""Realtor.com"":http://www.realtor.com/?scid=SEM300005, a leader in online real estate operated by Move, Inc., is celebrating its 17th year of helping buyers find their dream homes.
[IMAGE]Since 1996, Realtor.com has seen its active user base grow by more than 20 million and has cultivated relationships with more than 800 multiple listing services (MLSs), more than any other real estate website. Through its database, consumers are able to search 98 percent of all for-sale properties listed in the United States.
""Since realtor.com has direct connections to more than 800 MLSs, updates the majority of their data within a 15 minute timeframe, and does not include listings from sources known for poor data hygiene, it is nearly [COLUMN_BREAK]
impossible for anyone else to beat them on a national level,"" said Victor Lund, partner of the WAV Group, a leading consulting firm for the real estate industry.
Realtor.com is also well-known for its mobile app, which features direct price alerts, custom searches, and a GPS feature to allow users to search for nearby open houses.
""With markets tightening and the housing sector starting to rebound, the search for the perfect home is highly competitive,"" said Realtor.com president Errol Samuelson. ""Capitalizing on real-time updates from our mobile app, our home buyers can find their dream home 15 minutes after it hits the market.
""With homes in some markets selling in weeks or even days, consumers run the risk of seeing 'active listings' on competitor sites that have already sold. That spells heartache for buyers. With realtor.com, users can rest assured the home they're viewing is available and submit an offer while other home buyers might still be unaware the home is even for sale,"" he continued.
Realtor.com also reported website data for Q4 2012. Throughout the quarter, each visitor viewed the site approximately four times per month, more than 50 percent more than its next closest competitors. In addition, nearly 95 percent of Realtor.com's Web traffic in Q4 focused on properties for sale, and visitors spent nearly one billion cumulative minutes on the site.