Tree.com, the IAC spinoff built on the backs of LendingTree.com and RealEstate.com, has reapplied itself as a marketplace that emphasizes community, even though its principal business will continue to be built around transactions.

Speaking at TargusInfo’s recent Online Lead Quality Summit in Las Vegas, Senior VP and GM Greg Hanson said the company is “taking a multichannel marketing approach that will provide synergies between all the brands.

“There is a lot of engagement before conversion,” said Hanson. “We get people very early in the financial planning cycle. That’s why Tree.com is focusing on letting users browse products across the verticals, and engaging users via Q&A.”

Hanson added that topics with “high conversation levels surface dynamically.” Users can also engage in such activities as viewing reports and account balances, monitoring spending statistics, getting advice, and tracking their goals.

For all of this, RealEstate.com is Tree.com’s obvious prototype. Hanson noted that it has been designed to be “content heavy,” with local community information, popular blogs, articles and resources, home value search, and listings search.

This post is excerpted from a report written for The Kelsey Group’s Marketplaces program.