There is a new iOS real estate app you’ll probably hear about soon.
It’s Jon Washburn’s (one of ActiveRain co-founders) new startup. Take a look.
And yes, I think this is a good idea as witnessed by this.
Discover an exclusive, objective lens into the trends, companies, people, and ideas shaping the future of real estate and the broader built world.
Curated news and commentary. Thesis-driven essays. Sector analysis & product reviews.
A mastermind for real estate tech innovators.
Stay abreast of industry trends and network with other industry doers and entrepreneurs.
A PAID MEMBERSHIP, PRIVATE COMMUNITY.
We build consumer products at the intersection of community, real estate, and travel.
Learn MoreStay a Night, Give a Night
Farm your area with an innovative program to build community and help address our homelessness challenge.
Jonathan Washburn
Posted at 15:09h, 02 DecemberDrew, thanks for the mention. If I remember correctly, Geek Estate Blog was the first publication that wrote about ActiveRain. It’s cool that you are also the first to cover Houseline.
I’m happy that you think the in app messaging is a good idea.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 19:34h, 02 DecemberI don’t want to be matched to a specific agent though. I think that ruins the core consumer win…which is agent choice, on the consumer’s terms.
Jonathan Washburn
Posted at 19:40h, 02 DecemberUsers can switch agents at any time. However for future strategic and IDX compliance reasons we elected to pair every user with an agent.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 19:45h, 02 DecemberIf you give me as a buyer the ability to invite my own agent into the experience… then you may be onto something in terms of growth. But you’re not going to be able to monetize that…since those people already have an agent.
To make any money with this, you need to help agents generate new clients. And I don’t think that is automatically associating new users with an agent without any information about them, or giving them any choice in the matter. ᐧ
Jonathan Washburn
Posted at 20:19h, 02 DecemberThere will be two primary initial growth scenario’s: 1. Agents invite their clients to use the app. They’ll do this so that they have a better line of communication, and also so that their clients don’t get poached from other advertisers. 2. Agents will pay us to drive app installs (customers) for them.
In scenario #1, we’ll make SaaS income using a freemium model – agents can use Houseline for free until they have 21+ clients connected with them on that app. For scenario #2, we’ll sell the app installs for more than it costs us to generate them.
Andrew Gale
Posted at 14:43h, 03 DecemberGreat stuff Jonathan!
Awesome seeing your thought process of houseline in these comments!
Hope you have another great success!
PS – Added you on FB
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 08:02h, 03 DecemberSounds interesting. When it comes to Hawaii I would like to try it.
I would pay for a better mobile app to provide to my website users and leads that would then tie them in with me even closer.
The key thing for me is that it has to be “better” than what I offer now, thereby actually getting a lot of my clients to use it.
If many of my clients use it on a regular basis then it would be very successful for me.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 11:57h, 03 DecemberRegarding my comment below this is a good idea if it is better.
Right now Matrix, which is the MLS software used here, allows clients to hide, favorite, mark as possibility, and add notes to all listings that meet their needs. They also show details and photos, so it might be very similar to the functionality of this app, and Matrix is free to all agents.
Matrix also has a flexible plan for sending out emails where you can send them as soon as a new listing comes on the market or as little as once a month with everything in between.
You can also see who is using the portal recently and what they have marked as favorite, etc.
However, I have not tried the app, so maybe there are a lot of features or the interface is better, but just marking listings as hidden or favorite will not necessarily put it ahead of what the MLS provides for free.
Dean Ouellette
Posted at 06:57h, 04 DecemberLike the idea… now we just need it in Phx area
Bob Stewart
Posted at 16:03h, 04 DecemberWe’ll be in Phoenix soon Dean. It’s on our list of the next 12 MLSs that we plan to hit. Should definitely be inside of 60 days. Hopefully 30.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 09:43h, 11 DecemberThis is the first app I’ve seen where the invitation email from agent to client automatically brands the downloaded app to the agent right when the client downloads it. Every other app seems to have a secondary step where the client has to confirm the agent or enter a code to make the agent branding happen.
I like that part a lot if the push for adoption is going through the agent side of the equation. As Drew said, it could be touchier when you’re driving consumer traffic directly to the app sans agent, and they get signed up with whichever agent has paid for that prime position in their city, but you have to pay the bills somewhere.
IDX is still the best source of data, and I like the creativity here in getting it out to consumers (and agents who may have limited mobile IDX options if they work in a small market MLS).
Drew Meyers
Posted at 11:11h, 04 November@disqus_w1e2EJD76E:disqus what happened to this? iOS and website both are offline? You either re-branded entirely, or it wasn’t working and stopped investing in it… curious which it was?