Real estate data aggregation is business intelligence for brokers

Real Estate Data Aggregation might be a term that is unfamiliar to many brokers and agents.

But it is certainly something they should pay attention to.

Previously, data aggregation appeared to be the realm of large multi-national or national companies.

Companies like the IBMs of the world had the massive computer-power, servers and hard drives to process and store billions of bits of information.

Only the big guys were able to play with this data.

But that is no longer the case.

First, let’s go back to the definition of data aggregation.

According to IBM, “data aggregation is the process where raw data is gathered and expressed in a summary form for statistical analysis.”

Another way to define data aggregation is that it is simply the process of compiling information from different sources (databases) to create separate datasets. Then those datasets could be used in a number of ways.

Real estate data aggregation provides information buyers want

In the case of Real Estate Data Aggregation, those datasets could be:

Recent Home Sales
Trends in Home Prices
New Construction
School Data
Neighborhood Demographics
Cost of Living Indices
Crime Ratings

There’s also a geospatial element to data aggregation as well.

That’s where the data aggregators also gather geographic data.

That data can range from longitudes and latitudes and geographic coordinates down to highways, roads and street addresses.

That geospatial data is then rearranged to show “shapefiles” for a variety of geographic entities – counties, cities, neighborhoods, subdivisions, school attendance zones, etc.

Real estate data aggregators provide “feeds” to local websites

As you can imagine, there are quite a few variables related to the real estate profession.

When you combine all that data for each county, city, zip code or even neighborhood in the United States, that’s a massive database.

In addition, tapping into the right sources for all that information is critical.

For Real Estate Data Aggregation that would also include MLS services, county and city records and numerous other sources.

That’s the part concerning the sourcing, extraction and accumulation of the raw data.

Then there’s the data management part. That involves filtering, verifying, updating, storing and sorting all that data.

Data aggregators such as Home Junction use proprietary algorithms to sort this data and package it in a way that is useful for the average real estate broker and agent.

Then there’s the process of sending that data to a broker’s website.

Home Junction, for example, has its own proprietary “Slipstream API” (Application Programming Interface).

That Real Estate API is basically some simple software that is easily embedded into a broker’s website to distribute all the hyper-local information they want for the areas they are farming.

This ability to present all these hyper-local datasets is no longer just in the hands of the larger corporations.

Now any broker or agent can provide this highly-relevant information on their website.

This is where the Business Intelligence part entersinto the equation.

Real estate market data is Business Intelligence. It’s this intelligence about the local housing market that is super valuable to consumers.

That data also helps with Search Engine Optimization and rankings on Google and Bing.

Consumers will search the web for this data, such as school data.

Will yours be one of the websites that will appear in the search results for School Information in your marketplace?

This data is so valuable in fact, that consumers will be willing to fill out lead forms to get it.

Take Home Valuation Data. As you know, one large real estate portal that starts with the letter “Z” built up their brand with this type of business intelligence – home value estimates.

Market data that persuades sellers

Real estate market data is not only a great way to attract and inform home buyers.

It’s also a very valuable tool in persuading home owners that your realty firm is truly the company with local knowledge.

An agent can show a potential seller how they are going to use that real estate business intelligence to market their home and attempt to generate the most and highest offers for their property.

That business intelligence now puts the local broker on the same level as the large, public portals.

That’s empowering.

In this digital day and age, consumers are used to finding the information they want just by typing (or even saying) a few words into a device they hold in their hand.

That’s why it’s critical that local brokerages work with a real estate data aggregation company to establish themselves as the local source for this information.

Real estate market data is Business Intelligence for the housing industry.

Working with a Real Estate Data Aggregator to provide that valuable hyper-local data to consumers on a broker’s website is the intelligent decision to make.