A startup Internet company is building two related Web sites focusing on real estate and mobile marketing:

1) A real estate site that is intended to compete with sites such as Realtor.com, Trulia.com, Movoto.com and Zillow.com.

2) A mobile marketing site that is intended to compete with SmarterAgent.com and CellSigns.com.

This is according to a job posting for a techie at an unnamed company -- the company reportedly has a tech team in Dallas.

The company seeks applicants with experience "managing Real Estate MLS data," "creating applications for mobile phones in the U.S.," and "creating mobile applications using GPS," according to the post at oDesk.com.

"After signing an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) further details will be provided." The job description was posted on March 23.

Some stats on the uptake of Zillow's new features announced Wednesday (see Inman News story): Zillow today reported 70,464 total for-sale properties on the site and 35,930 "Make Me Move" prices on the site. This represents about 5,000 more for-sale properties than the site had earlier in the week. The company reported that the for-sale postings increased this week "via a combination of listing agents posting more homes and the community reporting homes for sale."

Agents, owners and builders have had the ability to post for-sale property information since December, and the features announced this week allow any Zillow user to point out to the world any for-sale properties and to enter price information for those properties.

You don't have to be the owner or agent representing the property to post this information, though owners and agents can take control of a for-sale property by notifying the site -- and owners and agents are allowed to post more details about a property than the unaffiliated real estate voyeur. If successful, the new tools will compel lots of agents and homeowners to designate properties for sale at the site before someone else does (a non-agent or yikes ... another agent).

Think: "Zoinks, Scoob, I better post my home/my client's home details up on the site before that screwball neighbor Old Man Jansen gets to it first." If it's not successful ... well, there's always Old Man Jansen, right?

The new features also allow social networking in the form of property questions and answers. Zillow today reported 765 questions and 265 answers posted at the site since this capability was announced Wednesday.

A post on Google's Blog today discussing features the search giant is incorporating into real estate searches hints that the search company may be planning more. (Also, remember the big deals it signed with Realogy a month ago?)

The title, "Homes, not just homepages," depicts how the Google search works -- search for San Diego real estate and we'll show you actual homes, not just the search results associated with broker sites and listings aggregators. Click on search results and the company has incorporated them into a Google Map (suspiciously looking more like Trulia.)

Google takes an industry-friendly approach: "We don't charge for photos or offer 'featured listings'…We don't sell houses, deal with agents' compensation, or charge for leads. Our business is helping people find the information they're looking for -- when you have it, we send them directly to you."

That brings up a question: If Google listings uploads are free and the company is not charging to send traffic to the broker Web site, then wouldn't it make more sense for brokers to use the free listings service rather than pay for pay-per-click ads in real estate search results? Kind of sweetens the pot even more for listings to go there.

Google also points to a new discussion group about real estate where people can discuss problems or ideas they have for better functionality.

Could this be Google's big year in real estate?

I don't know about you, but I log off when someone asks me to register to access information. This is especially true in real estate. Who ever came up with this idea? In the world of Web 2.0 if you are still asking for information to provide information you are a dinosaur.

Today's consumer wants the information now and they want it for free - and personal contact information is now considered currency. Open the doors just like you do at an open house. Let your Web site answer questions about properties just like you do when someone calls your office and asks a question about a listing.

I know, I know - but Ken, the MLS requires registration to display VOW information. It's very clear that these policy issues are our problem (the brokerage industry, the NAR rules and the MLS policies), but when it becomes a problem for the consumer to get free information on properties from broker and agent Web sites - the only true loss is suffered by the real estate brokerage industry. Rest assured, the consumer ultimately will get the information, it will just be from another source and not you, your Web site or your consumer registry.

(Also see the comment thread on this topic at "Hello, my name is 'LetMeIn YourSite'")

--Ken Jenny, TranCen

Eppraisal.com just launched its redesign with an apparent focus on leveraging the weaknesses of their competitors. The online valuation site offers visitors the ability to get an idea about their home's value, then go on to order a certified appraisal from a nationwide network of licensed appraisers.

"Our system is designed to be a first step," says Damian Scott, president of Eppraisal.com. A property search proves this to be true. Instead of a Zestimate-style single value assignment, Eppraisal offers a range of value that gives homeowners a basic idea of what the home might be worth. When the homeowner takes the next step, a 2055 "drive-by" appraisal is performed. This can be used removing private mortgage insurance, or in some cases, a full refinance of the home.

Eppraisal also offers several tools for real estate agents. In addition to several sponsorship opportunities, they offer tools for placing their valuations directly on an agent's site. Mr. Scott advocates that the tools set themselves apart because of their "deep integration" to the agent's site. These tools provide map-based valuations and demographic information without ever leaving the hosting Web site. 

I like that Eppraisal places appropriate perspective on how accurate an online valuation is likely to be. Public records can only factor comparables by the most basic of information about the home. Ultimately, it takes a professional with hands-on experience with the property to accurately value a home.

--Todd Carpenter, Lenderama

The blogosphere is buzzing about Jott, a free tool that allows users to translate a voice message into a text e-mail to themselves, other individuals or groups of people.

The Sellius Blog folks had a mention of it, and they heard about it from Jeff Turner of Real Estate Shows. It's yet another example of a new means of communication made possible by the convergence of technologies -- in this case cell phones, voice-to-text software and the Internet. Twitter is another offspring of this media convergence -- Twitter allows people to send short text messages from a mobile device to a Web site.

The Jott.com site includes links to "How Real Estate Professionals Use Jott" and "How Bloggers Use Jott." Bloggers can Jott posts directly to their blog.

The site offers a real estate example in which an agent uses Jott to translate a voice message into an e-mail for her clients: "Hi Bob and Sue, I just saw a great place for you at 1234 Sequoia Ave. The second floor bathroom might need a little work, but otherwise it could be ideal. There's an open house on Tuesday. Bye!"

Also, the real estate example notes that real estate professionals spend a lot of time driving, and Jott allows them to send hands-free e-mails -- "no more fumbling for phone number or dealing with complex devices."

Jott adds a twist to an old saying: Say what you mean ... and e-mail what you say.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp. has entered the matrix. The company is selling virtual homes in Second Life, a three-dimensional virtual world with about 1.7 million active "residents" and 5 million total users. Residents in this online world are represented by avatars, which are customizable characters.

The company has set up a corporate headquarters in the online world and is selling virtual homes through a sales office.
"These virtual homes will vary in price based on size and style, including southwestern, colonial and contemporary, among others," the company announced.

Coldwell Banker has an inventory of about 500 homes for sale on 134.4 virtual acres in the "Ranchero" section of the Second Life world, and the company is also offering some hilltop homes with a view of a simulated ocean.

Users can meet with a Coldwell Banker "sales associate avatar" to schedule an appointment to tour the virtual homes -- and will receive free furniture as a closing gift. The company offers a Coldwell Banker virtual helicopter to assist users in viewing properties and touring the company's headquarters.

A "virtual palm-scanner" that provides Coldwell Banker with information about the buyer's qualification status to purchase a property. The announcement doesn't mention whether home buyers must pay a commission.

Besides the virtual realty tools, Coldwell Banker's headquarters within the online world also offers tools to search for real-world properties and look for real estate agents.

The company sees a parallel to the pioneer landscape in Second Life and the post-earthquake environment in San Francisco, where the company's original founder, Colbert Coldwell, established the business in 1906. And it sounds like the company is working to bring its brand of professionalism to the virtual universe.

"Rather than having to negotiate for top dollar with Second Life 'land barons,' users can visit our virtual office and interact with our virtual sales associate to buy homes from Coldwell Banker at reasonable rates," Coldwell Banker marketing  executive Charlie Young said in a statement.

"Coldwell Banker was founded just 18 weeks after the earthquake largely because our founders saw the need for ethics and integrity in assisting victims of the devastation who were being preyed upon by unsavory businesspeople. We want to do the same thing in Second Life: give residents the opportunity to participate in fair and reasonable real estate transactions." Second Life's real-world headquarters is in San Francisco.

So it wasn't just Trulia that got the door slammed on them at the Prudential Real Estate show in San Diego this week. Zillow was also shown the door (see Inman News story).

Both companies booked exhibit booths and flew execs to the show only to be told to pack up and leave before the doors opened. Trulia COO Sami Inkinen said his company was told they weren't welcome by none other than eRealty founder Russ Capper, because Trulia competes with the exclusive agreement Prudential has with Yahoo! Real Estate (Capper and Yahoo! wouldn't comment).

That agreement puts Prudential brokers' listings on Yahoo! Real Estate, then makes their agents pay referral fees when they close a deal using a lead generated through the arrangement. Trulia and Zillow let (beg?) brokers to send them listings and they don't charge them fees (unless they want to buy ads).

Ironically, Capper -- who ended up as president of Prudential's e-commerce subsidiary, Prudential Real Estate Services Co., after Prudential bought eRealty for its technology -- seems to have made the transition from the outsider shaking up the establishment to defender of the status quo.

Inkinen wasn't really miffed -- business is business, he said, and it was Prudential's convention -- but some Prudential brokers wondered if their franchisor was really looking out for their best interests (Prudential Real Estate issued a one-sentence statement saying the company "is committed to the needs of its affiliates and to providing them with the highest level of service and support.").

Side note: is that former eRealty CFO Stephen Amante adding his voice to the "What a blunder!" comments at Sellsius blog (which broke this story)? Stephen, if you're reading this, Inman News and TurnHere share a founder but are separate companies.
--Matt Carter, Inman News

After firing 60 employees in January -- 12 percent of the company's workforce -- HouseValues has more than a dozen openings to fill.

The positions HouseValues has posted on Yahoo! HotJobs range from customer service rep in the Yakima, Wash. office to senior marketing specialist at the company's headquarters in Kirkland.

HouseValues said last month that it lost more customers than it picked up in the fourth quarter of '06, as the company made the transition from a mortgage lead generator to an online marketer of tools and services for real estate agents.

Move Inc., which operates several property-search Web sites, today announced the launch of Trend Spot, a new blog-like site at http://trends.move.com that will feature "top 10" and "best-of" lists and trend articles "based on consumer popularity, interest and demand for real estate properties."

"Based on the depth of real estate information Move has, we have created Trend Spot to deliver unique comparisons, real estate trends and current market demand data," said Mike Long, Move CEO, in a statement.

Dustin Luther, founder of Seattle real estate blog RainCityGuide.com who was hired in November as Move's director of consumer innovations, wrote the first item at the Trend Spot site. Luther has been involved with the launch of a series of blogs at Move that focus on topics related to Move Inc. offerings. The company has been rolling out new tools related to search, too, such as a Realtor.com Search Gadget for Windows Vista users that can be downloaded at http://labs.move.com.

The first item at the Trend Spot site contrasts a $100 million home in Zephyr Cove, Nev., with a $1,500 fixer-upper in Detroit.