It was inevitable. Google is working on a project that mashes up its Google Base (data management) and Google Maps for the sole purpose of listing real estate for sale and for rent.
If Google handles this correctly, it could simply crush all other online listing services.
The best way to get to it is to search Google proper for the term homes for sale and follow the instructions above the results.
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Wow, does anyone get the feeling that Google is just trying to do too many things and will ultimately do all of them poorly?
It’s a great idea, but why not offer it to current real estate sites and let them focus on the sales/marketing of real estate listings and traffic?
The only problem is that Google is late to its own ballgame…
http://www.propsmart.com/
I have to agree with MFF. While Google may have the name and the audience of billions, just about everything they do (except maybe search) is done better by someone else. Their main advantage is that they do so much, but that could soon turn into their biggest weakness.
I imagine this is one of Google’s “20%” projects, and initial response will determine if they put any effort into it. The Google Maps API is available, so they have made the technology available to anyone who wants to build a similar service with an existing database of listings.
Nothing new. Housingmaps.com beat them to it by mashing up Craig’s List rental and sale listings with Google Maps. You can even filter rental listings by whether or not the landlord accepts pets.
I don’t think Google’s concern is whether they’re first to market. If they put their weight behind their real estate listing service, they could be a massive force. If they don’t, and leave the project on the side as they generally do for their “lab” projects, then it won’t matter.
Um… Google wasn’t exactly the first search engine, so I think you can drop the “late to their own ballgame” argument. Their API opens up the functionality of their database, so anyone could have their own version of housingmaps, and nobody will be able to make money off searching for real estate. Flexo’s got it right- this isn’t Google’s entrance into the real estate search business, it just so happens that searching real estate listings is a pleasant side effect from the combination of google maps and google base.