Sold: Zillow Buys Postlets to Build Up Real Estate Listings

Zillow has acquired Postlets, a company that has created a platform that makes it easy for real estate listings to be distributed across the Web.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But as part of the acquisition, Seattle-based Zillow said Postlets co-founders Asher Matsuda and Raymond Chen will join as full-time employees.

Postlets, which was founded in 2005, has more than 500,000 registered users, who distribute more than 350,000 for-sale and for-rent listings across the U.S.

In the online real estate space, one of the biggest differentiators between Zillow and its competitors–such as Trulia and Realtor.com–can be having the biggest selection of listings, so in many ways, an acquisition that could potentially increase inventory makes sense.

Postlets helps real estate agents, property managers and landlords create listings and send them to 13 real estate and social media Web sites. Zillow said it will continue to let Postlets send listings to the other distribution partners, including San Francisco-based Trulia.

Both Trulia and Zillow are prepping for initial public offerings. Trulia has said it is ready for an IPO with the recent appointment of a COO, and Zillow has reportedly been talking to bankers.