San Francisco real estate brokerages, there is a new map app you’re going to want to check out, and in my opinion be on the ground floor of its imminent growth.
It’s called Recce, and it’s slick. Their write up on TechCrunch sums it up nicely as “a 3D, animated bird’s eye view of a city, and what is going on in it, by aggregating dozens of data feeds from other services — ranging from mapping providers to those building listings of places to eat, and social networks like Twitter, integrating it all, and then presenting it in a slick, attractive app that is essentially a searchable map”.
So why am I pointing this out to you real estate brokers? If you can’t figure that out on your own, you should shut your doors…really. Technology is here to stay, so get involved! I’ve long felt that maps like Google have missed the potential landfall of information and ad revenue that could come from real estate, and I would imagine MLS is partly to blame for such misgivings (that’s another discussion altogether), so maybe Recce will take note and hold the hand of the industry that is all about location, location, location, and get them involved in their maps.
The thing I really like about Recce is that it is a virtual 3D map of the real world in which we live, but can also be used for things in a fake world (think gaming). Brokerages could advertise listings on a location basis, but as they would exist in a virtual world. Brokerages can place “billboards” throughout the city where they have offices (or want offices) that, when hovered on or clicked, pull up only listings from that brokerage just the same as if you were to walk into the office on your stroll down Union Street. You could essentially create an office in a hot location (think Mission) without actually having to have the office there! You can showcase sold listings you have had in high rise buildings and link to details about the property that might entice a buyer to contact you (just like the coffee cup images are displayed above, those could be broker signage). Those are just a couple of the imaginative ways you could use this technology, and I’m sure we could think up some more.
Local brokerages should feed their listings to Recce themselves, and control how the information is shared and displayed. MLS, Trulia, and Zillow should not be the source of this data. Enough of the middle man games. Be involved in technological advances. Real estate marketing has changed dramatically in 10 years, and it will change dramatically more. You might as well be on the forefront of the change, and watch the clients come marching in your door (virtually and in reality).
Who’s going to be the first brokerage to step up to the plate and get involved with Recce? If I owned my own brokerage, it’d be me.
Check them out at www.recce.at.