Realius Lets the Games Begin
TechCrunch40 kicked off today in San Francisco. The conference, organized by the popular tech blog Techcrunch, aims to highlight up and coming web applications.
Amongst the search tools, productivity apps, rich media, mobile and community plays (and all kinds of bizarrely named companies), you can find at least one real estate web site - proving that this industry may still some innovation left in it, despite an increasingly brutal market that will surely start to punish some of the other recent startups (see Storms Ahead for Real Estate Sites).
Realius is a new site that dubs itself “fantasy real estate” and promises to provide a suite of real estate related games. They will be demoing their beta at TechCrunch40.
From their press release:
Realius will allow conference attendees to play its flagship game, Price Me Now(TM), which challenges players to guess the price of homes for sale in their market, on the show floor. Price Me Now(TM) evaluates player guesses and awards points based on their performance against the “Realius” price, an aggregate combination of previous player price estimates and the actual list price. Real estate companies and professionals can purchase placement in the game as “coaches” who guide players and make their own professional price guesses.
Realius uses actual MLS listings to power their games, which is an interesting and potentially controversial choice as people will be reviewing and pricing real world homes.
As for how they hope to monetize this idea, Realius has not made their revenue model public - though the press release does allude to the fact that they hope to license their software to real estate brokers.
Scott Kucirek, general manager of Prudential California Realty, one of the nation’s largest real estate companies, says, “Real estate brokerages are struggling to connect with consumers online and Realius has the potential to solve that problem.” Kucirek continues, “Realius games are entertaining, addictive and educational for consumers but also provide companies in our industry with an entirely new way to think about customer engagement.”
I like that they are exploring a business model other than just “Advertising” and partnering with the brokers seems like a smart move. Brokers looking for stickiness and a way to drive traffic to their local search sites might find Realius’ games an excellent way to set their sites apart from the competion; because, let’s face it, the fact that you “now have map-based search!” is not that much of a differentiator anymore.
In principle, I also like the idea of making the real estate process more open and informative and educating consumers through games. Price Me Now could, in theory, help someone get more in tune with the reality of home prices in their market. Some of the larger portals or real estate destination sites might do well to explore this games idea too.
Without seeing the games themselves however, it’s still too early to pronounce judgment on Realius (you can sign up for an invite to the Beta on their site). Anyone heading to TechCrunch40 - stop by and say hello to them and let us know how they’re doing.
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9 Comment(s)
4 Trackback(s)
- From Property Info Source » Blog Archive » Late breaking news | Sep 17, 2007
- From Late breaking news | Sep 17, 2007
- From MoneyQs » Blog Archive » Realius Lets the Games Begin | Sep 17, 2007
- From Real Estate » Realius Lets the Games Begin | Sep 24, 2007
andrew | Sep 17, 2007 | Reply
I am sorry but this is one of the dumbest ideas that I have ever heard of. Perhaps I just don’t get it!
Tom Wolf | Sep 17, 2007 | Reply
I applaud outside the box thinking and I agree that it is refreshing to see something that hasn’t been done 100 times before, but I can’t think of one person that I know who would spend any amount of time doing something like this. That includes the agents that I know as well as the consumers. It’s not fair for me to fully pass judgement without at least trying it, but from a concept standpoint, I just don’t see it.
Erik Hersman | Sep 17, 2007 | Reply
Some might think this is a dumb idea - I don’t. In fact, I think it’s good to see someone doing a pure consumer play. Gaming and real estate aren’t necessarily polar opposites that can never co-exist. Monopoly and Acquire are just two examples to disabuse anyone of that notion.
I haven’t played the game, so I have no idea if it’s actually fun and addictive, the two necessary components for any game. If they can successfully integrate real data into the game, that could actually be a lot of fun. Think of it as a Mega-Monopoly game.
Start throwing in the ability to challenge people, create pools and/or teams, and before you know it you’ve got a fantasy real estate game.
I’ll give it a whirl, and if it’s fun I’ll tell my friends. Just like any other game it will thrive or perish dependent upon word of mouth.
Steve Jagger - Ubertor.com | Sep 17, 2007 | Reply
I’m here now at TechCrunch40 - saw Realius in the demopit but have not had a chance to play with it. Will get back to you.
Joel Burslem | Sep 17, 2007 | Reply
I think Erik’s right here. If it’s fun it could be a homerun. My wife and I love walking around our neighborhood looking at the houses for sale and trying to guess how much they are being listed at - and then laughing at all the overpriced homes. I don’t think we’re alone in that.
The third dimension here that I would add is INCENTIVE. What is the reward for playing… Is it cash? is it prizes? Is it bragging rights? I suspect the success of the game will be largely tied to the consumers’ incentive to participate, in addition to the fun factor. The broker’s will have to think this through strategically. Maybe it’s discounts off services, fees etc.
Incredible Agent | Sep 17, 2007 | Reply
I guess monopoly is a fun game, but I sincerely question the whole concept and whether it can be monetized properly. I will have to wait and see. Kudos for the effort though.
Tom Wolf | Sep 18, 2007 | Reply
If the goal is to purely create a game like Monopoly that can be fun to play, than more power to the creators. It appears on the surface though that this is being positioned as more than that. It is being positioned as a useful real estate tool that people will use to sharpen their skills.
As a kid, Monopoly was my single favorite game and I would still enjoy it today. I certainly would never view it as a business tool though. When I used to play Sim City, I never felt like I was any closer to a career as a City Planner. I just think that it is extremely difficult to simulate real life situations, where real money, human emotions, market forces, and other factors are legitimately in play.
Again, if the goal is to simply create a fun game, than kudos. I might actually play it. Anything more than that……I’ll wait and see.
#1 Kansas City Real Estate Guy | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
Sounds like an interesting game. I applaud the originality. I signed up to check it out.
loren nason | Nov 22, 2007 | Reply
I never caught this article and found the game at Google Maps Mania.
What I think people don’t realize is this game probably brings in a boat load of traffic to the Brokerage that sponsored the game