Hello,

A friend an I are in the process of developing a few smart phone apps targeting the real estate market. I have some questions that I am hoping some agents can answer that would help us to better target the functionality. I am hoping that once complete, both agents and their clients will have tools that will better help them in the home buying/selling process.

The first app is targeting the home buyer. It is not an MLS search tool as that has been done to death. Furthermore, we feel that the Agent is the one searching and bringing the customer the homes, so no real need to duplicate the functionality of the agent via our app. It will help customers track the different homes they are considering for purchase. It will do a lot more than that and will actually help agents better understand what their clients are looking for so they can find the right properties to show to their customers. I can't reveal too much about it yet, but we expect to launch it in early to mid April on the iPhone platform first and then will target Android and finally Win Phone 7.

The 2nd app will focus on Agent needs. Here is where we need some guidance. I would guess that buyers agents have different needs than seller agents. So my questions are as follows:

What type of tools would you want/need out of an iPhone app?
How many use smartphones in your daily business? iPhone? Android? Win Phone 7? Blackberry? Palm?
What are the apps you use most in your day to day business efforts?
How many currently use an iPad or have plans to get one in the near future? What about other tablets/slates (Galaxy Tab, etc.)?
What kind of reports or documents do you generate or use in the home buying/selling process?
What kind of data is important to you as a seller agent?
What kind of data is important to you as a buyer agent?

Any feedback you can provide would be useful.

By the way, the intention of the agent app is to work seemlessly with the client app and provide a mechanism for quick, easy communication.

I am looking foward to getting these apps out there because I think they will quicly become a favorite amoung agents and their customers. Almost every home buyer I have spoken with and explained what we are doing has responded the same way "Wow, that would have been awesome when I was buying my home." Agents that I have spoken with have also expressed strong interest as a tool they would want to give their clients.

I use a laptop with wireless internet. smartphones are too small and limited in power/versatility to doing everything I need to do in the field. I need a larger keyboard and monitor to be comfortable. stick those accessories onto a smart phone, and you basically have a netbook.

Separate listings that are active from pending, most apps fail at this. It would be great if there was a gps enabled app that was useful to an agent. I would like to see properties that fit my clients criteria, and that is active, around the current area I'm in (that's where the gps comes in). All I need to see after is the mls Id to search it and get the agent info.

Thanks. Will look into this.

Our current app is nearing release. One of the functions we are building into it is a way for clients to provide detailed feedback on their needs as well on how they like/dislike the homes the agents has selected as possible matches during walk throughs.


We are thinking about making the 2nd function available to seller agents as a way for them to get feedback regarding the house they have listed, however doing it in such a way as to make the feedback anonymous so that prosepective buyers do not
tip their hand if they decide to bid on a house at a later date. This would be a way for seller agents to see trend data on a home they have listed (assuming clients are using our app).

Would this have value to you as an agent? If so what would you be willing to pay to have access to this type of feedback?