jump to navigation

Google takes real estate seriously July 28, 2006

The people who poke and prod Google in the hopes of finding secrets hit a treasure trove of services in Google’s testing area today and it looks like Google isn’t just dinking around with a crummy Google-base - real estate listings mashup anymore. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise, what with Paul Rademacher (founder of housingmaps.com) on board, a Google base full of listings, and a great mapping service, Google is creating real estate search as a distinct service.

If Google real estate search uses the same technology as Froogle, you can expect to see a lot of Seattle-area homes listed for $150,000 with $300,000 in shipping costs shown to you after you try to buy it.

In other news, Trulia is now letting you post their listings on your site. They say it’s for agents and brokers, but do agents and brokers really want to steer people away from their web sites? If a visitor clicks on More details… they are whisked to the listing agent’s website. I predict that it will mostly be used by bloggers and non-real estate people.

Sphere: Related Content

Comments»

1. sellsius° real estate blog » Blog Archive » Inman Real Estate Connect SF 2006 - July 28, 2006

[...] 57. Realty Thoughts - Inman’s Theme 58. Bloodhound Blog - Who Should Be Shuddering… 59. Rain City Guide - Google takes Real Estate Seriously Listen to this podcast [...]

2. Cheryl, Broker in L A CA - July 29, 2006

Re the Trulia map thingie: Brokers do have the option of displaying only their own listings - in fact, this is the default setting.

3. BloodhoundBlog - The weblog of BloodhoundRealty.com, an exceptional-service residential real estate brokerage in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. - July 29, 2006

[...] Galen Ward at Rain City Guide has more, including sightings of the Great Kong, the 900 pound gorilla that is Google. And: Will brokers embrace Trulia’s maps?: In other news, Trulia is now letting you post their listings on your site. They say it’s for agents and brokers, but do agents and brokers really want to steer people away from their web sites? If a visitor clicks on More details… they are whisked to the listing agent’s website. I predict that it will mostly be used by bloggers and non-real estate people. [...]

4. Galen - July 30, 2006

I missed that. Thanks for the clarification, Cheryl.

5. Ed - August 6, 2006

This is too funny, these guys are hilarious. Trulia map men rapping on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ_ylkgJM_U

6. Seattle’s Rain City Real Estate Guide » YouTube as a Marketing Tool? - August 6, 2006

[...] YouTube as a Marketing Tool? August 6, 2006 Ardell asked about the meaning of “web2.0″ yesterday and David G of Zillow gave an easy-to-understand definition that Web2.0 is the “read/write web”. In an unrelated thread, Ed pointed us to a rap video sang by the Trulia Markermen… These conversations converge in that the cost of producing and hosting videos in a web2.0 environment is so low as to be negligible. [...]