The forces that will kill real estate search as we know it have been
set in motion. They are embryonic but growing rapidly. They will
overtake their prey within a couple years.
Personally, I look forward to this. I’m tired of filling out form
fields, yanking on drop downs and fiddling with sliders. In fact,
"searching" for anything suggests, a.) that you’ve lost something, or
b.) anxiety.
There are three reasons why I think we’re in for a big change:
- Everyone has a mobile phone
- The Web experience on these devices is improving at breathtaking speed
- Location awareness, either through GPS or cell tower triangulation, is being built into more
and more of them
What does this mean? It means the Web will become something we
experience with increasing ease. We’ll do less searching and more
finding. Our very presence will replace "search criteria" for location
specific items like ATMs, coffee houses — and homes.
This is part of what many have called the "ambient Web." The hardware is ready; the Web apps will
follow soon.
A couple months ago, Yahoo! introduced its FireEagle
platform, which allows users to securely share their location online
and gives developers a suite of APIs for feeding them information based
on where they are at any given moment. Google released a "My Location"
feature
to its maps late last year. Microsoft added
location awareness to its Live Search in the UK and Japan just last
week. The latest update to my iPhone made driving directions much
easier by automatically finding my starting point, even when I am lost.
The FireEagle site’s home page reads, in part:
"We’re here to make the whole web respond to your location and help you to discover more about
the world around you."
Location, location, location indeed. Here’s how it could play out in real estate:
An IDX vendor or listings aggregator writes a FireEagle app, tying a
feed to users who have location aware mobile devices. As a user moves
about — say, on a Sunday drive through a new neighborhood — listings
pop up on her screen much like road signs present themselves through
the windshield. To take this still deeper, if the app ties together
data points like the user’s credit score and loan app, it will only
display properties in her price range.
See, no more searching.
I know this sounds far-fetched right now. Most brokers are still
limited by sclerotic IDX solutions and old school "Website vendors".
And I realize that mobile, location aware online real estate apps won’t
be much use for relos and those unconvinced by assurances of privacy. However, as I have argued before, the customer has "left the
building" — accessing
the real estate information they need on the go.
As sure as I sit here typing on Gregory Street in Oakland, this is coming.
I can’t wait!
– Brian Boero
Local, Mobile, Social and the future of real estate
20 Tools to Bring your Real Estate Business to the Cloud
15 Ways to Make Your Marketing Mobile
Check out House Front. They're well on their way to accomplishing this.
Todd mentioned a great site. Their mobile features are things you would expect Zillow or Trulia to think up first but bravo on being a forward thinker.
Reading this post I tend to agree with you Brian but I wouldn't write off real estate search entirely. There are many situations where full size computers are still more ideal like checking RSS readers, saving documents and registering for websites to name a few.
When I wake up in the morning I check my email on my iPhone but when I want to write emails I usually open up my laptop. What takes two minutes to write on my iPhone takes 20 seconds on my laptop.
Also, most of my friends still use flip phones with minute MMS capabilities. An internet experience on one of those phones is a near disaster.
I think you're on to something but I think for now they are pitching this idea to a tiny fraction of mobile users. When the time comes, this should be a relatively inexpensive upgrade to a website with the right framework.
But this also raises a question, If I had this technology on my person, do I want a Minority Report experience where content is automatically pushed to me because I am in the vicinity of something whether it be real estate, pizza shops or whatever?
I agree with the bulk of this post but real estate brokers and agents don't have to wait to offer consumers mobile services and real estate search till GPS and the web have better adoption and infrastructure on the phone.
My company offers Mobile Real Estate Search that is supported on every phone, has MMS services and mobile formatted property pages for every home in the markets we are live in which is currently more than 400K Active Homes for sale in the US.
Zillow, Housefront and Trulia have some nice offerings but they are still limited by the data they have available to them. And none of them are really Broker or Agent Centric in terms of business models.
So, if an Agent or broker wanted to offer a mobile search solution that fit with their service offerings and business, how would they?
For a few samples of clients that understand that "the customer has left the building" Already!
check out:
http://www.gjproperties.com
http://www.getmobileagent.com
http://www.lisaackerson.com/professional9.shtml
Mark,
Thanks for the insights. In the scenario I suggest the user remains in control of what they want to see, much in the same way a driver chooses where to go.
Brian
@Todd & Joshua
Thanks for mentioning HomeFront. Another company, which is actually closer to the possibility I describe, is SmarterAgent … they actually bring location awareness into the mix.
Brian
I agree Brian,
SmarterAgent is pretty close to what you describe and it is very slick. The major hurdle isn't going to be the technology but support for these next generation services which right now is very limited to what handsets and carriers support. I agree though, it is coming and Mobile Search for Real Estate and demand for it is already here. – Mark