Flying under the radar of its competitors, Realtor.com recently alerted real estate associations with the elements of its new eRealtor.com transaction management platform.
Called eRealtor.com, the trademarked site heralds Homestore's electronic transaction manager, first announced in May 2000.
With a dream shopping list of services, including forms integration, courtesy of equity partner Verisign, productivity software, courtesy of new subsidiary Top Producer, and wireless device access, courtesy of FireTap Communications, Homestore's broadband and wireless access arm, the platform is still not quite ready for total roll-out, but it is close to getting there.
The purpose behind the electronic transaction engine is seamless integration into Homestore.com's proprietary FRAMEWORK(tm). FRAMEWORK is the total solution proposed by Homestore to its Realtor association partners; it is a means of integrating open architecture contact, productivity and transaction applications, a loan origination and underwriting engine, MLS data, email services, digital authentications and records, all facilitated by wireless and broadband Internet access. Homestore will even supply Realtors with the devices they need to do business, including an online store stocked with PalmPilots and wireless laptops.
Is a roll-out about to take place? A spokesperson for Homestore says not quite, that a few pieces have yet to fit into place. The alert that went out on Friday, 2000 to the associations simply described in broader detail the breadth of services which will be offered in FRAMEWORK, said the spokesperson.
The race for digital supremacy between Homestore and its chief rival HomeAdvisor continues. Both companies are extremely well funded, Homestore through its investors and its shareholders, and HomeAdvisor through its private equity partners. Both have marquee-name partners, including large banks and insurers such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Last year, listings were the field of battle. Homestore easily won that contest by hobbling its opponents with Gold Alliance treaties which shut them out of a few key MLS databases. This year, HomeAdvisor is running victory laps with the introduction of its loan platform, which is already integrated with its Realty Desktop, a client/business management system through which agents and brokers will also be able to originate loans online at their own desks, working with lending partners. HomeAdvisor crossed the finish line first with a roll-out to its investor partners such as Chase Manhattan and Interealty, which are branding their versions of the platform.
But the race is far from over. Next year, the battlefield will be wireless solutions where both companies have hurdles to cross.
Published: August 29, 2000
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