They appeared every mile or so as I drove down the 101 yesterday, visions of contentment bathed in clean light.
iPad ads. Tons of them.
So, so appealing.
And while I do believe the iPad marks the beginning of a shift in how we read, write, listen, watch and play on the web, there’s one thing that’s not so appealing: The flood of real estate iPad apps soon to come.
I know, what a buzz-kill! But here’s where I am coming from:
First of all, you can make a good case that the real estate iPhone app category is pretty much a settled matter at this point. Zillow surpassed a million downloads a couple months ago. And consider these numbers from Realtor.com today rergarding their iPhone app:
- 1 million downloads in five months
- The average user connects twice daily
- The average minutes per session is over 16 minutes
With these apps and a handful of other well done entrants, is there a need for every brokerage in America to develop their own (and likely far less delightful) app?
Probably not.
And if you really think about it, has the amount of value created by the hundreds of real estate iPhone apps been commensurate to the hype surrounding their launch?
Probably not.
And this is for the iPhone, a form factor suited to the tightly spun balls of functionality you get with apps.
The iPad on the other hand…well, that’s a different thing. As Joel has pointed out, the killer app on the iPad is Safari. It is the possibilities unlocked by bringing the touchscreen to a full-fledged (well, not so full if you dig Flash) web experience that’s exciting.
So while the Zillow iPad app is pretty darn awesome, there are likely to be even fewer real estate winners here than there have been on the iPhone. But you can bet we are going to see a bunch of real estate iPad apps churned out. And most of them won’t be worth the dollars spent putting the press release announcing their existence on the wire.
Consider this app announced yesterday by Britain’s Primelocation.com. It’s a bit of interface candy that’s fun to play with but probably not something that’s going impact home search materially.
Get ready for more of this. Lots more.
Web first
Should you build an iPad app?
Maybe.
But for most, my gut is it might be better to take a hard look at how your website performs on the iPad first and how you might optimize it for a very near future where people are swiping, pinching and tapping your site rather than clicking on it. It’s coming up in our client work, and it’s a good conversation to get going in your organization too.
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Brian, I have to tell you that I love the Realtor.com application and it’s now the only one I use on my iPhone. I still use Google Maps lots on my laptop and soon to be acquired iPad. Why I like Realtor.com is it’s pulling directly from the Multiple Listing Services and tends to be more up to date and reliable than Zillow, Google, or Trulia. I also have a limited budget and want to focus my marketing efforts where the best results are likely.
I particularly love the Open House and nearby homes for sale and use it over the MLS. It would take me 20 minutes to find the answer while it takes me only 1 minute on the consumer application – something is wrong with that picture. The Open House is very cool too.
Wise advice for us to spend our time making sure websites and content are available via mobile and leave the home searches to the big boys.
Realtors who suggest to clients to use the Realtor.com app are similar to Realtors who feel that they have a “web site” when in fact, they have a “page” on their brokers website – effectively having NO web presence.
When a buyer uses the Realtor.com app, what happens if they have a question? I’ve been told the inquiry goes to the LISTING agent. Why would you want that?
Just as I have preached to Realtors to create their OWN brand, their OWN business cards, their OWN logo, their OWN website…. why not get your OWN application branded to you? Yes, it costs money. Everything costs money! That’s business.
But it’s not that expensive, it has the same functionality as Realtor.com (GPS locating, etc.) but any inquiries on ANY property go to YOU. Your branding is on the app and the email and phone call goes to you – not the listing agent.
Using the Realtor.com app seems like a reason to give business away to your competitors.
See more here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhTJmgFwXI0
Fred,
I did not suggest that I tell my Clients to use Realtor.com. What I did say is that they are a major player in the mobile market and building a application like your link to You Tube is nice, but really has no eyeballs. Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, and hundreds of other applications are marketing platforms where the MLS data is sold back to us. Just like print advertising you then would want to use a vendor with significant circulation. From a national standpoint these platforms do a much better job at gathering prospects at a local level.
I have a very complete local presence in my market with IDX abilities on my blog which is also available via mobile devices. When I am working with Clients we are ahead of the curve using data directly from the MLS to update them – rather than to wait for something to pop up on a site.
By the way the Realtor.com application has the ability to add the agent they choose to work with e-mail. Otherwise, yes the lead goes to the listing agent, just like any advertising medium.
The cats out of the bag so any agent or Company that thinks they can be a dominate player in this venue is wrong.
See…I think Google still has the killer app. Since now most listings are uploaded to Google and mapped I can do the “find near me” thing. But it doesn’t just end here with properties. Next a home buyer wants to know where the closest school is, grocery store, and other things Google already has in its bag of tricks.
Just mash it all together; Zillow Estimates, Yelp Reviews, Google everything else.
Now about that 1M downloads…how many agents do we still have? I wonder how many of those downloads are agents who have been told to get on board with an iPhone and the can’t get past “hey look how cool this is, I can see all the houses for sale around me”. And they do this twice a day.
Barrett
Barrett –
That’s an interesting hypothesis I wish we could test!
[...] Brian Boero talks iPhone and iPad apps for real estate (via 1000wattblog): “With these apps and a handful of other well done entrants, [...]
I would never suggest to my client to use the Realtor.com app. It is equal to sending them to another agent. If they want more info about a property the lead goes to the listing agent. I think the ipad will be very useful for short searches, but the bulk of real estate searches will still be done on desktops and laptops.
I noticed 1000 Watt quoted in the first line on this app’s info page, great job!
Soy realtor y nesecito usar el mls. Muchas gracias.