RealSelect Inc. Acquires New Home Search Systems

RealSelect Inc., operator of Realtor.com, the nation’s No. 1 real estate site on the Internet, announced the acquisition of Dallas-based New Home Search Systems, operator of NewHomeSearch.com, a Web site specializing in newly constructed homes.

The company said the acquisition is a key link in RealSelect’s strategy and previously announced partnership with the National Assn. of Home Builders to develop a new homes Internet site.

That new site, Homebuilder.com, is being designed to simplify the new-home buying process and will list newly constructed homes and other products and services of builders and remodelers, RealSelect officials said.

The purchase sweetens the stakes for privately held RealSelect of Westlake Village, which finds itself smack in the middle of a burgeoning and hotly contested cyberspace real estate market with competitor Microsoft.

The software giant--working with Re/Max International, Prudential Real Estate Affiliates and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Service--operates the new HomeAdvisor.com site.

RealSelect’s Realtor.com site--operated under an agreement with the National Assn. of Realtors, which has an ownership stake in RealSelect--boasts 1.2 million listings supplied by brokers in 50 states.

The Web site allows home seekers to match the desired location, style, size and price range of homes they want against listings available in virtually every community across the country.