Roost’s New Look At Real Estate Search

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Roost gets its listings from local MLS (the first/main listing resource used by brokers and agents), as well as from For Sale By Owner, new home builders, and foreclosures.

Roost’s new website offers home buyers an easier way to search its 3 million plus real estate listings in 45 U.S. markets. More slick, less click.

Some things I like about the new site :

Home page is clean and user friendly. Pick your location and search parameters and off you go. For those not sure of the location spelling, Roost offers suggestions as you type.

Results are displayed with Newest listings first. No “featured listings” line jumpers. Do consumers realize “featured” listings are simply listings the site charged extra for displaying first? (I hope so)

Everything is viewable from one page– you can see the home’s location on an map, watch a photo slideshow and refine the search– all without leaving the page.

An “Expandable Map“, allows users who like maps (like me) to make it the focus of the search.

Sliders are still cool and cull the results on the fly

Search by Neighborhoods and School districts. Clicking these reveal the homes available in those neighborhoods and/or school districts. Would be nice if the site could outline the neighborhoods and school districts– but that can be tricky, since many neighborhood borders are not clearly defined.

Nearby cities search option. This is a nice feature. Unlike a proximity search, it identifies the nearby cities by name. Nice.

Filter search results by MLS ID or amenities. You can customize the amenities. A great feature. Love it.

Where Roost hosts the new property detail pages, they’ve added items such as related sales history (comps), computer generated home value estimates (from Zillow) and mortgage tools (calculator).

Overall, an excellent search experience.

The biggest negative is the site load time on searches. Another is the reliance on Zillow for computer-generated home value estimates. Why not show home value estimates from HomeGain, Cyberhomes and others so consumers see how they can vary? Other than that, I say fly over to Roost and take it for a ride.

Watch a Roost demo video here: (jumps to YouTube).

Good luck with the new site, Roost.

Technorati Tags: roost, real estate search

Louis Cammarosano

Hi Derek
Please contact me and I will provide you with the API so you can add the HomeGain (the original!) instant home values tool side by side with upstart Zillow's!
Louis at homegain.com

Derek Overbey

Hi Louis,

I'm passing your info on to Matt Cullen, our VP of BizDev and he will reach out to you very soon. Thanks for the contact!

Derek

Derek Overbey

Thanks for the post Joe. You have grabbed on to some of the items that we really tried to improve on/introduce with this latest redesign.

We feel that by developing a better consumer experience coupled with great client IDX sites on the Roost platform we are providing a better real estate search experience. Easy to use interface paired with the most comprehensive data lets you find all of the information you are looking for quickly.

But don't think we are satisfied by any means. We are working on the speed issue every day and are making huge leaps. We are also thinking of other ideas to add and your Homegain and Cyberhomes suggestions are already in the works.

Thanks again and we hope to keep pushing the envelope and making Roost better and better.

Derek

drewmeyers

"Would be nice if the site could outline the neighborhoods"

Here are neighborhood boundaries they could use :)

Sellsius real estate marketing blog

Roost’s New Look At Real Estate Search