Real Estate Tools

In a previous post we talked about the launch of Zoocasa, a new entry in the online real estate game and competitor for every new home buyer's favourite online destination - mls.ca.

Seems there is more to the story than we first realized. A recent post on blogTO offers more details/critiques about Zoocasa along with some unkind words about MLS. While we are not interested in taking sides, the post is worth reading for the facts it unearths.

For example, there is no information anywhere on Zoocasa to indicate who runs it. Intrepid blogger Tim did some digging and discovered that it is owned by Rogers Communications. While uncertain as to why it is so hush-hush, with that information in hand Tim was able to find and interview Jay Lewin who was hired by Rogers to work on Zoocasa. The resulting Q&A is part of the post, and from it we learn that Zoocasa is still in beta (testing mode) so its full functionality is not yet available. Planned enhancements include a feed for agents to copy listings from Zoocasa directly to the Facebook Marketplace. But the main goal is to provide a tool that goes beyond mere listings to describe important attributes of the neighbourhood surrounding each house for sale.

Perhaps anticipating competition, MLS is up for some major changes. In October the site will relaunch as realtor.ca and include more interactive mapping functions and improved searching.

Both sites will continue to have supporters and detractors. It's just good to know that as we shift into a buyers' market, there are more online options available to help with new home purchases.

Look out MLS, there is a new online database vying for the attention of home buyers. Zoocasa announced its presence with a press release last Thursday.

Calling itself "a smarter way to find the perfect home online", Zoocasa touts its interactive map, strong filtering tools, and ability to send alerts based on your saved search criteria. It also allows you to monitor properties and search only the new listings that have appeared since you last visited.

An innovation that Zoocasa offers is its "Research" tab, which provides an overview of the community you are searching, including the range of house prices and a description of the community, pulled from Wikipedia. Relying on Wikipedia for research can be a bit risky, but one can assume that the entries for cities and towns are relatively accurate. There are discrepancies in information though, as large cities contain huge volumes of data while smaller places, like tiny Hartland, N.B or Egmondville, Ontario (home to a major participant in the 1837 rebellion!) contain nothing.

Overall, Zoocasa seems to have some good ideas, but a few simple searches show that there may be some kinks to work out in its search tool. The neighbourhood text search they promised returned nothing for the area selected in our test, while the MLS neighbourhood search returned several properties. A search for "Oakville" found properties in neighbouring Mississauga and Burlington.

The interactive map is cool - using Google's satellite maps you can choose to include points of interest relative to the property you have selected. Listings here lack the property details and pictures that MLS users are accustomed to, but they do provide links to the real estate agent's original online listing.

When it comes to online property searching, MLS is still the champ, but the fact that someone else is in the game is a great thing for new home buyers.