Hartland-based
VRX Media, a real estate media and marketing firm, has been acquired by Seattle-based
Zillow Group. Terms of the deal, which closed Dec. 7, were not disclosed.
VRX Media is known in the real estate industry for its aerial drone photography, virtual staging, 3D tours and high-definition photography. The company uses a national network of professional photographers. Zillow will offer VRX Media's services through the ShowingTime+ software suite.
VRX Media has been named to the Inc. 5000 list several times,
including this year.
“Our top services that we do across the nation are real estate photos, so just like listing photos, aerial drone videos and photos, 3D tours and virtual staging,” said
Kyle O’Boyle, VRX Media co-owner and chief marketing officer. “We offer those services with really easy online booking.”
[caption id="attachment_560514" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Kyle O'Boyle[/caption]
VRX Media has approximately 20 full-time employees at its Hartland office. They are all now Zillow employees. VRX Media also employs over 130 real estate photographers across the country who will all be transferred to the Zillow team. Zillow has taken over the lease of the Hartland office.
VRX Media currently has a presence in over 70 metro areas. The company will now be able to market its product to an expanded audience of over 800,000 residential realtors nationally through its new partnership with the ShowingTime+ software suite.
“We’re all former real estate guys. The reason I think we’ve grown so quickly is just because we are former real estate guys doing these services. That really made it easy for us to market to real estate people because they’re basically like our old co-workers,” said O’Boyle. “These are the services we always wanted to offer.”
VRX's media services and capabilities will enable ShowingTime+ to provide two new products, Listing Media Services and Listing Showcase, which will be released in 2023. Listing Media Services and Listing Showcase are marketing products for listing agents that bring together photography services with high-quality listing media to create interactive and visually appealing listings.
"Listing media is a crucial part of selling a home, and we are focused on creating an immersive customer experience that makes listings stand out," said
Jun Choo, senior vice president of ShowingTime+. "With VRX Media, ShowingTime+ will give agents elevated listing products unlike anything available today and will transform the way they prepare and market their for-sale listings."