Venture capital-backed SmartZip Analytics Inc. has updated its predictive marketing platform to allow homeowners to request changes to their SmartZip home valuations through a real estate professional.
Pleasanton, Calif.-based SmartZip rolled out its SmartTargeting platform in the summer of 2010 with the aim of targeting potential home sellers. The platform’s latest update, SmartTargeting 3.3, includes a lead capture system, SmartHomePrice.com, that gives homeowners instant access to their estimated home values as determined by SmartZip’s automated valuation model (AVM).
Through the site, homeowners can contact local real estate pros who are also SmartZip subscribers to ask for an adjustment of their home valuations due to recent property upgrades or changes in local market conditions. SmartZip’s home valuations appear on a variety of syndication websites, including realtor.com and foreclosure.com.
“AVMs mostly rely on publicly available data, which may not include a recent home remodel or a new school opening nearby. This new tool gives homeowners the ability to request updates to their published online home values through a local real estate expert,” said Ashutosh Malaviya, SmartZip’s chief technology officer, in a statement.
Once a real estate pro verifies the adjusted value for a property through their own analysis, SmartZip’s AVM algorithms refine the values, which then get syndicated to top real estate websites, the company said.
“This new tool is the perfect way for me to connect with homeowners about their home values, and the possibility of selling their home,” said SmartZip client Jerry Logan from Santa Cruz, Calif., in a statement.
“Most homebuyers believe that online values are accurate, so this tool gives sellers an opportunity to keep their values as up to date as possible.”
Logan started using SmartTargeting in February and has drummed up 13 listings since then, SmartZip said.
SmartTargeting 3.3 also includes new marketing offers and better control and flexibility over an agent’s branding, the company said. Later this month, SmartZip plans to release a Facebook application for homeowners and mobile access for real estate pros.
In the second quarter, revenue for the company’s SmartTargeting platform jumped 300 percent year over year and active subscribers for the platform also grew nearly threefold, SmartZip said.
“Our Q2 results demonstrate the dire need for a seller-focused marketing solution, especially in the current housing market,” said Avi Gupta, CEO of SmartZip, in a statement.
“While prospective buyers can be captured from online websites, finding home sellers requires a much more targeted, strategic and systematic approach. SmartTargeting provides just that — it brings big data, predictive analytics and automated marketing together to help agents identify and connect with best seller prospects.”
