Katie McManus proposes a product feature for real estate listing sites (Zillow, Trulia, Redfin) to let users tag specific elements of listings they like or dislike (e.g., countertops, doorways, backyard size). She argues this would help users clarify personal style, create an engaging "game-like" browsing experience, and produce aggregated preference data useful to designers, contractors, and for affiliate monetization.
Here's a product idea for Trulia, Zillow, Redfin, and any other real estate listing website. I'm Katie, your practical business coach, and I am the classic millennial. I like to doom scroll on Zillow, Trulia and Redfin for multi million dollar homes that are a little out of my budget these days. And I have to tell you guys, the experience is lacking. Okay, so one of the things that I think these websites need to start incorporating into their app interface is the ability to go through and note the things that you like and don't like about the houses that you're browsing. Okay, so for instance, let's say, just hypothetically, that I'm looking at a $10 million brownstone in the Upper west side in New York City, and I can go through and I say I like the square footage of this backyard, or I really like this, this countertop, or I really like the, the doorways. I don't know why I'm like, visually trying to paint these for you guys. And like, then you can say what it is that you like about them. And this data would be really interesting for, you know, whatever platform implements this to go and then either give to contractors or decorators or interior designers, which I guess is the same as a decorator, architects, and also so you can have like, that data if you're thinking about fixing up your home to sell and see, you know, what kinds of characteristics and styles are really, really alluring to the demographic that you would probably want to sell to. And also as a user, like, this could be like a game for me. This could be a game. So, like, as I'm saying what I like and don't like, what's happening is it's curating kind of a, a list of all the things that I like. And it helps me really get a clear idea of what my personal style is. So as I, you know, go home shopping or decorate my home, what have you, I have a very clear idea of what it is that I like and don't like because I've seen it out there in the world. In addition to this Zillow, Trulia, Redfin could then partner up with different manufacturers, different, like, interior design places, different brands, and have kind of like an affiliate system set up so that I could then say, okay, well, I really like the furniture in this room. And then each bit of furniture could be listed. I would think this would make it so much more fun to like, fake shop for homes. It could be a way for these websites to make more money so that like, hopefully they stop buying up all the home house inventory and jacking up the price for housing dream there. Yeah. But I think it would just be really, really fun. And we're doing it anyway, so we might as well be able to, you know, aggregate all that information. So yeah, Trulia, Zillow, Redfin, other sites, do with this what you will. I will take 2%. That's it. Just for the idea. But I really look forward to being able to play with this little feature and I can't wait to download the update on my phone.
