Just over a year after being acquired by Zillow, StreetEasy, the popular listing portal covering the New York City area, has trotted out a trifecta of mobile products that it says will make it easier for consumers to search its database on the fly.
The company has unveiled its first apps for Android devices and iPad along with a responsive mobile Web experience — products that will complement the redesigned iPhone mobile offering that StreetEasy rolled out in June, the company said.
StreetEasy has built one of the most expansive databases of listings in the New York City market by aggregating data from the area’s notoriously fragmented network of listing sources.
The Real Estate Board of New York, whose listing service, RLS, sucks in listings from databases around the city, only recently voted to implement Internet data exchange (IDX).
For the first time, that could soon allow consumers to search listings in New York City on broker websites without registering. But it remains to be seen how many brokers will adopt the system.
The lack of IDX has helped StreetEasy become one of the most popular online destinations for buyers and sellers in the Big Apple.
Zillow snapped up StreetEasy last year, expanding its coverage in New York City. StreetEasy’s coverage had been spotty because the listing syndicators that stock much of Zillow’s inventory had not managed to build comprehensive databases for the market, Derek Eisenberg, founder of Hackensack, N.J.-based Continental Real Estate Group, told Inman News at the time.
StreetEasy’s new apps are “built specifically for the fast-paced, complex New York City real estate market,” the company said. Users can quickly find relevant listings upon opening the app by filtering properties based on criteria including open houses, building amenities, price and housing type.
Buyers and renters can view floor plans, full-screen photos and maps; access property histories; and virtually tour city blocks through Google’s Street View.
“The relationship between real estate and location-based technology is incredibly strong, especially in a high-density area like New York City where buildings dominate the landscape and so much exploration is done on foot,” said Susan Daimler, general manager of StreetEasy.
“It’s crucial for NYC buyers and renters to be equipped with StreetEasy on mobile, and now they are, regardless of their phone or device,” she added.