The anticipated Amazon HQ2 real estate gold rush continued this week with the announcement that a group of brokerages has created a new website catering specifically to Amazon employees looking for housing in either of the company’s two new locations.
A bare-bones version of the site is already live a MyHQHome.com, though a full launch is expected to come in January. The site is a collaboration between executives of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty and three Sotheby’s affiliates serving the areas in New York and Virginia that will eventually host the twin HQ2 locations. The site “will target current and future employees of Amazon that might be considering a move” as well as “Seattle area residents that may choose to sell or lease their local home,” according to a statement from the brokerages.
Credit: MyHQHome.com
Amazon announced last month that it had chosen to split its much-anticipated HQ2 between Long Island City, in New York City’s Queens borough, and the Crystal City area of Arlington County, Virginia. The announcement capped months of competition from cities across the U.S. to offer the online retailer ever more incentives in return for tens of thousands of anticipated Amazon jobs.
In a statement Wednesday describing the new Sotheby’s website, Michael Rankin — a Sotheby’s broker who helped Jeff Bezos purchase a Washington, D.C., property in 2016 — described the HQ2 announcement as “a major real estate event that will drive an unprecedented amount of housing inquiries.”
Rankin’s take was echoed by numerous brokers in New York and Virginia earlier this month, many of whom had already seen soaring interest in area homes. Some agents said calls began flooding in almost immediately and most observers took for granted that real estate surrounding the HQ2 locations would see a spike in both prices and demand.
The new website from the Sotheby’s brokerages is meant to capitalize on that swelling demand. The site will allow visitors to view side-by-side comparisons of features — such as housing, transit and schools — in their preferred locations, and will include “exclusive” listings, according to a statement from the brokerages.
Dean Jones, president and CEO of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty, added in a statement that the “goal is to provide an informational resource and personalized relocation services” using the company’s “resident experts in these target neighborhoods.”
“Our dedicated website will provide a consumer facing platform to share market knowledge and connect clients with the appropriate broker and ultimately, with a preferred property solution,” Jones added.
Visitors to MyHQHome.com today will only find an option to sign up in anticipation of the formal launch in January. Even after that launch, however, the site is expected to continue growing to meet home seekers’ needs, according to Sotheby’s International Realty Senior Vice President of marketing Brad Nelson.
“Like all resource centers,” Nelson said in a statement, “this will be a living website that evolves over time.”