Rogers ready to dial into real estate sales

Rogers Communications is expanding into the real estate business.

The mobile and cable giant has applied to become a licensed real estate brokerage across Canada and is aiming to relaunch its five-year-old website Zoocasa.com in May as a unique, one-stop-shopping site for homebuyers. It’s aimed at providing critical data that can help potential buyers assess the value of a property from the comfort of their home computer.

The rebuilt Zoocasa site will have “the most complete list of property information that can be provided to consumers, including neighbourhood and related information,” said real estate maverick Lawrence Dale, who quietly folded his Realtysellers private sales online listings site a few months ago and started working with Rogers as Group Head, Real Estate Business.

Rogers’ move is clearly aimed at snagging advertising dollars in a lucrative consumer sector: Realtors will pay fees for every connection with a homebuyer and any subsequent transaction. The site will provide a seamless link to a raft of Rogers’ other services, such as digital devices and even home security systems.

“There really isn’t anyone who doesn’t want to get in front of the consumer who is looking to buy a home,” Zoocasa president Carolyn Beatty said in an interview on Friday.

The move by Rogers is sure to rattle traditional realtors and real estate associations, which have been fighting hard to maintain their almost-exclusive access to rich Multiple Listing Service data and push back competition, especially given the softening housing market.