Apartment listing site Apartments.com
and SINA Inc., an Internet portal for Chinese users worldwide, launched
Apartments.com as the preferred
apartment service on SINANET.
Now available at realestate.sinanet.com/,
Apartments.com said it is the first national online apartment guide to be
translated to Chinese and integrated into SINANET.com’s range of information
and service offerings. It is the first foreign language Web site for
Apartments.com.
Under the agreement, users of SINANET.com will be able to take virtual tours
of the 800,000 apartments represented by Apartments.com, reviewing hundreds of
pieces of information, expandable floorplans, more than 40 exterior and
interior photos and video of many listings. Financial arrangements were not
disclosed.
Apartments.com and SINANET.com have also introduced a Chinese version of the
Moving Center, Apartments.com’s one-
stop relocation resource. The Moving Center enables consumers to arrange truck
and furniture rental, calculate their salary in different cities, check their
credit report online, and change their address.
“Apartments.com’s listings and services will be a key addition to
SINANET.com’s extensive rental and home buying information,” said Daniel
Chiang, chairman and CEO of SINA. “SINANET.com now can give our huge
population of Chinese Internet users the easiest, fastest and most convenient
way to find a home–online, and in their native language.”
Based in Chicago, Apartments.com currently represents approximately 800,000
apartments in major markets across 41 states and Washington, D.C., and is also
featured on the Web sites of nearly 20 newspaper sites, with more than 110
more to follow in the coming months. It is owned by newspaper consortium Classified Ventures.
SINA provides news, information, financial services, entertainment,
educational and job opportunities, and Web services, including e-mail, search
capabilities, e-commerce and chat rooms to Chinese users worldwide. It has a
staff of 220 in Beijing, Taipei and Cupertino, CA.
Currently, SINA operates three Internet portals: www.sinanet.com serving North America, www.sina.com.cn for China, and http://www.sina.com.tw for Taiwan.