Localize, a service for helping renters and buyers find properties in New York City, announced the launch of a service to help buyers find agents in a Tuesday press release.
The company’s unique “find the truth” model, reviewed in 2019, uses a wide swath of curated geographically granular web content, illustrated maps, and a trove of public and private data networks to reveal the character of specific neighborhoods, streets, buildings and even specific floors.
The same algorithm will be used to offer buyers a way to find agents who best match their market specialties, price range and geographic expertise.
The service is called Localize Advantage.
The intent of the product is to have agents present themselves via online profiles within Advantage, in accordance with the buyer’s home search needs.
Andrew Kalish, head of strategic partnership and market development for Localize, said in a phone call with Inman that it’s not just another advertising platform.
“This is for agents to get new clients, it works very differently than other lead-gen services,” he said.
“Historically, agents would buy a ZIP code or want to be a Premiere Agent, or in New York, have a presence in a building. Those are really just banner ads, untargeted banner ads,” he said.
Consumers using Localize don’t have to sign-in or have an account to have their previous searches, new home matches or rejections fed to them in its market data stream. Localize uses that data, combined with what agents provide them during sign-up, to then deposit an agent’s profile into that feed. And more than one agent will be presented.
“This is the best of LinkedIn, but for real estate,” Kalish said.
Agents build a branded landing page that functions as a resume of sorts for buyers to consider before reaching out.
An agent’s deal location history and property specialties are fed into the algorithm. For example, an agent who has only sold high-rise condos might not appear as a match for a buyer seeking a street-level townhome, even if they are within a half-mile of another. Price history is also a factor.
Kalish said that it’s more Google Adwords than Zillow, referring to how his product prioritizes expertise and buyer expectations over advertising budget.
Localize is in talks with brokerages to create enterprise accounts that will eliminate the need for busy agents to manually update their deal histories, according to Kalish.
The company will offer Advantage free for the first month of use. Agents can use the code: free_month.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
