Earth Real Estate

There has been a big push lately where new web companies are building real estate search sites with Satellite Mapping Technologies.

The technology of overhead imagery mixed into search has been a hot topic of late being mentioned in Inman, Search Engine Watch and others. They all illustrate the cool integration of real estate search with overhead Satellite imagery.The RainCity Guide has posted quite a bit on this and has taken me to task on new online search sites like Trulia, PropSmart, and others.

(RainCity does a great job of listing Property Search Sites. Look around, there is a bunch to find.)

What I would like to discuss is the obsession with the overhead imagery. It definitely is cool. But I can tell you that if I was to see my house from overhead I might have never visited the open house that caused me to buy.

I am not saying lets get rid of it. But why are we obsessing over it? Seems like I see a new post or article on this subject almost every week.

Comments

[Agent CEO]

I believe sites with aerial imagery simply offer a different, more effective tool for consumers to research homes. According to research published last fall, three out of four consumers choose where they want to live based on neighborhood first, and house second. If consumers can actually see the neighborhoods they're considering, they are better educated when they get on the road to look with an agent. It takes less time for the agent, and consumers have a better idea of what they want.

There are definitely sites doing a good job at this today. Another is HomePages.com, which not only allows consumers to search home listings and neighborhood information in one place (and on top of aerial imagery), but also helps real estate agents built a local brand presence among local buyers & sellers. Worth checking out...