The application doesn’t offer all of this for free. You can register for free, but there is a fee to list properties. I question the fee structure (for consumers); especially with the current list of free sites out there to market properties. But, it doesn’t hurt to actually launch with a business model.

Overall, I think the site has a lot of potential and is definitely worth checking out.

Launched this month, swapee is a free service that gives users the ability to list properties for sale or trade. While trading properties is not a new concept, it is interesting to see someone trying a different spin on property listing sites. However, don’t expect a lot of inventory right now. The site has a few kinks and limited inventory (it just launched).

The service is also positioned as agent/broker-friendly and encourages agents to use it as another marketing tool. Personally, I doubt many agents will choose the trading option, but who knows.

At first the map interface is a little overwhelming (especially in a dense area), but after zooming in the data becomes much more manageable. The map also has a great filter on the left hand side, which makes searching even easier. Once you have found a property, you can quickly view the listing details in a bottom pane. 

The interface becomes a little cluttered with the bottom pane, but all the listing details are easily accessible via the bottom tabs. 

How do they compare to Trulia, zillow, craigslist, and Move? Really, in this particular battle the interface doesn’t matter. It is about the number of listings and the number of eyeballs. Agents/listings/consumers/etc will go with the one with the most and right now it is Move.com/Realtor.com. However, Trulia is gaining!

Overall, this was still a great launch for Hotpads, and they did come out swinging with over 200k listings. The Property Listing Battle continues!

If you don’t, then don’t worry about it. The site has changed. The new site, which re-launched a week ago, is designed to be a hyper-local news aggregator but with some of the community features still intact.

YourStreet Before:

The new site shows geo-tagged news stories around a neighborhood via a map and article list. Users can comment on, recommend/vote, or forward stories; but even more interesting: users can create their own geo-tagged conversations. In addition, Yourstreet’s use of the map as an interface is perfect. Drag the map to update the news to reflect the area you are currently viewing on the map.

Overall, this is a great re-launch, and I am surprised that real estate professionals haven’t started posting conversations yet. It seems like a great (free) resource to announce open houses, recent sales, etc.

YourStreet Now:

My first impression: Great design! The site has a clean interface and a good layout.
 
Did I say that the site has a great interface? The process for searching a property is amazingly simple, and the search results can be viewed in a list, via a gallery, or on a map. Accessing the property details is quick and does not require navigating to another page. Basically, the property details are displayed via a pop-up window, and your search results remain in the background.

Listing a property on the site is straightforward, and the site gives a lot of helpful hints/tips in the process. Once a property is listed, the seller gets a hidden email to receive inquiries from interested parties.

The site also provides some state-specific legal forms (currently only Oregon, Washington, and California) to help sellers in the process of selling a home. The forms and the content have been streamlined with much less legal jargon than standard forms.

Anything different?
Not yet. In the current implementation the choiceA does not offer more functionality than ByOwnerMLS, ByOwner or forsalebyowner. Is it a good FSBO site? Yes and it is Free. Will it replace the MLS? Probably not, but it will disrupt the current for pay FSBO sites.

I will keep my eye on this one, but for now I don’t think agents have much to worry about.

Well, Matt Heaton and Jonathan Washburn have rolled out an advertising platform for their system. For a minimum of $10/per campaign you can start putting up impression-based ads on the ActiveRain network. Your campaign can be targeted at specific pages on our site, specific user groups, members or non-members, regional areas (state, county, city), or all users on all pages.

Other items of note:

1. The minimum campaign budget is $10
2. Ads have SEO value – Search engines walking the site they will see your ad as normal content.
3. You can choose to have your ad displayed only 5 times to a particular user session or choose to have it be unlimited
4. You can stop/start your ad at anytime and update your bids whenever you wish

The SEO Link Problem

[Update: this has since been changed/fixed on ActiveRain]

I would like to bring up one little point – bullet number 2 in particular. I’d be careful of claiming that at this point in time. You see, I follow some of the conversations on SEO, and I know that Matt Cutts has stated Google’s position on any type of sponsored links to be expressly tagged or mentioned as “sponsored” somehow.

Now Google doesn’t own the internet, nor have they been anointed as the “high priests of what you’re allowed to do online”. However, they do control a lot of SEO traffic – the lion’s share, so that allows them to be the big bully if they so choose. Basically, I’d be cautious of making that SEO claim, since all it takes is one little algorithm adustment to add make ActiveRain links be devalued as much as PayPerPost and Text Link Ads (which they’ve done).

In Summary
Okay, besides all that, I still think it’s a great platform for advertisers who have something to sell to real estate professionals. Smart marketers will do more than just advertising here, they will get in on their conversations and prove their value.

Michael Yang, GM of Yahoo! Real Estate:

Yahoo! Real Estate is dedicated to delivering comprehensive real estate resources and information on the Web. For our Home Values Center we brought together the top home valuation data from across the Web, including eppraisal.com, so that our users can have immediate access to key home valuation information.

When you search for a property on Yahoo! Real Estate, you will now get back 3 results. One from eppraisal.com, Reply, and Zillow. You can click through any of these results to get the detailed property, neighborhood and valuation information directly on one of the websites.

I had a chance to chat with Steve Schultz, Director of of Products for Yahoo! Real Estate, about why they have redone their Home Valuations section, and what they hope to achieve with it. He gave me three reasons for this move, all revolving around end users:

1. A more complete picture in one convenient space.
2. Enhanced content for buyers and sellers on why to sell/buy a home. This was done through folding in Yahoo! Answers.
3. Provide more local connections. Integration of Yahoo! Local into the system for better business connections and appraisals.

We’re excited about the partnership, and welcome all of the new Yahoo! users to eppraisal.com.

There have been a couple other posts around these services, here, TransparentRE and at FoREM.

In his own words:

At vFlyer we very much see ourselves moving steadily towards a new paradigm of classified ad distribution, and as a result, many times we find ourselves labeled as a “Web 2.0” or “Classifieds 2.0” company. Earlier this year, I started to identify and understand how other companies, particularly in the real estate space, were extending or introducing new paradigms of their own.

Oliver has split his results up into categories, which is quite helpful for glancing at it and finding the right service for your needs. Categories included are:

• Aggregation
• Blogging
• Community
• Communication
• Distribution
• Mapping
• Reviews
• Social Networking
• Social Bookmarking
• Widgets
• Wikis
• Valuation
• Video

For anyone who doesn’t know, vFlyer is one of the best listing tools for real estate agents around. It allows you to create flyers digitally, in email and in print. I’ve used it and found it simple to use and it allows you to reach a broader amount of people through their distribution channels.

I really like how diversified their classified are – they cover residential, commercial, business, even time shares. It costs $30 for an annual membership, and it’ll be well worth the money spent as the site grows.

Go check it out!

To say that things have been busy around here would be an understatement. The whole eppraisal.com team has been burning the midnight oil to ensure we were able to release our faster, better looking and more enticing version of eppraisal.com.

Besides the complete redesign, you can now enjoy the following features:

Appraisal Network – We’re partnered with professional appraisers across the country so that you can now not only get your snapshot view of what your home is worth (the eppraisal), but also get a professional appraisal that you can take to the bank!

Neighborhood Information – the first phase of our improved information on neighborhoods is now available. This primarily consists of schools both on the school district level and detailed information on the elementary, middle and high schools in the immediate area. The neighborhood informatio also consists of basic demographic data put into graphs for easy readability.

City Overviews – eppraisal.com now offers overviews for almost every city in the US. (Below is a completely random snapshot of Gatlinburg, TN) The city overview covers demographic data in graphs on the population, household and education.

120,000,000 Homes Nationwide – Our database has grown and we now have access to the largest database of properties in the country.

Other changes and improvements:

• eppraisal.com Labs – try out our new Firefox extension. We’re also working on a few more widgets, so check back here soon.
• Local weather information
• More comps for each property searched
• Search history (if you have an account)