Homes.com was begun in March 1998 by Homes and Land Publishing, Ltd., as a spin-off from the magazine Homes and Land, back in the day when it appeared that any online vendor with listings would make its owners and managers millionaires in an IPO. But overly ambitious expectations driven by poor management culminating in a string of broken promises to the magazine's franchisees and field reps drove the site into bankruptcy by 2001. Taken over by major investor Tom Orsi, after the departure of CEO Bob Prince, Homes.com emerged from bankruptcy by the end of 2002.
Homes.com reduced its ambitions to simply become a reliable Website vendor with a few other business solutions to Realtors, and it became an attractive buy-out candidate.
According to Classified Intelligence, a subscription only newsletter, the Homes.com Web site aggregates more than "one million home listings through relationships with multiple listing services throughout the country. HarmonHomes.com, which includes homes from the 141 magazines primarily located in major markets, lists about 200,000 homes."
Now Homes.com is being acquired by Trader Publishing Company, which bills itself as "the nation's largest firm devoted to classified and photo guide advertising publications," for an undisclosed amount. Homes.com represents "a strategic addition to Trader Publishing Company’s family of more than 680 publications and websites, including the well-known Harmon Homes real estate magazine. Homes.com, as a subsidiary of Trader Publishing, will continue to operate with essentially the same operating structure."
"I am delighted with the immediate benefits that this merger will provide to real estate professionals, consumers, advertisers, and our employees," says Homes.com CEO, Tom Orsi. "This is a very positive step for both companies and the markets we serve. With our combined company resources, complementary vision, and employee synergy, our customers can become even more productive and cost-efficient, strengthen their branding, and achieve greater online and traditional marketing results."
Trader Publishing Company began in 1991 as a nationwide network of classified advertising magazines including Auto Trader, which expanded to numerous other free-to-the-public magazines. An early adopter of the Internet, the firm launched Traderonline.com in 1996. Trader acquired United Advertising Publications, Inc. in 2000, the publisher of a number of real estate magazines, apartment guides, and parenting publications, including Harmon Homes, For Rent, and Parenting.
"We are extremely pleased to add such a powerful and intuitive URL as www.homes.com into our family of other great URLs," said Peter Ill, vice president of Trader Publishing Company. "Homes.com is a leader in lead generation website technology as well as a recognized brand name to both real estate professionals and online consumers searching for a home. Their business model is strong, profitable and efficient, and they have a remarkable group of dedicated employees. We are very pleased with the combined synergies and potential and it is our intent to see this business unit grow exponentially."
Published: October 5, 2004
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