Consumers and their agents looking for real estate in Colorado can now find more properties on an MLS-powered website site, ColoProperty.com, and may soon be able to find more.
Information and Real Estate Services (IRES), an MLS based in Northern Colorado, has gotten closer to a “one-stop shop” for listings in the state with a partnership with the Vail Board of Realtors.
With the addition of 1,200 listings from Eagle County, which includes the resort town of Vail, IRES’s ColoProperty.com now displays nearly 18,000 active for-sale listings of single-family homes, condos and townhomes, and vacant land.
Lauren Hansen
“We are thrilled to work hand-in-hand with the Vail MLS to help brokers and sellers market their listings and to provide consumers with an up-to-date, feature rich site,” said IRES CEO Lauren Hansen in a statement.
“MLS collaboration is a win-win for everyone.”
IRES building its network
IRES, which has more than 5,000 members, joined forces with another Colorado MLS, Colorado Real Estate Network, last summer to display CREN’s listings on ColoProperty.com.
In February, IRES announced partnerships with the Grand Junction Area Realtors Association (GJARA) and Gunnison Country Association of Realtors.
IRES plans to continue expanding the initiative statewide, Hansen told Inman via email.
“We are open to working with other MLSs and have a few considering it at their leadership level now. But the ultimate decision to participate remains at the Board or MLS level (as it should be),” she said.
More leads on ColoProperty.com
The initiative is in part intended to sidestep popular listing portals such as Zillow and realtor.com. ColoProperty.com does not have the highest real estate web traffic in the state, but does offer its listing brokers more of something they want: leads, Hansen told Inman when launching the project.
“ColoProperty is No. 1 in leads back to brokers. That includes Zillow Group. We beat them, which is delightful,” she said at the time.
Vail Village; image courtesy of IRES
That appears to be at least partially what brought the Vail MLS on board.
“With ColoProperty.com being the number one generator of inquiries about Northern Colorado listings, it makes perfect sense to include Vail listings on the site as well,” said Patty Sandoval, Vail MLS director, in a statement.
“We look forward to our brokers and consumers in the Vail Valley benefiting tremendously from this partnership.”
REcolorado’s “Your Listing. Your Lead.”
The Vail Board of Realtors has also partnered with a similar program Colorado’s largest MLS, REcolorado, rolled out in February called “Your Listing. Your Lead.”
Both programs offer the state’s MLSs and associations the ability to display their members’ listings on their listing sites — REcolorado.com for one, ColoProperty.com for the other — at no charge.
Both programs also follow industry-developed fair display guidelines, which, in part, means listing agents are the only agents displayed next to listings, along with their contact information.
Citing Experian Marketing Services’ statistics at the time of the “Your Listing. Your Lead.” program’s debut, REcolorado said REcolorado.com was the most-visited real estate website in Colorado after Zillow.
More than 1 million users visit the site each month, which is six times more visitors than any other locally-run website in Colorado, the MLS said.
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