Comments on: Roost.com Kicks over the RE Search Cart

By: Hawaii Life

Hawaii Life — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:16:06 +0000

I agree with Joel, I think this is a very attractive solution to the small guy. We are looking to expand our software that runs http://www.hawaiilife.com.

For any broker interested in receiving leads, let me know.

By: Garret

Garret — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:04:27 +0000

I like it! Intuitive, wickedly fast. I’m in the market right now for a new house. Yes there are a lot of other sites out there. I have tried most of them. I’m using these guys right now as they have figured out how home buyers search.

By: slappy

slappy — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:25:00 +0000

Weeks after launch, I still find the site to be unusably slow. Any idea what the root of the lag is? Seems like a useful site once it loads.

By: The Initial Reaction « A Bird’s Eye View

The Initial Reaction « A Bird’s Eye View — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:45:49 +0000

[...] “First and foremost – it’s fast. Blazing fast. The search experience is, quite frankly, awesome… I think I may have just found a new favorite [home search engine].” Joel Burslem, Future of Real Estate Marketing [...]

By: Roost is a new real estate search engine | 3 Oceans Real Estate, A Boutique Real Estate Brokerage Serving the San Francisco Bay Area

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:45:23 +0000

[...] crowded real estate search space, launched last week to a cacophony of commentary from the re.net. Joel Burslem covered its feature set, its performance, and noted that Roost has the complete MLS inv…. Greg Swann fawned over its business model and complete [...]

By: The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open | BloodhoundBlog: Real estate marketing and technology blog | Realtors and real estate, mortgages, lending, investments

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:34:25 +0000

[...] Clients, Real Estate Agents: Are Litigious Clients Out to Get YOU?Joel Burslem — Roost.com, Roost.com Kicks over the RE Search CartJay Thompson — Buyer suing realtor, On Buyers Suing AgentsMike Price — Who Rules The [...]

By: RE observer

RE observer — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:36:48 +0000

One thing that is very big that nobody has mentioned is that Roost has zero chance to ever enter the NYC real estate market because there is no MLS there. It’s going to be hard enough to gain traction in a crowded market, but to do it while completely ignoring the country’s #1 market and media hub is like running a race in concrete boots.

By: Alex Chang

Alex Chang — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:02:56 +0000

Alex from Roost here. Wanted to make a couple points/clarifications:

- Roost is really two things that work together. First it is a network of IDX compliant broker sites on the Roost platform. These are either sub-domains on Roost or domains owned by the broker if that is required by the local MLS. Across those sits a powerful and intuitive search engine for consumers to search for homes for sale. All of this combines to drive qualified customers to Realtors who can then convert them to leads under their own brand

- We specifically built the platform to be open and inclusive of all types & sizes of brokers. And you’ll see from our partners that we already have a nice mix of large brands and small independents

- Like anyone trying to innovate and offer a new marketing channel in this space, we will only succeed if consumers find what we have compelling, and more importantly if those consumers turn into transactions at a compelling ROI for our partners. This is the challenge, and of course, the opportunity.

Finally, one thing that I feel gets lost in a lot of these dialogues is that IMO all of this innovation and competition should result in more powerful/efficient/effective marketing options for both brokers and agents. Most new companies in this space are competing to provide the industry more efficient marketing than was previously available (as opposed to trying to disintermediate) and just like competition generally benefits consumers, it should ultimately benefit the industry.

By: Christian

Christian — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:04:20 +0000

Tough crowd…it’s like startup pinata around these parts.

By: MannyMo

MannyMo — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:03:09 +0000

RE search is clearly not a 400 meter sprint. It is a marathon of quite a few years, where only those adding real value to consumers & RE professionals will survive.

That said, I want to congratulate Roost for giving it a shot.

And just for the record, most websites run into technical problems since day 1. It happend to Zillow too– on their first day.(http://www.zillowblog.com/were-now-stable/2006/02/)