Google announced a relatively modest enhancement to its Google Earth iPhone app last Friday that got my mind going.
Now, when a user “flies” to a location in Earth and clicks one of the icons that denote a “place,” they see a neatly arranged collection of media that bring it to life – photos, videos, Wikipedia entries and comments from users. The number of “places” tagged by users is limited, as are the volume of photos and videos. But that won’t always be the case.
What we have here is a mobile media mashup with interesting implications for online real estate. Here’s what it looks like:
Mobile real estate apps are still in their infancy. Trulia, Homes.com and others are blazing a new trail by delivering listings to smart phones with elegant applications built specifically for the small screen.
But I think we’re going to move beyond mobile listings pretty quickly. I’ve written recently about creating a more richly visual online real estate experience, one that provides the user much more to support a decision to live somewhere.
Google is slowly knitting together all kinds of interesting place-based experiences. A couple weeks ago I noted their addition of location-specific images to Street View. I don’t see this stopping.
This also begs the question: When will the sleeping giant of online real estate – Google Base – be pushed across and into the increasingly vast range of apps and services the company offers?
So envision this: A buyer is out on a Sunday looking for homes. They pull up all the opens on their smart phone based on their location (this is possible now). But they are also able to view photos, videos, local business reviews, news and blog posts in the immediate vicinity – from one elegant mobile application. They “lift up the hood” on the place around them, make a smarter decision and save themselves (and their agent) a ton of time.
I’m looking forward to it.
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There are new interesting iPhone apps being built, Smarteragent has one that’s gaining some traction. A brand new offering from MobileAppLoader shows a lot of promise for a real estate agent, I reviewed it here:
http://webrealestatetools.com/real-estate-tools/free-iphone-real-estate-search-app
Right now it’s in free beta …
A sweet idea Brian; I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. Getting the data is easy, mastering the experience…not so much.
Many real estate professionals are hesitant to give the potential buyer too much information. I’ve heard this many times from many clients. They want the ability to sell the potential buyer at the listing, on the spot. I see exactly where they come from, but the bottom line is that if a potential buyer doesn’t like the neighborhood, they’re not going to buy. If they don’t like the floor plan, they’re not going to buy. In the end, the more information and quick access to data saves time and money for both parties. More time for the agent to sell or expose the listing to people who may actually have a chance to close on a listing. I’d be happy to hear other people’s take on the “too much info” prior to a showing. I think all the mobile apps and websites optimized for the iPhone and other smartphones will be the biggest lead generator for the real estate industry, faster than most people may think.
I can’t wait for something like this to take hold. Quick, easy and convenient. All about the end user not the industry while at the same time benefiting the industry.
I think Canada will be a couple of years behind the pack though.
Too bad
@Peter
I had seen MobileAppLoader and don’t think it has much value. It’s a distraction, at best.
hmm..thanks for the post.
This validates the platform work that we’ve been doing at Vidlisting.com. We’re working with application developers and real estate portals to deliver rich diversified local content (our video, images, Youtube video, Real Estate Shows, and links to hyperlocal blog posts/marketing reports) that is all geotargeted by latitude and longitude.
Our big difference is that not only are our customers able to provide all kinds of real estate related content to their rpospective buyers but also are able to provide branding as the content is syndicated as well.
Tony
I actually liked the Trulia iphone apps. It’s a great app. I surprised to see the “Open House” search they have in it. Truly a great app.
It’s not long before we see a mobile MLXchange for Real Estate agents.
Great article Brian!
Have you seen the work Blueroof360.com has done on their mobile search? Its really cool to see the big players like Trulia advancing the mobile search technology so quickly. But there are other companies that are working on bringing the technology to a brokerage and agent level.
Local real estate companies are now able to brand their own mobile search and market it within their communities.
Check out our localized mobile real estate search in Santa Fe, New Mexico: http://prusantafe.com/m
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