Homestore.com, GMAC Sign Marketing Deal
Homestore.com Inc. in Thousand Oaks has entered into a marketing and e-commerce alliance with GMAC Mortgage and its sister company, GMAC Home Services, both part of the GMAC Financial Services organization.
The contract, with a value to Homestore.com of $20 million initially and up to $30 million over the three-year agreement, will allow GMAC to expand its online services in real estate, relocation and home finance.
Under the agreement, Homestore.com will provide Web-based services to support GMAC’s real estate network and retail mortgage operations. In addition, GMAC and its home services-related affiliates will advertise their real estate and home finance products on the Homestore.com family of Web sites.
“This agreement sets the stage for GMAC to leverage technology and will greatly help us achieve our e-commerce delivery goals for comprehensive real estate services,” said Mike O’Brien, chairman of GMAC Home Services.
“The powerful combination of GMAC’s business opportunities and Homestore.com’s position as the nation’s leading Internet portal for home and real estate information will create an excellent partnership environment.”
The newly renamed GMAC Real Estate division (formerly the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Network) is comprised of both the national franchise network and company-owned real estate brokerage companies, with more than 1,450 offices and 24,000 agents.
Officials said the company has provided services to more than 2 million customers this year.
Homestore.com has a family of home and real estate Web sites, with more than 2 million users each month. The Web sites include Realtor.com, the official Internet site of the National Assn. of Realtors; HomeBuilder.com, the official new homes site of the National Assn. of Home Builders; and SpringStreet.com, which provides consumers interested in renting a home with 6.9 million rental units in more than 6,000 cities.
