Point2Homes Thinks Inside the Box
John L. Scott’s Neighborhood Wizard was just the latest by a web site to clean up map based real estate search (see The Evolution of Map Based Searches). And while I called it a ‘gimmick’ in my earlier post, it is an important step forward towards making map searches more usable.
Point2 Homes has released a new release of their site recently that adds a similar feature by layering on a search box over a Google Map. This is a pretty significant release for Point2 that really brings their map search functions up to par.
First impressions – the overall design of the site is pretty utilitarian and the house icons were a little too cartoony for my taste. It also doesn’t work in Safari. But these are merely quibbles, functionally the site hits a home run.
Switching between the move icon and the drawing icon is slick. Drawing a search box around the area in which you are interested and then refining it as it zooms in, has always felt to me to be the most natural way to start a search. John L. Scott’s “Etch a Sketch” is perhaps a little more refined, but Point2’s implementation just feels easier to use.
Once you’ve defined the area you’re looking in, the Point2Homes map makes good use of AJAX to dynamically load the listings in the right sidebar, as you click on each. You can switch between the listing description and the search filter quickly and search results are reloaded dynamically as you refine your search. I liked this alot, it works very smoothly.
For each listing, you get a thumbnail image and a basic run down of property features (beds, baths etc.) – though if you want more information on a listing, Point2Homes takes you to off to a separate page. One feature I really like was how it knew the name of which neighborhood you we’re searching in (sometimes I didn’t know the name) and offers to show you more listings as well.
Ultimately, the biggest drawback is simply the lack of listings – Point2Homes pulls its listings from individual agents in its system rather than an MLS
feed or broker feed. For that reason, I can’t see Point2Homes ever being a mainstream real estate search page.
It’s too bad really, their innovations will probably go largely unused. What I’d really love to see is some sort of map search Frankenstein, that culls the best features from Point2 and Trulia, maybe throw Shackprices and Redfin into the mix too.
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Incredible Agent | Jun 19, 2007 | Reply
Joel,
The search is just OK. I predict it will be standard stuff in no time. The main value for any real estate website is to be able to search all the homes in any area. A nationwide MLS would be very helpful to that, but that is down the road a bit. Someday we will all remember back when there were over 1000 different mls’s across the country holding their data close to their chest. I can feel the change coming soon. That’s the only way Frankenstein is going to be built.
Andrew Mattie | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
It’s a nice idea, but I wouldn’t say it’s all that revolutionary or unique really. Google just made this easily available to all Google maps developers (http://googlemapsapi.blogspot.com/2007/06/dragzoomcontrol-v10-easier-zooming_06.html) two weeks ago now, and all it takes it a single line of code to turn it out. We considered implementing it at the time, but we ultimately came to the conclusion (after surveying a number of our users) that flipping the switch on this feature made things a bit too confusing for our users at least.
However, for the advanced users (myself included) and brokers who can figure out this sort of thing, I do see the benefit. I guess it’s just a cost vs benefit thing, and it really comes down to knowing your visitors. If it works for the crowd who uses Point2Homes though, that’s ultimately all that matters.
Marty Martin | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
I think the mapping thing is a great idea…I’ve messed around with plotting the MLS on a google map for a while. The problem is when you have too many listings in an area it bogs the load time down. There are ways around it of course by limiting the number of listings at certain zoom levels but it just isn’t up to par (imo) for actual production use for the average customer.
John Schroeder | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
Seems like a very easy to use search that they have on their site. You are right in saying however that a search like this is only as good as it’s data. Everyone wants to be THE go to site when it comes to offering a map based search for real estate listings. The problem is that “open source” by definition means that everyone (with the right training/ability) can create a map based search…and copy and improve on the previous versions. I guess what I am trying to say is that this is only one part of the puzzle to creating a really good “destination real estate site”.
Jeff Tomlin | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
Point2 Homes has been and still is a reference implementation for Point2. Having said that, it generates just under 1 million unique visitors per month so I’m not sure that I would agree the site will largely go unused. The reason people find it is largely because people are searching for neighborhoods and they find us in search. The reason they stay and return is because we publish rich listing data.
As a real estate agent right now, where would you rather have your listings:
1. Trulia – receiving 1.5 million visits to 2 million listings
2. Point2 Homes – receiveing 950,000 visits to 150,000 listings
We are generating higher views for our members and that traffic continues to increase.
Andrew | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
Does this solve a pain or need? NOPE. Realtor.com will always to the consumers choice.
havensofmanhattan | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
I was also disappointed in the amount of listings they have. It seems like it has potential but right now I probably wouldn’t use it very much.
Norm Fisher | Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
The listings I’ve taken this year have had 7,296,702 impressions as “featured homes” on Point2 and 65,952 full views. My guess is that Point2 generates 20-25 leads for each one that I receive through Canada’s national MLS site http://www.mls.ca. It’s a pretty significant part of my marketing plan. I think Jeff’s math makes sense.
Freddie Aguilar | Jun 21, 2007 | Reply
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Jay Thompson | Jun 22, 2007 | Reply
Clearly, “more listings are better”. But Point2Homes.com drives a *significant* amount of traffic to my Point2 site. And with 36 large photos, paragraphs of description, listing brochures, the ability to attach additional files and add “voice over”, Point2 offers some of the “richest” listings out there. My site visitors love them.
Brett Day | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
I truly think it is great that map-based sites are becoming so prevelent. I do believe the sites that show all listings availible will become the norm though, i have had clients using a Homequest site for over a couple of years now and all the feedback i recieve is that it they love it!. Buyers really like to do the looking at there convienience and see all info including addresses!
olman gonzalez | Jul 13, 2007 | Reply
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