Celebrating 19 quarters of success

Yesterday, HouseValues celebrated its 19th consecutive quarter of profitability (as reported for Q4 of 2005). Following his call with investors and a few analysts & reporters, Ian shared with employees some of the excitement he and our board of directors have for the most recently-reported results, and the opportunities ahead. In an email to employees, Ian shared several key accomplishments in 2005, including:

* More than 16,000 customers, up 43% from the previous year
* The launch of HomePages.com
* The growth of the mortgage business, including The Loan Page and JustListed Connect
* HouseValues customers spent 6,600 days at seminars and 43,000 hours on Mastermind calls
* The launch of our new facility in Yakima

There is a strong sense of excitement and anticipation here for the year ahead, with lots of exciting projects brewing at every level – for real estate and mortgage customers, for consumers, and for entirely new products & markets as well. Ian’s email to employees put it best:

Our vision is to be the leading player in the online real estate and mortgage category, and that leadership position is more attainable today than it has ever been. Achieving this vision will require hard work and significant investments in 2006. The strength of our business enables us to continue to make these investments while at the same time profitably growing the company in 2006 and beyond.

As we invest in our core assets – including our network of consumer Web sites and the great services we deliver to real estate and mortgage professionals – we will be laying the groundwork for success in the coming years and growing HouseValues into a multi-billion dollar business and a clear category leader.

Plenty of announcements to come, and we’ll keep this blog updated even more frequently with progress reports.