Talking Points - The NEW REALTOR.com® - Beta Release

WHAT: REALTOR.com®'s Find a Home search path has been reengineered to dramatically enhance consumers home search experience, making it faster, easier and more intuitive. The REALTOR.com® home page, Search Results Page (SRP), and Listing Details Page (LDP) have all been completely redesigned. The member benefit of basic listings has improved substantially; as well as the visibility of REALTOR.com® marketing products. Begun with an ‘Alpha’ release in December 2007, the process continues in the ‘Beta’ release, with additional improvements planned through the ‘General Audience’ release in July 2008.

Additional Details and New Features

Home Page

• Warm color pallet, visually clean presentation, and streamlined design.
• Rotating Photo Carousel presents engaging images of homes currently for sale rather than stock photos. The display learns from a consumer’s search behavior, changing from Extreme Homes – highest priced homes in America, to homes relevant to their search criteria.
• Find a Home search box now allows searches by MLS ID, and address from the home page.
• Increased visibility for Find a Neighborhood, and Find Home Values.
• Better presentation of the tools and navigation links currently in the left rail on the Classic site.
• My Listings & My Searches personalization features are integrated into the navigation bar.

Search Results Page (SRP)

• Search results now match search criteria exactly, include all property types by default, and are sorted from high to low price.
• Seamlessly navigate between three different views of SRP: List, Map, and Photo Gallery view to quickly visually scan listings.
• Featured Homes receive enhanced visibility and exposure at the top of all three SRP views.
• Removal of interim search and transitional ad pages allows immediate access to search results.
• Refine Your Search widget moved to left rail, creating a persistently visible search experience.
• Improved presentation of listings, displaying street address on the title line, an eye-catching additional photos badge, and high-impact yellow bar on showcase listings.

Listing Details Page (LDP)

• Multi-page tabbed structure removed to display everything on a single page, with certain "Calls to Action" opening up in layers.
• Map integrated into the page layout, this is a precursor to the addition of the school and neighborhood reports on every LDP.
• Basic listings display four photos, and the photos are larger.
• New Showcase Listing Enhancements:
  • Photo gallery, driving directions and email forms display as separate layers.
  • Agent & Office information displayed in new integrated business card format on the LDP.
  • Showcase listings are visually highlighted by a yellow background.
  • Photos of Agent’s/Broker’s other listings are displayed on the LDP.

Benefits

• All listings can now display four photos, and will include neighborhood and school information prior to 'General Audience' release.
• Extensive testing confirms that the new site greatly improves the consumer experience, and enhances the visibility/effectiveness of real estate professionals advertising.
• The search algorithm has been changed to addresses frequent consumer requests that all property types be included, and that search results match their search criteria exactly.

Frequently Asked Questions About The New REALTOR.com® Beta (PDF: 3.2MB)