Yahoo Adds Franchisors, Brokers To Online Real Estate ServiceYahoo Adds Franchisors, Brokers To Online Real Estate Service

Yahoo on Thursday opened up its real estate listings to franchisors and brokers nationwide, a move that significantly increases the number of properties listed on the service.

The largest franchisors to join Yahoo are Prudential Real Estate Affiliates and Realogy. The latter's brands include Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, and Sotheby's International Realty. More than a dozen brokerages also have joined the service.

Yahoo has had long-standing listings relationships with publishers and aggregators, such as Harmon Homes, a division of Homes.com; Homes and Land; ListHub; The Real Estate Book; and Point2 Technologies.

Yahoo is offering franchisors and brokers additional marketing services, including featured home listings and display advertising. Prudential has agreed to use the featured home listings service to highlight its affiliates' inventory.

The number of startups offering real estate listings and services grew rapidly during the recent housing boom. But that has been derailed over the last year by the subprime mortgage loan crisis, which was caused by financial institutions offering consumers who couldn't afford homes low-interest entry loans that increased to market rate after three to five years. In November, foreclosures in the nation were up 31.8% from the previous month, according to Foreclosures.com.

Web sites today offer services ranging from estimating the value of homes to discounts on broker commissions and ratings and reviews on local agents. Some sites, such as USA Today, have added foreclosure listings to their sites.

Among the more recent entrants in online real estate listing is Scripps Networks, best known for its home and garden television property HGTV. Scripps launched FrontDoor in December, giving it the last piece it needed to provide people with sites covering the complete "homeownership life cycle," from buying to decorating and selling.