WikiRealty brings real estate agents' local expertise to the forefront

Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology expert? Email Craig Rowe.

WikiRealty is a platform for agents to share local expertise and promote services.

Platforms: Browser-based; mobile-optimized
Ideal for: Agents and teams looking to expand online presence; new agents focused on web-based leads

Top selling points

• Visually engaging
• SEO benefits
• Cross-promotion on social media
• Consumer data insights

Top concerns

• May not interest agents who already have a strong online presence or advertise heavily on portals, though it could serve as a supplement to existing efforts

What you should know

At the heart of WikiRealty is agents’ ability to share local content and position themselves the go-to agent for a specific neighborhood or community.

WikiRealty contacted Inman about a new feature that allows agents to upload 360-degree panoramic images to their local content pages with a mobile device.

I don’t find this feature particularly compelling when juxtaposed with the menagerie of easy 3-D and virtual reality tools that have already infiltrated the market, including immoviewer, Google Cardboard, portal integrations and the beginning stages of 3-D mobile capture.

With this new feature, you can’t pan forward, walk through a scene or be delivered augmented content. Google Street View can be dropped into just about any website today to provide viewers the same type of experience. I find the integration of full listing videos more enticing.

Nevertheless, the 360-degree update does keep WikiRealty’s promise to provide agents with a visually rich online content destination for consumers.

The site adds a significant SEO punch by helping agents highlight neighborhood attractions such as parks, malls, restaurants, new home developments and real estate news.

Content wins the day

For those who already populate blogs regularly and share news feeds with their audience, WikiRealty could quickly augment the reach of such content.

I like how the site makes agents compete with one another for local attention.

There isn’t a mechanism for one agent to pay more to be the better online source — it’s up to their content to win the day. Nice.

All content is automatically duplicated on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

Consumer data intel

WikiRealty shares consumer data with agents when they sign up and input their lifestyle and home type preferences. Agents are offered reminders and tips on how to integrate this consumer data into their content feeds.

A market’s listings are sharply detailed on each agent’s page via a ListHub connection.

Each agent’s listings will be showcased at the top of the list. Users can also measure how their content is connecting with readers. I think this helps push WikiRealty in the “marketing platform” category of real estate solutions.

Agent experience

Agents will enjoy how WikiRealty makes sure viewers know who owns a listing. There’s no deliberate attempt to push pricey memberships to convince a consumer who to contact for more information.

Consumers can map-search markets via “highlights,” which are the articles and agent-generated content, or they can search by listings.

Clicking a highlight delves into the author’s profile page. It’s a sharp, effective way to present an agent’s local value proposition — provided the content is engaging.

If an agent defaults to regurgitating quarterly market reports or third-generation stories, they’ll lose the value of that clickthrough.

If I peel away the initial offerings of WikiRealty, what I see is a real estate content portal that will benefit those agents who commit to it.

Competing with Zillow and other solutions?

I’m concerned how this product will battle with Zillow’s agent finder.

Now, I’m no fan of Zillow, so I prefer WikiRealty’s approach. Zillow prefers to promote those who pay the most, which proves nothing about an agent’s capability or local expertise.

Then again, that’s up to the consumer to decide.

Realtor.com also makes local knowledge a priority, as that’s a significant part of the association’s credo. It also pushes market news and popular real estate content.

Relola offers a similar insight-promotion model, using agent feedback to generate credibility with online shoppers, which I find more authentic.

I find WikiRealty’s user experience superior to the major portals and its intent admirable, and agents will benefit from using its online reach to bolster search results.

The company is active in most of California, South Florida, Chicago and New York. New markets are expected to come online quickly throughout 2017.

Overall, I’m mixed on WikiRealty, but I know that the foundation for something really valuable is somewhere in all that code.

Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe