Announcing what it calls the next generation "vortal," Homestore.com announces its new site expansion, making it the most complete source of home and real estate content on the Web for buying, selling, moving, renting, decorating, and shopping.
Defining "vortal" as a "portal site" devoted to serving a singular (vertical) content category", Homestore is securing its position as the go-to site for all home related products and services, connecting visitors to a convenient, one-stop source for thousands of pages on properties, resources, tips, advice, decision support tools and photos.
"Over the last several years, we've seen a range of vertical/portal sites
devoted to retail, stocks and sports," said Stuart Wolff, chairman and chief
executive officer of Homestore.com. "Today, on our three-year anniversary
as a company, we are introducing a 'vortal' that covers the largest and most
important purchase in the consumer's life cycle - the home."
The new Homestore.com vortal is organized according to the following
master tabbed categories:
Homes by REALTOR.com®, Homestore.com's(tm) flagship site and the
official Internet site of the National Association of REALTORS®, features
approximately 1.36 million existing and new home listings, neighborhood
information as well as directories for real estate agent and broker
services. Consumers can search for homes on REALTOR.com® by location or by
property type including single and multi-family homes, condominiums, land,
and farms.
New Homes offers a homebuying guide detailing the advantages of
purchasing a new home, how to choose a builder and other concerns faced when
purchasing a new home. In addition, users can view more than 125,000 models,
available new homes and built to suit plans, find a builder from more than
15,000 builders nationwide or plan their new homes online.
Apartments offers access to over 6 million apartments for rent in
over 6,000 cities and provides apartment hunting tips, moving checklists,
neighborhood information as well as the opportunity to search for apartments
nearby work addresses or university campuses.
Finance houses information regarding loans and credit, banking,
insurance, investing and taxes in addition to a variety of calculators for
computing costs of renting versus buying, refinancing homes, home
affordability and the cost of a mortgage agent.
Moving is a complete source of relocation information, featuring
city reports, school district reports, community comparisons and crime
statistic. Visitors may also use special tools designed to help them price
and organize their move.
Remodel and Maintain, the official site of National Association of
Home Builders (NAHB) Remodelors* Council and the National Association of the
Remodeling Industry (NARI), provides do-it-yourself information about
virtually any remodeling job as well as complete databases of professional
remodelers, searchable by area and specialty.
Decorate contains interior design information by room and season,
outdoor landscaping information and professional tips and advice.
HomeTech holds automation information, home office and home theater
set-up tips, and even information about living in outer-space!
Holiday Shop offers 70 of the most popular home items to buy with
gift ideas for everyone in the family. As charitable donations are a part
of the holiday season, visitors can even find a way to help make the
holidays bright for those less fortunate.
The newly redesigned Homestore site also features edutainment to pure entertainment, with information that consumers can find out about their own homes, visits to the "hottest properties in the nation," million dollar homes, and homes of Hollywood movie stars.
Published: December 8, 1999
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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment.
Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's.
Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68.
In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.
Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans.
Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR
"The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors
Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment.
