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Google's next move

This just in...

Redfin, Zillow, Trulia; there's no shortage of new companies promoting new business models in an effort to shake up the real estate industry. But keep your eye on the 200 pound gorilla: Google.

A few months ago I wrote about the joint project between Google and the Houston Association of Realtors. This was the search engine giant's first step into the real estate space, and thier first project with a major area multiple listing service.

Now if you go to Google and search for, say "Houston Real Estate" the search engine will return all publically available listings by rentals, for sale, and even foreclosure and sublet.

A post on Google's blog includes all the standard language about not getting involved in the industry (they're not going to sell houses, get involved in commissions, etc.) but clearly this is a step toward makingn more information available, and will bring more FSBOs out of the shadows, where they're currently scattered inefficiently among dozens of seperate listing services.

As an investor I use an agent for many of the deals that I do, but choice is good, and I like the option of finding new leads and getting closer to the negotiation by going straight to the seller.

Posted by Christopher Smith on 04/05/2007 05:00 PM

Comments (9)

google, zillow, real estate technology

9 Comments on Google's next move

APR

2007

Thanks for the updated info. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for more to come about this.

We're doomed.

Well lets just hope other Realtor associations in other states are not so easy to give in to big "G"

This kind of defeats the purpose of working to get your website at the top of the SERPs. Users will just search using google instead. This could be very interesting. My local board doesn't share listings with the RE/MAX website so I don't imagine they will do this either.

Rita

It will be interesting to see what the industry looks like in a few years. I still think there will be a place for good agents who are more like consultant. These services lack the human factor so although adjustment will be necessary I am not worried, not everyone involved in real estate transaction is a savvy investor. Many of us are capable of doing our taxes but we choose to use the service of an accountant, I see the same with real estate.

Michael: Opinions will vary, but I actually think that the Houston Association of Realtors is was pretty smart. They saw the handwriting on the wall, and instead of trying to block their MLS listings from being indexed they proactively negotiated with Google to include them in GBase, giving them some degree of control. The rest of the world will likely come along eventually, but it will be kicking and screaming. Won't be elegant.

Jennifer: I agree wholeheartedly - Google provides data, which is useful and necessary, but doesn't replace information and knowledge. In many cases (most, even) that's what an agent provides. I'm pretty good about this stuff but, as I mentioned, I still use an agent for a lot of things. The kicker, though, is that the market is going to get thinner. Customers are going to get smarter and more informed, and more and more they're going to be willing to do a lot of the work themselves. Meaning: they're going to be less willing to pay someone else to do it for them.

This will be particularly true in the broad general consumer market, so agents who focus on a niche will be the ones who thrive.

Rita: Don't give up on your website just yet. Potential clients are still going to be searching for relevant local topics, and many of them are going to need an agent with subject matter expertise. A relevant, frequently updated, content rich blog will still pay dividends. Actually it will be even more important in the future; your blog will work for you 24/7. It's gonna get tougher to generate leads in the future so now is the time to get web savvy.

Chris - thanks for the update. I'll keep an eye on it.

Lynn - You are right...the sky is falling...whatever will we do?

APR

2007

Part of me thinks it is OK because they are not hosting the content they are just providing a Google funnel for you to find rentals.

Also, I think Oodle.com provides a better user experience for users than Google base because Oodle seeks out rental listings from thousands of sources where as Google is an opt in system so they only have a fraction of the listings that Oodle may have.

If Google base doesn’t provide the best user experience than I believe that people will move to sites like mine.

APR

2007

Dave: Your business model is more relevant than ever. Google has to get that information from somewhere. And Google gets it by going out and spidering the whole universe and vacuuming up all the listings it finds scattered around out there. Make sure yours are available - this will be a simbiotic business relationship that benefits you both. Suddenly your business model starts to look more like RentMarketer's.

So, thinking as a real estate investor, I can pay your company (RentVine.com) $50 or so to post my ad and that gets my property into the network. If people see it via hitting RentVine.com then great, and if they find it because it gets spidered by Google then all the better. I get leads for tenants, you get my $50 bucks, and we're all happy.

This won't work for everyone. Some folks will prefer to pay a Realtor one month's rent to screen the tenant, show the place, etc. It's a convenience trade-off. But for a unit that rents for $2,000 per month I'd rather put that two grand in my pocket. And I think there are a lot of investors/landlords out there who think like I do.

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