Realtor.com, the US' largest property portal run by the National Association of Realtors is expanding into the world of international property, with translation services and international listings.
The portal currently features US property only, but it is already visited by 575,000 international users ever month, according to its data. It hopes to expand on this coverage of its clients US properties, and will also carry international listings as well.
"Realtor.com will expand the exposure of U.S. real estate listings to global markets and add international listings," said NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I.
"While all real estate in the U.S. is local, the same is not true for property owners. The U.S. continues to be a top destination for international buyers from all over the world. Foreign buyers understand the value of owning a home in this country and can rely on Realtors(R) to help guide them through the process of buying property in the U.S. With expertise, knowledge and experience, Realtors(R) have a global perspective, reflecting the increasing importance of foreign buyers to U.S. home sellers," Phipps said.
Realtor.com is a collaboration with Move Inc, which brings the internet technology know how to the NAR's industry clout to make a US only portal the most powerful property website in the world. Now that it will cover the world, one would assume it to become the most powerful overseas property portal, but this is far from being a given.
Rightmove is the largest UK property portal, and the presence of its overseas division is huge in the world of overseas property, but not the biggest. Although the fact that it is inextricably linked to the main rightmove site (same domain means no Alexa etc) we can see from the search results that there are more prominent sites in the overseas arena.
There is a lot to be said for sticking to your niche and ensuring your continued domination therein. Sometimes branching out works out tremendously, other times not so much. Time will tell which of these is true in the case of Realtor.com.
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