For those who thought Google Base was yet another nerdy, slightly hard-to-use product from Google, it’s time to take another look. This week,
pictures of Google Real Estate surfaced. RealEstate.Google.com (I’ll assume they’ll call it that) is a new service built on top of Google Base, but tailored to the needs of home buyers, renters, realtors, FSBO sellers, and basically anyone involved in the sale or leasing of property.
What’s more, Google has shown that it plans to
integrate listings into its main search results. Search “Atlanta For Rent� and you’ll be wisked directly to Google Real Estate’s for-rent listings in Atlanta, complete with a Google Map showing all the properties, just like HousingMaps.com (whose creator, by the way, now works for Google).
For consumers, this will make it easier to find houses for sale or properties for rent. If Google Real Estate takes over, no longer will consumers have to visit multiple sites to see everything that’s available in the marketplace. For sellers and landlords, it will lower the cost of advertising available properties. For middlemen, like realtors and apartment locators, it will be a must-advertise location.
What if Google pulls it off? Let’s fast forward 10 years: assume Google creates a single massive marketplace for real estate. They get every available listing into Google Real Estate—from the sketchiest HUD-subsidized properties to the highest-end luxury properties, short-term vacation rentals, homes, apartments, condos, land for sale, commercial property… everything.
What problems will consumers encounter then? Is simply porting traditional list-and-wait advertising to the web truly the best way to match buyers and sellers or lessors and lessees of real estate? The answer, we think, is no.
