The announcement of the iPhone 3G S this week adds confidence to my belief that real estate websites as we know them are a legacy platform.
The handheld device will be the locus of real estate technology innovation in the coming years.
The inherent “limitations” of the small screen are in fact liberating for the people who count: End users. These are the folks too often forced to slog through a chopped salad of links, footers and gratuitous content served up by SEO-obsessed product teams. The small screen concentrates the developer mind and compels a better experience.
And, for now, the mobile platform is relatively free from ads. This is changing fast, but even when mobile advertising matures it is likely to be less disruptive than what users have come to expect on the big screen. Early data suggest they may even be more effective.
Most importantly, the experience is portable, which is perfectly suited to real estate.
This is why I think the Zillow iPhone app is better than Zillow.com. It’s why I am so excited about the numerous IDX-based native iPhone apps in development as I type.
But you may ask: “What about virtual tours, or big hi-res photos – won’t the small screen limit my ability to merchandize listings?”
Here’s a secret: Price a listing right. Take a dozen well-composed photos. Put it in the MLS. It will sell. No need to go nuts with Photosynth or lay down a John Tesh track behind your slideshow.
The small screen is enough screen.
The details
Consider these features of the 3G S:
1. Location awareness in the Safari browser. This means you don’t even have to be using an iPhone app to have content – perhaps listings – served up to you based on your location. Right now, many real estate sites serve you listings based on your IP address, which is a notoriously imprecise way of determining location. A location aware browser improves location targeting dramatically.
2. Video capture, editing and publishing. A year ago, everyone was raving about Flip cameras. Trouble was they kinda sucked. And they were yet another device that needed to be schlepped around, then plugged in to some other web-connected device for publishing. Now, users can take hi-quality video, edit it and email or text it with the click of a button. Or the video can be sent to YouTube directly from the device. Forget for a moment how this might be used by Realtors; think about how buyers will be able to document and share their home search.
3. Speed. Mobile browsing – even on “high-speed” 3G networks — is still relatively slow. Mobile apps also hang more than those running on the desktop. But the claimed speed increase in the 3G S is an indication that the same leapfrogging advances in memory and processing power we’ve seen on desktops and notebooks over the past decade is coming to the handset. The user experience will only get richer as a result.
Of course, even with nearly 40 million iPhone and iPod touches sold to date, the mobile story hardly begins and ends with Apple. But I think it is safe to assume that many of the features in this new iPhone will appear in some manner across the mobile platform in the next year or two.
Do we need more real estate websites? Maybe not.
Do we still need a better way to find place to live? Definitely.
The small screen is where that better way lies.
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This could not be more accurate. I have been pushing mobile in real estate for over a year now. The GPS search is the next killer app of real estate. (Just so we are clear about how big of a deal I think this is….I think the last killer app was auto-emailed listings, and that’s been around for 10+ years. We’ve made mobile a top priority now and going forward for our company.)
Texting a short code to get info on one home is so 2005. People want pictures, virtual tours, all the info they can find from their home computer, but they want it while sitting outside the home. “Is it worth going into?” “should we call the agent”? Now they can check. Mobile also offers agents that don’t necessarily have a big listing presence to gain market share. By offering a branded application that buyers can use their potential clients can find any home for sale even if they are sitting in front of a competing brokers listing.
The brokers that have the “wow” products will be the winners in the future. Something tells me it won’t be programs from the big brands. Look at Coldwell Banker’s program. It’s web based, not a cross platform application. (up until the iPhone 3G-S, there was not even potential for GPS.)
@Brian, 99% makes sense. You could have written this about 2 years ago and still been spot-on. I like the way you clearly updated the latest wave of new features on the iPhone, and specified how they will affect RE.
The truth is, not just RE is headed to the small screen. Everything else too. Even the big screen is headed to the small screen. RE is just usually last (or close to that) to get there.
I must disagree with the following statement:
“Here’s a secret: Price a listing right. Take a dozen well-composed photos. Put it in the MLS. It will sell.”
First off, potential buyers need, deserve and demand more than just 12 Kodak pics. In this day and age, and the need to shop for a home from afar, they deserve much more than that. Video, professional photography, property websites, floor plans, etc. Yes, all these extras to help expose the home should be mobile friendly, and believe me, they will be VERY soon.
“But you may ask: “What about virtual tours, or big hi-res photos – won’t the small screen limit my ability to merchandize listings?””
To think that virtual tour/media companies will not adapt to the small screen is kind of silly. We already have a mobile iPhone version of our interactive floor plan viewer. It kicks ass and I guarantee many virtual media companies will follow suit, if not already in development.
@Eric “People want pictures, virtual tours, all the info they can find from their home computer, but they want it while sitting outside the home.”
@Eric, believe me, they will have all of these from their desktop, as well as their mobile devices VERY soon.
Sorry so long guys. Great post and topic Brian.
[...] Real estate technology is headed straight to the small screen. [...]
Heavy stuff.
I showed my still IE browser using roommate how to value the houses in our neighborhood with Zillow iPhone App the other day and totally blew him away.
“Dude this is the coolest f’ing thing I’ve ever seen,” was one of the greatest hits.
[...] Real estate technology is headed straight to the small screen. [...]
I agree, I would much rather have my clients able to drive around town with all of the information on an app on their phone. Likewise, I myself would love to be able to pull out my iPhone and answer questions using the latest information available. I should be able to get a lead off of my website while out of town, and from my phone send them a message and setup the listings via email subscription for them.
This is a great post and a very interesting topic. I agree that the iPhone has created (and continues to create) great awareness of what users want on-the-go. The big question I always get asked by real estate professionals is how can they embrace mobile technologies to interact with their clients (new or old). The one and only rule I give them is to clearly develop a mobile marketing strategy just like have for the web. Without a strategy, the technology is useless.
One of the biggest mistakes I see all the time are real estate professionals releasing their own iPhone apps. I ask them why? And of course, coolness factor is #1. For small-medium sized businesses, my recommendation is always to leverage all the work you’re doing on the web and figure out a way to extend that to the mobile environment so you can get results with minimal overhead. My recommendation is a mobilesite that users can access on ANY phone through its native browser to search homes, view property details, pictures, virtual tours, etc. Lots of exciting things coming here. Stay tuned.
Here are a couple articles that detail my thoughts…
http://www.aumnia.com/blog/mobile-trends/understanding-the-three-tiers-of-mobile-marketing/
http://www.aumnia.com/blog/mobile-trends/are-smartphone-applications-technology-progression-or-regression/
Again, I think this was a great post and think it’s a great topic to discuss.
“Here’s a secret: Price a listing right. Take a dozen well-composed photos. Put it in the MLS. It will sell. No need to go nuts with Photosynth or lay down a John Tesh track behind your slideshow.”
So well said. I don’t know what the fascination is with video of still life situations. Even worse is the 360 degree fish eye tour, the stitched-together photos, the slide show, etc. Do buyers actually ask for such things? Professionally lit and well-snapped photos, with perhaps some post-prod. correction treatment (while staying true to the house), floorplans, and detailed text info is far more important to the buyers I have. I have been in this for 8 years and am as high tech as most brokers come, iPhone-carrying member of the tech-happy club. But all these blogs that harp on “video” miss the point of it all. I get a lot of interest from my selective postings on Facebook of above average listings. the trick is to not be posting everything, only those with some interesting angle/storyline or with the widest appeal to one’s circle of “freinds.” But not once has anyone asked me for video — buyers or sellers.
Mobile will take off, but the iPhone likely won’t be part of the party (at least not at first). Mobile functionality is on the verge of big things based on being one of many access points of a unified communications system (developed by Cisco & Microsoft). Google is coming out with over 10 chassies and Microsoft has plans for something like 12 models to run Windows Mobile 7 after launching its own phone (the reason they purchased Danger).
Apples future largely depends on if Google or Microsoft decides the iPhone has such a large audience they must license the technology. However, as phones are relitively cheap, they’ll likely to slow about including Apple so as to give their own phones a better chance at capturing market share.
The Zillow iPhone app, like most iPhone apps has little practical value in the enterprise and is little more than a basic mashup of GPS data and listing info. Developers with access to the API for unified communications will develop 3rd party mobile apps with most of the same functionality of the full web version of the same app. This will turn your mobile device into one of many access points for CRM and transaction management. Agents will go mobile, but not for search.
Perhaps the most right on blog I’ve ever read. When I saw the mobile cell phone technology it took me all but 2 seconds to see the future. The iphone revolutionized the internet…and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t even have one. Until June 19th that is.
I think you are right to an extent. It is helpful when people are roaming around on Sunday looking for an open house or when they pull in front of a for sale sign and what info. I don’t think it takes the place of presentation and bulky in info and images. I do think video helps to create a feeling. Believe it or not we are human.
Brian fires a salvo at the sinking ship–the dinosaur website.
The industry is moving away from 500-page, brokerage sites, filled with unnecessary agent bios, busy graphics, and messy navigation. Eventually, the brokerage will need only a “landing page” with simple mapping, easy navigation to blogs/social networks and the access to mobile applications.
The consumer wants hand-held property search and neighborhood info. And what the consumer wants……..
[...] Real estate technology is headed straight to the small screen by Brian Boero at 1000Watt Consulting [...]
Thanks all for the insights…
@Richard … you raise an important point: Real estate is indeed an emotion laden, not always rational process. But if you are in front of the house with your phone looking at interior photos and specs, you’ve got enough visual to connect with. But – and this relates to @Kori’s comment as well – this is not the only use case. If you’re a relo case, you may indeed need a richer experience.
[...] Inman.com (the best source for real estate news) that was a reprint off the 1000watt blog where Brian Boero spells out a compelling explanation of why real estate applications and MLS services will better [...]
Brian,
Totally agree. I think there will come a time when the Zillow mobile app is better than the website. It’s not quite there yet (for one thing we don’t even have search filters yet), but it will be.
@Eric
You’re right that people want these things while on site and interested. People are also more passive these days, for better or for worse, and would like to get as much information as possible without having to get pitched by the REALTOR®. We’ve put all this together. The customer gets a text (standard info)with a link to a mobile-optimized site, complete with pictures and information that can’t fit into the constraints of SMS. They can also call the agent if interested, but the agent is notified of their inquiry and can follow up with the prospect should they choose to.
@Brian
Thanks for this. It’s only getting better, folks.
@Ian I am a big fan of text messaging services as a modern replacement of the flyers and brochures. It’s a good informational service… but it’s not that interactive.
For a more interactive service, a couple of agent & broker sites I’ve worked and I think have done it well are http://www.mcmoniglegroup.com and http://www.winkrealty.com. Both have automatically detectable mobile internet sites that allow users to see their featured listings on-the-go and search additional listings in the area. The sites are optimized for different handsets giving users a “customized experience” based on their phone (e.g. iPhone is more graphics intensive).
In my opinion, this is very useful when a user is driving by a listing and sees the name of the realtor but doesn’t have time to write down the text ID & shortcode. All the user has to do is load up the realtors URL on their phone (or do a google search on their name) and instantly they have access to all the listings. They can search by home address, street name, or city.
It’s a fun time in the mobile market right now!
[...] The migration from the big screen (computers) to the little (screen smart phones) appears to be where greater innovation is taking place despite the limitations in screen size. Brian Boero from 1000wattblog raises awareness to its impact on real estate and offers reasons why a small screen real estate experience might be better than a large screen experience for the consumer in this post titled Real Estate technology is headed straight for the small screen. [...]
Great article. The capabilities of these new phones with live streaming video will reinvent the job of real estate professionals and enable us to serve clients better. Our clients LOVE video!