I love that I get to talk about technology day in and day out. And because I am always on the lookout for the next ‘latest and greatest’ tech gadget – I am constantly amazed by the ideas I see!

Recently, I received an email referencing this article on what of the hottest new topics in mobile technology in regards to real estate: geofencing.

What’s geofencing?

“A Geofence is a virtual perimeter on a geographic area using a location-based service, so that when the geofencing device enters or exits the area a notification is generated. The notification can contain information about the location of the device and might be sent to a mobile telephone or an email account.”

As it stands right now, geofencing is used to notify someone when someone (like a child) leaves a geographic boundary. Some employers use it as well as a tracking device for sales territory. The auto industry has used it as well to keep track of cars in a fleet.

So how does this relate to real estate? Imagine this:

“It’s Saturday morning. Joel and Rebecca are walking their dog through a neighborhood in Austin, TX. As they walk, they chat about the movie they saw last night, what they’re going to make for dinner, and the big trip they have planned for next weekend. You wouldn’t know it by listening to their conversation, but the couple is also house hunting.

They cross Brodie Lane when Joel’s cell phone buzzes in his pocket. It’s a text message. Joel says to Rebecca, “We’ve got a match from our real estate company. It’s only four blocks away. Let’s go see what the house looks like.”

Within minutes, the couple is outside the 714 Longview Rd. home. It happens to be exactly the type of home they wanted, in the exact neighborhood they wanted to live in. They call their real estate agent to set up a viewing.” (an excerpt from the above-mentioned article)

How is this possible? By combining geofencing, mobile phones and GPS technology.

I can see a HUGE possibility for this is real estate AND for web developers. Why? Because as of right now this technology does not exist for real estate!  Personally as avid smartphone user, I would love to have this feature on my phone – especially if I was house-hunting.

I remember a couple years back when my husband and I were looking to buy a home. We’d drive around neighborhoods and say “We love this area – I wonder if there any homes for sale in this neighborhood.”

How cool would it be to have a mobile feature from our real estate agent: if we were in a neighborhood we were interested in – we could instantly be notified of homes for sale. There are a tremendous amount of possibilities.

From a marketing standpoint – any brokerage or agent who was able to get this technology would have a huge advantage – especailly if they do any targeted marketing to the Gen X and Gen Y group that are accustomed to this type of technology.

People are definitely talking about geofencing – here is the latest stream from Twitter with people chatting about it!

What do you think? Is this something you think would be value when you promote your unique marketing services to a seller or buyer? Leave me a comment or feedback below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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This is pretty cool. PolicyMap is a new site by The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), a national not-for-profit organization that finances neighborhood revitalization.

It’s a Google Maps mashup on steroids.

They offer “4,000 indicators related to demographics, real estate markets, crime, schools, housing affordability, employment, energy, and public investments” all layered on to a map source.

The information gets layered on in color-coded “heat maps” – a trend we’ve seen on many other sites but not nearly to this level before.

There’s a ton of data here.

PolicyMap says they’re pulling all that data from a number of sources including the U.S. Census, Claritas, the FBI, the IRS as well as information from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and Boxwood Means (a real estate research firm), among others. It compiles all that data and then scrubs it to ensure that it is reliable and accurate.

I could see myself possibly using PolicyMap to investigate a move to a new neighborhood – or at least seeing how it stakes up against existing tools like Cyberhomes (new facelift btw – nice), Zillow or Trula. No listings though, so it is purely a research tool.

To a real estate investor or developer however, this is a goldmine of information.

To use PolicyMaps you can sign up a free account – and for advanced users they offer additional functionality and access to premium data sources for $200 a month.

More from BlownMortgage - PolicyMap – Killer tool for real estate

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