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4 ways to use Realtor.com’s new dynamic map layers with clients 

Realtor.com is launching a data-powered tool for home that's easy to use, packed with insights, and will elevate your client conversations.

Realtor.com
November 13, 2024
6 minutes

Calling all agents! We're excited to share that we're rolling out an innovative, data-powered tool for online consumers to use in their home search. But it's not just for the shoppers, buyers, and sellers — it's for agents like you, too. Think of it like a new tool you can pack up in your toolkit and whip out to wow your clients. It's filled with rich insights, is easy to use, and can help power up your conversations, discussions, and deep dives with your clients.

When home shoppers land on Realtor.com, they can start their search for a home in their ZIP code or city and get pages upon pages of listings to sift through and review. Whether they toggle between a list on the page or use the map to scroll, this many listings at once can make it tough for home shoppers to narrow down exactly what they're looking for. Sure, they can filter by bedrooms, bathrooms, and set their price range. And even with additional filters like lot size, HOA fees, commute times, and more, home shoppers' current filtering options leave them swamped with listings.

This isn't just a barrier to finding their home sweet home; it's also a barrier to finding you.

We know our users on Realtor.com prefer to search via maps. That's why we've developed a new and enhanced tool that helps them go multiple layers deep — and our data shows that homebuyers who use our dynamic maps are twice as likely to submit a lead. We also know our map users are more engaged, accounting for 40% more visits per day than non-map users.

Let's dive into how our new dynamic map layers on RealView Maps work, and how you can use them with your clients.

Introducing new dynamic layers on RealView maps

Only available on Realtor.com, our new dynamic map layers on RealView Maps allow buyers to now compare home ages, lot sizes, home values, and more — all at a glance. These layers seamlessly and visually help potential home buyers hone in on their wants and needs to find the right home, faster.

How can dynamic map layers help you as an agent?

You're probably thinking, "This sounds great for consumers, but why does it matter to me as an agent?" We're glad you asked! Our newest feature helps consumers filter down to the details that matter to them the most. The insights they can glean help empower home shoppers and get them up to speed before the buying process is even kicked off.

In turn, this creates higher-intent home shoppers, helping weed out tire-kickers, looky-loos, or ghosts, giving you more time back to work with consumers who are ready to make a move.

4 major ways to use dynamic map layers with your clients

1. Help home shoppers learn more about home values and characteristics in their market

With dynamic map layers, you can show your buyer clients property boundaries and property-level data on Realtor.com maps. Try pulling up a listing they're interested in and then putting this filter on. The color-coded map broadens their view of the local market, showing the values of the surrounding homes and other characteristics like age and size.

With dynamic map layers, you have a wealth of information to help your clients quickly understand:

Is this the cheapest or most expensive house on the block?

Am I getting a good deal here?

Can I even afford to move to this city/neighborhood/street?

How do nearby properties compare?

This level of access to information is unparalleled for consumers. When you share it with them as an agent, it allows you to educate them on the neighborhood they're searching in, how their ideal listings rank against other properties, and help them shore up their own local knowledge.

2. Show your seller clients their selling power, too

When you're working with home sellers, getting the listing price right from the very start is one of the most important steps you'll take in the selling process. These same layers we just outlined aren't just for the home shoppers; they're for the seller clients, too. Use the home values and characteristics filters in dynamic map layers to help your sellers assess how their own property compares to properties in the immediate and surrounding neighborhoods.

When seller clients can see an unbiased, data-driven view into what local, similar (or not similar) homes are selling for, along with key property details like home and lot size that drive these prices, you're far better equipped to have productive pricing conversations from the get-go.

3. Use dynamic map layers to help buyers and sellers understand the state of the local market

What's more, dynamic map layers also help buyer clients understand the housing market and ultimately decide when and where to buy a home. How? Through clearly displayed sold versus listing price, sold price by square foot, days on market, and a market hotness overlay.

This level of filtering helps consumers understand the hottest ZIP codes in the markets they're browsing, how much they'll need to make an offer on a home, and how quickly homes are selling in the areas they're searching. Think of dynamic map layers as the educational sidekick you need to get buyers ramped up and ready to work with you. With such low inventory currently available, home shoppers must have more data on the markets they're searching in and an understanding of what's moving in that market.

Housing market layers in RealView maps are also crucial for seller clients to get a solid grasp on what's happening in their own backyard. Market insights like sold price versus listing price, DOM, and market hotness will provide sellers with stronger indicators of their selling power, give them a more realistic sense of the timing of their home sale, and help set expectations for the duration of the transaction.

4. Help home shoppers select the right neighborhood for their lifestyle and their needs

Another great feature of dynamic map layers? Neighborhood boundaries. This layer functionality provides home shoppers with the ability to learn about neighborhood features. This filter showcases neighborhood boundaries, location highlights, and even allows you to click through to zoom into the neighborhood and get more details about its features.

With this data, your buyer clients can get a stronger idea of what specific neighborhoods are like, including what homes are available, and in what price range.

Use this filter in early conversations with buyer clients who are trying to assess their top neighborhoods, or with clients who are new to the area.

Neighborhood-level data also helps buyers assess whether or not they can find a comparable or less expensive neighborhood similar to the one they're considering. Let's say their ideal neighborhood doesn't have any homes available in their price range. As their agent, you can assess the qualities they like about this neighborhood and use insights from the neighborhood boundaries layers to help your buyers find similar areas where there are available homes in their price range.

Dynamic map layers help you work more effectively as an agent by saving you time on market research and heavy lifting conducting neighborhood comparisons.

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