John L. Scott Real Estate Launches “Neighborhood Wizard(sm)”
Jon Ribary on 06 7, 2007
[photopress:johnlscott.jpg,thumb,alignright] I am happy that John L Scott launched the first useful area search. It is so much more helpful to select a specific area to look for homes, rather than the viewable area of the map. For instance with all other map searches your viewable window is your search area. If you want to look at a geographic area from say a 1,000’ view you will return 100s of listings. Now, with JLS’s Neighborhood Wizard you are able to use any area view and select only a specific geometric area.
NWMLS has had a radius search for a while and recently introduced the box area search, but that is still you are limited to the size of a box. Look at the two examples below of searching ONLY waterfront homes in Magnolia using a box vs. a custom sized box
[photopress:magnolia.jpg,thumb,centered]
[photopress:magnolia2.jpg,thumb,centered]
About the Author: Jon Ribary
- Author's website: http://www.ltdhomes.com
- More posts by Jon Ribary
- email the author
15 Responses to “John L. Scott Real Estate Launches “Neighborhood Wizard(sm)””
Leave a Reply
Live Comment Preview
Popular Posts
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- ARDELL: Hi Chuck, Your po
- ARDELL: Roger, The majori
- ARDELL: Shawn, The only p
- Shawn: Thanks Ardell. This
- When will housing prices recover? A national look. | Rain City Guide: ... post is partly a
Wow, RCG is really excited about geometry, apparently.
:^)
Yes, how exciting for these agencies… they finally have caught up with Redfin’s technology. The interface looks oh so familiar…
The Tim-
I am always excited about new technolgoy
RCG Skeptic-
JLS has actually been ahead of the curve for years. They were actually the first (large) company to use Virtual Earth, long before Redfin launched their search with Virtual Earth.
Jon,
It appears you posted while I was in the middle of writing my post… Oh well, bit happens!
Needless to say, I’m impressed. Maybe it’s because I know how much work is involved to pull it off…
John L Scott partnered with Microsoft a couple of years ago to spear head home search technology. I recommend the JLS search on my web site because it is the best available. The second positive part is the consistency of the improvements.
When shopping for a new Real Estate office I did interview with John L Scott a couple of times before deciding on Windermere. The technology of home searches is a fun and exciting tool. My problem is that as homes come and go from the market, or as now when inventory is increasing, what is a home search doing for the consumer?
More to the point is that in my decision on a Real Estate company I did not feel JLS would give my clients the best resources for buying or selling a home.
The search site is great but I’m going to ask again what this does for the consumer?
David got his panties in an bunch becase he chose the wrong company to work for.
Sure, there are 4x as many WRE agents as their are JLS agents, but JLS receives more web traffic, more individual hits, and more positive feedback than WRE could dream of. (Go ahead, double check my figures)
This helps the consumer tons… and sorry David, but if you don’t see it, then you are the one not omnipresent to what your consumers want. Then again, that’s probably why you chose the wrong company!
JLS provides more resources than WRE, they are a NW company ingrained in the community donating over 10M a year to Children’s Hospitals in the NW, and are the 9th largest RE company in the US as far as GCI. Where is Windermere on that?
I would suspect, and correct me if I am wrong, that if they are the 9th largest in the nation, and the only company associated with the Leading Real Estate Companies in the World (in the NW), that they not only provide the tools needed but exceed in the tools/resources needed for a successful agent.
Then again, maybe I am wrong…But I doubt it!
Oooo! Broker fight!
Galen, you’re BAD! LOL
David, I think you got a bad rap from Andrea. I did not see any “panties in a twist” in your comment, as she did. As to how will these sites help consumers? Many more are able to shop better online. As each Broker sets a different commission rate for those who find the property online utilizing these sites, than a client who needs to be driven around for four months to find a house, these sites WILL benefit the consumer. The benefit is in the broker’s hands right now..
Spend more for better sites and give a lower rate to buyer consumers who fully utilize these sites to find their next home, is an idea whose time has more than come.
Andrea: Hiding behind anonymity to poke at another company, is against the Code of Ethics. Personally I think license law requires that we reveal who we are when interacting with the public. Blogs are not an exception to that rule, in my opinion. New laws should be enacted to include posting and commenting on blogs anonymously, as a violation, as agent activities are meant be trackable.
Agent Anonymous Nasties:
JLS and WRE are now tied.Each has had an agent here doing that.If you can’t say it with your full name as licensed, then likely you shouldn’t be saying it. I’m 99.9% sure you would have said it differently if you weren’t hiding behind a cloak of anonymity.Personally I think John L. Scott is a class act and deserves your respect in the form of acting in unison with their good name at all times. You have a fiduciary relationship with your Broker. Represent them well at all times as they deserve it, for sure. Your points could have been made just as well, without throwing mud at David. Had you used a link and full name, you probably would have worded it quite differently, and made your point equally well.
Just a thought for the future. We allow anonymous comments on RCG so that consumers can enter the conversation, not for agents to sling mud behind a cloak of anonymity.
OOPS! Correction!!! I will go back and edit with strike out.
Agent anonymous nasties are JLS 2, WRE 0
Ditto what Ardell said
Hmmm…2 to 0, does that mean the other one (JH) was a JLS agent?
Yes.
Jon,
Sorry, I need to make this correction. You said: “NWMLS has had a radius search for a while and recently introduced the box area search, but that is still you are limited to the size of a box.”
We have had a radius and box search for as long as I can remember. Our newest feature in the MLS is the polygon search, and we as agents had it before it was introduced to the JLS site.
That’s true we have the added search selection when it works on the NWMLS. The point I was making is that the consumer looks at neighborhoods differently than I do. I look at houses differently than the consumer does. It’s my business to guide the consumer in a decision based on what I know.
My wife yells at me all the time when I tell a buyer my opinion even if it’s different than what the buyer thinks. For that matter the buyer tells me information that is some times wrong. Real Estate is what I do all day, every day, and have since I was a kid. There are rules and there a rules that are made to be broken. An internet web site, or company search site, isn’t going to tell a consumer the difference.
And for Andrea, None of us can escape the very large regional presence of Windermere. I don’t have to agree with that, it’s one of those rules, that was made to be broken, but hasn’t been yet.
The general public can only see this side of the NWMLS:
http://www.nwrealestate.com/nwrpub/
So opening a polygon search up for the general public is very nice. Some families want to be set within a certain school district’s boundaries or, for example, a specific high school boundary. This is the first time that I know of, that this feature has been made avail to the public to use, without directly enlisting the help of an agent.