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(Photo: Courtesy of RealEstate.com)

Sushil Cheema reports:

Consumers looking for real estate information don’t need to turn to the newspaper or even to the web for listings. Now, they need only turn to their cell phones.

Smarter Agent, a developer of location-specific real estate searches, has teamed with RealEstate.com and other listings providers throughout the country to provide mobile phone users with access to a national database of real estate listings through an application called “Homes for Sale”.

“It’s part of a larger strategy where we are trying to get local real estate in the hands of consumers where they need it,” said Greg Hanson, the vice president of product excellence at RealEstate.com.

The application, launching today with two million listings from RealEstate.com, is available to only Sprint and AT&T customers, but the company plans expand it to other networks and phones, Hanson said. The program has been tested on and works on 80 different phone models for those two network providers, he explained. RealEstate.com estimates that it has the ability to reach about 50 million subscribers on those two networks.

Users cannot preview the application before downloading it, though they can view screenshots. The cost for downloading varies depending on the service provider, and monthly unlimited access, also dependent on the provider, ranges from $2.99 to $4.99.

When the application is launched in a GPS-enabled phone, listings in the user’s physical vicinity will automatically show up, though the user can override the GPS, enter a zip code anywhere in the U.S. and view listings in that designated area, Hanson said. For those without GPS, the user must manually enter the zip code every time. The users can zoom in on particular addresses and move around on the map, he said. The information provided on the screen includes the address of a particular property, the amenities and the listing price.

Readers, would you find such a service helpful?