Trulia Redefines Real Estate Search with Local News Feed, Trulia Mobile and Community Blogs
Written by Trulia
25 August 2008
Trulia Redefines Real Estate Search Experience, Launching New Features Including Local News Feed, Trulia Mobile and Community Blogs
Focus on Personalization, Portability and Participation Gives Consumers and Agents the Technology to Successfully Navigate Today’s Housing Marke
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, August 25, 2008 – Trulia.com, the best place to start a real estate search, today announced the launch of innovative new features that will provide users with a personalized real-time local news feed, allow for house hunting on the go and give agents, home owners and house hunters an opportunity to blog about their real estate experiences to 5 million monthly users.
“We are experiencing an extremely turbulent time in the housing market. Millions of consumers are turning to Trulia to make informed real estate decisions,” said Pete Flint, Trulia CEO. “At Trulia, our mission is to deliver unique local insight to consumers when they want it, how they want it, and where they want it. Today’s launch is a big step in this direction.”
Trulia’s homepage now displays a local news feed featuring customized real estate news to help consumers access up-to-the minute information that relates directly to the cities that they care about. The localized news feed will include new property listings, home prices changes, upcoming open houses, median sales price trends, recently sold properties, relevant blogs and Q&As from our Trulia Voices Community.
Portability – Trulia Mobile
Now users can access Trulia across multiple interfaces such as on the iPhone, on their mobile device and in the car via GPS, all for free.
* Trulia on your iPhone 3G or iPod touch: Trulia’s native application automatically detects a user’s location via iPhone 3G’s location-aware technology, or by user input, to find nearby homes for sale. Detailed property search results include price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, color photos and local open house information. The Trulia application is free to download from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/ * Trulia on your phone: Trulia’s phone application delivers homes for sale and open house information directly to a user’s handset, whether you've got a BlackBerry, Blackjack, Sony Ericsson, Nokia or many more. Built as a channel on Lightpole’s mobile platform, Trulia’s application allows consumers to search homes for sale via an interactive local map. Other search features include extensive property details, color photos and updated open house dates and times. New results are instantly generated with every change in location or search criteria. * Trulia in your car: In partnership with Dash Navigation, Inc., Trulia enables consumers to search for homes for sale right from the drivers’ seat. Via the Dash Express™ , the first Internet-connected automotive GPS, users can access real-time listings of all homes for sale from their cars. As part of their search, consumers get up-to-the minute open house information, in-depth property details and driving directions.
Trulia Mobile also offers a number of value-added search capabilities, including alternative driving routes and the ability to email property descriptions to friends or to save your favorite properties for easy future reference. To get Trulia Mobile go to www.trulia.com/mobile/.
Participation – Trulia Blogs
Trulia’s blogging platform provides users with a built in audience of 5 million home owners, buyers and real estate agents to share real estate advice, tales from their recent home remodel or community news. By providing a free, easy and collaborative environment, Trulia is empowering consumers to share their voices with a blog platform that is as easy to use as sending an email. Real estate agents have the benefit of maximizing a value-added social media tool that enhances their online brand and allows them to share their expertise among a highly targeted audience of consumers who are looking for real estate content and information, and other industry colleagues who are interested in all things real estate. Go blog at www.trulia.com/voices/blogs.
Since Trulia launched Voices in the spring of 2007, the community has grown to more than 300,000 users. During that time, the community has generated more than 200,000 insightful questions and answers providing consumers with free education. Trulia Voices users receive an average of over 4 answers per question, and their first answer within an average of 20 minutes. Trulia users are active, engaged homebuyers, 72% of whom plan to buy a home in the next year; 53% in the next 6 months.
About Trulia Inc.
Trulia, Inc. (www.trulia.com) is a residential real estate search engine and the fastest-growing U.S. real estate Web site (comScore), has revolutionized online home search by offering a rich, intuitive user experience that points consumers directly to listings on agent and broker Web sites. By partnering with the real estate industry, including 93 of the top 100 largest U.S. brokers, Trulia helps approximately 5 million unique visitors per month find information on homes for sale using custom search criteria. The site also provides market trends and neighborhood data at the hyper-local level, as well as Trulia Voices, a real estate Q&A community that enables consumers and professionals to exchange information about their local markets. For more information about Trulia or to experience the power of a Trulia search, visit http://www.trulia.com/.
GISuser Feature Articles
Top iPhone related GIS and Geo Tech news stories from 2009 - At the end of the year its always interesting for us to look at some of the stats and results to identify trends and more important, to see what our readers think is hot! In the "news" category it seems that iPhone related geo tech items were extremely popular.
10 Awesome GIS and Mapping apps for the iPhone - I recall last year at the ESRI UC when an iPhone was on stage showing a prototype app (think ArcPad on iPhone). It was then that I realized the iPhone platform is going to be BIG in mapping and there's a ton of opportunity for developers.
Nokia Booklet 3G, unboxing video and image gallery... Those of you in the USA who pop in to BestBuy occasionally, you may have seen a stand showing off the Nokia Booklet 3G. A sleek, 3G enabled, SIM slot (AT&T) sporting netbook.
Interesting Tweeple - 10 Geo Technology & Geo-Social Women of Twitter - given the growing love for geospatial and location-aware technologies, I’ve decided to hype 10 women that I feel make a significant contribution to the Geo-Twittersphere. If you’d like to add 10 knowledgeable and useful Twitter contacts to your Geo following list I highly suggest the following: (in no particular order)
10 Geo Social Location-Aware Apps Making Waves... With Twitter's opening of their location API to developers there's going to be a ton of third party apps that will enable Twitter users to share location-aware information via their Twitter accounts.
Signs that indicate you may be a GeoGeek (aka. GeoNerd) and some suggested Geo blogs - Chances are good that if you are a Geo Geek then you already know it and likely refer to yourself as one. However, there’s many of you out there that may be on the fence and wondering… “am I a Geo Geek?" Read on for a comprehensive list of signs you might be a GeoGeek followed up by some suggested Geoblog reading.
Real-time GPS Mapping and GIS Solution Aids Efficient Disaster Management - Saturday, February 7, 2009 will forever be known as Black Saturday in the State of Victoria, Australia. In the midst of a 10-year drought, a record breaking heat wave descended upon the state, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees C (110-120 deg F), breaking all-time record highs in some cities - Victoria Police Use Trimble Juno SC Handhelds to Speed Assessment of Damage Caused by Bush Fires.
10 Ways Your Tech Business Can Take Advantage of Twitter - Many companies and individuals are still asking themselves how can I use Twitter in my business? The following is a small sampling of some of the ways that your technology business can use Twitter to your advantage.
2010 ESRI Federal User Conference February 17-19, 2010, Washington D.C. Walter E. Washington Convention Center - The FedUC is the largest geospatial conference for federal agencies. Connect with other leaders, decision makers, and GIS professionals.
The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 - Tenth Anniversary Event! ILMF 2010 will be held from March 3 - 5, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The NAVTEQ 2010 Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony will be held during Ignite at O'Reilly Where 2.0. Be among the first to hear as NAVTEQ announces the winners for the North America region. Participants will be competing for a global prize pool of $10 million and growing by showcasing pre-commercial location-enabled apps using NAVTEQ map data & products. March 30, 2010, during Ignite Where, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, at the Marriott San Jose, CA
WHERE2.0 2010 - Now in its sixth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. For 15% use Discount Code: whr10lbs