Zillow Launches New Smart Search Feature
Gotta hand it to Zillow. They’re wearing their hearts err.. listings on their sleeves.
The launch of their new Smart Search functionality tells you exactly how many listings the company has in its database, from a top level State search right down in to individual neighborhoods. It’s kind of fun surfing around the country (zoom out to the USA level on their map) and seeing what’s out there (according to Zillow anyway).
Pity the poor folks in North Dakota and South Dakota who’ve got a measly 49 listings between the two of them - slim pickings indeed. Oregon, by contrast, has 5,306 listings. California is the reigning State champ with 66,869 listings.
Change any of the search criteria on the right hand bar and the listing counts automatically update to reflect the new search. Pretty cool stuff when you think about the amount of data being crunched and how fast it’s reflected on the map. That’s a lot of horsepower at play.
Drill down to the city neighborhood level however and this new release also gives you revamped neighborhood guides, like this one for Portland Real Estate.
But where the new search features are a winner in my books - Zillow’s neighborhood guides are still pretty weak. First and foremost, Zillow has chosen to depend on its community for things like photos, so the results are really hit and miss. In Portland for instance, you get a handful of photos like this one representing the city as a whole. Not very helpful. A better tack may be to at least supplement the results with third party resources (like Estately does with its Flickr feeds).
Secondly, it definitely feels like Zilllow is playing catchup to its competitors in its neighborhood definitions (see Eppraisal Charts its Way Forward). Also, Zillow continues to insist that I live in a neighborhood that’s over a mile away, which is frustrating. YMMV.
Couple that with an incomplete listings database (it only shows a handful of properties for sale, and I definitely know there are more on the market just from my evening walks around the block with the dog) and overall it’s a pretty unsatisfying experience. Ultimately, this is a real problem for any first-time visitor and may push existing users away.
The old adage holds true here. Content is king. New features are fun for the engineers and make for exciting product releases, but at the end of the day it’s the content that’s going to keep people coming back. If there’s one thing we can learn from the collapse of Edgeio (see Listings Marketplace Edgeio Shuts Down), it’s that you can’t just rely on having the best features out there.
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11 Comment(s)
4 Trackback(s)
- From Zillow’s Smart Search is… « 4realz.net | Dec 19, 2007
- From NJ Real Estate Wire » Zillow Has New Smart Search Feature For Buyers & Sellers | Dec 19, 2007
- From Zillow need’s a “My Maps” Feature | Mortgage Industry Blog | Dec 19, 2007
- From Real Estate Search Tit for Tat : Future of Real Estate Marketing | Dec 20, 2007
David G from Zillow.com | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Joel.
We do understand the importance of comprehensive listings information and continue to work on industry relationships, scalable architectures and integration processes that will get us there. We have only recently added the capability to add listings in bulk via feeds and already we have a backlog of hundreds of interested brokerages whose feeds we are yet to integrate. By the Spring buying season, you should see another major increase in listings on the site.
andrew | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
Search is still sh*t. When will they loose these maps? Search does not need maps, search needs speed and clarity. Z is too wrapped up in map based search. I cannot wait until this web 2.0 phase is over. Maps and listings are a slow combo.
Maurice | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
I must agree with Andrew. People are looking for simplicity,speed, clarity and class.
Above all though, agents, investors and lenders are looking for networking abilities because it really comes down to the passing of information locally and globally.
The only site that accomplishes all these is http://www.ourcommercialspace.com and guess what; it is free.
I was speaking to some of the users recently, and they all prefer this site to costar and even loopnet. Check it out. It is the future.
Galen @ Estately Real Estate Search | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
Andrew and Maurice, I’ll agree with you in the abstract: people want photos of listings more than anything else, but maps can be really useful. In Seattle, they let you see how close you are to the water. In other areas, they let you visualize how close you are to work or the desirable neighborhood. Addresses aren’t enough for most consumers (54th and Jefferson - where is Jefferson again?).
Maurice, you should at least disclose the fact that you’re plugging your own site or you’re getting paid to plug someone else’s site.
Dave Dugdale | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
I think the site that ranks for “x(town) real estate” across the board is the one that wins in 2008.
LP | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
Maurice,
You forgot to mention that the site that you are pushing is your own - quote from web site: “was founded by Maurice Stewart Commercial Broker”. Second, even it is “free”, but it requires REGISTRATION!!! Good Luck with that.
Mike Ela | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
I’d like to know who Picked those five companies above as the ones that will be most searched? So, if you’re not “in” on (who, Inman News’ top 5 or Joel Burslem’s) list, you’re out?
How about some real basics for the real buyers and sellers? Value = Price + Trend + Market Strength (Risk). You can learn about those at HomeSmart Reports (www.homesmartreports.com) and no where else, if you’re really about to do a real estate deal and you really want to know how your local market is performing.
Sol | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
I recall when Redfin and Homepage.com first launched. It took ( no joke ) 2-4 minutes to load the homepage. The typical consumer has 37 seconds attention span.
SPEED. SPEED. SPEED. It’s the only thing that is guaranteed to change in the future.
Gavin Anthony | Dec 19, 2007 | Reply
now find a way to capture all those leads and send them to mortgage brokers for financing
OlgaZ | Dec 19, 2007 | Reply
Maybe the reason is that there is rather low competition. Zillow understands that they are number one on the market and pay rather little attention to quality. As for me I think this to be a HUGE mistake!
jdfreestand | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
Does anyone know if Zillow’s revenues are going to exceed $15 million this year?