Cool Mashup Sites for Realtors

I took few moments to investigate some of the “mashup” sites listed in the latest issue of Realtor Mag yesterday.  A “mashup” site is a website that blends cool features from different websites into their own site.  

The first site I visited was housingmap.com which combines property listings from Craigslist and Google Maps.  Great concept, but for now its only limited to larger metro areas such as San Fran, Miami, Vancouver, Detroit, etc.  The only city listed in my state, Ohio, was Cinncinati!  The site administrator mentions that more cities are forthcoming.

 The second site I visited was much more interesting, but far more commercial.  Homethinking.com combines track records of real estate salespeople with Yahoo! Maps to pinpoint locations of the homes the practitioners have sold.  Again, the concept is great - allowing consumers to browse for Realtors based upon testimonials and where they’ve actually sold homes!   

Consumers can search for a Realtor two different ways - by property address or Realtor name.  If the consumer enters a property address, they’ll be provided with a list of Realtors who ”work” that area.  If they search by Realtor name, they’ll be directed to the profile of that specific Realtor.   The Realtor profile lists the agent name, phone number and brokerage name as well as listings sold and current listings. 

So, how do Realtors get listed on the site?  I was able to find my limited profile on the site which just listed my name and company along with my city and office phone number.  Homethinking allows Realtors to purchase a profile which allows them to enter a bio and select 10 cities that they would like to appear in consumer search results.  You can try a free trial for three months, which allows you to add a bio and upload a photo.  I signed up for the trial yesterday, but have yet to see my photo and bio appear when I click on my profile after finding it when searching for agents in Akron, Ohio.    My profile also fails to list any sold properties or current listings.  I have yet to find the a way to upload that info to my profile, so I emailed the site - I’ll update you when I get a response!  Check out my limited profile here: http://www.homethinking.com/realtor/Stephen_Merkle;_Akron,_OH

At first glance, I’d say that homethinking.com is a great concept, especially since consumer still tend to choose their Realtor based upon word of mouth!  I’d guess its success will be determined on how much traffic they get and how quickly they can clean up their info as many of the brokerages and agents listed on the site don’t even exist anymore!