Strategic alliances are back in fashion, looking a lot like the mid-90s again. Three real estate-related companies plan to combine their strengths online with new opportunities for real estate professionals.

Network Communications, Inc. (NCI) and Citysearch are entering an Internet alliance with Builder Homesite.Inc.

If the players aren't familiar, they may be more so if you know the names of their subsidiaries.

NCI is the parent of The Real Estate Book, Apartment Blue Book, Apartment Finder Blue Book, New Home Finder, Unique Homes, and other publications. The company distributes more than 10 million magazines each month representing more than 500 markets in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, says the boilerplate. Citysearch is Ticketmaster's city guide of hundreds of destinations. Builder Homesite, Inc. is a consortium of over 32 leading American homebuilders representing over 225,000 new homes, and about $40 billion in GDP.

According to the agreement, Builder Homesite, Inc. will provide new homes content to NCI and Citysearch’s co-branded Web site, LivingChoices.com.

Here's how the deal goes down. Citysearch and NCI have matched up their cities and dovetailed content and listings to create Livingchoices.com. Livingchoices.com gets its resale listings from real estate agent advertisers to the publications owned by Network Communications. Rentals are supplied primarily by apartment developers and managers. Now, a new homes section is going to be added with listings supplied by builders.

So what's in it for real estate professionals?

Tim Costello, CEO of Builder Homesite, Inc, says the company is dedicated to working with Realtors. "Our builders were motivated for the industry to put together an MLS of new homes and provide this to the Realtor community," explains Costello. "A broker has access to MLS and can offer IDX, other brokers' listings, to clients, but they are lacking a tool to find new construction. It is hard to get accurate information about pricing, availability, floor plans, and if Realtors go to our site, they can print all this right off our site and integrate it into their site, and it makes them look like the new home expert. If we can get that data in their hands, it looks like they are the place to go."

Ray Peabody, director of online services for NCI, translates how it all fits together. "As we looked at the real estate space, we have resale homes, mature living, corporate housing, new homes, luxury, and so we have built a comprehensive resource to consumers on the publishing side. Prior to putting Livingchoices.com together, each of those web sites stood alone, and now we are bringing them together."

What makes Livingchoices unique is that the consumer can search by community with resale and new construction listings side-by-side.

"Now we have a total marketing solution for real estate professionals," Peabody continues. "We have a lot of consumers who visit the site and order a publication, there is a direct contact that we provide leads to the advertisers via e-mail or fax on their own listings. We have a lot of Realtors that advertise new construction, and those are included and now we have focused on community-based searching. Consumers can find a community name, get community information and more than just homes for sale. You can go to advanced search and see new construction or resale homes, but if a consumer searches by community then the inventory is together."

"A lot of people aren't sure if they are going to buy new or resale, so it makes sense to do it this way," he says.

"We are an advertising model, and we are looking for ways to generate more leads to our advertisers.

Published: February 4, 2002

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