Multiple listing services that run on platforms from real estate data and technology firm CoreLogic can now incorporate a search-by-commute-time tool for their subscribers.
CoreLogic has signed a new agreement with traffic information and driver services provider INRIX to offer CoreLogic’s MLS customers INRIX Drive Time, which crowdsources traffic data from nearly 100 million vehicles to calculate travel times between homes and any other location at any time of day.
“In areas with variable traffic conditions like Southern California, the ability to search for homes based on actual travel time to work, school or other key locations is incredibly valuable,” said Art Carter, CEO of California Regional MLS, in a statement. CRMLS was one of the first MLSs to integrate INRIX Drive Time.
“In the real world, distance is measured in minutes, not miles, and that is exactly what INRIX lets our members do.”
Members of MLSs that decide to integrate the tool will be able to search for real estate listings based on a client’s desired commute time to work and create maps of overlapping areas that consider additional locations important to clients to identify subsets of suitable listings, CoreLogic said.
“This agreement with INRIX represents a major breakthrough in map-based searching,” said Chris Bennett, general manager of real estate services for CoreLogic, in a statement.
“For years, real estate professionals have been limited to drawing boxes, circles or polygons on a map. With INRIX Drive Time, our multiple listing platforms can automatically draw search boundaries based on the locations that are most important to the client. By combining advanced drive-time technology with property data and other proprietary CoreLogic assets, we are pioneering the type of ‘lifestyle searching’ that today’s consumers are looking for.”
A survey released last week by the National Association of Realtors showed that most buyers would be willing to compromise on the size of a home or yard in order to live in a preferred neighborhood or experience a shorter commute time.
The tool may also encourage fewer home showings per homes sold, which CoreLogic said is a leading measure of industry efficiency.
“We are pleased that CoreLogic has become our first licensee to bring INRIX Drive Time to multiple listing organizations,” said Kevin Foreman, INRIX’s general manager of geoanalytics, in a statement.
“With drive time to work being a key decision criterion to nearly three-quarters of all homebuyers, real estate professionals using CoreLogic multiple listing tools no longer need to guess to determine this important information.”
In September, Minneapolis-based brokerage Re/Max Results debuted the first consumer mobile app with INRIX Drive Time baked in.
Windermere Real Estate rolled out a desktop version of INRIX Drive Time search in August. In July, real estate marketing software firm Imprev announced it had teamed with INRIX to offer a Drive Time-branded agent app.