SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec.17, 2015
/PRNewswire/ -- News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS,
NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. announced today an agreement with
rental startup Cozy® (www.cozy.co), a
leading provider of property management software, to add new rental
listings content on websites owned or operated by Move, including
Doorsteps.com, a premier destination for local rental listings, and
realtor.com®, the fastest-growing online real
estate destination for home buyers, sellers, renters and
dreamers.
The agreement enables more than 40,000 property managers on
Cozy's platform to publish their listings to Doorsteps.com and
realtor.com®, which currently reach an average of
approximately 46 million monthly unique users based on Move's
internal data. It follows last month's announcement of the
strategic content relationship with Apartments.com adding exclusive
listings from apartment communities of 50 units and above.
In addition to expanding rentals content on Move's sites, the
relationship also will leverage Cozy's industry-leading rental
transaction management technology, including third-party processing
of background and credit checks. The resulting solution enables
renters and property managers alike to move smoothly and securely
through the rental process, from listing and browsing rental
properties to the application stages and beyond. The agreement
marks an important next step as Doorsteps.com and
realtor.com® enhance their service to the rental
marketplace.
"The journey to finding your perfect home doesn't begin or end
with a rental or sale – there are many stops along the path," said
Todd Callow, senior director of
product management and rentals program leader for Move. "We're
building solutions that meet our customers where they are along
that path, and creating new relationships with like-minded
companies that share our commitment to best practices in accuracy
and data security, to help make the process easier for consumers
and professionals."
Cozy's proprietary technology, now serving more than 100,000
property managers and renters, meets stringent standards of data
security and privacy in accordance with its partners in the credit,
finance and identity sectors. Cozy's solution allows renters to
safely provide private financial and personal identification
details for independent verification without sharing them directly
with prospective property managers. Applicants pay for their own
credit report, which does not impact their credit score, and
control how it is shared with prospective property managers.
Property managers receive the screening reports at no cost,
removing the responsibility of handling and processing sensitive
applicant information as well as the charges incurred by many
competing services.
"Cozy's mission is to bring peace of mind to renters and
property managers by solving the biggest headaches across the
rental cycle – aggregating reliable rental listings, finding and
retaining good tenants, and securely facilitating the exchange of
sensitive information through the duration of the rental
relationship," said Gino Zahnd, CEO
and co-founder of Cozy. "This agreement is much more than just
providing a significant amount of new prospective tenant leads for
our property managers -- for the first time, our property managers
have the opportunity to receive all the information necessary to
make an informed decision about selecting a tenant in a single
report. And tenants have the confidence that their information is
secure and the listings have been through our content assurance
protocols – identity protection, privacy and security is baked into
the foundation of everything we do. This level of collaboration can
only happen with trustworthy information from both tenants and
property managers – it's a huge leap in the quality of the
experience."
Additional rentals content from Cozy began appearing on the
Doorsteps.com and realtor.com® websites in
December. Access to the background and credit check process is now
enabled on Doorsteps.com via 'apply now' buttons on select rental
listings, and will be added to corresponding rental listings on
realtor.com® in the coming weeks.
Cozy® is a registered trademark of Cozy Services
Ltd.
About Move, Inc., Doorsteps.com and realtor.com®
Move, Inc. operates the realtor.com® website and mobile
experiences, which provide buyers, sellers and renters of homes
with the information, tools and professional expertise they need to
discover and create their perfect home. News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS,
NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV] acquired Move in November 2014, and
realtor.com® quickly established itself as the fastest growing
online real estate service provider in the first half of 2015 as
measured by comScore. Move's network of websites provides consumers
a wealth of innovative tools, including
Doorsteps®, Moving.com™, SeniorHousingNetSM and
others. Move supports real estate professionals by providing many
services to grow their businesses in an increasing digital,
on-demand world, including ListHub™, the nation's leading
listing syndicator and centralized intelligence platform for the
real estate industry; TigerLead®; Top Producer®
Systems FiveStreetSM and Reesio, as well
as many free services.
Move also operates Doorsteps.com, a comprehensive and robust
rental experience powered by the search engine behind
realtor.com®, currently available for the Austin and San
Diego markets. Doorsteps features an intuitive, localized
search experience with original neighborhood content and rental
listings from over 30 sites including the multiple listing service
(MLS) in Austin and San Diego as well as direct feeds from a
growing list of property management companies. Doorsteps offerings
also include the award-winning Doorsteps Swipe app and the original
homebuying guide at DoorstepsBuy.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains certain "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. These statements are based on management's views and
assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of
the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ
materially from these expectations due to changes in global
economic, business, competitive market and regulatory and other
factors. More detailed information about these and other factors
that could affect future results is contained in News Corp's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
"forward-looking statements" included in this document are made
only as of the date of this document and we do not have any
obligation to publicly update any "forward-looking statements" to
reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by
law.
Media contact: Christie
Farrell, Move, Inc., christie.farrell@move.com, (408)
558-7115
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visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/move-inc-and-cozy-align-to-make-rental-process-easier-for-renters-and-property-managers-300194297.html
SOURCE Move, Inc.