Over the years, there has been much hype and hope around the use of mobile phones in online real estate advertising. Some of the mobile innovations have been:
domain.com.au on the iPhone
- Portal sites have offered mobile based versions of their sites for years (e.g. A mobile version of realestate.com.au has been around since 2003)
- Some sites have offered to SMS consumers everytime a new listing is loaded that meets their requirements
- Agents have been offering a text back service where when a consumer walks past a house for sale, the consumer can text a number and receive information back
- Suppliers have been offering agents the ability to visit a vendors home, take some photos and upload the listing to a website instantaneously
And so on …
Suffice to say, none of these applications have taken the world by storm and, at best, have probably achieved a very small penetration amongst the early adopters in the market.
Now we are entering a new era of mobile applications – primarily driven by the iPhone, WiFi, and high speed 3G networks. Portal sites seems to be rushing updated mobile versions of their websites to market. Recently trulia.com and realtor.com in the US, and domain.com.au in Australia, have all released iPhone optimised versions of their websites in the hope of capturing more eyeballs.
They are now packed with features like location based services – they can work out where you are (via the GPS) and then show the homes that are for sale in the area where you are currently located.
However, the question still remains, is this a solution looking for a problem or is it truly a new way in which consumers will search for real estate?
First and foremost, we need to look at market itself. In the maturing markets (See previous article), consumers already have established a habit in which they will search for real estate – the PC. They often search at work and freely share the information with their friends and partners through emails. They will often communicate with the agents via email or phone and the printing out of search results is not uncommon. Therefore in these markets, at best, the mobile applications are likely to be an adjunct to the already established search experience.
Potential applications in these maturing markets will be reminder lists and Saturday morning open for inspection lists. In theory home hunters can select the homes that they want to search and then a route to visit all these homes is automatically generated (based on location and open for inspection times) and then the user just follows the route to the home. A sexy application, however most people move a short distance from where they already live and therefore are already likely to have a good idea of the locations of the homes they are looking at.
The other limitation of mobile based applications is the screen size of the phone. Now not all people use an iPhone. In fact Blackberry’s, Nokia’s and other makes are widely used and they don’t have the same screen size as a iPhone – but they do have a usable keyboard (that is a whole different discussion).
Therefore the presentation of the most important part of the property search process, the home picture, is not a very exciting or usable experience.
Where i think that mobile real estate does have an application will be in the emerging countries (See previous article) where the populations have skipped a generation and are using mobile phones to access the Internet en masse for information.
The challenge here of course is that the markets are still maturing and the agents do not fully understand the value of the online marketing – therefore revenue streams from these markets for mobile applications are likely to be few and far between.
Overall, i think that mobile applications are a nice adjunct to existing online businesses however they are not a replacement and are unlikely to fundamentally change the way consumers search for real estate or interact with estate agents.
Advertising Partner
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Simon,
IMHO we will see more people using their phone searching for real estate, restaurants…just about everything. It is just makes sense. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you need local info. I agree that search habits are established and maybe it won’t have the impact that the portals you mention are hoping for, but it will grow. It may be more of a Sunday afternoon search.
In reading your article I was anticipating that you would mention something about emerging markets. It is true that in many developing countries people skip the whole PC experience and connect online straight from cell phones. In Latin America it is astounding to see how many people have cell phones and the growing usage of smart phones is definitely something to pay attention to. A study done earlier this year showed that there was a 66% penetration of mobile phones in Latin America and the Caribbean (about 20% higher than the rest of the world). 3G has been a big success in Brazil thus far. I believe that mobile phones are still a few years away from being used in the online real estate game in Latin America since one of the more recent developments is GPS (google maps just rolled out in a few more countries this year), but it is something to keep an eye on.
Simon,
I was a skeptic until the iPhone App Store launched this summer. Historically I felt that there are very few instances where the necessity of finding something on your phone is greater than the hassle and burden of trying to use these advanced tools on a tiny phone with a poor connection. The notable exceptions are entertainment, maps, some business uses. Most people will just wait until they get home and use their computer. However, with the iPhone the combination of GPS, 3G, integrated navigation into the iPhone’s elegant design and large screen is enough to overcome that burden for mass market adoption.
The mobile web was always thought to be “big in 18 months time” for the last 6 years…. I think that’s changed and the iPhone is the catalyst and we’re in an inflection point.
I have to completely agree with you. When I think that I want to find a new house I think of my computer not my phone and I use an iPhone, so it is not the device limitations stopping me.
What I do like is when I am visiting friends in unfamiliar areas or traveling to pull out my phone and see what properties are available around, but that is not quite of value to the listing vendors.
I like the Trulia app as it lets you find open houses.
By TechCrunch:
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The country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications says business carried out through cell phones in Japan was worth $106 billion in 2007 (up 23% from 2006), with m-commerce accounting for $67 billion and the mobile content market for $39 billion. Just one example: Cell phone owners downloaded music worth $10.2 billion, 42% more than in 2006.
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Something worth looking at.
And why just mobile phones? There are so many gadgets and the way to advertise through them. E.g. integration with POI db for GPS navigators. Little software plug-in for TomTom and you can download all you favourites saved on portal for tomorrow inspections. Also, agents would love this feature. And technically it’s not too hard to implement.