SAN FRANCISCO-A few days ago, we wrote about how San Francisco tops in Zillow's ranking of “seller's markets” and in other Zillow news, as those who follow @GlobeStcom on Twitter and @GlobeStLIVE may have seen a post teasing the announcement, the Seattle-based company has officially completed the $16-million acquisition of locally-based HotPads.
The map-based rental and real estate search site is Zillow's first acquisition of a consumer-facing company. “HotPads brings a younger, complementary and rental-focused audience to Zillow's growing portfolio of brands,” says Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow. “With this acquisition, Zillow becomes even more relevant to consumers at the beginning of their real estate life cycle.”
According to Rascoff, “with the addition of the HotPads team, we'll be able to innovate and monetize our rental marketplace faster than before.” HotPads offers a robust website and five mobile apps across iPhone, iPad and Android, according to a prepared statement.
Nearly 2.8 million unique users visited HotPads in October, primarily to shop for rentals, says the release. The addition of HotPads allows Zillow to expand the size of its growing rental audience and extend the reach of its marketing tools and productivity solutions for rental professionals, says the release.
Founded in 2005, HotPads has 19 employees, who will continue to be based in San Francisco and eventually operate from Zillow's new consolidated San Francisco office, which is expected to open in early 2013. HotPads co-founder and CEO Matt Corgan has been named group program manager, and will continue to oversee the HotPads brand and products.
Zillow has been on a growth spurt as of late. In October 2012, the company launched Zillow Rentals, a free marketplace and suite of tools for rental professionals. And HotPads is Zillow's sixth acquisition in less than two years. The company recently acquired Mortech, a provider of software tools to the mortgage industry. Also in October, Zillow acquired Buyfolio, an online and mobile collaborative shopping platform where home shoppers can search, track, organize and discuss for-sale listings with their real estate agent and others in their personal network.
In June 2012, Zillow acquired RentJuice. And in 2011, the company acquired Diverse Solutions.
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
