Product and Services Roundup: Realtor.com, Zillow, Bien'Ici, Leboncoin, SeLoger, Avito

This week's Product Roundup starts in North America...

North America: Realtor.com introduces paid "Local Expert" agent profiles

Realtor.com has released a subscription-based “Local Expert” profile product, designed to give agents greater visibility and lead ownership on its platform.

The new product is the latest in a series of moves aimed at reinforcing the value proposition of National Association of Realtors (NAR) membership, while expanding agent discoverability.

Upgraded profiles are now visually distinguished in the site’s professional directory and appear higher in search results, even though ranking also remains tied to profile completeness—a metric that applies to all agents.

While free leads from “connect” buttons on agent profiles will continue for all NAR members—currently estimated at 2.5 million annually—Realtor.com has introduced changes to how additional leads are handled.

When a consumer clicks to connect on a basic profile, they now see a lead form that may route to Realtor.com’s referral network, rather than to the agent directly. In contrast, leads generated through enhanced profiles are sent exclusively to the subscribing agent.

Additional features for Local Expert subscribers include the ability to add service descriptions, Q&A content, and videos. Videos, previously available on free profiles, are now restricted to the enhanced tier.

Free profiles remain accessible to all NAR members, with increased ranking potential tied to data completeness. Agents can improve placement by claiming their profile, adding sales history (as available from MLS feeds), uploading ratings and reviews, and detailing credentials and education. NAR-provided certifications and designations are automatically included once a profile is claimed.

Effective September 3, Realtor.com’s search interface has been renamed “Find an Agent” and now includes licensed agents who are not NAR members. While these non-member profiles were previously allowed, they were only discoverable via listing pages. They are now fully searchable in the agent directory.

To maintain differentiation, NAR members are marked with the block “R” icon and are prioritised in results above non-members when all other factors are equal. Consumers can also filter search results to show only NAR member agents.

The launch of the initiative comes in the same week that CEO Robert Thomson revealed he had held talks with OpenAI's Sam Altman on partnering up for an AI-focused real estate product.

Zillow integrates AI-powered virtual staging into its Showcase product

Zillow has launched Virtual Staging, an AI-driven feature embedded within Zillow Showcase, its premium listing product. The tool allows users to restyle select listing photos with one of several curated design aesthetics, aiming to help buyers better visualise a home’s potential.

The rollout follows the Summer Launch of SkyTour, an aerial view feature also included in Showcase.

Amanda Pendleton, Zillow’s home trends expert, said:

"Buying a home is an emotional decision as much as a financial one. Too many buyers overlook what could be the perfect home for their family simply because they can't see past the furniture or design choices. Virtual Staging helps people envision themselves living in a space. It's a new way to explore what a home could feel like, and a simple tool for agents to show off a home's true potential."

Functionality is limited to select rooms in Showcase listings. A Virtual Staging icon on eligible photos enables buyers to choose from styles such as modern, Scandinavian, industrial, midcentury, luxury, coastal, and farmhouse. AI then reconfigures the room — furnished or empty — to match the selected theme. Users can toggle between original and staged versions or refresh the image for alternate layouts. Furniture can also be removed entirely.

Virtual Staging is the first public product built on technology from Virtual Staging AI (VSAI), which Zillow acquired in October 2024.

Josh Weisberg, senior vice president of AI at Zillow, said:

"Virtual Staging is the latest example of how we're bringing our AI strategy to life for consumers and agents. From the Zestimate to personalized search and now to dynamic listing experiences, AI has long been part of Zillow's DNA. Virtual Staging applies the AI field of computer vision to restyle listing photos in real time to help shoppers see a home's potential and give agents a time-saving way to stand out. It's the next chapter in Showcase's evolution and a step forward in making home shopping more immersive and personal."

According to Zillow’s 2024 Consumer Housing Trends Report, 71% of sellers are more likely to work with an agent who uses interactive media. Zillow reports that Showcase agents win 30% more listings and generate $7,000 higher sale prices, on average, compared to non-Showcase agents.

Europe: Bien'Ici partners with Nextories for easier home moves

The French real estate marketplace has partnered with Nextories to simplify home moves.

Nextories is a dedicated platform that assesses movers' needs and provides quotes for moving services from a selection of insured professionals around France. Nextories helps take inventories of home movers' belongings and find a suitable moving company, and also offers add-ons, including transferring utilities contracts.

A post on Nextories' LinkedIn profile said:

Looking for a place to live is only half the battle. The other half is moving: a step that is often stressful, complex... and yet decisive. Together, we now support project leaders from A to Z.

Find the ideal property on Bien Ici thanks to the 3D modeling of the neighborhood. Be well supported to move with Nextories experts. A partnership for those who are not just looking for accommodation... But a new beginning. [Translated from French]

Real estate portal Bien'ici is primarily an agent-owned portal and is one of the only major portals to restrict FSBO listings.

The company moved to a new Paris headquarters in June. The Arche Group has owned the portal operator since November 2024.

Leboncoin reveals AI-focused strategy in blog post

The French horizontal marketplace Leboncoin has unveiled its new strategy in a blog post on its website, outlining ambitious plans to be a leading real estate marketplace in Europe by 2027.

[Our] new strategy sets a clear course: to become one of the leading real estate platforms in Europe by 2027, by combining audience power, product vision, and innovation, said the company.

Leboncoin says it will focus its efforts on boosting its real estate vertical by integrating Artificial intelligence to improve lead qualification, refine estimates, and optimise ads, while the company also wants to increase its local footprint and launch a community for real estate professionals.

Aurélien Flament, Director of leboncoin, said:

"To meet the expectations of our professional clients, we develop expert, easy-to-use solutions to make their daily work more efficient. Every euro invested on our platform must have a concrete impact on their business, and for this we will invest massively to generate ever more qualified contacts.

"With the Cercle de l'Immo, leboncoin is taking a key step: establishing a unique system for continuous listening to professionals, with already more than 500 active and committed panelists. This collaborative mechanism allows us to anticipate needs, adapt our offer and consolidate our role as a reference partner."

Cercel de l'Immo is a new community open to all real estate professionals, whether they are clients of leboncoin or not. The community aims to establish a direct dialogue between leboncoin and those in the field with regular surveys, interviews and studies that the portal will then use to inform tweaks to its strategy.

Other events will include networking breakfasts dedicated to analysing data, and lunches hosted around specific industry themes such as AI, economic trends, and digital strategies.

SeLoger's marketing campaign targets agents who want more qualified contacts

ImmoMatin has reported that SeLoger will run a marketing campaign aimed at generating better contacts for real estate agents using its portal.

The campaign, under the tagline "We all have our own idea of the ideal property. Find yours on SeLoger,” will run from September to October across television, outdoor advertising and digital.

SeLoger is part of the AVIV Group, which also operates other French real estate companies, MeilleursAgents and Logic-Immo.

Avito partners with the Russian Land Registry to integrate data

Russia's Avito has agreed to integrate its real estate database with that of Roscadastre, Russia's equivalent of the land registry.

Both companies will collaborate on the development of new proptech services, mutually exchange information, and improve market analysis capabilities.

Mikhail Ryzhenkov, deputy managing director at Avito, said:

"This agreement becomes the starting point for a large-scale project to integrate data and services, which will help millions of users of Avito Real Estate and Rosreestr to solve housing issues and entrepreneurial tasks more effectively. Joint cooperation will increase the transparency of the real estate market, simplify the procedures for searching and registering transactions, and also receive an objective assessment of the market or cadastral value. All this will have a positive effect on both buyers and sellers, as well as on the professional environment of agents and developer." [Translated from russian]