Homescape® Announces Expanded Real Estate Search Web Site
Homescape® Connects Consumers to Home Listings from National and Local Sources to Showcase More Than Two Million Resale and New Construction Homes, including Open Houses and Newspaper Classifieds CHICAGO, IL, August 1, 2007 – Homescape®, the leading provider of online real estate solutions for 125 local newspapers for nearly a decade, today announced the expansion and re-launch of its real estate search and information site. The move extends Homescape’s footprint to provide consumers and advertisers across America easy access to more than two million homes for sale. Homescape is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures, LLC, a strategic joint venture owned by Belo Corporation, Gannett Co., Inc., The McClatchy Company, Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company.
The site now powers listing search tools and mapping technology for homes from major national and local partners including Prudential Fox & Roach, ERA The Masiello Group, Prudential California/Nevada/Texas, Metro Brokers/GMAC Real Estate of Atlanta and Prudential Gary Greene of Houston. In addition, the Homescape site connects consumers with long-time newspaper resale and new construction partners, including Long & Foster Real Estate, Weichert, Realtors and Ryland Homes. “There is currently no single site with such a prestigious and complete group of newspaper and industry partners connecting consumers with local home listings and information,” said Frank Breithaupt, Vice President and General Manager of Homescape. “The site not only offers agents, brokers and builders the opportunity to advertise their listings with us to a wide local audience, but also has the type of features and content that will keep consumers coming back to the site often for a wide variety of information.”
In addition to more than two million property listings and seven million property photos, Homescape simplifies the home search for buyers by allowing them to find resale, new construction, newspaper classifieds and open house properties from across the country. Homescape offers consumers one simple search with multiple options to view and manage results. The site also provides advertising opportunities with unlimited text and photos for real estate professionals, offering rich content and exposure to serious, local home buyers. “The collection of listings represented by these media companies will be a powerhouse in the real estate market,” said Steve Storti, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Prudential Fox & Roach, the fifth largest broker in the country. “Home buyers are increasingly using the Internet as a primary source in their home search, and distributing our listings on Homescape fits with our overall strategy to increase quality traffic to our listings, and our agents and sellers benefit from the increased local exposure to their property.”
Content on Homescape includes a free home valuation tool, in partnership with HomeGain, where consumers can access the tool to calculate an estimated value of their home. Homescape also features “Where Can I Find…,” which contains home listings related to a theme. Properties are highlighted for free on the home page based on features, such as wrap around porches, beautiful views and urban dwellings. Other content such as local community and school information is included in the site. Mortgage information, first-time buyer tips, search tips and moving information will also be added to the site in the near future.
About Homescape® Homescape provides local, comprehensive property listings and rich content to consumers nationwide, while delivering a suite of advertising solutions that offer choice and results to meet the individual needs of real estate agents, brokers, builders and private party advertisers. Homescape also serves a network of over 125 local online newspaper websites nationwide with a full suite of online advertising solutions. Our network includes The Arizona Republic (www.azcentral.com), Chicago Tribune (www.chicagotribune.com), The Dallas Morning News (www.dallasnews.com), The
Miami Herald (www.miamiherald.com) and The Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com). For more information, visit www.homescape.com.
About Classified Ventures, LLC Classified Ventures is a strategic joint venture among five media companies, including Belo Corp. (NYSE: BLC), Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI), Tribune Co. (NYSE: TRB) and The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), whose objectives are to collectively capitalize on the revenue growth in the online advertising categories of automotive, real estate and rentals. To execute on its objectives, Classified Ventures has four leading businesses: Apartments.com, Cars.com, HomeGain and Homescape. For more information, visit http://www.classifiedventures.com/. #### PRESS CONTACT: Belinda Banks – SSPR - 908-685-2300 - Belinda@sspr.com