Datscha launches Layar app for the commercial real estate market

(Full disclosure, I'm the proud Product Manager of Datscha.)

Yesterday Datscha, the Swedish SaaS for the commercial real estate industry, launched a Layar app in private Beta.

User benefits

The users will be able to easy find information about all the commercial (including multifamily) properties in the surrounding. Just point the camera towards the building and the name and ownership will be displayed. Or use the map mode to click around for data.

In the map mode the blue dot represents where you are and the black dot which property you have selected. Click on any yellow dot to display the information for that property. 

The user also has the list mode and a larger 'pop-up' info box.

All commercial properties

What makes this app so interesting is that it includes all commercial (including multifamily) properties the entire Sweden. In total 380 000 properties.

What is needed?

First of all, in order to use any Layar functionality the user need to have a 'modern' mobile phone like iPhone or any Android device with GPS and compass and the Layar App itself.

Secondly, in order to add the Datscha data you need to have a Datscha account which cost from 8 000 Dollars per year. At this point the mobile application will be a add on to the subscriptions.

Interested in testing?

Drop a mail to info@datscha.com to request taking part in the Private Beta testing.

More about Layar

See earlier posts 1 and 2.

The iPAD - the perfect management gadget?

Over the last week I've been delighted (yes, that's the word) to get my hands on the latest product Mr Jobs says I need to have; the iPAD.

The perfect management tool

The more I've used it, the more I'm convinced that it is perfect for any top manager.

Straightforward - I see a set up with four (4) buttons:
   1. the mail 
   2. calender 
   3. web browser  
   4. the company App (see below)

Mobile - Smaller and lighter than a laptop, but big enough to read the text

Fast - one click and it starts in a second, no waiting to boot...

Easy to use - their first requirement is always 'one-click' (here you have two)

No multitasking - Yes, that is correct, that is a feature... (for those users)

Long productive - With a 10h battery (for active use) it full have fuel for the entire day

Gadget - Yes, you will see young and stylish out using it

The company App  

A click and a dashboard with the most important parameters for their business should be presented.

For a CEO in a property company that could be:
   * income reports 
   * latest sales figures
   * ten largest rent agreements due in a month 
   * number of support issues handled per day (vs not resolved in a 3-days)
   * ... 

It should be on one screen mainly in graphs, with one one level of further details.  

The example is from a service called Roambi (check out there video).

My thoughts

I don't see the iPAD as primary an laptop replacement. More a gadget for those who don't bother carrying around a laptop but, if honest, should be more productive if they had update to date information at the fingertips. 

What's your thoughts?

Update 15th may
Found an excellent post on what an iPAD could do to your family.
http://chucksblog.emc.com/chucks_blog/2010/05/what-ipads-did-to-my-family.html

Never underestimate to do something other do great brilliantly.

Yardi acquires Propertyshark in a move into property data

Yardi acquires Propertyshark in the search "to integrate deep property data into the Yardi suite of real estate investment management and property management software". (See press release & here.)

Yardi Systems

Yardi was founded in 1984 by Anant Yardi and is today one of the leading suppliers in the US for Asset and Property management software. Their systems are used in over 20 000 business globally.  

 

PropertyShark

PropertyShark was founded in 2002 by Matthew Haines "strives to level the playing field by providing real estate professionals, investors and savvy homebuyers with the information transparency essential to evaluate all types of real estate and make informed decisions". Has today 50 fulltime employees.

The offering consists of:
   * Property Reports & Building Photos
   * Pre-Foreclosure and Foreclosure Listings 
   * Sales Comparables 
   * Maps
   * For Sale Listings 
   * For Lease Listings
   * PropertyShark University

A review of their services from The Wall Street Journal from 2007, Forbes in 2006 and an interview in National Real Estate Investor from 2008.

Second acquisition in a month

The acquisition of PropertyShark is the second purchase this year for Yardi. In mid-February they purchased RentGrow "a leading provider of online resident screening services for multifamily property management firms" (press release).

Additional reading

More to be found at:

   * Inman
   * PropertyGrunt  

My thoughts

This deal will be very interesting to follow. I strongly believe in integrating information with analyse tools. (Full disclosure, I'm the product manager for Datscha which is doing just that).

A further interesting part is that Yardi with the acquisition of PropertyShark moves into the territory of Costar and Loopnet, regarding listings of property for sale and lease. (read more at TheRealDeal). 

Video on the Zillow iPad App

Check out the video on the Zillow iPad App.
Looks brilliant.

And read the CEO Rich Bartons blog post about it.

My thoughts

I believe the iPad could be used extensively to display real estate listings (i.e. photos and maps) for clients. For example, in app like Zillows. 

Furthermore, a great way to use it would be at conventions, seminars and so on to walk around among the attendees and show something online or just slide through a presentation.   

Booli displays market share for brokers

In marketing, there is an unproportionally large number of 'market leaders' (normally never describing in what sense). The Swedish residential real estate search engine Booli has released a new functionality that will add some light on topic.

Direct link to the list above.  

The new service 'Broker guide'

Booli is able to, based on all the data crawled from the real estate brokers websites, to calculate the market share for each brokerage firm. 

The table shows:
   * name
   * number of listings & medium listing price in three property types:
          - single family houses
          - apartments 
          - other

Note! Development listings are excluded in the statistics.

Information per firm
The user is also able to click on the brokerage firms name in the list and see a summarization page for the broker per municipality (or county).

The graph displays 'apartment listing price per square meter' for the firm 'Örlogsstaden' (blue line) versus all listings in the county Blekinge. Direct link to the page.

Further reading

Additional reading in English is found at Paula Marttila. 

For the Swedish speaking crowd more insight is found at
   * Booli blog 
   * Jardenberg unedited
   * Martin Palacios 
  

My thoughts 

As a strong believer in a transparent market (and really tired of a market where the use of 'market leader' is used all the time) it's obvious that I like this service.

However, large is not equal to best.
But at least this data brings down the sales pitch to facts.

Also delighted to see that Booli push the development to create a great service for its customers.