MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Media executive Melinda C. Witmer and her team today announced the launch of Foiye, a new digital platform bringing real estate together with home and design entertainment to create an online community for home and interior design enthusiasts, real estate professionals and more.
At launch, Foiye will offer free home and real estate-related entertainment content alongside active and sold listings from Multiple Listing Service (MLS) partners.
In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, Foiye has partnered with the MIAMI Association of REALTORS® (MIAMI), the nation’s largest local Realtor association with nearly 60,000 real estate professionals. Each realtor receives a free Foiye marketing Folio where they can easily build out profiles, showcase properties and reach dedicated real estate fans --with a new business model favorable to the industry.
“Real estate listings are an unrecognized and undervalued source of entertainment for a massive audience of home enthusiasts,” said Melinda Witmer, founder, and CEO of Foiye. “Like millions of others, my passion includes spending hours perusing real estate listings for fun and inspiration - even when I’m not looking to transact. Foiye creates an environment for fans like me, where users can browse a curated offering of properties, watch home design videos, add their own user-generated content to the mix and join an online community of friends, pros and brands.”
The MIAMI MLS is the 7th-largest MLS in the U.S. with over 2 million active and sold listings and more than 40 million listing images of homes, condos and rentals across Miami and Florida. MIAMI also has the largest global footprint and reputation with 230 global partnerships in 70 countries. MIAMI properties are linked to more than 2 million professionals worldwide.
“As the largest local Realtor association in the United States, we pride ourselves in always bringing the best technology and innovations to our Realtors and the South Florida marketplace,” said Teresa King Kinney, CEO, MIAMI Realtors. “We’re excited to partner with Foiye, which offers one of the only environments for MIAMI Realtors to position themselves alongside top brands and celebrities in the home, design and real estate space, with a supportive business model for real estate professionals.”
Foiye is First Entertainment Platform to Recognize Realtors as Content Creators
Foiye will display free media and real estate entertainment content for dedicated home and design fans. At launch, partners include top HGTV personalities and media brands Egypt Sherrod, Carter Oosterhouse, Ken & Anita Corsini, NBC’s “Open House,” The Design Network, Sunset magazine, Sandow’s Luxe Interiors + Design and Interior Design magazines and streaming news service Cheddar News. Foiye is also partnered with leading content creators including Breegan Jane, Nina Takesh, Anita Yokota, Matt Blashaw, Roger Wakefield, Tyson and Audy Leavitt of Charmed Playhouses, in addition to other renovators, architects, designers, and home builders.
The platform connects realtors with consumers inside a media-rich environment offering design inspiration, social features and news from top media brands and personalities. Within Foiye, real estate professionals will be positioned as content creators, in keeping with the new industry trends as realtors draw increasing attention on social media platforms, in the home improvement/selling spaces, and on spinoff shows, YouTube tutorials and the like.
Foiye is led by a seasoned team with established track records of launching successful consumer entertainment ventures. The team is headed by CEO Melinda Witmer, a cable and entertainment veteran who spent 25 years in senior leadership roles at Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum) and Home Box Office.
Prior to founding Foiye, Witmer served as Executive Vice President, Chief Video & Content Officer of Time Warner Cable (Spectrum), where she oversaw the company’s multibillion-dollar video and content strategy, on demand and online video distribution operations, in addition to managing relationships with programmers and content providers across the entertainment industry. She also served as Chief Operating Officer for Time Warner Cable’s owned and operated local news, sports, and lifestyle channels. In that role, she launched multiple regional sports networks including networks with coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers.
The Foiye experience includes:
- Stream free content from leading media brands, celebrity home improvement, real estate, and design pros; browse a curated collection of real estate listings
- Enthusiasts can add their own user-generated content to Foiye
- Create “Folios" of inspiring content from all things home and seamlessly share, follow, and connect with friends and pros
- Realtors may create free Folios to showcase their brand, projects, and content to inspire users and connect with clients; social posts are surfaced to 100% of followers in a benefit all users
- Realtors with MLS partners signed up with Foiye receive automatic posting of all listings, both active and sold, allowing for a seamless platform to market their work
- Design pros and influencers can showcase their entire portfolios, enabling their content and expertise to reach a fan base through curated editorial and search
Foiye is pursuing and rolling out new MLS partnerships and distribution agreements with MLS services and brokerages across North America, in addition to securing new content partners and creators.
About Foiye
At Foiye, we’re just like the millions of people who love real estate – it inspires us, entertains us, and fuels our dreams. That’s why we created Foiye –to bring real estate together with home and design entertainment in a vibrant community of consumers, pros, and brands – a dedicated place to stream, connect and engage around the content people love. Foiye was founded by CEO Melinda Witmer, a passionate real estate, and home design enthusiast with more than 25 years of experience building transformational consumer video and digital experiences as a C-level executive at Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum) and HBO.
About the MIAMI Association of Realtors®
The MIAMI Association of Realtors (MIAMI) was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 102 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. MIAMI’s official website is www.MiamiRealtors.com.
