Seattle Housing Buzz

So you’re out about town looking at homes, or not, and you come across a house for sale that strikes your interest. You like to know more about it, like the price and how many bedrooms it has and maybe view a few photos, but darn it, the flyer box is empty and you really don’t want to call the listing agent. If you’re like most, you jot down the address or listing number and wait till your home to check out the listing online.

Or, you can pull out your web-enabled mobile phone to view the listing online right there and then.

I looked at websites of technologically forward real estate companies in Seattle to compare the ease of conducting a property search (depth and ease of locating the address and MLS# search options) and the display of the information including viewable sized photos as well as the number of pages and clicks that are needed to view the property information. Here’s my unscientific test results using my Treo 755 w/Palm OS, ranked from worst to best.

6. Redfin

Redfin’s site is not optimized for mobile browsing and viewing the website on my phone shows an awkwardly chopped-up display in order to be viewable in a mobile browser. I made several attempts to search for listings but kept getting an error stating the page was too large to display, then a JavaScript error. Redfin’s site was the only one to return a JavaScript error. If I’m on the road I’m not going to mess with trying to view listing info on Redfin.

After loading the necessary JavaScript, it didn’t help much. The maps didn’t load and I got other errors indicating data could not be displayed. Though, I did come across a comment from one of their program managers on the Redfin forum indicating a mobile version is in the works.

Verdict: Ranks last since I couldn’t successfully conduct a property search on my phone, however results may be different with other mobile operating systems and/or browsers.

5. Re/Max

The Re/Max site had the most limited search features which made it more difficult to narrow down to a specific property, but it did include an MLS# search that was just one click from the home page. An address search option is available but was four convoluted clicks away.

And, like the other company websites, it had a very chopped-up display. However, once you get past all that and viewed the actual listing info, they provided all of the listing details on a single page. This is great since you don’t need to wait for additional pages to resolve. But, I was only able to view one photo; clicking on the next photo button didn’t do anything but reload the page.

Verdict: Probably the best display of listing information, but it requires a convoluted four clicks to access the address search feature and trouble viewing photos.

4. Coldwell Banker Bain

CB Bain does not offer a mobile version, either, and their website is displayed in a chopped-up format. Their pages are large which takes quite a bit of time to fully download, plus I also received a page too large to display error.

The site offered an MLS# search on the home page with the address search feature two clicks away, which is a bit much considering how long it takes for each page to display. The initial listing page provided basic info and required one additional click to get detailed info and viewable sized photos. However, once the pages resolved, it was pretty easy to read and navigate through. The address search was a bit awkward with the city field showing up in between the house number and street fields.

Verdict: It simply took far too long to access and download the listing information.

3. John L. Scott

As with all of the sites above, the John L. Scott website is not mobile optimized, formats the site in awkwardly and is slow to resolve. It offers a couple of search options on the home page including an MLS # search, but the address search was two clicks away.

The initial listing page provided basic property information and a single photo. Though, additional information and thumbnails were another click away. Unfortunately, I was not able to view the other images in a decent viewable size.

Verdict: Results were similar to CB Bain (developed by the same tech firm) with the lack of viewing other photos offset by a faster download time.

2. Windermere

Windermere does not offer a mobile optimized website and the site displayed in the choppy format as well.

Fortunately, the Windermere site provides an address and MLS# search option on the home page, which made it very simple and considerably faster to access the listing information. However, detailed info and photos were on multiple pages requiring additional clicks and wait time. The listing page shows one viewable photo with a link to the photo gallery that only display thumbnails.

Verdict: Windermere offers the most accessible search feature for non-mobile site, but viewing listing information necessitated navigating multiple pages and only had thumbnail photos.

1. John L. Scott Mobile

John L. Scott is the only company to offer a mobile optimized website which can be accessed at m.johnlscott.com.

The site is basic, just a home search application that’s stripped of unnecessary options which makes loading and navigation faster and more user friendly. The home page defaults to an MLS# or John L. Scott property code search option with an address search option one click away.

If you have the MLS#, the mobile application displays all of the listing information on a one page with a single photo. Unfortunately, the site does not provide additional photos.

If you enter an address, the application returns all of the listings at that address (e.g. condos) as well as all available properties within a 1-mile radius. This is a great feature when you’re out looking at properties and you want to see what’s available near the one you’re at.

Verdict: The only mobile-optimized site, so by default, ranks first. Though, the experience is diminished by the omission of viewing multiple photos.

Tags: , CB Bain, Coldwell Banker, John L Scott, mobile website, Redfin, Remax, Windermere