Yahoo Real Estate Delivers A Better Search Experience
Yahoo launched a redesign of its Real Estate page today, incorporating a new map search interface, an IDX feed and historical market data from Zillow. The new site site also more deeply integrates Zillow’s Zestimate charts into all of their real estate classifieds.
First impressions are, this is a very nice effort. It’s a clean, simple search interface that’s very comprehensive and intuitive and delivers a great user experience. Yahoo! Real Estate has accomplished what Trulia has been trying to do all along. Plus it has the brand recognition and marketing muscle to back it and push real estate search even further into the mainstream.
Trulia should be very worried, now that the big Internet giants are redoubling their efforts in the online real estate space. Maybe their mascots should spend less time sitting on the can, and more time trying to figure out how they’re going to stand up in the face of this renewed offensive into their turf.
More on the new Yahoo! Real Estate site from Greg Sterling: Yahoo! Makes Real Estate More ‘Local’
(Full disclosure: I work for a Prudential affiliate, which maintains an exclusive broker relationship with Yahoo! Real Estate).
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2 Comment(s)
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- From kebmillard | kebmillard | Dec 31, 1969
- From TRANSPARENT REAL ESTATE (www.TransparentRE.com) | Aug 29, 2006
- From Search Engine Lowdown | Aug 30, 2006
- From realiventblog.com | Nov 7, 2006
- From dynamiclistingexchange.com | Nov 8, 2006
Richard Johnston | Aug 29, 2006 | Reply
I’m actually happy Yahoo! has decided to make changes to their real estate page. It’s definately looks better but home buyers and selles should always keep in mind to contact three local real estate professionals to get an idea on what their home is worth and what it will probably sell for. Relying on an internet site to give you an accurate estimate is a major mistake which can cost you tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
John Lescure | Aug 30, 2006 | Reply
What you failed to mention in your post is the three major consumer detractions of Yahoo Real Estate:
1. They have an exclusive deal with Prudential, so search results getting an extremely bias toward Prudential, whereas Trulia partners with and links directly the brokers who actually represent the property.
2. To get more information about a property a consumer must fill out a long form and wait for an agent to contact ( or hound) you, whereas Trulia connects you directly to the property’s detail page of the broker who actually represent the listings (see a trend here?).
3. When you fill out a form on Yahoo Real Estate your contact information goes to Prudential Real Estate Affiliates (Prudential’s parent company) in Orange County, CA at which time you become a “lead” that Prudential auctions off to one of its agents for 35% of the commission! Trulia on the other hand links you directly to the agent representing the property and gives you the choice to contact them or not.
Not exactly the ideal consumer experience you thought it was now is it?
John