RealtyTrac signs big South Florida firm to broker network

Listings pooled by real estate brokers in South Florida will soon be showing up in searches on realtytrac.com, with RealtyTrac sending the leads they generate to the newest member of its referral network, The Keyes Company.

Joining the network makes The Keyes Company — which has 35 offices and more than 2,200 agents in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin St. Lucie and Volusia counties — RealtyTrac’s “expert industry source” for the region in market reports the data aggregator generates for the news media.

Like other partner brokerages, The Keyes Company has signed up for a year and pays RealtyTrac to be part of the network, RealtyTrac spokeswoman Ginny Walker told Inman.

RealtyTrac signs partner brokerages on an exclusive basis in each market, promising media exposure, market data and leads to partner brokerages. The network currently includes nine brokerages, Walker said.

In addition to getting leads from their listings on realtytrac.com, partner brokerages receive exclusive branding within their market regions on RealtyTrac’s neighborhood information site Homefacts.com, Walker said.

The network launched in February, 2013, and within six months eight brokerages were on board. It’s grown more slowly since then, losing nearly as many brokers as it’s gained.

RealtyTrac CEO Jamie Moyle attributed the slowdown to RealtyTrac’s entry last year into the tax, deed and mortgage data licensing business.

“We’ve had a big year (in 2014), and that took a lot of our bandwidth to get into that space,” Moyle told Inman in September, when Windermere Real Estate’s 10 company-owned offices signed up.

In addition to generating publicity for partner brokerages by citing them as local experts in market reports it produces for the news media on local housing trends, RealtyTrac can also generate leads and exposure for partner brokerages that choose to display listings on realtytrac.com.

Listing detail pages on realtytrac.com and homefacts.com carry the branding of the RealtyTrac partner broker, and all leads generated by lead forms on the site go to that broker.

Moyle also attributed the slow growth of the network to the difficulties involved with hammering out data agreements with multiple listing services that give RealtyTrac clearance to display, on behalf of partner brokerages, Internet data exchange (IDX) listing feeds that include all listings represented by brokers participating in IDX.

RealtyTrac added Windermere Real Estate’s 10 company-owned brokerage offices to the network in September.

Current RealtyTrac Network members include:

• The Keyes Company, 2,200 agents (January 2015)
• Windermere Real Estate (Seattle) (September 2014)
• Real Living Lifestyles (San Diego), 250 agents (August 2014)
• First Team Real Estate (Irvine) 1,800 agents (April 2014)
• Re/Max Alliance (Arvada, Colorado) 750 agents (March 2014)
• HER Realtors (Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Ohio) 820 agents (August 2013)
• Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Utah Properties, 400 agents (August 2013)
• Chase International (Nevada), 240 agents (June 2013)
• Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties (Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma) (June 2013)

(“Charter member” Prudential California Realty, announced in May 2013, has been replaced by First Team Real Estate.)

Bob Parks Realty in Tennessee and Laffey Fine Homes International in New York were once members, but are no longer in the network.

Editor’s note: Listings of RealtyTrac Network partner brokerages don’t show up on RealtyTrac’s neighborhood information site Homefacts.com as a previous version of this story incorrectly suggested.