Buyers and Sellers: Help is on the way…

I’m pretty sure that many real estate agents wouldn’t want to hear this, but the real estate industry has been very effective at protecting their own self-interest at the expense of home buyers and sellers. There are so many useful tools that could be built, but valuable real estate data is hidden behind thick walls! But rather than focus on the problems of the industry, I’d like to spend a few minutes talking about the future…

If you’ve been reading Rain City Guide long enough, you probably know that last May I put together the first home search (“gHomes

38 thoughts on “Buyers and Sellers: Help is on the way…

  1. Today, I received an email from someone who is building another site still in stealth mode (name unknown…) that will initial focus on providing appraisal information for home buyers in the Seattle area. Interesting stuff!

  2. greetings,

    i am proud to announce that our organization has been developing, for many many months now, the most consumer friendly real estate community called sellsius. our goal is to debut sellsius @ the 2005 TRIPLE PLAY Realtor Convention & Trade Expo. this event will take place in atlantic city, new jersey on December 6.7.8.

    our solutions will benefit the entire real estate community…

    our official press release will be available soon….

    cheers,

    -rdb

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  4. Pingback: Seattle’s Rain City Real Estate Guide » Trulia better real estate search

  5. Great Blog! I especially like that you bring into the light new web sites that have great ideas (or at least a little better) or try to improve things in the real estate universe but dont have the bucks or big marquee names behind them. Little guys can one day be big guys if they do right by the people they say they want to help. and big guys that get too big for their & ouir own good, are soon cut down to size. Viva the free market system & good ‘ol competition!!!

  6. You were right, Dustin. In less than a year there have been so many more players who’ve emerged from “stealth” mode; you may want to add one more to your list – http://www.urbanregistry.com. Manhattan-based, we went “live” last month, rather silently (I doubt if even friends of friends heard of us)! We have both: rentals and ‘for sale’ houses/condos/co-ops/lofts listed on our site. No doubt we have a long way to go. Well, personally, I’m happy to see as many of us in this space. May the best (not necessarily the richest) survive, and perhaps the rest will piggy-back. There’s room enough for all, and for the brokers. Isn’t this an additional medium through which not only the buyer, but even the seller benefits? It should certainly please brokers, I’d say. We drive traffic to their site through the hotlinks we have on ours. The buyer gets a wider choice and with so much convenience. Of course if they see expired listings, it may irk them, but rather that, than race for an advertised rental, especially in NYC, only to be disappointed, and then wait forever until the next one turns up. Eventually, to touch, feel (and smell) the place that one likes, and to walk around a bit before deciding to move in, users need to contact the broker to gain access, right! Ok, about your site, I’d book-marked your blog before I even joined this company! Thanks for sharing your views and some utopian ideas from even others, when they add comments. 🙂

  7. That is funny, indeed! Dustin, thanks so very much. Really appreciate your zippy response and offer. This should please the boss 😉 Cheers.

  8. Kalpa

    Congrats on launching your site. I visited UrbanRegistry and it appears from the surface that you will try to make money via ad revenue. Is there more to your business model?

    Russ

  9. Hey Russ,

    Thanks. For the moment, we would use good ole Google’s AdSense and make money. We hope to have featured/sponsored listings, at some point in the future. Foremost, we’re working towards improving our data quality, so that users benefit from the site and happily pass the word around. Thanks also for taking the effort to visit http://www.urbanregistry.com. Cheers. 🙂

  10. Hey Russ,

    Thanks. For the moment, we would use good ole Google’s AdSense and make money. We hope to have featured/sponsored listings, at some point in the future. Foremost, we’re working towards improving our data quality, so that users benefit from the site and happily pass the word around. Thanks also for taking the effort to visit http://www.urbanregistry.com. Cheers. 🙂

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  12. The Industry is very protective of it information. I don’t think its a disadvantage to the seller, because people utilize trained real estate professionals to guide them in the real estate process. In the process we utilize a MLS system where as every other agent whom has a buyer can locate them.

    Walt

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