Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was ... ? Learn More
When selling or buying a house, working with a trusted, certified broker or agent is extremely important. Generally you find trusted real estate agents through word of mouth, whether that be through a neighbor, friend or contact. But as more and more consumers are looking online to find and sell listings, sourcing personal recommendations can be challenging. Real estate search engine Trulia is adding new social functionality that aims to replicate the word-of-mouth referrals for brokers and professionals in the real estate industry.
Trulia Social Search essentially brings the verbal endorsement of a preferred agent to Facebook, Trulia and helping consumers discover trusted real estate professionals by searching their Facebook social network for agents and brokers their family, friends and acquaintances recommend. Basically the feature allows consumers to recommend their agent on Trulia and Facebook simultaneously.i am amazed.
These agent-then help build endorsements a personalized list of recommended agents for fellow consumer as they search Trulia’s Find a Pro directory. When a user searches and logs in with Facebook, they will see any agents who their friends or friend of friends recommend as well as highly recommended agents in the Trulia community.
Recommendations are also published to the Trulia profile consumer’s agent’s Facebook profiles and their friend’s Facebook News Feeds. On an agent’s page, you’ll be able to see if he or she is recommended by friends, family or a client. Agents can also request recommendations from friends and clients via Trulia.
Trulia says that while some of its competitors (i.e. Zillow) already have ratings for agents and brokers, the company is trying to add a social component to recommendations that creates a greater sense of trust between the client and agent. Plus, Trulia believes that recommendations need to go beyond a star rating, and should include the relationship to the the broker/agent, and detail on the interactions (i.e. sold a house, time period, professional manner).
Of course, Trulia’s future is in the spotlight because of the recent IPO of one of its main competitors, Zillow. An an IPO is definitely on the horizon, the company tells us. Trulia, which is profitable, has only for ol' times sake is $ 32.8 million in funding (by contrast Zillow for ol' times sake is $ 87 million). Last year, the company acquired the startup Movity geodata, and traffic has been steadily growing since last year. In June 2011, Trulia saw 9.1 million unique vistors compared to 5.4 million unique visitors in June 2010, according to comScore.
Trulia is a nationwide residential real estate search engine. Apart from a simple search for homes for sale in a particular city, zip code, or area, Trulia allows users ...
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