An article from the Silicon Beat says that iGenHome is attempting to add a strong technology backend to the standard real estate agency. I’d imagine that just about anyone reading this blog knows that the real estate industry is set for some major technological changes in the near future and that I enjoy watching where the different players take it. I’ll be following this site and maybe have a full review in the near future… (Thanks Venture Blog for point out this article!)
It may sound too techy, but the first thing I look for in a new tech site is their support of RSS. (Scobleizer would understand!) So, I was disappointed to see no obvious RSS feeds available on their site. Even if you don’t know what they are, I’m of the opinion that you will be using them in the near future!
Here’s one example of how RSS feeds could be useful… I’ve begun presenting the “Latest Seattle Listings” here on my sidebar (if you’re reading this via a reader software, come check it out on the site!). This is just a little test of some RSS feed technology that I’ve been working on with Robbie Paplin of Caffeinated Software. We’ve got some other things up our sleeves that I find real interesting and I look forward to presenting more in the near future! By the way, is there a feed of Seattle home-data that you’d be interested in subscribing to? Let me know and I can probably make it happen for you!
Windermere.com has the ability to save any search to your “My Windermere” account. The saved searches are then all accessible via RSS.
I just played with their service a little bit, and I found it pretty interesting. Their RSS feeds don’t include photos or detailed descriptions of the homes, but otherwise it seems like a great service.
I also like their explanation of RSS.
I’ve kept their service in one of my blog readers to compare it against the feeds that I’m currently getting and it operates pretty similarly. Probably the biggest weakness of both sites, is that the RSS feeds are only updating about once a day.
I’m a little partial to my service since it includes a photo, map and description of the home, but then again, theirs includes a much larger area.
That is a lot of Realtors in one agency. It seems like from the home buyers I have talked to, the most important thing in a Realtor is guidance throughout the whole process. It is good that you are taking a step back (so to speak) and helping out with the process.
As for me, I know a lot of architects who don’t do (design) houses- for the same reasons Anna mentions. Too bad- this has been a most rewarding career for me.