Frustration can lead to a lot of things, such as anger, stress, dissatisfaction and disappointment, just to name a few. None of these are particularly good for you. There is something else that frustration can lead to and that is trying to find a better way to do something in an effort to alleviate that original frustration.
Several years back, in 2007, IT network engineer Andrew Crefeld and his wife were looking for a new home. Numerous times they packed up their two young kids to visit a property, only to realize that it did not look anything like the photos posted for the listing. It was this type of frustrating experiences that drove Crefeld to find a better way.
Taking full advantage of the video revolution that was sweeping the Internet at the time, he created a prototype of his first full-motion walk-through video house tour. The concept was a sensation with real estate agents, buyers, as well as sellers. Today, HouseLens has become one of the largest real estate video marketing companies of its kind.
Earlier this week, HouseLens launched the first true mobile-first marketing platform. This platform will revolutionize video viewing of real estate properties and fulfil Crefeld’s original idea of making the overall user experience for both home buyers and real estate agents a pleasant one. You can get an idea of what that experience is like by watching the below video.
The person that you see in the video is Joshua Lomelino, who is HouseLens' chief information officer and senior UX designer. He believes that, "What's really exciting about responsive design is that it completely eliminates the need for apps or other specialized software. With HTML5, our full video marketing platform automatically adjusts itself for display and performance on mobile devices like phones and tablets. The full site is the mobile site."
I have seen lots of commercials lately showing everyone using their mobile devices to get reports from their real estate agents on properties that they are interested in. Most of these sites offer you a gallery, or catalog of pictures for you to scroll through. While this is a good start, as Crefeld found out, it does not always give you a true and accurate representation of the property.
According to research conducted by both Google (News
– Alert) and the National Association of Realtors, the information shows that 89 percent of home buyers use mobile devices to research real estate. This is the preferred method of house shopping regardless of where they are, even when they're sitting at home. The research also shows that realtors spend almost half of their time conducting business on their mobile devices. Having a video of a walk through gives the shopper a way of seeing what the property looks like in a realistic way, not through photos that were taken when the property first went on the market.
Crefeld follows this up by saying, "This launch illustrates our top-priority commitment to meet the demonstrated needs of our customers and their clients. The primary reason I started HouseLens was to make the home buying and selling process more convenient for everyone involved. HTML5 responsive design is key to accomplishing that goal."
Edited by
Stefania Viscusi