In a brilliant move, HGTV has parlayed their well-known brand of home-and-garden based television and moved into online homes sales. In beta stage and not yet cross-linked from their site or promoted on the channel, Front Door has the potential to attract a huge amount of traffic from homebuyers and sellers already familiar with the brand. HGTV benefits from a 24-hour a day “infomercial” from not only HGTV, but the Fine Living Channel and the Food Channel too. It’s a round-the-clock love fest of beautiful homes, fabulous remodels, great recipes, and cheerful hosts and hostesses making home repair, gardening, decorating, scrapbooking and crafts look exciting.

They’re scraping from several sites and not offering links back to individual agents, but inquiries DO go to individual agents representing the properties, so they’re not selling leads (yet). Coldwell Banker and CitiCard seem to be the largest advertisers so far, with banner ads on every page. Lots of white space left for more, however.

Anyway, it’s a great idea and a brilliant marketing move and a great example of how to build upon an already well-respected and popular brand.

Oh, and don’t forget to set your TIVO for this HGTV winner.