HotPads to be acquired by Zillow

Today, HotPads is excited to announce that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Zillow.

The HotPads team has been working for seven years to make the housing search process easier for consumers.  We pioneered the split-screen search interface that enables consumers to quickly switch between homes on a map while simultaneously viewing their photos and details, and we've been adding to that core functionality ever since.  After starting with only a handful of listings in our hometown of Washington, DC, and working with thousands of property managers to get their vacancies onto our map in every way we could think of, we've built up a rotating collection of over 380,000 rental listings and nearly 2 million for-sale listings in big cities and little towns all around the United States.  Nearly 2.8 million people visit the site each month to explore their options before making the big decision of where to live.

Here are some of the interesting features we created to make the housing search experience easier:

• Map-based Search – While relatively standard now, HotPads was an early innovator in map-based search.  All of our maps are built in-house using Open Street Map data

• Buy Vs. Rent - Soon after launching For Sale real estate search on HotPads, we launched Buy Vs Rent search, where housing shoppers can see homes for sale and rent alongside each other on the map and compare costs on a monthly basis. Link

• Custom Areas and Saved Searches – Housing shoppers can draw custom search areas using our Lasso tool, letting them receive search alerts pertaining to the exact areas they want to live in. Link

• HotSpots – With HotSpots, users can quickly hunt for listings with the highest or lowest prices, or get an overview of affordability across a metro area.  Link

We want to thank all current and former employees for making HotPads what it is today and for continuing to work towards our vision for what HotPads can be.  We also thank the family and friends who invested to help us get our idea off the ground, as well as the Investment Group of Santa Barbara and Meakem Becker Venture Capital for taking a big risk on a young team and always supporting us through the ups and downs.  We are thrilled at the prospect of combining efforts with the talented people at Zillow, where we'll gain access to the resources we need to continue making everyone's home search more enjoyable.

You can read more about this news in today’s press release.  Link

Comments

[Spencerrascoff]

Congratulations to the Hotpads team. We're very excited to start working with you to create the largest rentals marketplace on the web.

[Neil Lunagaria]

Congrats to both parties! Continued success.

[David Slate]

Need to improve you report a property for fake/scam listings. I reported one 3 times about 2 weeks ago and it is still listed!! Check out the greenwood street Fort Collins rental... Total scam calling from London wanting $$ & personal data. You should take it down ASAP Nd force the listing to prove they own place vs leaving it up for someone e to get scamme on

[Shri Hari:]

That is nice! Congratulation form http://www.RealEstateDealStreet.com team