Navia Network launches Navia.com

FORT MYERS, Fla. and LAS VEGAS, March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Navia Network announces the launch of Navia.com, the first residential real estate search engine of its kind. Navia.com combines interactive mapping with revolutionary search technologies at lightning speed. Guiding users in a unique experience of online discovery, Navia.com seeks to redefine the online search for buyers, sellers and agents.

Navia.com debuted on March 8, featuring MLS listings in Florida and Chicago. The website was presented at the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World 2011 Conference at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

"Compared to existing property search engines, Navia is highly intuitive and adaptable to the individual user's needs. It helps users explore real estate listings more quickly and easily than with other sites that use basic criteria search," says Charlie Ashby, president of VIP Realty Group in Fort Myers, Fla. and the founder of Navia.com. "The real estate industry has needed a map-based search system for quite some time, but none developed before Navia really worked well for the user. Navia is the first intelligent user-focused property search engine for real estate."

Navia.com seamlessly combines a cutting-edge map search with the traditional criteria search. The map, which can display a limitless number of properties at once, responds instantly when basic criteria such as bed/baths is entered, as well as more advanced criteria such as school districts or lifestyle amenities.

Utilizing exploration tools made famous by the consumer retail shopping website Amazon.com, the engine guides the user through the results by use of auto-complete fields, property counts and "you may also like" property suggestions.

Navia.com's interactive mapping is one example of its many exploratory search features. The map can help users zero in on specific geographic areas. At the same time they can narrow search results by a wide array of parameters such as home size, price, features, amenities and even financial status such as short sale and foreclosure.

For example, a user searching for four-bedroom houses in Fort Myers, Fla., where Ashby's real estate company is based, can narrow thousands of listings by price, specify desirable neighborhoods and include tennis in their search. In minutes, they've arrived at a handful of options to contact a Realtor about, rather than spending hours or even days sifting through traditional online listings.

Navia.com also has a social component. Users can save to their favorites list, receive email alerts and easily share both their lists and alerts with others. When they return to the site, searchers may limit results to include only listings that have been added since their last visit and monitor price changes.

According to the recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) poll designed to determine where buyers and sells come from, 90 percent of buyers used the Internet at some point in their home search. Thirty-eight percent found the home they bought online, and 36 percent found the home through a broker.

Each test market, where Navia.com is now available, has an exclusive market sponsor. However, Navia.com provides all of the MLS results in the market, not just the sponsors' listings. Navia.com is a user-centric site with a strict privacy policy and no advertising. The service is sponsored by a leading real estate company in each market area.

"Navia.com is designed to give the independent brokerages a competitive advantage over real estate franchises in terms of online search capabilities," says Ashby. "It's not a money-making venture, it's an alternative and improvement over existing search engines such as Zillow.com and Realtor.com. It offers independent brokers a strong referral base and enhanced online presence to help grow their business."

Navia.com combines interactive mapping with revolutionary search technologies at lightning speed. Guiding users in a unique experience of online discovery, Navia.com seeks to redefine the online search for real estate buyers, sellers and agents.  This navigational real estate search technology is sponsored in each market by a top independent company. Together, these companies make up the Navia Network. Navia Network members include VIP Realty Group, Michael Saunders & Company, Smith & Associates, Foxfire Realty, Norris and Company, EWM Realtors, Fannie Hillman and Baird & Warner. Each of these real estate companies is a member of the Leading Real Estate companies of the World, an exclusive global network of 600 premier real estate firms. For more information, contact Navia.com founder Charlie Ashby at 239-470-6600.

SOURCE Navia Network