Realty One Group has revamped its website and branding and launched new consumer mobile apps as it prepares for a nationwide expansion.
The Henderson, Nev.-based firm’s refresh includes a new tagline — “Homes, Lives, Dreams” — and a simplified logo that brings its iconic circle “one” to the forefront.
The fast-growing brokerage — founded in 2005 and now ranked by Real Trends as the nation’s seventh-largest — announced last year that it would expand into franchising.
The revamped website and branding are part of the company’s desire to go head-to-head with some of big franchise brands like Prudential Real Estate and Coldwell Banker Real Estate, said Realty One Group CEO Kuba Jewgieniew.
The website includes a panoramic background image, streamlined search bar and a “community search” feature, powered by data firm OnBoard Informatics, which helps users find areas they might like to live based on a set of 10 features they rate as important to them in a new neighborhood. The tool can surface whether an area is close to a golf course, is pet-friendly, or has great schools, for example.
Jewgieniew said the new capabilities help Realty One Group serve its agents by highlighting the firm’s focus on local knowledge. He said the firm tracks consumers’ habits on the site and feeds them into an algorithm that helps the firm match up the best agent for the particular consumer.
The new consumer home search mobile apps share listings via email and social media, save favorite listings for a later time, and conduct GPS-based searches. Jewgieniew said Realty One Group also plans to roll out agent-focused mobile apps soon.
Realty One Group operates its 17 brokerage offices and 14 new franchises primarily in Arizona, Nevada and California at the moment, and has been on a growth tear.
Closed transactions were up 47.1 percent from 2011 to 2012 — the biggest jump during that time period for any firm ranked in the top 50 by Real Trends in its 2013 survey. The firm also recorded an 85.2 percent jump in dollar sales volume from 2011 to 2012, to $4.9 billion in sales — the biggest increase among the top 90 ranked by Real Trends.
In April, Realty One Group began advertising its listings on Trulia, and in March began paying to enhance them on Homes.com.
The firm recently added an Idaho broker as its first franchisor outside of Realty One Group’s three-state core area, and will announce more growth in the coming months, a Realty One Group spokesperson said.