The Orange County Register and Realty Times announce the completion of a distribution agreement in which the newspaper will publish Realty Times' dynamic Market Conditions Report as well as its consumer real estate news.

Market Conditions Report is live on http://www.myochomeconnection.com/.

"We are proud to be associated with such a progressive newspaper as The Orange County Register," says John Giaimo, vice president of business development for Realty Times. "Our objective is to have Market Conditions Reports available on all major real estate portals including aggregator, newspaper and MLS organizations."

The Orange County Register is the first distribution partner for Realty Times in the newspaper field.

The association is unique also because Orange County Register has an agreement with Southern California MLS to carry the MLS organization's full complement of listings on the newspaper site.

Market Conditions Reports is a perfect bridge because it affords agents another way to be found on the newspaper site apart from listings. Any licensed agent can participate whether they are buyer's agents, listing agents or new to the industry. When consumers click on the Report, they can contact the agent directly and visit the agent's personal Web site for more information and interaction. It is local neighborhood marketing, using the power and consumer traffic of leading real estate portals.

“RealtyTimes.com Market Conditions Report (MCR) provides our online users with specific, local real estate market information – which meets our mission to provide our audience with the most comprehensive information about their community [Orange County]," says Brian J. Mezger, product manager, Freedom Communications, Inc."In addition, the MCR allows us to continue growing our relationship with the SoCal MLS, local agents, and users.”

Newspaper organizations like Freedom Communications, Inc, Gannett and Knight-Ridder are aggressively pursuing content deals with MLS organizations to provide local listings as part of their online strategies, according to MLS executives.

Says Realty Times content partner and MLS executive Jim Harrison with the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, Inc., "We've been approached by newspapers. We have a committee that is going to review the idea. What we are most interested in is seeing that our Realtors get promoted."

Denise M. Keron, executive vice president of the Santa Fe Association of Realtors and a Realty Times distribution partner says, "We are in the beginning stages of talking with a newspaper organization. We have a task force to review these requests. If we follow through, we are going to ask for quite a few specifics."

What some MLS organizations say they have concerns about is that the newspaper site might compete with broker sites to get consumers' attention.

That is a problem that The Orange County Register neatly solved by incorporating Market Conditions Reports onto its site as a lead generator for local participating brokers and agents.

“The Market Conditions come right from the ‘trenches,’" says Mezger, "from the real estate agents who work in their communities, and know their markets better than anyone.“It’s not just a product, but a service as well - a tool for consumers to learn more about agents in their area, and ultimately help them make the right agent choice for their real estate needs.”

"In just three short months," says Giaimo, "Market Conditions Reports have become a resource to the industry as agents are generating fresh new leads from consumers that they may otherwise have had no contact with.

"It's a great content feature for the newspaper, and a great lead generation tool for the agent."

Explains Russ Bergeron, Realty Times distribution partner and CEO of SoCalMLS, "We are actively pursuing other papers in our area as well. There is no disintermediation because they adhere to the same licensing guidelines as all of our data licensing clients. With their built-in ability to drive people to their web sites via the traditional print medium we get the best of both worlds."

Published: April 1, 2002

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