eBay Inc. signed a deal with
online real estate brokerage zipRealty.com and created a new category
called eBay Real Estate.
zipRealty.com will provide professional real estate services as part of the
new category. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.
eBay Real Estate is intended to make property transactions on eBay easier for
buyers and sellers, and to provide a dedicated home for eBay’s emerging real
estate marketplace, the company said. The new category is also accessible
from zipRealty.com’s home page.
“Buying or selling a home is one of the largest, most complex and time
consuming transactions that people make,” said eBay COO Brian Swette. “Our
goal with eBay Real Estate is to offer a better way for people to buy or sell
practically any type of property on earth.”
The real estate category is “a work in progress,” eBay said, and is being
developed with the active participation of the eBay community and
zipRealty.com.
eBay Real
Estate currently offers real estate professionals and “do-it-yourself”
sellers the option to place a non-binding listing on eBay. Sellers may also
choose a full-service brokered solution offered by zipRealty.com
“We believe that zipRealty.com’s ‘Web and wheels’ approach and our licensed
real estate agents should offer a fantastic resource for the eBay community
and will be an essential element of the new Real Estate category,” said
zipRealty.com chief executive officer and co-founder Juan Mini.
“We plan to bring our transaction
management services and real estate experience to help the eBay community
leverage the power of technology to buy or sell their homes more easily,
saving both time and money.”
zipRealty.com’s relationship with eBay currently includes the following
metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San
Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Washington, D.C.