New iPhone Apps for Real Estate
From Inman Blog Network
By Inman News, Thursday, June 5, 2008.Bookmarking Sites
First Real Estate Apps for iPhone Start to Leak Out
By Joel Burslem at Future of Real Estate Marketing
Over the last few months we’ve seen some small splashes in mobile real estate search (see Trulia Launches iPhone Version or Terabitz Creates MLS iPhone Site).
I think the rock is going to drop very soon.
We’re only 4 days from the (much anticipated) launch of the new iPhone - but more importantly of the iPhone Apps storefront.
What does that mean for real estate?
When Apple first announced it was opening up the iPhone platform to native applications, I speculated we’d start to see new software that would run on the mobile platform (see Apple Releases SDK Kit for iPhone) and now we’re starting to see the first few trickle out. Over the coming weeks/months I expect this trickle may turn into a flood.
Here’s an app by CodeMorphic. It’s conceptual (i.e. pulls no real data) but the demo very slick - a brokerage wanting to make the leap into mobile or local MLS looking to offer new tools to consumers could easily rebrand this software.
Real estate search is inherently a mobile activity and the iPhone (which is more pocket computer than cell phone) coupled with advanced software like CodeMorphic’s AppFindr, is the perfect launching pad to start, conduct, modify a house hunt.
4 more days and we’ll start seeing more of this. Can’t wait.
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Submitted by Renee Adelmann on June 6, 2008 - 6:45am.
interesting concept however I would be curious to know how many consumers would really want to conduct their primary (online) home search using a cell phone which inherently has a small viewing window and slower load times. I can see this as a neat tool for the occasional search for a very specific property (i.e. drove-by, want to quickly call it up on their cell) however i'd be interested to see what adoption would be like on a day-to-day basis.
I think Realtors would be very interested in the iPhone IF applications were released that enabled it to be utilized as their electronic lockbox key. Until then, most folks will probably need to carry their Treo, another 'approved' lockbox key phone, or a separate lockbox.
Either way, I'm anxious to see the innovation that comes out of Apple as well as the extremely creatively developers that are working on iPhone applications.
R. Adelmann, Realtor + EcoBroker
San Francisco Modern Real Estate
www.sanfranciscomodern.com
Submitted by Ralph M on June 6, 2008 - 7:22am.
For a company (Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc) to get this information, they have to receive their real estate information form a provider? Since there is NO 1 dominate real estate provider (maybe forsalebyowner.com), where does this information come from and how accurate can the info be? Google is trying to tackle real estate, yahoo has failed miserably in the real estate category and Microsoft copies and uses realtor.com among others for real estate info. Regardless of the ingenuity from Apple, real estate does not change quickly in any fashion, regardless of technology
We still deal with real estate agents who still can not install a photo (never the less a current one) of their clients property.
We still have to deal with 99% of real estate professionals have no clue on how to create and upload a real estate video of a client’s property. Even the 500 billion dollar company REOLOGY can not/shall not install actual video capability for ALL of its members.
We still have to deal with the current fall of the mls search system while the company that owns it brags about being 1 of the top 500 fortune companies.
Congrats to Apple though for showing initiative and evolution.
Ps., Can you hear realtor.com falling down even further
www.aarsteam.com
www.nosellercost.com
www.weuuzit.com
www.iuuzit.com
Submitted by Danilo Bogdanovic on June 6, 2008 - 9:03am.
This application is excellent because it give consumers what they want - easily accessible information exactly when they want it.
Applications like this will provide them with the information without having to drive home to jump on the computer or call an agent.
Agents who don't embrace trends such as this and step up their game will lose out and eventually be gone.
Danilo Bogdanovic
Real Estate Consultant, Realtor
http://LoudounScene.com
Submitted by Graeme K. Brown on June 6, 2008 - 9:05am.
The demo looks pretty amazing. I can definitely see the next generation driving through a neighborhood that they like, and using this technology. Good questions by Ralph about where the content comes from. Could be an interesting situation if sites like Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, make their own web app for the Iphone.
Graeme K. Brown
Submitted by Michael Lange, e-Pro, GRI & Cheron Lange on June 10, 2008 - 4:19pm.
The iphone is truly amazing in fact I loved the phone so much that I sold it yesterday on craigslist. All joking aside, I did love the phone...our phones were old technology (6 months old) and with the unveiling of the new iphone, I sold then for $225 a piece and they sold within the hour. Now with the new iphone they are $199 with a 2 year contract.
I decided it was time to go back to the Blackberry, especially since the BB will be able to have the Suprakey on it by the end of the year (that's what they are saying at the moment).
I loved the iphone, but the BB is much better for business for me and I've always liked BB's....and I can't stand windows mobile phones or Palms. I can't wait for the new Blackberry Bold either this month, or next....which I will be returning my Curve for the day it releases.
Submitted by Dave Marron on June 11, 2008 - 10:40am.
Joel:
I don't agree with your statement that "Real estate search is inherently a mobile activity". I don't think consumers head out into their cars and then start searching for property while they're in the field. It's nice to have technology that lets them do that and I'm sure people will use their iPhones to help find property information. But, people still use their computers to search for homes and I don't think that's going to change too dramatically any time soon.
Submitted by abc def on June 23, 2008 - 1:48pm.
I work at TxtAHouse.com and we have added support for streaming videos to iPhone devices. We let real estate agants and home sellers to upload their property info (pictures and videos) to our website, and we give them a code they advertise with their property. When someone texts that code on their mobile phones, they are sent a link to mobile page with pictures and videos. The videos are in 3gp format for most camera phones that support this kind of video. For iPhone, we added m4v movies so they can be streamed to these devices also. Our server converts the uploaded movies automatically using H264 video encoding and AAC audio encoding. You can try our demo by texting LELE to 32075
Submitted by Team Puluwai on July 5, 2008 - 9:05am.
We have created a full-blown iPhone real estate search application called Puluwai. This is a real native iPhone application, not a conceptual demo, that is connected to live data. A preview is available on puluwai.com and we will be launching with the iPhone App Store.
Obviously Puluwai cannot replace the knowledge and experience of a real estate agent. However, it supplements other search tools to help educate buyers about the market. We believe potential buyers will use Puluwai to "window-shop": browsing the state of the market before leaping in. They can find homes for sale near them (using the iPhone's GPS) and get driving directions to check out properties. Once they get interested in a property or two, Puluwai makes it easy for them to call or email an agent.
http://www.puluwai.com
Submitted by Ben Kaeding on July 17, 2008 - 2:09pm.
This iPhone thing is crazy. I have been amazed at some of the innovative apps that have come out for the iPhone. Even where I work, JustSnooping.com, we have recently released a new virtual tour viewer so that FLASH is not necessary and the virtual tours look so nice. We were even able to incorporate the local school data, mapping, gallery view and slide show into the viewer. Because the iPhone has it's own web browser build in, there is nothing to install.
It is obvious why the iPhone is leading the pack right now for all mobile browsers.
http://www.justsnooping.com