ZipRealty brings on Microsoft exec to run Powered by Zip

Xavier Zang takes helm of growing referral network

Paul Hagey Staff Writer

Jun 6, 2013

Tech-focused brokerage ZipRealty Inc. has brought in former Microsoft marketing executive Xavier Zang to take charge of its growing Powered by Zip referral network.
Zang, 48, who was with Microsoft for five years most recently as senior director of marketing solutions in the software company’s online services division, replaces the previous Powered by Zip head, Genni Combes, who is moving to a consulting position with the Emeryville, Calif.-based company.

Xavier Zang

ZipRealty launched the Powered by Zip platform in 2011 as part of a restructuring that included closing brokerage operations in 11 markets. Powered by Zip brought in less than 5 percent of ZipRealty’s $73.8 million 2012 revenue, according to the firm’s 2012 year regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It currently operates in 16 U.S. markets.
However, ZipRealty’s CEO Lanny Baker has told Inman News the firm has plans to grow the business significantly in the next five years so that its revenue more closely matches what the firm gets from its brokerage operations in 19 markets. The company is also exploring opening up the network to more than one brokerage in a market, according to its first-quarter financial filing.
In Powered by Zip markets, ZipRealty supplies partner brokerages with leads and lead management tools. ZipRealty.com displays all of the Internet Data Exchange (IDX) listings in each partner broker’s market, including properties represented by other brokers.
ZipRealty provides a select group of agents at partner brokerages with leads generated by ZipRealty.com in their market, plus access to a proprietary customer relationship management (CRM) platform.

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Brokerages in the Powered by Zip network include: Fillmore Real Estate in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Century 21 American Homes in Queens, Nassau and Suffolk (N.Y.) counties; Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers in Atlanta; Westchester, N.Y.-based Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Rand Realty; Long Realty in Tucson, Ariz.; Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston in Raleigh, N.C.; Coldwell Banker Hearthside in Philadelphia; Bob Parks Realty in Nashville, Tenn.; Coldwell Banker Vanguard in Jacksonville, Fla.; Prudential Utah in Salt Lake City; Prudential Tropical Realty in Tampa; Illustrated Properties in Palm Beach; William E. Woods and Associates, Realtors in Virginia Beach, Va.; Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Miami; Coldwell Banker Gundaker in St. Louis; and Century 21 Premier Group in Minneapolis.
Since January 2011, the company has closed down brokerage operations in 15 markets: Fresno, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Naples, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Miami; Palm Beach, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; Hartford, Conn.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Tucson, Ariz.; Atlanta, Ga.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Salt Lake City, Utah. The company also shuttered the Westchester-Bronx portion of its New York office in 2012.
The firm still has brokerage operations in the following 20 markets: Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Md.; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Orange County, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Richmond, Va.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C.