Realty Times sends its customers the best Valentine ever - even more exposure on the Internet's most trafficked real estate portals, including front page positioning for Market Conditions(tm) reporter-REALTORS(r) on Realtor.com and MSN House & Home, and a new advertising contract with Google.com.

"Being a Realtor is a skill-based proposition and consumers seek this expertise in their home transaction," says Dan Wool, director of comunications for Realtor.com. "Buyers and sellers want to know that their Realtor has a handle on the area and is able to respond to market changes accordingly. The "Market Conditions Report" offers a solid opportunity for real estate professionals to position themselves as being the most knowledgable about the local neighborhoods. At Realtor.com, this is free visibility to more than four million online buyers and sellers a month. Offline, Realtors can leverage the expertise they demonstrate with their online Market Conditions Report in their marketing proposals to help win listings."

"What makes these leading companies eager to showcase Realtors and their opinons is that they know that only Realtors have what people want," says Jody Lane, president of Realty Times. "- listings and local market information. They are the local experts, and we get them in front of consumers. If a Realtor has the information, then the consumer will make contact."

As the Internet's leading real estate content provider, Realty Times provides content to nearly all of the leading real estate portals, which also have relationships with other portals, as Realtor.com has a relationship with AOL.com. With Realty Times' iMarketing program which features the Market Conditions Report, Realtors post their opinions of what is happening in their local markets in special reports that are published as part of Realty Times newsfeeds. Consumers can contact agents or brokers directly with no referral fees involved.

Realty Times is the only company in the world that can get Realtors found by housing consumers on the top real estate portals simultaneously:

• Realtor.com
• MSN House and Home
• Google.com
• Yahoo!
• Lycos
• HomeSeekers, and many more

John Giaimo, vice president of business development for Realty Times says, “Market Conditions has been embraced and accepted by consumers as a content rich source of local “community” information as it relates to the real estate market place. Agents are reporting in the area or community of their expertise… and they are making contacts from this tool.. with the average agent receiving 14 click-throughs per month (from MCR to their personal website).. I’m told by consumers on a regular basis how helpful MCR was in determining their next move in the market..”

Realtors are getting more than click-throughs, some are getting listings and the opportunity to represent buyers from their iMarketing program.

Say Realtors Marilyn Weschsler and Alan Rosenthal, "One lady had a home that was listed and the sale fell apart. She saw us on Realty Times’ link on Realtor.com, and gave us the listing. She was a local resident who went on Realtor.com to look for a specialist. When somebody calls us, we ask them how they found us, and they will say, they saw us on Realtor.com.”

Giaimo explains, "Consumers are using MCR to determine if this is the best time to hold 'em or fold 'em, that is, to hang on to their property or sell it. A large number are using MCR to see if the timing is right to refinance, insuring they have enough market momentum to sustain equity. The best part? The agent is in the center of this entire process for less than a dollar a day!”

The Internet is becoming the most prolific medium for exposure for agents and their personal marketing.

"Realtor.com and Microsoft touch 80 percent of the consumers starting their home search process (on the Web), "says Giaimo. "Google is the most widely used search engine in the world, which gives MCR agents terrific exposure without having to buy search engine placement. Many of the sites where MCR is featured do not offer search engine placement or exposure for agents otherwise, unless they have listings, a proprietary Web site or otherwise pay to have exposure."

According to Giaimo, Realty Times will continue to pursue exposure opportunities for its Realtor customers, with more announcements of partnerships scheduled for the near future.

Published: February 14, 2003

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.