Zillow to buy Hamptons real estate website
Seattle-based Zillow Group is buying Hamptons Real Estate Online, a website offering East End sales and rental listings. Credit: Google Maps
Hamptons Real Estate Online, a website offering East End sales and rental listings, is being purchased by national online real estate company Zillow.
Seattle-based Zillow Group is buying HREO.com as well as the HREO software used by East End real estate agents to manage and market their listings, known as RealNet and Open RealNet Exchange, or OREX.
Zillow Group did not disclose the terms of the deal, which a spokeswoman said is expected to close within the next few weeks. Hamptons Real Estate Online did not respond to calls seeking comment.
The Seattle company, which operates websites Zillow.com and StreetEasy.com, intends to provide HREO.com with “more resources to fuel improvement across all platforms and provide better experiences for Hamptons buyers, renters and real estate professionals,” Zillow Group said in a statement.
“It’s a natural pairing,” said Susan Daimler, general manager of StreetEasy, which focuses on New York City listings. The Hamptons, she said, “has a large shared audience among the buyers, renters and real estate professionals” in New York City, and the Zillow Group plans “to work closely with our industry partners to develop even better tools and experiences.”
East End real estate agents have used HREO.com for “many, many years,” said Susan Breitenbach, a Bridgehampton-based associate broker with Corcoran. “It’s good that they’re trying to improve their business.”
Corcoran is one of five East End real estate brokerages that announced last year they were joining together to launch a new real estate sales and rentals website, East End Listing Exchange. The group also includes Douglas Elliman Real Estate, Sotheby’s International Realty, Brown Harris Stevens and Saunders & Associates.
The website, eastendle.com, launched a few weeks ago, said Joseph Sabella, executive director of the East End Real Estate Association, which operates the site.
Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.
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