After nearly a year of testing and fine-tuning, the statewide ‘Homes And Rentals’ website, HAR.com, has gone live, serving as a unique gateway between consumers and REALTORS® for thousands of homes and rental properties across Texas, HAR has announced.
According to the organization, HAR.com allows the free publication of property listings by brokerages in 11 major markets across the Lone Star State. Consumers will have immediate access to more than 130,000 active listings and 8.2 million properties, including those that are available for lease.
HAR.com is ranked among the top real estate websites in Texas. Each month, the site draws millions of visitors that, in January 2015 alone, viewed listing detail pages more than 38 million times.
“Consumers who have turned to HAR.com for their home searches over the years are about to be blown away by the features and the fresh new look of HAR.com, with its expanded statewide reach,” says HAR Chair Nancy Furst with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties. “The original HAR.com was launched in 1997, before most people knew what a website was. With the new site, the HAR technology team has completely reimagined the home search process, creating a seamless link between consumer and Realtor.”
- “Drive Time” allows consumers to search for properties based on how long they want their commutes to be. Users may input their office address and desired commute time, and HAR.com generates a map displaying active home listings within the desired commute time.
- Mobile users may receive push notifications on their GPS-enabled phones for new home listings and search for nearby open houses.
- “Texas School Finder” enables consumers to shop for a home based on schools and districts, school ratings, rankings demographic make-up and test score statistics.
- Consumers may also search for properties based on neighborhoods, subdivisions, cities, counties or ZIP code.
“This is truly the next level in connecting Texas home buyers and sellers,” said RE/MAX of Texas Regional VP Dana Tuggle. “The ability to see practically all the listings in the state’s primary metro areas is a terrific bonus for sellers across Texas, who dramatically increase their audience with the inclusion of the nation’s fourth largest city. And buyers searching for properties around the state can stay on the same familiar, user-friendly website developed by HAR, the model for real estate associations across the country.”
“As the world’s largest real estate franchise by agent count, we’re thrilled that HAR is providing Texas homebuyers with the most up-to-date, accurate listing information for their home search journey,” said Mark Willis, CEO of Keller Williams Realty. “We’re equally excited that HAR is doing it the right way – ensuring that consumers’ questions get answered directly by the listing agent.”
“HAR’s online expansion across the state of Texas promises to be a positive outcome for consumers and real estate professionals alike,” said Alex Perriello, CEO President and CEO of Realogy, which is the parent company of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, Sotheby’s International Realty and ZipRealty.
“As a prominent provider of real estate listings for the past 18 years, the accuracy and integrity of the content on HAR.com is of utmost importance, and we know that our content is completely broker-authorized and MLS-accurate,” said HAR President and CEO Bob Hale. “We have ‘supersized’ the outstanding features that the original HAR.com offered consumers and Realtors for the greater Houston area, and now provide exposure to a much wider geography of listing inventory and real estate professionals.”
For more information, visit www.har.com.