Real Estate Data Companies Help You Use The Power of Comparison Shopping

real estate data companies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real estate data companies are invaluable when it comes to utilizing one of the most valuable strategies for helping people make decisions – comparison shopping.

There are many popular websites that use the comparison shopping model: NextTag, PriceGrabber, Shopping.com, Best Buy, Target and even Google Shopping.

There are also websites such as Cnet.com that are famous for doing their One versus the Other comparisons and reviews, for example like an iPhone compared to a Samsung 9.

In those reviews, they will compare features that people understand: price, cameras, screen size, storage, batter life, operating software. (Even types of emjojis .)

For real estate professionals, there are real estate data companies such as Home Junction that can provide similar comparison shopping tools.

Those tools use a powerful property database to compare an entity that is super important to home buyers – neighborhoods.

This tool is a must. Consider the implications.

The thought-process and anxiety involved in purchasing a home is certainly harder than choosing which cellphone to buy.

Yet, there are a ton of websites and reviews of cell phones for consumers.

Real estate data companies provide comparison data

But what about home buyers? (And what about home sellers? We will get to that in a minute.)

Comparison tools can be just as helpful. And we’re certainly talking about a much larger transaction with a long-term time frame of 15-30 years of mortgage payments.

That’s why the truly savvy real estate pro will have this tool in their toolbox in the 21st century.

Because here’s an underlying truth about comparisons.

Nowadays, it’s very difficult for people to make decisions.

There are so many options available to them. There aren’t two cell phones to choose from. There are 10.

Even if you know which brand you like, there isn’t just one or two cell phones to pick from.  There are several.

How many cars are there on the market? How many types of TV sets? Cans of soup? Salad dressings?

There are always way too many choices facing people today.

Consumers are overwhelmed. They need help making a decision.

Comparing one item to another is an extremely effective way to narrow down choices.  Because comparing helps the human brain to gain a perspective on the value of the items they are considering.

Neighborhood data comparison tools

Same with neighborhoods. Take for example Mrs. Skeptical Home Shopper.

She once lived in Bellingham WA but is now considering a move to Bellevue WA for whatever purpose.

She knows Bellingham. Lived there for years.

She knows little about Bellevue. She’s heard all sorts of stories, mostly anecdotes from friends and family.

Real estate data companies such as Home Junction can provide neighborhood comparison tools where Mrs. Skeptical can look at the data for one neighborhood compared to another.

With this neighborhood comparison tool she can check the two areas for:

  • Population
  • Size of the Area
  • Male/Female Ratios
  • Average Age
  • Average Income
  • Average Home Value
  • Average Length of Residency
  • Number of Households
  • Crime Rates

That’s incredible data for her to review. It’s certainly much better and reliable information compared to what her neighbor, Mrs. Complainer, told her about Bellevue one day over the backyard fence.

Real estate data companies that have truly in-depth data, such as Home Junction which aggregates as many as 1,000 property and neighborhood data points, can go even deeper.

They can also provide data on Buying Power, Education, Weather and much more.

Perhaps Mrs. Skeptical Home Shopper is concerned about the cost of living in certain neighborhoods.

The comparison chart can show her, for example, that for apparel, education, health, food and other expenses, for what she pays for in Bellingham for $1,000, it will cost her $1,230 in Bellevue, or on average, 18% more.

neighborhood data

 

That’s going to send up a flag for her.

She might also notice that while it is more expensive to live in Bellevue, the crime rate is “Very Low” compared to an “Average” rating in Bellingham. Another point to consider if that is something she is concerned about.

Maybe she prefers a town with more college graduates, or older people or less expensive homes.

All the data is there to help her make a decision.

That’s incredibly useful in her reasoning process.

This neighborhood comparison tool also has tremendous marketing implications. Imagine sending out a mailer, email blast or social media post to potential buyers, “See how ABC neighborhood compares to XYZ neighborhood.”

With other real estate market data, a broker or agent can also provide reports such as: “How do home prices in ABC neighborhood compare to XYZ neighborhood?”

Or, “Here are the property sales market trends in ABC neighborhood compared to XYZ neighborhood?”

Frankly, the combinations are endless. So are the possibilities to be the true local expert on the neighborhoods you are farming.

Use comparison tools to attract listings

Comparison tools are also a smart strategy for attracting listings.

Now let’s flip the implications of neighborhood comparison tools over to the other side of the equation – home sellers.

What a great way to generate listings.

Imagine sending out a mailer offering to compare the number of homes sales in one neighborhood compared to the one next door.

Wow. Look how homes sales are booming over there. Mr. Homeowner might decide, “Hmmm. Maybe it’s time for me to list my home for sale.”

You can use this data not only to generate listing leads, but for those critical listing presentations.

Show Mr. Homeowner how you are going to market their home using your neighborhood comparison tool.

Maybe one neighborhood five miles up the road has gotten hot all of a sudden. For several reasons, now everybody wants to live there. Houses are moving fast.

Using your neighborhood comparison tools, you can show Mr. Homeowner how his neighborhood compares nicely to that neighborhood and in fact, has a few factors that are actually better.

With school data and boundary information provided by real estate data companies such as Home Junction, you can also point out how Mr. Homeowner’s property is in the same school attendance zone as the popular neighborhood.

Mr. Homeowner is going to be impressed.

Impressed with hard, statistical data instead of some anecdotal jibbity jab.

There’s a reason shopping comparison websites and features are popular – they are extremely effective.

You can use that same effective strategy on your website when you partner with real estate data companies such as Home Junction.