Following six months of discussions and development, Rob Grant, CEO of RealEstateDirectory.com (who was profiled in our April 2008 Cover Story) and John Burke, President and CEO of Select Sotheby's International Realty in northern New York State, have announced a unique internet partnership with the launch of a powerful New York real estate portal for www.LakeGeorgeRealEstate.com.

"We are very excited to partner with Select Sotheby's International Realty on this unique project and to be working with John Burke," Grant (who is based in Lake Placid, New York) told us. "If this first site performs the way we think it will, it may represent the future template for a major build out of our powerful New York real estate network in select markets."

The RealEstateDirectory.com was founded in 1996 by Grant who owns the largest network of geo-targeted real estate domains in the world, including LondonRealEstate.com, JapanRealEstate.com, TokyoRealEstate.com, AustraliaRealEstate.com and GermanyRealEstate.com, as well as hundreds of other countries and cities around the globe.

"Our current strategy is to partner with companies like Sothebys here in Upstate New York which offer excellent inventory and a large network of experienced agents," Grant said. "It's critical that we have internet savvy agents who can handle these real estate leads and convert them to actual sales."

Throughout New York State, RealEstateDirectory.com owns domains representing the most important markets throughout New York State, including 

Rob Grant (left) and John Burke in front of 
the Select Sotheby's International Realty 
office in Saratoga Springs, New York.

NewYorkRealEstate.com, BuffaloRealEstate.com, AlbanyRealEstate.com and SyracuseRealEstate.com to name just a few. The majority of these domains are still utilizing a traditional parking based platform generating PPC revenue, but Grant has his sites set on forming more development deals like the arrangement with Sotheby's to unlock the full potential of these domains. 

"As the traditional PPC revenue model slowly dies, large domain portfolio owners are now finally moving into the next development phase," Grant noted. "For real estate domains, the highest and best use has clearly always been as fully developed real estate portals. The commissions which can be generated from the sale of physical real estate dwarf any other revenue model we know of."

"The way we've structured the LakeGeorgeRealEstate.com deal with Sotheby's is that RealEstateDirectory.com owns the actual web site and Select Sotheby's International Realty provides all the unique inventory and listings. Its a very simple and straight forward arrangement. If we can generate the leads, Select Sotheby's International Realty agents can convert these leads into sales," Grant said.

John Burke (left) and Rob Grant have high expectations for LakeGeorgeRealEstate.com.

If the LakeGeorgeRealEstate.com site proves successful, Grant said their next project will be in the Catskills with the build out of CatskillsRealEstate.com. 

"We already operate a very large and successful site in the Adirondacks"  noted Grant, who is a veteran real estate broker. "AdirondackRealEstate.com in Upstate  New York leverages our own brokerage firm and experienced agents. Now, with this new internet partnership involving Select Sotheby's International Realty we hope to expand into new markets throughout Upstate New York."

The RealEstateDirectory.com is part of www.WebMediaProperties.com which owns over 8,000 highly targeted domains in a variety of industry verticals. The company also operates a content network of 1,600 lifestyle and travel based sites throughout the U.S. Grant founded the company in 1996.

(Posted August 16, 2010)