With more small, local businesses using social media to establish an online presence, real estate agents and brokers are no exception, which is why Roost.com is now helping them instantly customize their Facebook Page. The application, called “Social Real Estate”, gives viewers a snapshot of the agent’s listing market.
Features of Roost’s Facebook application include:
- Google Map of the agent’s market. This one is non-interactive. For interactivity, property seekers need to visit the agent’s Roost.com mini-website.
- Summary of active real estate listings in that market. Listings are categorized by type of property and include the average price, price per square foot, and the number of listings available in several price ranges.
- Market trends graph from Altos Research that shows the amount of inventory in different price ranges mapped over time.
- A “walkability” walk score that gives an indicator of how close nearby amenities are, for the market. The premise is that if you find a home in a high-walkability area, you’re more likely to walk than drive, for some tasks.
- School data from Education.com, including locations, number of schools per category, and an average number of students per teacher..
- A link to actual real estate listings, which leads to an agent’s mini-website on Roost.com. Each listing includes integration with a Google map to show location, plus fairly comprehensive data that includes price, # of bedrooms & bathrooms and much more.
The information, above, that an agent or broker actually displays on their Facebook Page is configurable. The app also allows agents to add a box to their personal Facebook profile, to draw traffic to their Fan Page. Some of the upcoming features for agents include:
- MLS (Multiple Listing Service) search.
- Lead generation and drip marketing tools.
These will be available in the full release of Social Real Estate. Derek Overbey, Sr. Director of Marketing & Social Media, said in an email that Roost has an install base of 1600 after just two weeks. You can see two examples of Roost in action at the Facebook pages of agents in San Francisco and Vancouver, Washington. A screenshot of Roost configured for a Facebook Page tab is shown below:
Roost, whose technology won an Inman Innovation in award in 2008, provides over 4M real estate listings. Their Facebook application seems a boon for real estate agents and brokers, and is easy to set up. However, from the perspective of a consumer who enjoys staying on Facebook.com, it doesn’t add a lot of value beyond a market snapshot, unless you leave the site. That’s if you have an agent for your target search market in the first place. It’d be nice if the application provided property seekers the ability to seek out listed agents/ brokers for their target areas, as well as the ability to view listings — possibly after applying some filtering criteria — without leaving Facebook.
Thanks for the write up Raj. We believe that bringing relevant real estate data to your Fan Page will help your fans understand what is going on in your coverage area.
As we roll out future products for agents and brokers with integrated IDX search as well as other features, we feel the proposition will become even more compelling. Look for more great things from Roost in 2010.
Derek
There are so many companies out there cashing in on the social media craze! And yes you do need to be in facebook and on twitter if you plan to have a well rounded online presence.
I think that this is an excellent example of how the industry is going more and more towards local search.
There has been some consumer as well as business resistance, but for the most part this is the way of the future considering the ease and cost factors involved with the internet as opposed to other mediums.
One thing to keep in mind though is that it will happen in different industries at different rates. What may have worked well for the dentist or the barber may take longer for someone else.
The Roost application automatically provides some great local content for an Agent’s Page and is an awesome addition to any Agent’s Page.
I want to point out that in the examples shown, those agents also “work” their pages. They add fresh content to the wall, they reply to comments, they engage their fans.
It’s a combination of many factors that makes a page successful. Good Stuff Roost!
As someone who teaches agents daily advanced Facebook Fan page set up and how to maintain it properly I can say HUGE by Derek and the Roost team. Agents have been begging me to help them find a way to make sure their RE info was on their fan page as most apps so far were built to add their listings to just their profile(where they shouldn’t be talking shop all the time). Stellar app and Roost is an awesome and underrated site IMHO
I just attempted to add the FB App to my FB page but could not find my market (Binghamton, NY) listed. Any plans to add it? Also, is there a widget I can add to my personal business web site?
Could not find my market area (Springfield,Mo) on Roost app. Is it available and if so how do I add it.