- Name
- Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing}
- Company
- Zillow
- E-mail
- Contact Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow)
- Website
- http://www.zillow.com
- Description
- A real estate blog about buying, selling and all the stuff in between!
I work for Zillow and am happy to answer any questions you have about the site.
I am also a licensed Realtor in Chicago.
Real Estate And My Professional Career:
Since 1999 I have been involved with the Real Estate industry, specifically dealing with how to market real estate online.
I started my career at Citysearch.com, where I helped develop the Real Estate channel on the site. I met with many real estate professionals and helped them begin to understand what exactly the Internet was and why a website was important in helping in marketing their business.
As time progressed, it wasn't so much about how to build the website as it was, how to market the site. After four years at Citysearch I went to work for The Real Estate Book (www.realestatebook.com), which is a free publication in about 450 markets. I ran the sales efforts for the eBusiness team. Here we taught REALTORS how to merge a print and online strategy. We we were also one of the first companies who understood how important it was for listings to show up in multiple locations and set up listing marketing agreements with about 20 sites including: Yahoo Real Estate, BobVila.com, LendingTree, RealEstate.com, and MSN Real Estate to name a few.
After 5 years of doing this, my heart belonged back in the dot com world and the whole phenomia of web 2.0 and social media absoluted fascinates me. Then one day I got a call from a recruiter representing Zillow.com.
Today I work as a Broker and Industry Relations Manager for Zillow.com, responsible for both establishing and growing relationships with top Real Estate companies and their Agents, industry mavens, and Real Estate media outlets. I spend a lot of time on the road attending real estate conferences (such as Inman Real Estate Connect, RIS Media, Real Trends, and various brokerage national sales events), speaking at events and doing industry outreach activities like maintaining this blog. I am also a contributor to the Zillow Corporate Blog.
I also work with real estate companies across the US to help them set up listing data feeds to Zillow.
Feel free to contact me directly thru my profile if you ever have a question about Zillow or would like to see a blog post about a particular aspect of the site.
Real Estate And My Personal Career
I am a licensed Agent in Illinois and a member of the National Association of Realtors, the Illinois Association of Realtors, and the Chicago Association of Realtors. I work for ESM Realty which is run by an excellent Broker, who has great business sense, but it also just plain a good person.
I bought my first home, a condo, in Atlanta in 2001. I remember what a big deal it was to be a first time homeowner. I lamented over each decision necessary along the way and looked at over 25 places, only to buy the first unit I had seen which I knew I wanted along. After that first process was over, I was hooked and have personally bought five more houses since then, most of which are rentals.
Because I am always on the hunt for the next great home to buy, I decided to learn even more about real estate and went to school to obtain my real estate license. Now I not only find homes for myself, but I help others find the perfect place to call home.
Today I live in the heart of Wicker Park in Chicago, IL. Because of where I live, I have extensive knowledge about following neighborhoods: Wicker Park, Bucktown, Ukrainian Village, East Village, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, West Loop and Noble Square.
Contact me if you ever want more information about any of these fine neighborhoods.
Check out this article that appeared on the front page of the Real Estate section of the Sun Times on Oct 17th about one of my satisfied clients and her love of her new Wicker Park home.
Fun Stuff
When I am not knee deep in some thing to do with real estate, I enjoy staying active. I am an avid runner and biker. You can find me at Crunch Gym on just about any day of the week that I am in town, usually at a Spinning or Cardio class. I am proud to say that I just finished my first Triathlon in under my goal time!
Instead of writing fluff about me, I'll let you in on my biggest vice: Celebrity Gossip. I visit perezhilton.com more than I care to admit. I try to legitimize my weakness by occasionally writing about celebrity real estate, which I can loosely tie back to my job.
To relax I enjoy gardening. Since I live in Chicago, I don't have a lot of yard, but I work hard on the little I do have the few months of the yard that things actually grow.
A final passion is traveling with my husband. Our last big trip was this Spring and we went to Thailand for two weeks. Fabulous! Each year we try to visit a new part of the world. Luckily I spend enough time of the road and have enough frequent flier points to allow us to do this affordably.
I love living in Chicago. I love my neighborhood. I love my house. Yes, I know, it is cold in the winter. But the people and the city far make up for the chilliness. And there is something magical about having snow on the ground for the holidays. Then of course in the Summer, there isn't a better town than Chicago! Between Street Festivals, Cubs games, inter-mural sports or just hanging out at North Beach, there is always something exciting going on. Chicago is definitely my type of town!
