Estately Expands to Portland
Galen makes his first move since his new found riches… Congrats to the Estately team.
Tagged: idx RSS
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Dustin
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Dustin
Free IDX solution?
I met the guys from softRealty in Atlanta last week and they convinced me the have a pretty good thing going. Their plan is to offer a free IDX solution to agents that is ad supported. (They also offer a $30/month solution that is ad-free).
They’ve got two* one thing working against them:
- My guess is that most agents will stay away from any solution that puts ads on their website
Like most IDX solutions, they’ve built the backend so that it can be framed into other agent sites. I’m not a fan of framed solutions, but the price is right, so it will be interesting to see if they get buzz as they roll out into markets beyond the Atlanta area…
* whoops!
[Update: I notice I get a lot of traffic from folks looking for technology solutions to this post. If you're one of them, head over to my real estate technology tool shed where I've got lots of information that can get you up to speed quickly]
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Dustin
Who gave Roost complete MLS listings?
Roost.com is a real estate start-up that just launched their real estate search site….
I had a chance to meet the Roost.com team at NAR in Vegas and was impressed with them… so I was downright excited when they offered to give me a preview of their site at RE Connect (see comment #1).
During my conversation with Alex Chang (their CEO), he mentioned multiple times the similarities between Roost and Kayak… And I think it is safe to say that they would like to be the Kayak of real estate which would not be so bad considering Kayak’s success (and Eric at TechCrunch notes that Roost even shares a few board members Kayak. I believe they also share major investors…).
Like Kayak, Roost has:
- Clean “web2.0″ interface.
- AJAX “magic” that allows for listings to dynamically change as option boxes and sliders are changed.
- A CPC business model that charges the brokers/airlines for hits that go back to their website.
There’s also some real estate-specific goodies, like the photos that open up “inline” and the ability to highlight only specific listings (to be mapped).
However, the real gold is that by teaming up with brokers to display their IDX feed they are able to display complete MLS listings. (The RE/MAX search site provided by eNeighborhoods does something similar, but without all the bells-and-whistles of Roost)
And while Greg is right to highlight the irony of Brokers paying Roost to send leads back to them, he’s also right to point out that “The IDX systems available at a monthly cost in many markets are so poor that Roost may prove to be a potent weapon in a broker’s arsenal.” My take is that if Roost can deliver consumers, then brokers will be happy to pay on a CPC basis… and the reality is that it only takes one broker to give their IDX to Roost for them to enter a new market, so they should be able to expand pretty quickly.
As a side note, I’ve always thought that this approach to getting listings for a real estate tech start-up makes the most sense… and I remember suggesting to Sami that Trulia should take this approach as oppose to going broker-by-broker at our coffee session in Seattle a few years ago. (I don’t care much for the CPC monetization strategy, but in terms of getting listings, it seems like a no-brainer to give a little bit to a local brokers in each market to get their listings.). However, I can’t blame Sami for not wanting to go down this route since the various MLS’ would have put so many restrictions around what Trulia could do that they’d never been able to release some of the things that they’ve done (like mixing MLS listings with foreclosure listings and opening up an API into their listing information).
Overall, I’d say that the Roost team has done a really good job with this first release! It’s a quality product that delivers as promised.
If I have one knock on the site it has nothing to do with the technology and everything to do with marketing. I simply don’t think the site is different enough from existing search sites to warrant continued buzz. I think they’ll get some great initial pick-up (considering it is a slick site with smart founders and investors), but unless they continue to deliver new features/announcements at a breakneck pace, I’m not sure how they keep people outside of the RE.net talking about the site beyond the next week or so.
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Michael Price
It’s been a while since I have been involved with the nuances of IDX. Maybe you can help me understand how the rules play out. In the case of Houston, one broker has republished the entire IDX data feed in Roost.Com. All of the leads go back to that broker.
Is the future of listing distribution based on the size and ability of the broker to create these kind of relationships? It was my understanding that a single broker could republish the IDX feeds on their own site only, however, as is the case with Yahoo Real Estate and now Roost.Com that is unclear.
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Ed Kohler
That is a nice use of AJAX. It’s fun watching new uses come to the industry almost every day. Some are actually useful.
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Incredible Agent
@Michael: The way they are getting around this is by making the page the “Brokerages” page…so in a sense it is the brokers site…not roosts. That’s why you see the brokername.idx.roost.com in the url. Essentially they are an IDX vendor for the brokerages with a front entry way to drive traffic to their IDX search.
@dustin: I agree. The site isn’t different enough to warrant continued buzz for very long. I don’t see it as anything special.
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Michael Price
I noticed that as I surfed through the site but did not snap to the significance of it. Thanks for pointing it out Damon.
Have those big feet of yours healed up from the NYC trip?
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Dustin
Michael:
Damon has it just right and one of the other things that they do is cookie you when you first arrive at the site so that the experience will continue to be brought to you by one broker. In other words, even if there are 10 brokers signed up to Roost in a market area, you’ll always see the same brokerage branding when you return to the site.
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Jessie B
Possible issues.
(A) site structure may make it difficult to get organic results, so your comment about building buzz is 100% correct.
(B) since the model is cpc some brokers will simply do cpc with the SE’s if roost cpc cost is higher.
(C) Possible dissention from agents to broker / MLS for providing access to FSBO on same platform, which may cause brokers / MLS to pull feeds. (my guess this will be pulled off site in less than 3 months)
(D) “even if there are 10 brokers signed up to Roost in a market area, you’ll always see the same brokerage branding when you return to the site.” – this may cause a problem where they cannot deliver enough traffic to multiple brokers signed up in the same areas. -
roostblog
Alex from Roost here. Thanks for the great write up Dustin, really enjoyed chatting with you at Inman. Thought I’d clarify a few things for everyone:
- First, our broker partners actually rotate through the search engine by session
- Second, one thing that has kind of gotten lost is that the search engine is really only a part of the equation. Roost is actually a network of IDX compliant broker sites with a search engine sitting on top of them. Brokers receive these sites, and are in complete control. Those sites receive geo-targeted visitors from the Roost search engine depending on the broker’s needs/budget. Each broker site goes through standard IDX approval process with each MLS
- Finally, Roost is a completely open/inclusive platform for any type of broker (large, small, independent, franchise group, corporate, etc) -
Brad Nix
As a small broker/owner, I placed a call into Roost two days ago and have yet to hear back from them. We’ll see how “open/inclusive” they are.
Please check my site and get my number to call me at extension 303.
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Reno Real Estate
Hi. I am also a small broker who would like to get more information on the pricing model.
When the Roost “ers” get back to this blog, please follow my site link above and tell me about pricing and capability in the Reno Real Estate market.
Thanks. Mitch
Dustin
Looks like Terabitz is serious about…
…providing websites for brokerages.
White-labeling a quality broker site is decent idea for a business, but worthy of $10M in funding?
What do you think they charge for a website like this? $10K/year? $30K/year? Do you think they agree to go exclusive for an area?
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Greg Tracy
The ACB site has a lot of information, but it’s a big mess.
Try searching for anything and it’s just a big ball of clutter. You can only cram so much information into a space before it becomes unusable.
Dustin
Greg let me know about…
… BlueRoof360 in NYC (#44). Great stuff and he recently posted more details on his blog…
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Greg Tracy
Thanks for noticin’. We’ve had a tremendous response for not being launched. Maybe I should get 4realz consulting to help us with our launch…
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Dustin
Greg: I’m always happy to help out!
Ed Kohler 1:06 pm on April 3, 2008 Permalink |
I can’t imagine many agents would be willing to risk losing visitors from their site over $30/mo. And I can’t imagine many agent’s sites would be able to generate enough traffic to generate close to $30/mo in advertising for softRealty.
Dustin 2:40 pm on April 3, 2008 Permalink |
Ed,
You hit on two points that mentioned to David in our conversation…
He seemed to think that agents would get over the ads once they saw that they were all “non-competing” ads, but I wasn’t convinced… and I told them explicitly that there was no way there were going to make enough money off of ads to support a viable company. I know exactly how much big companies (the “home depots” of the world) are willing to pay per ad impression and there just isn’t enough viewers on agent IDX sites to make up the difference.
Nonetheless, I like the guys and they seem technically sharp, so my guess is they’ll adjust things as they get more exposure in the marketplace.
Blake 8:12 pm on April 3, 2008 Permalink |
Full disclosure, I am affiliated with softRealty.com.
Let me first say that the number of advertising impressions will support a “viable company” based upon very realistic numbers (a single search can yield multiple impressions).
Second, it is our belief that end user acceptance is based upon a number of factors other than the presence or absence of ads. The quality of search results, intuitive interface, and ability to modify search results without a page reload or navigation all contribute to a positive user experience.
Finally, the key to successful Internet advertising is to place ads that are both relevant and unobtrusive. If the user experience is good and the ads are on target then it will be accepted in this market as it has in many others.
Dustin 8:29 pm on April 3, 2008 Permalink |
Thanks Blake for reaching out. Obviously our chatter here on 4realz only carries so much weight.
If you guys are able to deliver the product and continuing growing the business, that’s all the proof that most of us need that you’ve found a great niche.
David Carroll 8:57 pm on April 3, 2008 Permalink |
Dustin,
It was great meeting you at the conference last week. Since then, our April Fools’ Day Beta Launch was met with an overwhelmingly positive response in the Atlanta real estate community. We know that there is much to be understood with our revenue model and it will take some time to demonstrate its viability. It certainly does not make sense for us to prove that model now, in order to maintain our competitive strategy, legitimate or otherwise. We are confident that this model will best serve the interests of brokers, agents, MLSs, and consumers. Additionally, we are working on publishing an online community where agents and brokers can come together and collaborate on the design of our service. Ultimately, this is about bringing ownership of this design to the very users it will benefit. The requests we’ve already received include a “non framed” interface, Word Press Search Widgets, Search and Comments via RSS, and so much more. We are in the process of rolling our CRM back office piece called Client Connect. I look forward to continuing this conversation in the months to come and see your position shift from that of a skeptic to a full-fledged supporter.
Regards,
David Carroll
Dustin 9:22 pm on April 3, 2008 Permalink |
David: I definitely look forward to it!
Lane Bailey 9:24 pm on April 3, 2008 Permalink |
I’m looking forward to it as well. I am one of the many agents that jumped at the opportunity. I also met the guys at RETS.
I’ll be sure to write my impressions when the product is rolled out…
Justin Zimmerman 8:28 am on April 4, 2008 Permalink |
My opinion is that starting an IDX company (old shool) mashed up an ad server (new school) is not a good long term bet.
Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should. Thats my 2 cents.
Peace!
Rob Lawrence 3:45 pm on April 5, 2008 Permalink |
I think anything that adds a competitive spin to the current MLS and realtor.com monopoly is good news for the industry. Costs are skyrocketing and other revenue models need to be pursued further.
Rob Lawrence
http://www.battlecall.com
Jay Valento - Long Beach CA real estate 9:09 pm on September 17, 2008 Permalink |
I’m not impressed with softrealty. I tested their product.
Russell 7:19 am on December 9, 2008 Permalink |
I must say that in the research that I have done I think SoftRealty is not only one of the most visually attractive interfaces, but also from a programmers perspective it looks like they are doing very advanced stuff on their platform, and I am excited to see what comes next.
At http://hotretech.com we provide free websites to agents, and we chose to add the IDX Search provided by SoftRealty to strengthen our offer.
Comments are right though about the advertisements being a sticking point with some agents, however the vast majority of the ones I have spoken to are comfortable with it.
Glenn Sanford 7:41 pm on December 19, 2008 Permalink |
I’m seeing comments about the idea that agents wouldn’t want a site that has advertising on it compared to the $30/month that they would pay. Surfing through literally 1000’s of real estate agent websites there are numerous examples of agents who will put Google AdSense on their websites to derive a modest $10, 20, $30 or more while providing listings and advertising their competition, so the idea that an agent would save the $30 and get a Free IDX feed isn’t that out there.
Keep in mind that free is effectively the puppy dog close. Get your clients used to using the tools and then change the rules a year or two down the road. Now your client can’t leave you because he/she has too much of an investment in your platform.
Mash 1:26 am on January 31, 2010 Permalink |
We just launched a free graphical idx search that is ad free – http://www.realestatemash.com/search/signup.html.