REBNY Readies Its Web Portal--Where's Corcoran and Elliman?

The Real Estate Board of New York sent out a release this afternoon saying it would demonstrate on Thursday for the media its new Web portal for city home buyers and renters, called ResidentialNYC.com. The portal will become available to the public on Friday. But the release included nothing about the participation of the Corcoran Group and Prudential Douglas Elliman, the two largest residential brokerages in the New York City metro region.

The New York Times reported in April that neither brokerage would participate in the portal, which has been a long time coming to the often fractiously terrotorial industry. (Citi Habitats, the city's largest rental agency, also would not be participating, according to the Times, as it falls under the corporate umbrella of Corcoran.) ResidentialNYC.com will collect exclusive listings of homes for sale and rent from REBNY-member brokerages. The media demonstration will be led by Steven Spinola, REBNY's president.

We have a call out to REBNY about the status of Corcoran and Elliman's participation, and are checking with the brokerages.