Will geo-fencing be the next step in real estate marketing?

A follow up post on earlier written (see post 1 and 2) about the potential using GPS/mobile functionality in the real estate market   

Marketing through geo-fencing

Chris Thorman, Social Media Manager of Software Advice (incl. property management), has written a great post on the topic geo-fencing in marketing residential real estate.

He gives an example of a couple, who earlier had signed up for the service and define their criteria, got a SMS when they walk close to a listing.

"How was the couple instantly notified of the opportunity, perfectly merging buyer requirements, location and timing? The answer involves a combination of “geo-fencing,” mobile phones and GPS technology.

If you’re a tech savvy real estate agent or property manager, this powerful combination of technology represents a great opportunity to gain new clientele. Many real estate buyers do not have the time to review new listings online, travel to viewings or patrol their desired neighborhoods for opportunities. But the vast majority of real estate buyers do have mobile phones they carry with them nearly all the time."

In the above example an SMS is used, but I'm convinced you could create the same functionality using push functionality in your mobile application.

My thoughts

For sure an interesting idea. I would love to see functionality like this on residential listing services like Hemnet, Booli, Bovision or Boliga in Sweden. But, it has to be opt in (in other words, you signed up for it) and very detailed when it comes to setting references.