Tallahassee, Fla.-based Homes & Land Publishing, Ltd., which publishes 65 million real estate magazines annually in more than 200 markets, including Kitsap and Mason Counties, has developed a new Web site highlighting homes for sale, agents, brokers and other real estate services providers who advertise in its magazines. The new Web offering features listings of properties for sale and for rent in the U.S. and Canada, plus other community information and features.

Recently, Homes.com, a provider of Web sites for real estate agents that was originally launched under the Homes & Land banner, laid off 150 workers — 40 percent of its workforce — due to a lack of money. This was after being funded with more than $35 million in venture capital a year and a half ago. It then declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy several days after the layoffs, which occurred in Homes.com’s sales, product development and administrative staffs, were announced. The move was designed to help Homes.com achieve “positive cash flow,” the company said.

Homes & Land Publishing hired some of Homes.com’s laid off personnel, including several key Homes.com staffers and a “fairly good chunk” of Homes.com’s customer service staff, according to Brian Delaney, vice president of franchise operations for the company.

Former Homes.com CEO Bob Prince, who also owns Homes & Land and The Printing House, the company that prints most Homes & Land magazines, was asked to step down from Homes.com and is back with Homes & Land. However, he is not involved in the day-to-day running of the company. Those chores have fallen to Francie Lowe, who was the company’s in-house attorney.

Prince remains a Homes.com shareholder but is no longer affiliated with that company, Homes.com officials said.

Current Homes.com CEO Tom Orsi said that Homes.com would continue developing new products and services.

While Homes & Land’s move away from Homes.com seemed sudden, some of the company’s advertisers reportedly had become upset with the Homes.com arrangement. Many thought the company’s ever-expanding business was interfering with the original mission of the Homes.com site.

Homes.com acquired several companies last year, including PREP Software, Automation Quest and Real Estate Village, and was in the process of rolling out new products and services, including wireless tools and an online offer management system.

“It’s safe to say the direction Homes.com took last fall began to go a little further away from where Homes & Land would have liked to have seen it go,” Delaney said.

Homes.com was founded in 1992 and is widely credited as the first online real estate Web site, having started on Prodigy and AOL in the early ‘90s. When Prince spun the site off into a separate company after breaking a promise to make it an addendum to their franchise agreements, it created a rift between him and the Homes & Land franchisees that has yet to completely heal.

Prince recently sent a letter to all the Homes & Land associate publishers hoping to repair the damage that has been done to the relationships. “It’s too little too late,” said one associate publisher who asked not to be named due to fear of reprisal. Others are taking a wait and see attitude.

The new Homes & Land’s Web site, www.HomesandLand.com, is up and running. The majority of the content is supplied by the local magazines, however, there are a number of magazines which are not printed by Homes & Land, and content from those magazines is missing from the site.

These include some key areas of the country including major markets in California and near the Washington D.C. area among others.