Real Estate Technology I wanted Five Years Ago is Finally Here – Part 1 – Floorplans

Part One of Three.

I have been reflecting on the past five years as I am marketing the home of some of my first international clients. They moved from the UK to Crozet (their house is for sale and is shown at the end of this post). When we were meeting a few weeks ago, they were looking at the faxes I used to send them, discussing the websites I used to put up for them – photos of neighborhoods, areas, houses, etc. and we were talking about how things have changed and evolved since then.

This started as a blog post. And became a longer post. Then a long post. And now it’s a series. For the next four Wednesdays. This series really started with my ability to track new construction for buyer clients (archived: 2013) who were out of the area when ground was broken (archived: 2013), and then throughout the building process.

None of the following is groundbreaking, but it’s all functional and helps me do what I do best – represent my buyer and seller clients. Revolutionary technologies are cool, but they often aren’t viable. I work with a lot of international and out-of-state buyers who are relocating to the Charlottesville area; I am constantly seeking out tools that will enable me to help facilitate our relationships and transactions. Five years ago, I knew what I wanted, but couldn’t offer due to technological limitations.

What I knew I wanted five years ago (and have today):

– Interactive Floorplans – see the floorplan and the inside of the house – at the same time! Photos are great, videos are better, both combined with a floorplan are best. I can’t tell you how many

Interactive Floorplans: For years, I’ve wanted to have an interactive floorplan that showed the floorplan and pictures of the rooms at the same time. Simple, right? The technology was sort of available five years ago, but now it’s functional, economically viable, and most users’ browsers and computers can handle flash. Have a look and let me know what you think. This is a link to a floorplan, and I’m embedding it after the jump. (provided by Floorplan Online; here’s a nice review of them (archived: 2015))

This is a dead-simple implementation of something I’ve wanted for years, and I’m thrilled to offer it. I’m still working through how I use it, but it’s coming along.

The greatest limitation of everything in this series is the adoption by the masses – masses meaning real estate practitioners across the spectrum, not necessarily consumers. Another is the distribution of the information and the presentation of said information, evolving it from data to useable, actionable content. My MLS is limiting and does not (yet) provide the rich detailed pages that consumers are demanding.

Which page is more detailed?

Google (they’re not “there” yet, but they will be)

Zillow

Realtor.com

Trulia

Nest Realty Group (no longer available)

The Charlottesville MLS (no longer available) – for some bizarre reason, MLS email links expire.

The public side of the Charlottesville MLS (no longer available)

Examples:

– Floorplan for 425 Grayrock Drive
– Floorplan for 5341 Brookwood Drive
– Floorplan for 5053 Brook View Road

Part One – Real Estate Technology I wanted Five Years Ago is Finally Here – Interactive Floorplans
Part Two – Real Estate Technology I wanted Five Years Ago is Finally Here – Real Estate Video
Part Three – Real Estate Technology I wanted Five Years Ago is Finally Here – Paperless Transactions.
Prologue – What’s Next?