Making the most of your property data?
This year’s buzz words…”BIG DATA” but what does that really mean for the humble (I use this term loosely) estate agent?
Property companies up and down the land will be capturing geographical or location based data on a daily basis from vendors address details, valuation data, Land Registry title documents etc. They will also use mapping in some capacity but a large percentage won’t be harnessing its potential. You may have sold, let or been instructed on hundreds, perhaps thousands of properties in the last 6-12 months but can you easily see where one property is in relation to another? Your static list of properties in your CRM might be ordered numerically but it doesn’t mean number 2 High Street is opposite or next to number 1 High Street. They could be at either end of the road and this could have a bearing on value or saleability.
The best property portals, in my opinion, allow their users to display properties on a map or to create map based search areas. This has been one of the best additions to their services in recent years as people start their property search with a location, whether it’s a postcode district (SE1) or town/village name. They will then apply a radius to that location…so what better way to display your own location based data than on a map?
Imagine having a map populated with your data. You could quickly see what activity has taken place within close proximity to your search area. Take it another level by refining the data using its attributes such as sold price, No. of bedrooms or by building type. You then have even more options; add Land Registry Sold Price data, conservation areas, listed buildings or flood zones to name but a few datasets that could be used to create an incredibly powerful search tool.
Truth of the matter is that this data is being captured but isn’t being used to its full potential and that could be the difference between you and your competitors.
Vendors are becoming much more savvy and of course they want the best deal, whether it’s with a high street or an on-line estate agent. They want to have confidence in you and that you are going to sell their property. If you have all the innovative tools to hand, then you are in a much better position than the next agent.
This has been written by Christian Woodhouse of FiND Maps – 020 3002 7441 or christian.woodhouse@findmaps.co.uk
It all start with a location…!
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