Tech Bytes: Movoto partners with GreatSchools; T3 Sixty names Fusion finalists 

Editor's note: Technology is a driving force in real estate. From startups to established players, tech companies are constantly innovating, growing and forging partnerships. Here we highlight some of the latest news about the companies that help power the industry. 

Movoto to become exclusive home listing site for GreatSchools

Search portal Movoto, which was acquired by proptech company OJO in 2020, has announced a key partnership with GreatSchools.org.

GreatSchools collects and provides information, including quality rankings, about schools across the nation. Families viewing property listings on Movoto will now have unique access to data about local schools when searching for homes.

"We are ecstatic to announce that Movoto will be the only residential real estate search website exclusively providing home search data to the millions of parents who visit GreatSchools.org each year," Movoto CEO and Co-founder John Berkowitz said in a news release.

"GreatSchools is a nonprofit that unequivocally shares our vision for transparency in data, and as a real estate company with a large audience, we have a responsibility to not misrepresent our communities. GreatSchools understands the importance of providing high-quality, data-powered educational insights," Berkowitz added.

The companies said the partnership will benefit consumers — particularly families with children shopping for a new home — by giving them additional tools and insights that can aid their decision-making process.

"We aim to provide families with high-quality school information that can support them throughout their child's education," said GreatSchools CEO Jon Deane. "This partnership with Movoto adds to that ease — connecting parents who are navigating significant life changes to relevant, local housing information directly on our platform."

T3 Sixty announces web site award winners

T3 Sixty, a strategic management consulting firm, unveiled 16 finalists in the first T3 Fusion Website Rankings during the T3 Leadership Summit. This award honors excellence in website design, functionality and performance among residential real estate brokerages.

"These rankings celebrate some of the best brokerage websites in the real estate industry. The collaboration between the brokerage and its tech vendors has led to sites that blend the ability to perform well in the eyes of Google, engage visitors and reinforce the firm's brand. We are thrilled to shine a light on these best-in-class websites," said Michael Phelan, senior vice president of technology consulting at T3 Sixty.

T3 Sixty collaborated with Benchmetrics, ListTrac, LiveBy and MAXA Designs to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of more than 500 submissions. Desktop and mobile versions of the websites were evaluated across 28 factors for their performance, usability and design with special consideration given to property and neighborhood detail pages.

The T3 Fusion Website Rankings finalists represent brokerages spanning five zones across North America.

Midwest

• Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty, briggsfreeman.com (website vendor: Union Street Media)

• Coldwell Banker Legacy, cblegacy.com (website vendor: Delta Media)

• Hegg Realtors, hegg.com (website vendor: Reliance)

• Phyllis Browning Company, phyllisbrowning.com (website vendor: Union Street
  Media)

Northeast

• Century 21 Farm & Forest, farmandforest.com (website vendor: Union Street Media)

• Hammond Residential Real Estate, hammondre.com (website vendor: Union Street
  Media)

• Sunset Lakes Real Estate, sunsetlakesofmaine.com (website vendor: Union Street
  Media)

Southeast

• BHHS Bay Street Realty Group, baystreetrealtygroup.com (website vendor: Inside Real Estate)

• Cashiers Valley Real Estate, cashiersvalley.com (website vendor: Union Street Media)

• Latter & Blum, latter-blum.com (website vendor: Delta Media)

West Coast

• Carolwood Estates, carolwoodre.com (website vendor: Luxury Presence)

• Century 21 North Homes Realty, century21northhomes.com (website vendor:
  Union Street Media)

• Sunriver Realty, sunriverrealty.com (website vendor: Luxury Presence)

Canada

• Century 21 Blue Sky Region Realty, c21bluesky.com (website vendor: MoxiWorks)

• Solid Rock Realty, srrealty.ca (website vendor: Delta Media)

• Sotheby's International Realty Canada, sothebysrealty.ca/en (website vendor: Custom)

(Note: T3 Sixty and Real Estate News share a founder, Stefan Swanepoel.)