Today WaPo's real estate section announced a contest for the most historic home in Washington while also telling everyone about their new link to the local database of every publicly listed home for sale. The first half of that announcement is offering up a prize of a two night stay at the Churchill Hotel for whoever has the 'the best-restored house' in the District while the second part refers to MRIS. That's the company that manages all the public residential real estate listings and they have a public portal to their database called Homesdatabase.com. Now you can access all that info right from the Post's real estate section, plus set up saved searches, browse agents, etc. The press release about that is after the jump, but if you're interested in the historic home contest click the link below for the specifics. The submission periods ends Sept. 24 at 11:59 p.m and comes with some fine print.
· Washington Post Historic Homes Contest [WaPo]
· Real Estate Section [WaPo]
The Washington Post and MRIS Join Forces to Power Local Real Estate Search on washingtonpost.com
Real-Time Local Listings Complement The Post's Editorial Content, Tools and Resources Creating a Comprehensive Web Destination for Buying and Selling Real Estate in the D.C. Metro Area
WASHINGTON- September 7, 2012- The Washington Post and the Metropolitan Regional Information Services (MRIS), the Mid-Atlantic Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that facilitates more than $93 million a day in real estate transactions, today announced a partnership to provide washingtonpost.com users with detailed, high-quality and up-to-date search results for real estate listings in the Washington, D.C. metro area markets. These listings complement The Post's rich editorial content, tools and resources, creating a valuable go-to source for consumers who are looking to buy or sell their home.
"Our goal is to provide an extraordinary real estate resource for consumers which pairs expert reporting from The Washington Post with access to the same real-time listing data from MRIS that real estate professionals use and trust," said Michael Cirrito, Director of Classifieds for The Washington Post. "This creates a dynamic real estate search experience that is truly local, giving users one destination for the latest news and information to help them through the home-buying or selling process."
When searching for specific listing, users have the ability to save their search, set email alerts when listings match their search criteria and easily refine results to include "Open Houses" or "New Construction". Users will also be able to locate real estate agents in the region via the "Agent Gallery".
John L. Heithaus, Chief Marketing Officer for MRIS said: "As The Post is consistently regarded as one of the most highly respected and actively referenced news and information sources in the world, MRIS is pleased to forge this new relationship. At MRIS, job #1 is exploring and leveraging marketing platforms for our customers' real estate listings to expose the maximum number of qualified buyers to the property. The Post's demographic and reach present a perfect match for this initiative."
For a broader understanding of the market, The Post's Real Estate section features reporting and analysis from Post reporters, breaking down what national trends mean for the D.C. region. Users can get regular updates on recent home sales, home renovation and more from The Post's "Where We Live" blog. In addition, the blog offers profiles of local neighborhoods, so users can get to know the various areas as they search.