In a weekly news cycle dominated by Zillow, it's only fair to lead with the big blue giant once again! For that reason alone, this week's Product and Services Roundup starts in the United States...
Zillow has announced it will bring "an integrated home-buying experience to life" to more of its so-called 'enhanced markets'.
In a blog released earlier this week, the portal operator says customers who come to Zillow "will be able to easily move through a traditionally complicated process more intuitively and seamlessly with the expert guidance of Premier Agent partners and Zillow Home Loans loan officers".
Zillow said a particular focus will be on financing and integrated financing, where "Nearly 80% of homes purchased are financed with a mortgage, and shopping for a mortgage is the starting point for about 40% of all home buyers." Users in enhanced markets will be able to easily request financing information online and use resources, such as an affordability calculator, to learn more about what their potential monthly mortgage payment may be as they begin to set a budget.
Finally, Zillow will also simplify home tours with Real-Time Touring.
The upgraded experience is currently available in 43 enhanced markets but will be rolled out to an additional 49 markets by the end of April, to a total of 92 enhanced markets nationwide.
Zillow has had a busy week: it released its Q4 and FY 2024 results, entered a major listings syndication partnership with Redfin, and also found itself embroiled in a lawsuit surrounding its New York portal StreetEasy.
Domclick, the defacto state-owned portal owned by Russian national bank Sber, appears to be the first major portal to use DeepSeek to create content.
A blog post published yesterday on Domclick's website utilised DeepSeek to identify the 10 best residential complexes in Moscow for families with children.
Domclick asked DeepSeek why it suggested each of the complexes to the final list—its response suggested the results were picked on seven key criteria: affordability; child-friendly infrastructure; transport; ecology; the reputation and track record of the developer; neighbourhoods with improving infrastructure; and reviews and popularity of the neighbourhood.
DomClick has previously used GigaChat from Sberbank to assist users in choosing housing.
Cocampo, the leading platform for buying and leasing rural properties, continues to drive the digitalization of the niche rural land sector with the development of a suite of new features that improve user experience.
Cocampo previously allowed unlimited free ad posting for all users, and the platform has now introduced a three-tier subscription plan–designed to meet the needs of different sellers.
Other features include the launch of an automated alert system which allows buyers to stay updated on the latest opportunities available on the portal without checking it directly, an improved system for saving search criteria, recategorised listings, and an improved internal SEO structure.
Online Marketplaces interviewed Cocampo founder Regino Coca Barrionuevo last year. Read it here.
Ireland-based land marketplace Solsign has released a free solar site assessment tool for Germany.
Solsign is a portal that offers landowners instantaneous and highly detailed information regarding the potential of their land for renewable energy purposes. The business has an AI-driven platform that analyses the hidden solar potential of plots of land.
Solsign's new tool delivers precise insights in seconds, down to precise coordinates, giving a percentage score on the land's suitability for utility-scale solar farms. The tool reveals information such as the size of the plot, the number of hours of sunlight it receives per year, and an estimated lease income range should the landowner choose to lease the land to a solar farm developer.
Mattan Lass, Founder of Solsign, said:
"We see land diversification as a massive yet largely untapped opportunity for property portals. Landowners and real estate agents want better tools to assess the solar value of their properties, but existing solutions are costly and require technical expertise. Solsign removes all these barriers by providing them with free, AI-powered GIS analysis, making solar site assessment accessible to all and unlocking new opportunities in the growing renewable energy market."
Singapore-based real estate marketplace Mogul.sg has launched Maia, an AI-powered property agent that aggregates more than 100,000 active listings from portals including PropertyGuru.com.sg and 99.co.
Once users submit their preferred criteria for their next home, Maia scours active listings around the web and strikes up conversations with sellers and agents to arrange viewings via WhatsApp. The AI agent is free to use for all home buyers and is built on Google Cloud’s Vertex AI.
This week's people roundup starts in a sombre mood after Redfin announced a major round of layoffs driven by a...
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Zillow has been sued over allegations that StreetEasy allowed multiple brokers to list the same unit on the platform, effectively...
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The diversified marketplace and former aggregator operator Lifull has released its financial result for the first quarter of the Japanese...
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Zillow has eyed up a bigger slice of the rental pie with a major partnership that will see Redfin syndicate...
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