ZIPR Ziprealty (MM)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Stacey Corso
510.735.2667
scorso@ziprealty.com

Innovative technology and veteran agent's experience spark 18-year-old's interest in real estate

EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 21, 2013 - ZipRealty, Inc. (http://www.ziprealty.com) (NASDAQ: ZIPR), the leading online residential real estate brokerage and technology provider, is proving to be an attractive - and potentially lucrative - place to work for young, tech-savvy real estate agents, according to Pat Garner, Designated Broker of ZipRealty's San Diego office. In February, 18-year-old Dakota Johnson, the youngest agent in Ms. Garner's office, sold his first home in the booming San Diego market.

"With rising prices and limited inventory, the housing market in Southern California is definitely making a rebound," says Ms. Garner. "Becoming a real estate agent is a great career choice for younger people, especially if you're willing to work hard," she says. "And Dakota has made a commitment to work hard," she notes. Mr. Johnson started his career at ZipRealty in June 2012 and is expected to close his first sale on March 15: a two-bedroom home in Oceanside, Calif., for just under $300,000. A Phoenix-based real estate agent and a firefighter acquired the house as an investment property with the intention of making future investments in Southern California. In mid-April, Mr. Johnson is slated to close his second home sale: a two-bedroom condo in San Marcos, Calif., an REO that sold for $204,000, well above its original asking price of $192,000. And he is currently working with a computer programmer in his 30's who prefers to work with a tech-savvy agent.

Mr. Johnson attributes his successful experience as a real estate agent to two factors: his mentor and mother Daisy Johnson, and ZipRealty's innovative, technology-enabled brokerage platform.  "I have been around real estate my entire life," Mr. Johnson says. "Seeing my mom's success had a significant impact on my life and career choice. As a kid, I used to help my mom put up for-sale signs, and then it turned into helping her write blogs and do email marketing as a young teenager," he shares.  

"I encouraged Dakota to start taking classes to get his real estate license at the age of 17 so he could be fully licensed when he turned 18," notes Mrs. Johnson, a nine-year veteran of the real estate industry. Ms. Johnson has sold nearly $100 million in real estate during her career. In 2012, she sold 16 homes valued at $6.5 million.

Another San Diego real estate agent, 22-year-old Jack Maroney, has also started to mentor under Mrs. Johnson. Maroney began working for ZipRealty in late August 2012 and just commenced closing escrow on his first home.

Mr. Johnson began doing transaction coordination for his mother at the age of 16, which led to showing homes alongside his mother. "With a database of more than 9,000 clients, I have a lot of engaged clients, who are actively transacting business through my team and the Zip brokerage platform," says Ms. Johnson. "For the most part, Dakota focuses on clients interested in purchasing homes priced below $300,000. As soon as potential clients meet him, talk to him and see how effective he is as an agent, they realize that he's been around the real estate business his entire life," she adds.

Mr. Johnson has developed such an affinity for the real estate market that he plans on becoming an investor one day. "Understanding the real estate transaction process is vital because the housing market makes up about 18% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," a figure Mr. Johnson cites from the National Association of Home Builders.

ZipRealty Technology Provides Agents With a Competitive Advantage
"This company gives me the tools I need to not only understand the entire transaction process, but to close deals and generate new leads," Mr. Johnson says. "ZipRealty.com has the most accurate and complete home listings data in the industry, offering access to more than 99% of the MLS databases, while up to 15% of the listings on competing real estate portals are expired or no longer for sale."

ZipRealty also combines the most accurate and complete data in the industry with its with its cutting-edge CRM Zap, its website and four-and-a-half-star rated mobile application, to create the most powerful suite of real estate marketing tools in the business. "Zap integrates these dynamic platforms to give prospective home buyers superior customer service, while providing agents with sophisticated insight into their clients' online home search activity," says Ms. Garner.  

"Home buyers want all of the available home listings, information on neighborhoods and other home search related information instantly and online," says Mr. Johnson. "And that's exactly what they get from Zap and ZipRealty.com. "There are so many tools that keep us organized as agents here at Zip. I can text clients, email them or call them," he says. "Zap allows me to communicate with my clients via their preferred method of contact. My mom and I communicated primarily via text with the couple who bought the Oceanside home."

"Dakota is now working with a 30-year-old client who is a computer programmer, which shows just how appealing this platform is to tech-savvy home buyers," contends Mrs. Johnson.

Both ZipRealty and Powered by Zip (PbZ) agents, a network of third-party brokerages that utilize the Zap platform, can input all of their clients into Zap to efficiently incubate, manage and transact throughout the life of the sales cycle. "Zap makes it easy to maintain contact with prospective clients, which allows agents to grow their business without compromising their expected high level of service," says Ms. Garner.

For young professionals with the drive and ambition to work diligently, Mr. Johnson says the ZipRealty platform provides the perfect outlet to ensure professional success. "My generation has grown up on technology and I have successfully adapted to it," he shares.  

###
www.ziprealty.com

About ZipRealty, Inc.
ZipRealty is a leading national real estate brokerage and provider of proprietary technology and comprehensive online marketing tools for the residential real estate brokerage industry. For home buyers and sellers who increasingly want control, choice and a seamless, customized service, ZipRealty offers Internet-enabled, state-of-the-art technology and complete access to accurate, timely information via their website and mobile applications, which real estate professionals can combine with their own local knowledge and personal expertise to offer an exceptional start-to-finish client experience. For real estate professionals who seek more productive ways to conduct business, ZipRealty provides technology and online marketing tools to enhance their online sales channel, including lead generation, conversion and service of their clients. ZipRealty's technology and online marketing products serve its full-service, owned-and-operated residential real estate brokerage business in 19 markets nationwide, as well as its Powered by Zip network of leading third-party local brokerages in 15 markets.

Ziprealty (MM) (NASDAQ:ZIPR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024

Ziprealty (MM) (NASDAQ:ZIPR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024