Redfin releases iPad app
As with the large real estate media companies, Redfin has hopped on the iPad app bandwagon, and why not? Smartphones offer great speed and portability but everyone knows that real estate searching is a visual game and iPads offer a large screen to allow for full screen photos, as demonstrated above.
The company noted that they chose not to take the route of making their iPhone app compliant with iPad because “Taking the easy road has just never been our thing. Plus, we couldn’t contain our excitement for all of the awesome stuff that we could pull off with the iPad.”
The new iPad app offers new mobile search options like viewing homes in a photo gallery or on a map, and has announced a new sort option called the “Redfin Special Blend” which prioritizes homes based on user criteria. The Special Blend is unique in that it features homes previewed by agents that have left notes that fit within the user’s criteria – cool stuff.
In addition to the features listed above, Redfin says these are the top features of their new iPad app:
- Find homes nearby. Our app uses your iPad’s GPS so you can quickly and easily locate nearby homes for sale and open houses.
- You’ll know it when you see it. We love maps but we also think you’ll agree that a photo gallery is a convenient way to quickly discover homes that catch your eye. The photo gallery feature is particularly useful once you’ve narrowed your search down to a specific neighborhood.
- All the home photos and details you crave on one big screen. With just one swipe you’ll find photos and all the details about a home including property history and Redfin Agent Insights, comments left by Redfin agents who have seen the home in person. Plus, it’s all on one screen.
- Have fun! Swipe through full-screen photos and then zoom in for a closer look.
- Share it with a friend or friends. With one tap you can share a home you like with a friend in email or post it for your followers on Twitter, and all without leaving the app.
- Stay in sync. Don’t worry, all of your old standbys are still here. When you sign in to your account, you can save searches, mark your favorites or x-out out the ones you don’t like, and even store notes and photos. Everything you do on the iPad app stays in sync so you can pick up from where you left off when you return to your computer or use a different mobile device.
The biggest emphasis of the new iPad apps coming out for real estate search is the full screen capabilities of an iPad which puts even more emphasis on a Realtor’s responsibility to upload high quality photographs of a listing to the MLS – the disparity between bad listing photos and quality images is growing exponentially with consumers’ access to tools like the iPad.
Photo tour of the Redfin iPad app:
Click any image to enlarge.
Clarification: story edited to add details about Special Blend.
