It appears that Google has plans to enter the real estate listings market in a way that might put other MLS providers and listing sites under major competitive pressure. According to a recent story by Janis Mara of Inman News, Google has recently added real estate listings to their search results and linked them to the new Google Base service which, like many new Google products, is still in a beta testing version. For those of you who don’t understand what Google is all about, essentially they are fast becoming the “unlimited storage of everything” service.
While no one knows for sure exactly what Google’s plans are for Google Base, if you type in a search for real estate in a city that is geographically near you, Google returns the organic results with a “Refine your search” form at the top of the list allowing you to choose a listing type.
If you click the “search” button in that form, you will receive results from Google Base showing properties for sale in that area. For example, if you live in Florida a search for “San Francisco real estate” will not pull up this new functionality, but a search for “Tampa real estate” or “Miami real estate” will.
Google’s jump into real estate listings may level the playing field among agents, sales associates and brokers who currently do not have access to MLS through a membership relationship with their local, state and national realtors association. Will this impact the membership rosters of realtor associations across the country? While only time can answer this question, one thing is certain, this move represents a wonderful marketing opportunity for real estate professionals across the country.
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