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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SOURCE Move, Inc.