RESAAS Services (CSE:RSS) has added HomeLife Realty Services to its ever-growing social network for real estate professionals, with the full service brokerage operating from nine offices across the lower mainland in British Columbia.
The real estate agency, with more than 500 agents, covers Cloverdale, White Rock, Chilliwack, Abbotsford and Mission. The wider HomeLife network has over 7,000 real estate agents across Canada, RESAAS said.
"The real estate market in the Lower Mainland is heavily influenced by international buyers, which is why online exposure and referrals are critical for our REALTORS," said president of HomeLife Realty, Rick Dubord.
"RESAAS provides a powerful avenue for this with their rapidly growing global network of agents."
Indeed, RESAAS provides a social media platform for real estate agents to showcase their listings, answer questions from potential homebuyers, communicate ideas on their market to followers online, as well as refer and network with each other. It is designed to sync with other social networks such as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and LinkedIn(NYSE:LNKD), allowing listings and photos to be shared, and industry news to be posted, all of which helps generate leads for the agent.
The business has gone international quickly, with the company having built its own proprietary translation website in order to allow the platform to reach a truly global audience. It first translated the platform into Spanish in March, and has since added French, Turkish and most recently, Portuguese. It has plans to release another 20 languages over the the short term.
The company's main goal is to generate more business for real estate agents through its referral network. RESAAS' international expansion has no doubt been fueled in part by its partnership with some of the largest organizations in the real estate industry, the biggest being RE/MAX with 95,000 agents in over 100 countries, which has accelerated interest from overseas.
When using RESAAS, HomeLife Realty Services agents will receive their own profile page, and will be connected together privately to easily share activity within the firm.
RESAAS has added over 80 large brokerages in Canada and the U.S. since opening for business in February 2013, as well as signed on several real estate associations and franchises, including the groundbreaking deal with RE/MAX.
Last month, the company launched a marketplace for its social networking users, offering a collection of real estate products and services to purchase at a discounted price.