Rain City Guide

Latest stab at on-line mapping

Dustin on 09 11, 2005

Galen over at shackprices alerted me to a new google maps search by Windermere. I can’t say that I’m surprised to see that Windermere updated their search since their VP of technology told me they would be releasing something soon… None the less, it is always interesting to see what gets produced. My initial reaction is that they’ve built a really clean home search tool (note that they still consider this a BETA site).

Out of the sites that I’ve seen, this is currently the best home search (MLS search) site. Some features I like:

• As you zoom in to your area, the number of available homes (based on your search criteria) gets updated. This works real fast demonstrating that the Windermere people have thought-through their spacial analysis backend.
• It is integrated well into the standard MLS search. Nothing will surprise someone who has searched for a home on the internet.

If you are looking for a home in Seattle, I’d highly recommend the Windermere tool. Although there is some good news for all the other people building home search sites. The Beta site that Windermere has published does not do anything really innovative, so there is still plenty of room for someone to break the field wide open. I’m still waiting for someone to use the power of the web to improve search results.

About the Author: Dustin Luther

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As the founder of Seattle's Rain City Real Estate Guide, I love to talk, discuss and implement social media strategies that drives business in real estate. In following this passion, I founded 4realz.net Social Media Strategy and regularly speak about social media strategy to real estate audiences. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, become a fan on Facebook and follow me on twitter at @tyr.