Posted by Rich Lacy | October 9, 2008
MY FIRST PLACE, HGTV’s hit series, is coming back for a Fifth season and we’re looking for first-time homebuyers in the Greater Philadelphia and Greater Denver areas RIGHT NOW!
We are looking for fun, high-energy people who are just starting the home-buying process for their first place! Our goal is to capture all the trials and tribulations of looking for, bidding on and buying your first place.
Taping takes place between now and November 2008. Ideal candidates will be enthusiastic buyers with a great story to tell and a desire to share their experiences. Singles, couples and families are all invited to apply!
Candidates who are chosen for the show will also receive a unique SURPRISE that HGTV has picked just for you!
Also, if you’re getting ready to sell your home, MY FIRST SALE is also looking for potential home sellers in Denver, CO.
Request an application by emailing:
sbrohard@highnoonentertainment.com
Posted by Rich Lacy | August 3, 2008
![The FrontDoor core team shows off their \](http://blog.frontdoor.com/files/2008/08/img_3253.jpg "The FrontDoor Team shows off their \")
Recently, the FrontDoor team closed out the Inman Connect SF conference with a big win by being named “the most innovative media site” by Inman News. See the announcement We took the win as a huge honor because innovation is something we strive for in everything we do.
But what made us stand out? We think it has to do with something that Vikki Neil touched on in her panel discussion at the Inman Conference. See the video; remarks begin at 12:50
It’s actually pretty simple. Listings are only a part of the experience. A big part, to be sure. But, what about the consumer that’s buying their first home and has no idea where to start? What about the person that’s wondering why they might choose a victorian over a mid-century modern? There’s a massive universe of content and experiences surrounding the real estate space that FrontDoor embraces.
We’ve only just begun to leverage the massive library of content from our HGTV siblings. Even in our own organization, we’ve been dreaming up ways to use existing content. Examples such as our Designed To Sell series take entertainment-based videos and put some real utility behind them. And, we’re creating great new FrontDoor-exclusive series of our own.
We’re just getting started. All-in-all, the win was a big affirmation for our entire team and it just serves to point out how the view from our FrontDoor is more complete and appealing than ever before.
Posted by Vikki Neil | July 15, 2008
People always ask me what drove HGTV into the real estate space? Well, it was a pretty simple leap for those of us on the inside.
Since launching HGTV in 1994, Scripps Networks Interactive has become the dominant media and marketing company in the home, food and lifestyle categories. Many of those highly rated shows that led to the success of HGTV were based on home design and real estate entertainment, such as House Hunters and Design on a Dime.
As HGTV started branching out and creating more shows that were in the focused lens of real estate buying and selling, the ratings were staying strong or increasing. We knew the real estate category had connected to consumers in terms of television. Why couldn’t that extend itself to an online product?
I think a lot of people in the industry were surprised to learn we were developing this product ourselves. How can a television company compete in an online space?
A little known fact: we have over 300 people in our company focused on building, designing, selling and programming our online properties. And while we’ve never dealt with real estate search before, we do own The Food Network. And while I’ll be the first to admit that real estate is way more complicated, you’d be shocked to discover just how many similarities there are between chicken recipes and home listings.
We considered partnering with established real estate portals, but the more we evaluated potential partners, the more we realized that something was missing. All the offerings were/are were very intensely data-focused. Don’t get me wrong, I love data almost as much as an analyst, but it’s only part of the picture.
A home is the biggest investment most people will ever make, but it’s not an investment that is made solely with a calculator. Emotions tend to run high when you’re buying, selling or moving, because ideally it’s not just about finding a “house,” it’s about finding a “home.”
Recently, a well-known broker in the Northeast told me that it’s the kitchen or the neighborhood that make 99% of the buyers take the plunge. Buyers hope for a deal along the way, but a “deal” is almost always secondary. I tend to agree.
For the FrontDoor team, we’re focused on creating and sculpting the real estate search experience into something holistically different. For the last six months, we’ve been dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s. But now, we’re headed towards some really cool stuff that we can’t wait to share.So, stay tuned and keep enjoying the hunt….
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