Online home search hasn’t changed much in the last decade. The biggest advancements for what a potential buyer can glean from a portal or IDX listing page have been floor plans, 3D tours, and in most cases, better photography. When it comes to the information itself, we remain at the mercy of listing agents who don’t really fill all of the fields out, opting for more thoughtful public remarks sections. Natural language search has come a long way, but without sophisticated image tagging and/or higher field completion rates, keywords are limited.
I have to admit that I did a backflip last week when Zillow announced their partnership with First Street to bring climate risk data to listings. (A metaphorical backflip, anyway.) I’m excited that the industry is now starting to bring in new streams of data, even if it is looking at calculated risk rather than under the roof data on the home itself. I have no doubt that buyers will appreciate being able to consider a home’s risk levels for flood, wildfire, wind, heat, and air quality. Now, we need to help them understand each home’s specific ability to withstand these risks. More to come on that in a moment.
Noting that this is a significant milestone for our industry, as it enriches the listing search process without relying on agents to provide the data themselves. Our industry has well solved for the rules and systems for how data flows out of the industry, but not so much on how to add data to the industry. You might assume that it would not be complicated to plug data streams in that would automate bringing house specific information into a listing- and you’d be wrong.
Any vendor can go to an MLS site and find guidelines for partnering and integrating with MLS data from existing listings. (Not uncomplicated but at least structured and articulated!) Finding information on how to partner and integrate to add data? Well, that depends on the software systems that are being used, whether the MLS has their own in-house methods for adding and editing listings, and such.
Returning to the climate risk data, and how we can help buyers consider that information as they look at homes to purchase: they need to know how the home performs. We need to show them whether the home is resilient, energy efficient, capable of producing and storing power (solar and batteries), and more. Each home’s ability to withstand the elements varies, and each home can cost more or less to operate and live comfortably within, depending on the features and systems of the home.
Agents are now in an era where they will need to be able to address these concerns for their consumers. Listing agents will need to understand how those kinds of features add to the value- and list price- of the homes they sell. Pearl Certification has created products to help agents have those conversations and properly value and market homes with those features. (We’ve also integrated with products that provide that kind of data directly to agents- kudos to RealReports, our newest partner!) We can also help agents guide their homeowner clients through actions to make those homes more resilient and efficient.
The inclusion of climate risk data in home listings is a massive step in the right direction: consumers need our industry’s help in looking beyond the cosmetics of a home, into the guts of their shelter. I’m hoping this is just the beginning of a trend to enrich our listings with deeper information- which will bring even more value for the consumers we work with.
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By Proptechbuzz
By Ravi Kumar