The real estate consumer has a dizzying array of websites that provide them with access to real estate listings. There are numerous third party websites like Zillow and Trulia as well as national real estate franchise sites and local real estate company websites. Consumers likely assume that all of these sites provide updated, accurate and complete information. Unfortunately this isn’t the case.

If you missed Part I of this series, click here: The Property Search Delta - Part I

Sample Search Experience

In the following example we emulate the consumer search experience consumers find when searching listings on Trulia and calculate listing details. We contrast that property search experience against a selection of franchise and broker websites. The variables between listing information across these sites constitute the "Property Search Delta."

One of our first observations is that a Trulia listing detail display is many pages long. They provide much more than just the property data, including:

• Public record information
• Tax information
• Price history
• For sale and recently sold comparable properties
• Mortgage rates and quotes
• Monthly payment examples
• Maps and nearby listings
• Trulia user ratings of area
• Crime statistics
• Recent area online discussions
• Nearby community lists
• Sales trends by area
• Market trends by area
• Financing guides
• School information and mapped locations
• School online discussions
• Foreclosures

Trulia Full Listing Detail – A Benchmark for Comparison

The consumer experience on Trulia is based not only on the listing information, but is also on all of the important add-on services that they comingle with the listing content. To be competitive, franchise and broker websites need to have comparable information surrounding a listing. While broker and franchise websites might have the most accurate listing information, we all know that "sizzle sells."

Franchise and Broker Site Examples

Franchise and broker websites also have many happy users that understand that the most important thing in any property search is the listing data itself. But there are differences in what each website includes, as well as the user interfaces.

Methodology

The following websites were used for this review as representative examples of major franchise and broker websites. To be clear, we chose these websites because we think that they all offer great search experiences to the consumer, but there are still Deltas between their sites and third party websites that are significant.

• Remax.com
• Edinarealty.com
• Windermere.com
• ColdwellBanker.com
• @properties.com

The following chart shows many of the features included with the reviewed sites as well as some of the differences in the features they provide. In the top row you will notice there are three different searches detailed. Our goal was to look at a few areas around the United States to see if the Property Search Delta varied from market to market.

The first row under the actual site names shows how many listings we found when doing the same search on different sites. For example, in the first search, which was done for Remax.com, Edinarealty.com, Trulia.com, and Zillow.com, we searched for single family properties in Edina, MN, between $300,000 and $400,000. The number of listings returned from each site was different ranging from 31 on the RE/MAX site to 54 on Trulia. Which site is correct? We believe Edinerealty.com would be the most accurate since they receive a direct IDX feed from the local MLS, though we have not done a thorough audit. We counted the number of displayed data fields. This too varied from site to site, with Edina being the winner. The point though is clear: All sites are not created equal, and just because a site has listing data does not mean it is current or accurate.

Chart Highlights

All of the franchise and broker sites have the core listing modules needed to do dependable listings searches. With the exception of the Coldwell Banker franchise site, all use 100% IDX data from the local MLSs. Each site provides easy ways for consumers to put in their own search information and to obtain updates on properties they are interested in. Some of the sites even provide update alerts if there are price or status changes.

In terms of property data, all of the sites provided detailed listing information, again with the exception of the Coldwell Banker franchise site, which does not get their data directly from IDX feeds in all markets. But the Coldwell Banker franchise site does provide a link to local Coldwell Banker offices where full IDX data is made available.

Overall, these sites are strong in the listing search and display areas. They offer good photo viewers, most have slide shows, virtual tours, let consumers save their favorites, get alerts and, most important of all, the data is reliable!

Some have also added excellent add-on information on sales trends, neighborhood information, and walking distance reports. Both the Edinerealty.com and @properties.com sites had excellent supporting information, such as market reports, area statistics and neighborhood information. These data sets compete very well with the features we have noted on the Trulia site.

Mobile applications were slim in the sites we reviewed. We only found two options on remax.com and Edinerealty.com to send any of the properties found on a search to a mobile phone. We did not see any options on any of the sites to set up a mobile search application or instructions on how to access via a mobile browser.

In some cases it took us a while to find certain features as we went through our checklist. Things like finding directions to properties were sometimes buried three levels down making us work to find the feature. If you look at the interfaces on the popular third party sites, one thing stands out – they are easy and everything is right in front of you. When you are looking at listings they are anticipating what you might want to do next. After you look at a search results list they might present you with other "similar" properties to consider that are "close but not exact" to the original search requirements. These are nice features that franchise and broker websites should seriously consider.

Franchise/Broker Website Search Review

As WAV Group researchers began the process of understanding the consumer search delta, we chose to look carefully at both the user interface and features that are made available to the consumer. We paid close attention to the data returned with the search on different franchise and broker websites. For the first two sites, like the third party sites, we searched for single family properties in Edina, MN, with a price range of $300,000 to $400,000.

REMAX.com - http://remax.com

The RE/MAX website serves its franchise and company stores around the world, including 70 regional sub-franchisors, most of them independent of RE/MAX, LLC, varying in size from a metropolitan area to an entire country. Remax.com provides a single-point search experience for their franchisees allowing consumers to link directly to the local RE/MAX office through the search that allows them to provide data as it is made available by each MLS or as entered for international customers. To be clear, a property search parameter entered at remax.com seamlessly redirects the consumer to view the search results on their local broker website. Unfortunately, when this happens the search experience is not uniform in all cases.

Search Options

The RE/MAX franchise site offers three different options for their residential search, including:

1. Advanced search
2. Address search
3. MLS number search

Each of these options also includes two additional capabilities to search by "State" or "County" as well.

REMAX.COM Quick Search

The quick search is clean and easy.

Address Search Screen

Additional options are available including advanced search, address search and MLS number search. You can also search by state or by country.

If you choose “advanced option” you go to the screen above which allows you to search by additional features, address or MLS number, or by state or country.

Advanced Search Screen

If you select the advance search screen you get additional search options to further define your property search.

Search Results (Edina, Single Family, $300K-$400K)

We looked in Edina in the noted price range. The display gives you the option of a list or map view. It is clear and easy to use and provides the option to further define your search with input fields on the left of the screen.

RE/MAX Franchise – Full Listing Detail

If you opt to see full listing detail:

• The remax.com site links consumers to local RE/MAX broker sites to actually display the data which allows them to take advantage of IDX and broker reciprocity as noted at the top of the displayed listing.
• The listing has full IDX data.
• It has tabs to show nearby similar properties.
• It has a tab to show recent comparable properties.
• There are options for four different map views.
• You can ask an agent a question from this page.
• The site intuitively shows you similar properties for sale, which is a great feature.
• There is an option to see recent comparables

Part III of this series will be published tomorrow.

WAV Group provides professional consulting services to the Real Estate industry. Our firm helps Multiple Listing Services, associations, real estate firms, franchise organizations and technology vendors in the US, Canada and Europe reach their business goals. Whether it is a vendor selection and implementation for a real estate association, assisting a technology vendor develop a better user interface for their product or conducting research to determine member or client issues, WAV Group always begins with a clear understanding of the needs and objectives of the customer as well as the end user.  Our team can help you outline a new strategic direction for growth, product or service improvement. We can help you better understand your member and clients needs by proven research methodology. We can assist you to make wise technology decision and stay with you and drive implementation. In short, we work with your organization to help you successfully reach your specific business objectives!

Published: September 23, 2010

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