Web 2.0 Real Estate Sites Aggregating User Support Content
Posted by Pat Kitano at 9/16/2006 10:48 PM 
Categories: Technology, New Business Models, Realty Realities, Cool Web Tools
Categories: Technology, New Business Models, Realty Realities, Cool Web Tools
Investor's Business Daily confirms the trend that real estate sites have been evolving to provide new sets of customer support tools and features in order to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded universe. Starting with the most basic feature of the website - real estate search - here are the ways the Web 2.0 sites are meshing and aggregating user services in their offerings:
AuctionCloud compares eBay listed properties with Zillow estimates (Zestimates). The utility of showing the comparisons between asking price and Zestimates on a limited selection of properties that eBay offers is lost on me. Not much reason for a serious home buyer to research on a site that is disconnected from the principal MLS based listings (Craigslist is also disconnected from MLS sources, but has become a bonafide free listing tool in certain metropolitan areas) and therefore, more difficult to compare to MLS listings. Also, my AuctionCloud's landing page was fronting personal ads on the order of "don't you wish your girlfriend was as hot as I am?". Call this a college try...
The IBD articles says Trulia combines listings with neighborhood safety records. What? Try finding that feature, I couldn't and I was looking for it. It's simple to postulate but if Trulia or another site wants to offer neighborhood safety analysis, couldn't they mesh their listings map with, say, San Francisco Police Dept Crime Maps?
The argument all the companies in the IBD article make is that the informed internet savvy consumer makes a better real estate customer which in turn benefits the Realtor who can then streamline the hand holding process. The companies' agendas clearly diverge on whether the Realtor now becomes less valuable (as Redfin purports with their commission rebates to the consumer) or just as essential in providing context to the online data (Movoto).
The real game for the Web 2.0 sites is marketing - their ability to differentiate themselves with products that consumers demand in a space where new launches happen daily. Zillow had a successful brand launch based on the simplicity of the service they offered to the consumer - immediate home valuation gratification without inputting any personal data. A while back, I asked a friend interested in real estate technology but not involved in real estate about what he thinks of the new companies and business models. Although he had visited the main sites cited in the IBD article, he couldn't differentiate Trulia from realtor.com although he recognized that each site presented different listings. His quote: "it's all vanilla to me".
Although providing aggregated user content is a valid strategy, one site will not fit all. I think the consumer will still need to find and then check various websites to develop a comprehensive picture of the contemplated real estate transaction, starting with, say, Zillow for a pricing guideline, moving to Homethinking for agent reviews, to Movoto to check open houses that weekend, to Redfin and IDX sites for listings and analysis of business models. Since I'm in the business, I know which sites to check; the consumer will need to go through the exploration process to gather the knowledge they need for their transaction. It's up to marketing to get positioned to be one of the destination sites included in this exploration process.
Technorati tags zillow web 2.0 tools investors business daily homethinking redfin mapping tools
movoto
What are they thinking at home thinking? I looked myself up. I am listed as a Coldwell Banker agent, which I am not. The record indicates that I am not doing any business, but I am and have 4 active listings. They show my competitors as having business. I have asked to be removed from the directory. They sure know how to hurt a small business owner by spreading mis-information. Tell me how does this help the consumer? Is the rest of the information accurate? Everyone is trying to make a buck with out having to go through all the work of selling houses.
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