All eyes on Better Homes and Gardens

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate unveiled
Company officials will pull down the curtain on Realogy Corp.'s Better Homes and Gardens franchise operations on Wednesday, during the Real Estate Connect conference at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Sherry Chris, president and CEO for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate; Gayle Butler, senior vice president and editor in chief for Better Homes and Gardens magazine; and Alex Perriello, president and CEO of the Realogy Franchise Group, will announce the launch during a press conference and live webcast at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The event will be held in the French Parlor Room at the conference site. Watch Inman News for more coverage. The webcast and slide presentation can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/65lo82, and company events can be viewed at the Twitter.com site: "bhgrealestate."

Realogy in October 2007 announced a 50-year licensing agreement with publisher Meredith Corp. -- a company that owns about 25 subscription magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle and Parents -- to use the Better Homes and Gardens name in the launch of a new franchise brand. Meredith had operated its own real estate franchise network under the Better Homes and Gardens brand, which it later sold to GMAC. The Realogy deal came at the close of the GMAC licensing agreement. Other Realogy brands include Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby's International Realty.

TurnHere video company announces new real estate offerings
TurnHere, an online video company, today announces two new video services that target the real estate market. Snapshot Video allows real estate professionals to upload still images directly to TurnHere.com, and professional editors create a finished video by editing the footage and adding music and a professional voiceover. Through a separate offering, Deluxe Snapshot Video, TurnHere will send a videographer to film footage on location. The company will then edit the footage and add music and a voiceover. Real estate professionals can also send still images for use in the videos.

The company's existing Profile Video products have also been used by agents, brokers and real estate companies. TurnHere taps a network of about 5,000 independent, professional filmmakers for its videographer services. TurnHere founder and CEO Brad Inman is also founder and publisher of Inman News -- the companies are separately operated.

Zillow creates Broker Advisory Board
Zillow, an online real estate service that offers home valuation and marketing tools, announced that it created a Broker Advisory Board and appointed 10 members: Steve Baird, president/CEO of Baird & Warner; Ken Baris, president of Jordan Baris; Bob Blount, CEO of RE/MAX Allegiance; Sherry Chris, president and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC; Craig Cuyar, senior vice president and chief information officer for the Realogy Franchise Group; Dan Elsea, president of Real Estate One; Pat Lashinsky, CEO and president of ZipRealty; Mike Montsko, president of Weichert Lead Network; Harley Rouda, Jr., CEO of Real Living; and Mark Woodroof, managing partner for Prudential Gary Greene.

The board's functions include supplying feedback to Zillow on products and services and offering direction for potential products and services. It will meet several times a year.

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