Thank you Canadian Real Estate Association.
I have played with the Realtor.ca App over the past couple of days and must say that I am pleasantly surprised. Since getting into Real Estate 5 years ago I have heard clients complain about the Realtor.ca website. So when I heard that they were developing an App I didn’t have much faith. So, I certainly wasn’t expecting this, but it is a great end of the year surprise.
I have played with it on the iPhone and iPad and it seems to work really well, it is also available on the new Windows 7 phones and will be available for Blackberry early in 2011. Available in your app store or at www.crea.ca/.
The iPad version is just a double sized version of the iPhone, but it still runs well and it is nice to have it on a larger interface. I have tested it in several areas of the city and the information is very accurate and easily accessed. I love the map function that allows you to move around the city and just tap your way into the information that you want.
While it is intuitive for a digital native to navigate through I would be concerned that my grandmother and maybe even my Mother may find it difficult to use. This app takes a bit more training to operate. I will sit down with my Mom over the Christmas holidays and see how she does. A lot of the really great Apps that go viral are easy for both digital natives and newbies alike.
I haven’t played with the Open House function yet, but this may be the most exciting aspect of the app if you are a Realtor. It looks like a great feature for all of the 2+1 families driving around on the weekends looking for signs or sitting at Starbucks searching through the various classified ads. Registering your open houses will now be a very important listing step to increase qualified traffic through the home.
I have some renewed excitement about where CREA is taking us and I am happy to see that they got this in our hands before 2011. I hope that you continue on this path into the New Year with even more surprises.
