Real estate technology is headed straight to the small screen.

‘Nuff said.

For more background on this – read some of these earlier posts:

• House Hunting On The Go
• Mobile Real Estate can Thank the iPhone
• Apple Releases SDK Kit for iPhone
• Mobile Real Estate Search Paradigm Just Shifted

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJfrdcbfXsc[/youtube]

Ever since Zillow evolved into.. well, whatever it is now (some sort of real estate search, AVM, mortgage rate and discussion forum Frankenstein Hydra, as far as I can tell), the controversy over Zestimates seems to have quieted down.

Maybe it’s that the novelty of seeing what your home is worth has worn off as housing prices crash.

Perhaps it’s that the PR pros at Zillow have done such a phenomenal job positioning the company in the media as a legitimate data source that the Zestimate has become an accepted statistic.

Or more likely, maybe it’s that the industry has been successfully wooed with the promises of easy, cheap marketing online tools (which are especially seductive in a down market) and any remaining resistance has slipped by the wayside.

In either case, Zestimates just don’t seem to be the point of contention they once were.

But today Zillow launched an iPhone app. One that, I suspect, promises to bring the debate over Zestimates (and their accuracy) back to the forefront.

Upfront – it’s a very slick app. The app’s location awareness (as demonstrated on the video embedded above) is truly a killer feature – fire it up, and the app immediately shows you where you are and then displays all the data on homes nearby. As you move around, the map and associated values update too. Freakin’ cool.

(That said, it was a little sluggish this morning however, not sure if was AT&T’s network or Zillow’s servers struggling to keep up).

Having had a chance to play with it a bit – I can vouch that as a potential buyer it is incredibly cool to be able to walk around my neighborhood and see what each home is worth and gauge what I could get for my money.

Sure, I know. A Zestimate is just a “starting point”. But here’s the thing, seeing that number while standing outside the home is a powerful physical association to price. One that as more and more people have access too (through other mobile platforms, see A House They Found on Zillow…) it’s going to start to have a greater impact; on negotiations and much more.

Having the power of the Zestimate in your hand is a mighty weapon to wield. Personally I can’t wait to walk into a home on a buying tour with my agent and being able to instantly call up how much Zillow says that home is worth and then compare it to the list price.

Given that scenario, I suspect the debate over Zestimates, long dormant – may just have woken up again.

The Zillow app is free and available in the App Store.

More: Read 1000Watt Consulting’s take on the app.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAsppG3f_c4[/youtube]

Mobile real estate poised to take off? Palm seems to think so.

On a side note, I’m kind of digging the Pre… but doubt I’m ready to give up the iPhone. Yet.

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Not a dedicated app, mind you. But if you visit ColdwellBanker.com on your iPhone’s Safari browser now it’ll pull up a specially formatted version of the site.

They’re not the first company to do this (Realtor.com has an iPhone-ready page, as does Intero) but they are, as far as I know, the first to launch a major marketing campaign advertising this fact.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McKSek1Q-ns[/youtube]

The app itself looks great and is nicely thought out and pretty functional. You can search for current listings and, like Trulia (see iPhone Real Estate App Showdown), open houses as well. Search results return reasonably quickly on both WiFi and 3G.

The individual listing pages are fleshed out, though not as tightly integrated with multimedia as Utopria’s (see Utopria Brings Property Listings to iPhone). You can see all the photos associated with the home however. Clicking on Map Property link will bring you immediately to the Google Maps application for driving directions.

Unfortunately, because it’s not a dedicated app, the overall usability of this function gets a bit frustrating. Getting back to your search results requires several taps back and forth to switch between the map and the browser.

Also, CB’s tool does not seem to tap into the iPhone’s location awareness capability which seems a bit of a shame – you still need to tell it where you want to search.

Probably the biggest issue however is that (perhaps not surprisingly) ColdwellBanker.com on the iPhone only returns CB listings from Realogy. Unfortunately, since you’re only ever seeing a fraction of any market’s listings, this severely limits the app’s use for consumers. As a result I can’t see many people turning to this tool beyond mere curiousity, despite the fancy ad.

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The real estate application category on the iPhone really seems to be filling out. When the upgraded version of the software launched in July, Puluwai was the only real estate specific search tool (see 5 Apps Every Real Estate Agent Should Have on Their iPhone).

But that’s now changing and it looks like there is an epic battle brewing for screen space on my phone.

Trulia iPhone application

Trulia’s app is notable because of the prominence they give to open houses on the home screen. I think this is a wise choice, since people will likely be using this app as they are out and about and will want to find out what’s open near them to go have a look.

The search experience was very easy on Trulia’s app – simply pushing the ‘All homes for sale’ button takes you to a list of all the properties near you. (Your definition of “All Homes” may vary).

Searching all homes, it was a bit frustrating because wasn’t immediately obvious how the results were returned – it didn’t seem to be sorted by price or even distance away. Using the Custom Search option does let you get a little more specific on how those results are returned however.

Personally, I would have loved to be able to refine the search from the All Homes results page to weed out the listings that didn’t fit what I was looking for. Unfortunately instead, Trulia makes you go back to the beginning and start over again.

The biggest disappointment with Trulia’s app however are the listing pages themselves. Next to Utopria’s offerings they pale in comparison (see Utopria Brings Property Listings to iPhone) Only one photo? Really?

Also, it’s great that you can show me where the property is on a map, but what does staring at a pin from space really tell me? I want a little more.

StreetEasy Real Estate

StreetEasy doesn’t waste any time. The New York based real estate site just takes you right into the search results as soon as you fire it up. I actually kind of enjoyed this – the less decisions I have to make up front the better. Let me get right to the meat and then let me start carving away.

(Though I have to say, the fact that the top listing it returned on its default search was an $80 million, 4 bedroom Central Park apartment made me feel more than a little bit inadequate.)

Clicking on the Edit Search button lets you refine the results and StreetEasy makes good use of the iPhone UI elements to make the refinement easy and enjoyable – lots of tumblers to spin up and down. Making search fun is one of the things the iPhone can be great at.

On the whole, StreetEasy succeeds where Trulia fails – showing you all the photos associated with a particular listing. Clicking on the thumbnail floats all the images upwards to a gallery like environment you can thumb through. I also loved the fact that the app lets you pull up the details on the building that a particular apartment is in.

Further, StreetEasy makes it really easy to tab between the listing description, the map and the agent’s contact information. Trulia struggles to accomplish this with a slightly clumsy popup menu.

HomeFinder

HomeFinder was created by developer Brandon Alexander (Alexander Mobile) and claims to bring over 4 million listings to the iPhone. Listings are drawn from Google Base, FSBO websites and feeds from several large MLSes and brokerages (not identified).

Compared to the two previous offerings, it’s pretty bare-bones, yet functional. HomeFinder gives you loads of options to filter a search – but it also kept crashing whenever it returned the results. So I’m going to have to withhold judgment on this app until we see a new revision.

So what’s the verdict?

StreetEasy’s iPhone app blows the competition out of the water in terms of ease-of-use, functionality and sheer slickness. Unfortunately it’s only available in New York City.

Trulia’s app looks great, gets off to a good start and then falls flat on its face. Frankly disappointing and hopefully future versions will add some of the missing features.

The others (Puluwai and HomeFinder)… well, compared to their commercial competitors, feel unpolished and struggle due to poor data sources.

So for now, there’s no clear winner. Unless you live in New York.

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Exciting news on the mobile real estate front.

Coldwell Banker has just announced it will be feeding all of its listings to the Dash Interneted-connected GPS navigator.

What’s a Dash? The Dash takes GPS to the next level by connecting to the Internet via cellular and WiFi networks. It can also create up a mini MESH network (i.e. connecting to other Dash units in individual vehicles) to share real time traffic data.

(Note to self. Gotta get me a Dash)

Obviously, the potential for feeding data to GPS navigator is a no-brainer for application in real estate.

From the Dash Blog

- Hunting for the home of your dreams? Coldwell Banker® allows consumers to search for homes with the “Coldwell Banker Home Search” button. It allows Dash drivers to access real estate listings and property details from their vehicle and instantly create a route to them.

Granted this is not a complete solution for any buyer since it seems like only CB’s listings would be shown. (Talk about an exclusive distribution channel however, nice work CB!)

But was does it really signal? Internet enabled GPS devices, GPS enabled smartphones (cough.. 2nd gen iPhone) mean that in fairly short order, a truly self-directed, Internet-backed mobile real estate search will be a reality for many buyers.

For listing agents it means thinking of new creative ways of promoting your listings to mobile buyers (see Cellsigns Launches iPhone Video Tours). For buyer’s agents, it may mean holding seminars educating people how to take advantage of all of these new tools (thereby positioning yourself as the go-to person when it comes to placing an offer).

And for real estate brokerages it means, like Coldwell Banker, you need to be aware of these technological shifts and ultimately, provide the service yourself. If you do you’ll keep your brand in the heart of the action.

(h/t Mike Price, writing at GeekEstate Blog)

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by powerbooktrance

Geeks love their iPhones. And I tell you what… as soon as I finish writing about a new iPhone application in real estate (see Terabitz Creates MLS iPhone Site), another one lands on my doorstep.

Not that that’s a bad thing.

This time, it’s from Cellsigns – the SMS marketing company. They’ve launched a new product where you can text in to a number (say, on a for sale sign) and receive the video tour of that property on your iphone.

If you have an iPhone, you can see how it works by texting the numbers on the following video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auHLWO3DDdc[/youtube]

Text VID555 to 79274 and you’ll receive a SMS message with the property information and a link that opens the video up in the iPhone’s built in Youtube player. Pretty slick.

Unfortunately, like other Youtube videos, the experience is crippled by the iPhone’s EDGE connection and unless you’re in a WiFi hotspot the playback is hardly bearable.

Nevertheless, a very cool innovation and one that will surely get better with the arrival of the much demanded 3G iPhone.

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For the last few months we’ve seen a flurry of activity in the real estate space, as Real Estate 2.0 companies line up to take advantage of the iPhone.

The latest company to dive in (after Realtor.com and Trulia, see Trulia Launches iPhone Version) is Terabitz. Today they’ve launched a tool where they build a portable MLS search tool for brokers (presumably tapping into their IDX feeds) who want to build a iPhone ready version of their web site.

In some ways, it’s Roost’s business model brought to the handset.

And frankly I’m a little surprised they got scooped like that. It only seems natural that mobile search will be the next evolution of real estate search – being tied to desktop seems at odds with the mobile nature of a real world hunt for a home (see House Hunting On The Go).

Ultimately, the killer app here will be one that bridges both worlds. One where I can start my search on line, send it to my phone, plot a route to take me round the neighborhoods, rate the properties while on the road (good/bad) and have it sync back to my desktop on my return for follow up.

We’re not there yet, but I suspect it won’t be long. I think once we see native apps on the iPhone (see Apple Announces iPhone 2.0 Software Beta), we’ll start seeing this as a very real possibility.

Now admittedly, the iPhone is still largely reserved for bleeding edge users (the price tag alone precludes a lot of people from buying one – though my wife definitely has her eyes on mine, as soon as the 3G version is released, she’s claimed it). But Apple’s innovation will surely trickle down.

Just like the iPhone’s radical touch interface changed the way we interact with our phones; I’m guessing the platform will soon radically change the way we search for real estate.

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Real estate developers, get ready.

Direct from Steve in Apple – Hot News

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

There you have it. A software development kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch by Valentine’s Day next year.

The iPhone multi-touch interface is undoubtably one of the coolest features I’ve seen on any device for a long time and it’s a natural for manipulating real estate data.

So what could this hold for mobile real estate? The prospects are tantalizing…Zillow Zestimates on your iPhone? Trulia real estate search that syncs to a desktop widget?

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Who ever said wishes don’t come true (see House Hunting On The Go).

Realtor.com just went mobile on Windows Mobile devices.

Too bad I just switched to an iPhone.

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