Inman

Real estate firms rapidly adopting new lead gen tool

Remodeling network Porch has unveiled a second tool that brokerages, website providers and listing search services can use to augment listings with renovation project history reports, and squeeze more leads out of real estate websites.

A number of leading real estate companies have already adopted the widget, highlighting the appeal of the latest lead-capture feature to become available to real estate websites. AddressReport is another property report provider that recently fashioned a lead generation product for real estate firms.

Prospective buyers that visit listing pages equipped with Porch’s new widget may click the add-on to pull up a Porch report detailing the listing’s remodeling project history.

Companies that embed the widget on their websites can gate the property report behind a form that requires a user to enter their contact information. They can also add their branding or a real estate agent’s branding to the reports.

The integration “creates the ability to drive meaningfully more leads” through a real estate search website, said Porch CEO Matt Ehrlichman.

Previously, companies could only integrate with Porch by adding simple links to listing pages that direct users to a property report. Windermere Real Estate, an early partner of Porch, had only been linking to Porch reports through the hyperlinks “Renovation History” and “Neighborhood Stats.” Now, it also displays the Porch widget near the bottom of its listing pages.


Screenshot of Porch widget on Windermere Real Estate listing page.

The prospect of supplementing listings with project history data, and capturing leads with it, has proven highly appealing to the industry.

After announcing partnerships with realtor.com and Windermere Real Estate, Porch has revealed that it’s also powering property reports for Estately, HomeFinder.com, iHomeFinder.com, Tribus Group, PlanetRE, Properties Online, TorchX, Virtual Results and New Media MLS.

Porch has also forged a deal with listing syndicator ListHub that lets Porch enrich its property reports with multiple listing service data from ListHub. ListHub is owned by realtor.com operator Move, which was recently acquired by News Corp.

The new partnerships will bring the “Porch Home Report” to more than 25,000 real estate websites, according to Porch. So far, over 6 million Porch Home Reports have been requested through Porch’s partnerships with real estate companies.

The reports include home improvement project history, the cost and details of remodels and projects, information on professionals who have worked on the home and neighborhood, and neighborhood information, such as how long neighbors have lived in their homes, and the size, age and cost of comparable homes.

Companies that integrate with Porch, brokerages and listing search sites alike, can sell leads generated by Porch’s reports to real estate agents, Ehrlichman said. In those cases, Porch partners would share that revenue with Porch.

Email Teke Wiggin.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that ListHub lets Porch surface ListHub data in its property reports; Porch is not powering property reports for ListHub.