Century 21
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Recent Developments
Recent years have seen an increase of new initiatives within the CENTURY 21® System, designed to assist consumers as well as real estate professionals.
To ensure that CENTURY 21 brokers and sales associates remain at the forefront of industry trends, Century 21 Real Estate Corporation developed one of the industry’s premier learning programs, the CENTURY 21 Learning System® (CLSTM) platform. A Web-based, fully interactive educational system, CLS provides a blended learning program to CENTURY 21 brokers and agents. CLS allows CENTURY 21 System members to engage in live educational sessions on industry and business-related topics from the convenience of their desktop as their own schedule allows.
Increasingly, consumers are turning to the Internet for real estate information, and the company’s consumer Web site has the numbers that prove it. Century21.com has become the most highly trafficked residential real estate sales organizational Web site, and in 2004, Century21.com saw a significant increase in overall usage. In 2003, Century21.com was receiving more than 1.6 million visitors each month, while in 2004 that number increased to more than 5 million visitors each month, including 1.9 million new visitors.**
Century21.com offers a number of features to help visitors make educated real estate decisions, including online tools that allow users to compare property listings, plan move-in and home improvement projects, and calculate mortgage payments, along with a financial planner and many other helpful tools. New in 2004, an “Open House” feature enables customers to locate open house events happening in their area, and an “Office Locator” feature gives driving directions to local Century 21 offices, complete with maps.
Century 21 Real Estate Corporation is committed to helping all Americans achieve homeownership. Century 21 Real Estate Corporation’s Spanish-language consumer Web site, Century21Espanol.com, includes all the information from Century21.com, but adds relevant information specifically for Hispanic consumers. In addition, Century21Espanol.com offers property, office, and agent searches and mortgage calculators, as well as the ability to search for offices with Spanish-speaking agents.
Other Spanish-language initiatives include incorporating information about the home buying process into popular Spanish-language network programs. De Mananita airs a segment titled “Camino a Casa” (On the Road Home) with Century 21, and Univision’s popular Saturday evening program Sabado Gigante offers its audience CENTURY 21 information by advertising the 800 9-TU-CASA hotline number, and the Spanish-language consumer Web site, Century21Espanol.com.
In 2003, the brand also began airing two new Spanish commercials that position CENTURY 21 professionals as trusted partners and demonstrate their willingness to guide homebuyers through the process of purchasing their first home.
Century 21 Real Estate Corporation recently collaborated with Black Entertainment Television (BET) to support and promote homeownership among African-Americans. BET.com has now launched the Owning a Home (OAH) Club sponsored by Century 21 Real Estate Corporation. This club is an interactive virtual classroom accessed through BET.com that provides knowledge and experience of several real estate–related industries and professionals, along with the home-buying tools via Century21.com.
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