Homesnap Leaves Broker Roots Behind in Move to BPP

ROCKVILLE, MD--(Marketwired - May 27, 2016) - Homesnap, creator of highly-rated real estate apps for consumers and agents, will abandon its remaining brokerage licenses in conjunction with its recently announced partnership with the Broker Public Portal (BPP), completing the company's transformation into a vital partner of the real estate industry.

Homesnap began as a pure consumer app in 2012. At the time, the company operated as a real estate broker in many markets. Homesnap quickly became the highest-rated real estate app in the App Store, used by millions of consumers. But consumers weren't the only people using Homesnap. "Immediately after launch, we noticed something quite remarkable -- real estate agents were using it like crazy," said Homesnap co-founder Guy Wolcott, "we realized there was a significant opportunity to create a professional version, just for agents."

Since launching that professional app, Homesnap Pro, the company partnered with leading Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) across the country, leaving its brokerage origins behind to become a trusted vendor to, and partner of, local brokers and agents. As a result, Homesnap is free from ads and paid agent placement. And the company has voluntarily followed "fair display guidelines", protecting agent-client relationships, and driving new consumer inquiries to the listing agent or broker at no cost.

Last week, Homesnap announced a historic partnership with the BPP to expand this industry-friendly approach to the entire country, offering consumers a home search experience defined by simplicity, integrity and common sense; and enabling MLSs to provide best-in-class consumer apps across platforms, industry-leading mobile tools for every agent, and a robust broker dashboard to track agent, office and market activity.

As a result, Homesnap will divest itself of all legacy real estate brokerage licenses and MLS memberships. MLS listings will only appear on Homesnap -- following "fair display guidelines" -- via the company's partnership with the BPP, and the decision to participate in the BPP will be made by individual MLSs.

The BPP is backed by 115 MLSs and real estate companies, including franchisors, independent brands, big brokers, and small brokers, operating in diverse markets across the country and collectively representing over 500,000 real estate agents. Already, MLSs with over 80,000 members have announced their intent to participate in the BPP at launch. Many more are expected to follow suit in the near future.

About BPP
The Broker Public Portal LLC is a collaborative venture between real estate brokerages and MLSs to create a national consumer home search experience defined by simplicity, integrity and common sense. The portal aims to provide consumers with direct access to the most comprehensive, timely, and complete property information while adhering to fair display guidelines. More information can be found at http://brokerpublicportal.com.

About Homesnap

Homesnap is the highest-rated mobile real estate app, used by millions of consumers to explore homes and search listings. Homesnap Pro, the professional version of Homesnap, is the fastest-growing mobile app for agents -- now available to every agent in 40 MLSs with over 300,000 members. Both are powered by a specialized homes database that combines MLS data, property tax records, census data, geographic boundaries and more.