Slick real estate search on the cheap

September 16, 2006

So I run a real estate blog. It’s gotta have some real estate search capabilities, doesn’t it?

The problem is, most off-the-shelf search solutions are, to put it generously, uncompelling. Build my own? I don’t have the funding, the inclination, or the web programming savvy to put together the next Redfin or Movoto.
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Enter Google and its brilliant “let a thousand flowers bloom” mapping strategy. By continuously upgrading its mapping API and encouraging widespread experimentation, you can now build a mapping-based search site much more easily than before.
I just signed up for RealBird’s Google-maps-based one month trial search service, and with just a few minutes of drag ‘n drop coding, I now have a pretty good search offering on my own blog! It’s at least 50% as good as Redfin’s — and it’s only going to cost me $13.25 a month! Plus, given the constant new functionality in Google’s mapping API’s, RealBird’s offering could be 75% as good as Redfin’s within a month and close-enough-to-make-no-difference within 3 months.
RealBird — $13.25 per month –>
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Redfin: A whole lotta VC dough!
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Written by Kevin · Filed Under Google, Movoto, Real estate, Realbird, Redfin 

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