Search for Homes in Charlottesville – This Time, It’s a Beta

Everyone loves a beta.

I’ve long thought (and most importantly, so have my clients) that Diverse Solutions, the providers of my home search tool, put together the best search for homes tool in the real estate industry. They’ve been testing a new version for a while now, and here’s the result:

Try it out for yourself – search for homes for sale in the Charlottesville area.

What’s new?

• New language in the search box
• The map will now update as the criteria changes without the need to click view results
• The map now shows properties immediately once a location is specified
• Clicking on a city marker now adds it to the locations and shows properties
• Added a variety of new design elements
• Isolated and moved the Save as Favorite button

I know that people want to search for homes without signing up, without being contacted by a Realtor, etc. etc. I don’t spam, I don’t contact without permission (I do send a “thank you for registering” email) and I want you to enjoy using this tool as much as I appreciate your using it and contacting me whenever you’re ready.

What does the beta mean for you? Hopefully it will be:

– Faster

– Cleaner

– Easier to use

Comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome.

New:

Search for homes in Charlottesville using this beta tool

Old:

Old Search the Charlottesville, Virginia MLS via IDX for homes and land - Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson and more | RealCentralVA.com.jpg

Now, as soon as they release a version that allows for me to provide search results based on radius and polygons, I’ll buy every developer at Diverse Solutions a couple cases of fantastic beer made right here in Central Virginia.

You choose –

Starr Hill or Blue Mountain

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8 Comments

  1. Diverse Solutions January 10, 2011 at 22:48

    Love the comparison! Definitely pass us on any feedback you get.

    We should have real version ready for you to use on your site side-by-side with old one (at least for a while) pretty soon here. Now it’s just a matter of getting all our MLSes to approve the new format. Depending on your MLS, we should roll out this week.

    Reply
    1. Jim Duncan January 23, 2011 at 12:35

      And I’ve been looking for workarounds to Virginia’s idiotic laws preventing shipments of alcohol out of state. There’s always a solution, though.

      Reply
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  3. Houses for Sale MN January 11, 2011 at 04:20

    Jim, have you noticed any increased loading time with the new map features? This seems like a really nice IDX solution. I’m currently using IDX Broker for my search solution, and so far (1 month) the functionality has been pretty good. From your post above, it sounds like you do not force or even request a login? Without this, how many leads are contacting you per month on average? There are many opinions on forcing login or just letting the client browse. Love to hear your thoughts, and thanks for the great post!

    Reply
  4. James Foxx January 12, 2011 at 17:47

    I really like the updates, but also noticed the slower loading time. Overall, great tool and thanks for the updated post!

    Reply
  5. Andrew Mattie January 18, 2011 at 23:48

    Just so you know, we developers at Diverse Solutions have been thinking about that beer every day since you mentioned it — it’s what keeps us pushing forward 🙂

    Andrew Mattie
    Software Engineer
    Diverse Solutions

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Bueno March 1, 2011 at 19:32

      For the record, I want in on that case of beer. Just sayin’…

      Reply
      1. Jim Duncan March 3, 2011 at 03:15

        I’m still working on how to sort out this whole interstate transit of beer thing. Where there’s a will …

        Reply

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