Your three daily “big rocks”

You now have a concrete description about which activities are most important in your business and personal life. As you begin each day, the first thing you must do is to identify the top three most important things you must complete in order to have a successful business and a satisfying personal life. Some people call these your “big rocks.” Here’s where the term originates:

Assume you have an empty bucket. You fill it with three large rocks. Is the bucket full? The answer is “no,” because you can add pebbles to the bucket. Now is it full? The answer is “no” again, because you can add sand. Is it full now? Again, the answer is “no,” because you can still add water.

The point here is that if you start with pebbles, sand or water, there will be no room for the big rocks. The same is true for your business. By completing the most important tasks at the beginning of the day, you keep your business focused and on target.

Motivational speaker Brian Tracy, in his book, “Eat That Frog,” references a similar approach. Take the biggest, nastiest task you have to do (the “frog”) and complete it (“eat it”) first.

5. Eliminate the bottom 20 percent of activities on both lists

The 80-20 rule describes how 80 percent of your results come from engaging in the top 20 percent of your activities. What this means is that the bottom 20 percent of your activities requires 20 percent of your time, but yields only about a 1 percent return in terms of your overall effectiveness. In other words, you normally devote a full day each week to activities that give you a return of 1 percent or less.

So here’s the bottom line: To tame your to-do-list, focus on the three big rocks you must do each day. Those three rocks can be summed up in six words: “Generate leads, convert leads, close transactions.” Next, stop engaging in the bottom 20 percent of your current activities that are providing little, if any, return. Wouldn’t your to-do list be a lot easier with a full day extra per week every week? Use this approach and you’ll be truly amazed at the results.

Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com, is a national speaker, trainer and author of the National Association of Realtors’ No. 1 best-seller, “Real Estate Dough: Your Recipe for Real Estate Success.” Hear Bernice’s five-minute daily real estate show, just named “new and notable” by iTunes, at www.RealEstateCoachRadio.com.

Despite rising home prices early in the year, a significant portion of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage — about 44 percent — still owed more on their home than it was worth or didn’t have enough equity to move at the end of the first quarter, according to Zillow’s first-quarter Negative Equity Report.

Zillow’s analysis showed that 25.4 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were underwater on their homes, while another 18.2 percent more were “effectively” underwater, with less than 20 percent equity in their homes.

Taken together, about 22.3 million U.S. homeowners likely don’t have enough equity in their homes to afford a down payment on another home, Zillow said, keeping them in their homes and preventing new inventory from hitting the market.

“Reaching positive equity, even barely, is an important milestone,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries in a statement. “But things like real estate agents’ fees and a down payment for the next home traditionally come out of the proceeds from the prior home’s sale. Without enough equity, these costs will instead have to come out of a homeowner’s pocket, leaving many still stuck,” he said.

“Looking at the effective negative equity rate could explain why recent, healthy declines in the number of underwater borrowers haven’t yet translated into more homes for sale,” Humphries added. “The only cure is patience, as rising home values continue to build equity to the point where more homeowners can realistically sell.”

Among the 30 largest metro areas covered by Zillow, those with the highest effective negative equity rate, including homeowners with 20 percent equity or less, include Las Vegas (71.5 percent), Atlanta (64.1 percent), and Riverside, Calif. (59.7 percent).

Zillow predicts that the negative equity rate among all homeowners with a mortgage will fall to 23.5 percent by the first quarter of 2014. Of the 30 largest metro areas, the majority of these newly freed homeowners are anticipated to come from: Los Angeles (94,642 homeowners), Riverside (74,693 homeowners), and Phoenix (51,580 homeowners).

Will Penny Pritzker — the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Pritzker Realty Group LLC –  be the next secretary of commerce?

That she led fundraising efforts that helped President Barack Obama win the 2008 election undoubtedly helped the Chicago billionaire secure the nomination.

But at her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, Pritzker can expect to face some tough questions about her role in one of the nation’s largest bank failures  (Superior Bank, which went under in 2001 after becoming an early pioneer in subprime mortgage lending), and a “clerical error“  in a disclosure form required for her nomination that understated at least $80 million in income. Source: bloomberg.com.

Uncertainty about the future of the Federal Reserve’s massive program to keep interest rates low could spook investors and send mortgage rates higher.

Testifying before lawmakers today, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said he couldn’t rule out cutting back on the Fed’s “quantitative easing” — purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) — in the months ahead. That sent prices of MBS backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a tailspin, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Since MBS prices and yields move in the opposite direction — and since changes in MBS yields are eventually reflected in mortgage rates paid by consumers –  the cost of taking out a home loan could rise in the days, weeks and months ahead. Source: wsj.com.

Canadian property search portal Zoocasa is obtaining brokerage licenses in order to secure listings data, but instead of hiring its own agents the company will provide referrals to other brokers.

Zoocasa relaunched today with listings in the Greater Toronto area and a directory of “prequalified, experienced real estate agents” from top franchise brands and brokerages including Century21, RE/MAX, Royal LePage, Harvey Kalles and Coldwell Banker.

Buyers and sellers who close transactions using Zoocasa partner agents will receive rebates including cash and gift cards from retailers including Best Buy, Home Depot, Sears and Canadian Tire, totaling about $2,000 on a typical $550,000 transaction, the company said. Zoocasa will earn a referral fee of roughly one-third of the commission, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports.

“Consumers have indicated that they want to be able to research online. Not just to find their next home, but also to find the right agent to help them,” said Zoocasa President Carolyn Beatty in a statement. “We see improving the way homebuyers and sellers connect with today’s experienced real estate agents as a natural evolution of what we do.”

Zoocasa now has information on listings in the Greater Toronto area, and a directory of 200 hand-picked agents, the the Toronto Star reports. The company said it plans to roll out its new home and agent search platform to all major Canadian markets.

Beatty told The Globe and Mail in March that Zoocasa was seeking a brokerage license in Ontario in order to obtain listings data, and would seek licenses across Canada. Although Zoocasa does not plan to employ agents, obtaining brokerage licenses would allow it to operate a virtual office website (VOW), the paper said.

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), under pressure from Canadian regulators, adopted rules allowing virtual office websites in 2011. The legal battle between TREB and the Competition Bureau of Canada is ongoing, with the Competition Bureau recently announcing it would appeal last month’s dismissal of a complaint alleging TREB has engaged in anti-competitive practices.

Before adopting its new business model, Zoocasa, which is a subsidiary of Canadian cell phone company and cable TV operator Rogers Communications Inc., was sued by Century 21 Canada Ltd. for allegedly scraping listing data from Century21.ca from late 2008 through early 2010.

In a Sept. 2, 2011, decision, the Supreme Court of British Columbia awarded Century 21 Canada $33,000 in damages, but concluded that Zoocasa did not act “dishonestly, unreasonably or unfairly,” but instead “apparently entered into the market without due consideration of the legal issues surrounding copyright and intellectual property.”