Tech Impact Awards 2012: Real Estate

Redfin
2025 First Ave., Seattle
Employees: 300
redfin.com

Information is power, a maxim that online real estate broker Redfin applies to aid the buyers and sellers of homes. Once a disruptive upstart, Redfin has grown to become a partner with and a resource for real estate agents as well as homeowners, effectively using online tools such as mapping and search to improve the hunt for property. Redfins chief innovations remain its use of online marketing as well as commission rebates to buyers to substantially lower the cost of a home purchase and sale. These benefits have helped the company expand its reach to 19 United States markets and to close more than $5 billion in home sales. The company continues to expand its consumer-focused efforts with features such as ratings of individual agents based on past sales information, changing the way that agents work with buyers and sellers of homes.

Silver Award
Zillow
1301 Second Ave., Seattle
Employees: 400+
zillow.com

Since its rocket-like launch in 2006, Zillow remains a key source of housing information for homeowners, buyers, sellers and researchers, with its innovative Zestimates of individual properties from publicly available data. With data on more than 100 million American homes and more than 30 million unique visitors a month, Zillow continues to expand its offerings to agent reviews, rental market estimates and access through mobile devices.