We're trying to make a web-site that is easy for consumers to understand. Use the Paragon screen as a benchmark in that it makes one dizzy to see it with all that information to search for a house with. And compare the ease of use and number of key strokes at the two biggest websites in Omaha, NPDodge.com (Great Website) and CBSHome.com. (Great website!) Okay, also the other big ones in town seem to be PAOmaha.com, and Deebrealestate.com not to leave anybody out. Actually, PAOmaha is as simple as 4114Openhouses.com. If a person averages 7 seconds per web page, how many are going to spend time on a website with all those search criteria? Sure, there's a place for that but who is this designed for?
How many websites does a buyer have to visit in Omaha to get a game plan for checking out Open Houses?
On the other hand, "Buyers are Liars" is what I'm hearing from the veterans. I'm a perfect case-in-point. We wanted a walk-out in West Omaha and ended up buying a great place in Nort Omaha without a walk-out. If I'd looked only for walk-outs I'd never seen this property.
So, here's the question: In order of priority, and prevalence, what do Consumers search for? I mean really, a range of square footage? Year built?
So, do a search by price and areas and have a result for 22 homes? Or do you want search results to come up with 2? Isn't that enough scrutiny? And if you search in some areas, isn't the price, year built, etc. implied? A picture's worth a thousand words...
We ask for: Price, Bed, Bath and Geographic area. We love the fireplace and wanted a walk-out but ended up with a hot-tub and are on a park! (These pictures are not what MLS provided. I put these up there on our site only.) And the only way we knew it was that great was with the map interface. And then when it came time to involve our Buyer's Agent, he showed us two homes and we'd been looking for homes online for 6 months!
Was our purchase impulsive or did we know about what we wanted before taking the agent out with us? The latter is true. Sure, we didn't get what we THOUGHT we wanted but who does? How often do you sell the house you're sitting in at a Hosted Open House to the people that stop by? "If you like some of these features but not this home, I can help you find what you want." I'm not in the sales side but that's what they told me over and over and over and over...
Microsoft has Bird's Eye View almost anywhere in town and we have it seamlessly integrated in our beta version. Check out what it's like to search for homes when you not only have a virtual tour inside, but can see the neighborhood! "We can live on a park? Who cares about a basement walkout when you can go out and be in a park?"
Google has "Street View" that's growing in coverage all the time.This one didn't have that but imagine what it would be like seeing the neighborhood like this?
A picture's worth a thousand words. And what if the house is backing up to a busy street? You can save gas and time seeing it with Bird's Eye view!
Enough said...
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