Jeff, the Xbroker, has slowly been leaking details of his newest venture, RealEspace, over the last few days. What is RealEspace? Well, no-one really knows just yet, but details are emerging. From a recent post at The XBroker, Jeff describes RealEspace as:
* A Best-of-Breed user interface to search property listings, backed by robust demographical analytics and localized content provided by qualified agents on the ground
* A single point of entry, syndicated listing solution for real estate professionals
* A transparent wholesale mortgage search engine—100% anonymous, automated mortgage pre-qualification
* A mortgage broker network offering true flat-fee, full-disclosure loans—you see what they see
* Standardized video tour production & marketing services
Reading through the list, these are lofty goals and while RealEspace hopes to raise millions in their first round of VC funding (see RSS Pieces) – it’s going be a tough play for them to take on some of the more entrenched players like Zillow or Trulia in the search game.
I do wish them well, and I suspect they have some interesting cards up their sleeve, but it seems to me they’d be best focusing on some of the smaller, under served segments with this push, rather then spreading themselves too thin trying to be everything to everyone right out of the gates.
Personally, like sellsius, I’m most interested in what they can do with a mortgage search engine. I think this is a critically overlooked space right now – one that is screaming out for improvement (can anyone say subprime meltdown?) and has been largely ignored by the Real Estate 2.0 revolution. One that could definitely benefit from Jeff’s experience.
Speaking as someone who is gearing up for a home purchase themselves, I find myself increasingly dissatisfied with all the mortgage tools that exist out there already. I’d love to see a place where I could research the loans available to me, find out what I qualify for and then contact a reputable mortgage broker; rather than having my email address and phone number snatched away from me and resold to some money-grubbing loan shark before I get any answers.
If nothing else I’m looking forward to seeing what these guys can pull off. Especially anything that involves a greased pig.
