REDMOND, Wash., May 31, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the MSN® HomeAdvisor™
online home and real estate guide has signed an agreement with the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois (MLSNI), the nation’s largest multiple listing service, to feature its entire database of more than 70,000 active home listings on HomeAdvisor. MLSNI encompasses more than 29,000 agents from 14 Realtor associations — all of whom will receive extensive nationwide exposure by having their listings posted on HomeAdvisor.
MLSNI brokers and agents will also benefit from the more than 7,300 customers HomeAdvisor sends to its real estate partners each day, up nearly 50 percent since January due to consecutive record-breaking months in visitor traffic. In addition, because HomeAdvisor is the home and real estate channel on MSN, homes from MLSNI will be just a click away for the millions of consumers who visit MSN each month.
“It is our goal to provide the broadest possible exposure to home sellers throughout the Chicagoland area,”
said Jim Kinney, president of MLSNI.
“With HomeAdvisor, we’re not only able to market our listings to the millions of consumers who visit the site each month, but we also get motivated, ready-to-buy customers delivered right to our doorstep.”
Along with the broker and agent benefits of the agreement, home buyers throughout Northern Illinois now will also have convenient online access to the most comprehensive selection of homes for sale in their area. Consumers can take advantage of the award-winning tools and services offered on HomeAdvisor, which are designed to help them with every home-related decision, from buying and financing to improving and decorating.
MLSNI joins a growing list of leading brokerage firms and multiple listing services formerly in markets with exclusive gold agreements that have since chosen to place their listings on HomeAdvisor to take advantage of the increased exposure and customer leads made possible by Microsoft’s award-winning site. As a result, HomeAdvisor now has thousands of agreements with real estate companies nationwide, providing it with more than 1 million listings throughout the United States.
About MSN HomeAdvisor
MSN HomeAdvisor is the Internet’s most complete guide for finding everything about the home. With fully integrated content and services ranging from improving and maintaining to buying and financing a home, HomeAdvisor is one of the most trusted names in the online real estate category. Named Best Online Home-Buying Site on the Web by Gomez Advisors Inc. in its last three consecutive Internet Home-Buying Scorecards, HomeAdvisor was also named Best Overall Home-Buying Site by Yahoo! Internet Life, and is a PC Magazine Top 100 Web site and a Family PC Web Site of the Month. Part of the MSN network of Internet services, HomeAdvisor can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.homeadvisor.com/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, MSN and HomeAdvisor are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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