Couples Race to Atlanta Open Houses to Win Hidden $20,000 Down Payment Prize

ATLANTA, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- HomeFinder.com  (http://www.homefinder.com), a popular home search site, today announced the upcoming HomeFinder.com Race for the Home event inviting Atlanta home buyers and sellers to participate in a one day, challenge-filled, location-based game on Saturday, September 25. HomeFinder.com, together with Prudential Georgia Realty and Google Ventures backed gaming company, SCVNGR, will offer a grand prize of $20,000 during a real estate-inspired version of "The Amazing Race." The home buyers who score the most points by successfully completing challenges in Atlanta open houses will win the $20,000 grand prize.  The HomeFinder.com Race for the Home will also help to raise funds for breast cancer awareness through the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Greater Atlanta Foundation.

Atlanta homebuyers and sellers are all welcome to sign up!  Any couple or team of two can participate and all ages 18 or over are welcome. Participants can register today at www.raceforthehome.com and tell their story why they should be chosen to play for the chance to WIN the $20,000 cash grand prize sponsored by Prudential Georgia Realty, SunTrust Mortgage and Weissman, Norwack, Curry & Wilco P.C. The spots are limited and registration will end on Friday, September 24th.

The HomeFinder.com Race for the Home will involve special challenges at featured listings from top Atlanta real estate broker Prudential Georgia Realty. Players will be tasked with individual challenges around each listing to accumulate points throughout the game. The team with the most points will earn bragging rights as well as $20,000, which can be used for a down payment for their dream home.

"Real estate is one of the most customer-driven industries," said Tim Fagan, president and CEO of HomeFinder.com. "We're thrilled to host this unique opportunity to not only serve our home buying audience by helping them find their dream homes, but also to connect them with one of our top local Atlanta partners, Prudential Georgia Realty, in a dynamic new way. The current housing market poses its challenges, but finding and buying your home is still a fun, fulfilling experience, and we're excited to bring that spirit to this action-packed event."

"In the last three years, our company has made significant investments to build a powerful marketing and technology infrastructure. While others have cut costs to survive the real estate downturn, these innovations have served our agents and clients well.  During this period, we have grown market share more than any large brokerage.  Today, our company is #1 in units sales, #1 in buyers and #1 in listing inventory for the Metro Atlanta and North Georgia markets," said Prudential Georgia Realty President and CEO Dan Forsman. "We're excited to team up with HomeFinder.com and SCVNGR to bring the Race for the Home event to Atlanta.  SCVNGR brings a cool and fun mobile technology solution.  More importantly, it will showcase our open houses and produce more results for our clients.  Our company has also made a strategic commitment to position our listings as Featured Properties on HomeFinder.com.  This exposure on such a high profile national Web site is an important part of this event and will drive substantial traffic to our listings."

Thanks to SCVNGR's cutting-edge mobile social technology, playing is easy and free in this high tech house hunt. All of the challenges will be delivered via text message right to a player's cell phone. SCVNGR's mobile platform is compatible with any cell phone, model and carrier.

Mark your calendars. The HomeFinder.com Race for the Home in Atlanta kicks off September 25 at Piedmont Park (Oak Hill) at 9 a.m. with an after party immediately following at Max Lager's at 2 p.m. For more info and to register for your chance to play, visit www.raceforthehome.com.

About HomeFinder.com

HomeFinder.com is one of the most trusted Web sites for consumers to search for a home and connect with a real estate professional. Distinguished by its inventory of comprehensive property listings and rich content, HomeFinder.com provides more than 3.5 million listings with customized searches and multiple options to view and manage results. HomeFinder.com also provides simpler, more valuable online advertising solutions for agents, brokers and builders, combining the brand power of more than 120+ local newspaper Web sites with exposure on a national scope, in a platform that tracks every phone call, email and click a consumer makes.

Owned jointly by three leading media companies, Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI) and Tribune Co., the HomeFinder.com Network includes The Arizona Republic, Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times and The Indianapolis Star. For more information, visit http://www.homefinder.com.

About Prudential Georgia Realty

Prudential Georgia Realty is an independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, a full-service residential and commercial real estate network with offices throughout the U.S. and Canada. Real Estate Magazine ranks Prudential Georgia Realty as one of the top 100 real estate companies in the U.S.  The company was the first large brokerage in the nation to be awarded the prestigious Realtor.com Online Marketing Award of Excellence.  Prudential Georgia Realty has 23 locations and 1,200 Realtors, and just completed its 45th year serving Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Search all the available properties at www.PrudentialGA.com.  Our unique foreclosure search powered by RealtyTrac displays all forms of foreclosure including pre-foreclosures, auction properties and bank-owned properties.  We also provide an exclusive search for Atlanta short sales – where the bank agrees to accept offers below the outstanding loan amount.  See Atlanta new homes, search by neighborhood, search by school district and much more.  Click here to learn more about Atlanta real estate including the latest market facts and trends.

SOURCE HomeFinder.com