They say that a picture is worth a 1000 words. Well, if that's the case, then Trulia just cornered the Word market!
In their continuing efforts to become the Real Estate "Go-To" site, Trulia has recently partnered with Internet Goliath, Google, in implementing their 'Street View' application.
Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps that was introduced in 2007 and provides 360° panoramic street-level views. It allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level. When it was originally launched, only five cities were included. It has since expanded to more than 40 U.S. cities, and includes the suburbs of many, and in some cases, other nearby cities (For the list of cities currently available, GO HERE).
So, in addition to being one of the premier home listing aggregation sites; offering excellent source information relevant to real estate; and providing a forum for consumers and real estate professionals to interact, the inclusion of Google Street View (referred to as "Walk the Neighborhood" by Trulia) allows Trulia Users the opportunity to view high-resolution, street-level 360° captured shots of prospective neighborhoods/homes.
Now your Buyers can see that HUGE water tank next door. Or maybe the description of a 'filtered' or 'partial' view by the Listing Agent gives new meaning to embellishment. And who knew that the Next-Door-Neighbor was a Used Car/Appliance collector? You can begin to see the value that this incorporated feature will offer.
I especially like the way Trulia has streamlined the integration of Street-View into their platform, and incorporated it into each listing where the service is available.
And, as is typical with Trulia, ease-of-navigation is very straight-forward and seemless.
Kudos once again to the folks at Trulia for bringing further enhanced value to their platform, and providing more useful tools for consumers.
Get the full story at the Trulia Blog
Rich,
Looks like a great opportunity for us in the mortgage and real estate businesses to highlight our services. I'll check out Trulia and see how it can fit in. Thanks.
Wow! More and more innovation, this is a great tool for consumers...nice coup Trulia!
....Now Trulia just needs to get the audio and smell-o-vision to give consumers the complete neighborhood experience! : )
Great feature!
Finally, Google/Trulia came up with something to compete against Zillow/Microsoft (Birdseye view).
Ivan
We were looking at Trulia just the other day---quite impressive to say the least.
Great feature for Truila, must take a look and see.
Rich,
I've played around with this before...pretty cool and an alternative to google earth.
Rich, I also think Trulia Voices is an interesting tool. I will experimet more with their mapping now.
Do you think that the abundance of information available to the consumer will lessen the liability of Real Estate Professionals?
That is a neat feature, especially for someone looking to buy a home in a different state. I will have to take a look at that. Thanks for the info.
This is a great application, Rich, as you clearly know. I have found more and more buyers are using it snd Google Earth to look at properties they are interested in on-line, especially those who are relocating here to carlsbad and nearby areas from out of state. They already know that a some homes have awful views, or look at power towers, and other unpleasant things that make them shy away. Saves me and them time in teh home search.
Jeff
Hi Rich!
Thanks for highlighting our new street view feature. Jon is lucky to have you on board!
In my opinion, it's pretty much the next best thing to actually being in front of the house. Pretty cool for someone who wants to scope out the surroundings and neighborhood from the comfort of their home before actually making the trip out there.
Thanks to all who have commented here. Your feedback is always welcome.
Enjoy!
Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia
Google Street View is cool. Too bad they are getting sued right now by a couple who's house was on a private road and now, it isn't "private" anymore. lol
Rudy - Hey, man! It's totally my pleasure. We appreciate what you guys are bringing to the table these days...Keep servin' it up!
Mo Thweny & Margaret - yeah, it's unfortunate. With as litigation-happy as our society has become, there will always be those think lawsuits are a free ticket....
Let's very smart of them. Aerial view actually helps a lot, I am learning this first hand since I have been scouting for warehouse spaces lately.
Cheers,
Cindy
Hi Rich - there was a big hullabaloo in the Boston area about the possible invasion of privacy issues with this street view tool. Not sure how that all played out. Seems kinda cool to me. And I guess I better mosey over to Trulia to experiment a little.....
Ann
Street View is a neat feature for the very few places that have it. I think it will be a long time before it reaches my neck of the woods.
up your a**in your windows! Yeah I know, if you have nothing to hide then what are you worried about? Everybody has something to hide.Street View is a good idea!!! I'd recommend you to look through another resource.
My favourite is Street View service on www.Fizber.com.