Smarter Agent expands mobile presence for real estate listings

November 15, 2009 | Dean Takahashi | Comments | |

smarter 1Smarter Agent has given real estate agents a lot of help in the difficult housing market in the past year. The company provides real estate listings via mobile phones with navigation data so that potential home buyers can easily find homes for sale while driving.

Now the Camden, N.J.-based company is expanding to cover Verizon Wireless phones as well as phones based on the Google Android platform. With those distribution deals in place, Smarter Agent is now widely available. In the past year, the company has launched its app on wireless carriers including Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile. It has also added iPhones and BlackBerry devices.

The idea is to completely cover the market for Generation X and Y users who are more comfortable using apps on smartphones, said Jennifer Levine, director of strategic marketing, in an interview. And it seems to be working. The app is being downloaded at a rate of one new user every 90 seconds. And more than 450,000 real estate agents are using the app. Users look at 40 or 50 homes per session, and they log in 12 times a month.

smarter 2The Smarter Agent app gives realtors an edge because it lets home buyers search on their own time. If they find a house they want to see, they just tap the “Call to See” button on the phone. That links the buyer to the proper realtor with virtually no hassle.

Consumers can use the app for free. But realtors pay $30 a month to have their homes and phone numbers listed with the service. The app has three location-aware features. These navigation-triggered real estate searches are: homes for sale, recently sold homes, and apartments for rent. The apps use Smarter Agents property search technology to find houses for sale near a user’s location. The searches reveal price, square footage, estimated mortgage, interior and exterior features, the number of bedrooms and baths, pictures and other details such as property taxes. The homes for sale app launched in September, 2008.

Rivals include Zillow and Trulia, but their apps are available on fewer phones. Smarter Agent was founded in 1999 and has 35 employees. The company has raised $15 million to date.

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About the Author, Dean Takahashi

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • This is definitley the way of the future in real estate listing marketing, I wonder why NAR has not launched something similiar. The days of apps are the days of the future.
  • Peter08
    All those in the real estate industry should simply go with the flow. Be always well equipped. Find new ways besides this is where money in real estate is. Thanks and good luck.
  • pawansharma
    Now this si true that real estate agents are using latest technology of around the world ..

    This is true that ..eva you can check investinnest.blogspot.com for the all informaions related to real estate india
  • ssuman
    Now a day mobile is really very useful for all of us. As all things are available on internate and now real estate too. So now it is very necessary that real estate listings via mobile phones. You can visit sastiproperty.wordpress.com for information related to real estate india