Monday, May 11, 2009

Video: Zillow's iPhone Real Estate Application

For a video demonstration of the exciting new Zillow iPhone Real Estate application, which allows users to check the prices and other data of homes and condos, as you walk by them, click here.

Watching it made me want to run out and buy my first iPhone and download the application free from the App Store.

Using GPS technology built into the iPhone, the application pinpoints where you are on a map and follows you as you move. Or, you can type in any address in another neighborhood.

Among the available data: Zestimates of 80 million homes, number of bedrooms, baths, square footage, the history of the condo's value and comparable sales of nearby homes. You can also see interior MLS photos of units on the market.

What happens when you point the phone toward a high-rise condo? Switch to List View.

Can't wait to make our content, including floor plans, available this way!

Update: My first experience with the app and a neighbor's iPhone was disappointing. Standing across the street from my 70-story high-rise, I found it difficult to locate my building on the map, and initially the AT&T connection was slow. Once I hit five bars on connection, when I moved the map, the load time was slow.

My advice: Try the application on a friend's iPhone before you race to the Apple Store. My hunch is that we're still a year or two away from realizing the fantastic potential of this app. Meanwhile, Zillow needs to continue to improve the accuracy of its data.

For a New York Times review of the Zillow app and a similar one by Trulia, available on phones other than the iPhone, click here.

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