Realtor.com has entered the listing marketing arena with Spotlight Listings, a new tool that drives more traffic to listings through preferential placement in list and map search results, inclusion in ZIP-targeted recommendation emails to homebuyers and a photo gallery buyers can access without clicking through to the listing page.
Alongside Spotlight Listings, Realtor.com has updated its Local Expert agent profiles with bolder branding, higher placement in home search and agent directory results, and additional options for highlighting recent sales, client reviews and areas of expertise.
Owais Siddiqui | Credit: LinkedIn
“As the market shifts in favor of buyers, agents need tools that not only promote homes to motivated buyers but also elevate their personal brand,” Realtor.com Senior Director of Product Management Owais Siddiqui said in a prepared statement. “Spotlight Listings and Local Expert deliver a powerful combination — Spotlight Listings helps sellers elevate visibility with serious buyers, while Local Expert helps agents to build lasting brand recognition and drive new business.”
Realtor.com’s Spotlight Listings reflects a broader trend within the portal space toward developing marketing tools specifically for listing agents. CoStar’s Homes.com has been focused on listing marketing since 2021, and Zillow answered with its own platform, Listing Showcase, in 2023.
In a phone call with Inman, Siddiqui said Spotlight Listings stands out for multiple reasons, including its availability for single-family homes, apartments, condos, farm, land and mobile properties, and its affordable pricing, which yields a higher return on investment compared to competitors.
“What I think really differentiates us is the impact [Spotlight Listings] gives. You’re getting preferential placement in our search results, and you’re getting 2x more views and impressions,” he said. “From what our market research tells us, the value that you’re getting when you purchase listing promotion on Realtor.com for the price that you’re paying is quite significant.”
To use Spotlight Listings, agents must have a Realtor PRO account and provide their National Association of Realtors ID number. From there, they can go to the “Listings and Promotions” dashboard to see all of their active multiple listing service (MLS) listings and click “promote” to launch Spotlight for their listing. The listing will retain its spotlight status for 30 days, or until it is sold or removed from the market, whichever occurs first.
Listing agents have the option to subscribe to Spotlight Listings for a monthly fee or purchase a one-time promotion for a listing.
Local Expert is available only as a monthly subscription, with prices varying based on the ZIP code.
