New MLS property search application

[lordbyroniv]

I cleaned up the look/feel of the site... I am quite happy with it now.

http://www.oneworldmedia.com/mls/

Very interesting

Are you going to eventually populate the data with all 50 states and have a search interface that allows users to search by "city" and / or "state" ?

Thanks

 

[kengreenwood]

If someone has access to an IDX (or similar) file with all 50 states, I can certainly modify the application to do that. However, as I mentioned previously, I tested this concept out originally with all of the listings in the state of Florida and the count was around 120,000. The application performance was acceptable but I can imagine it slowing down if you multiple that number by 50. As long as the user makes some selections, the application should perform acceptably with any number of listings. It's when they just click "search" without filtering down at all and the application would have to pull back millions of records that would cause it to run seriously slowly... I could put some code in the application to force the user to filter down further when the result set is over a certain number of records. That would be fairly simple.

Anyway, the short answer is "yes" I plan on expanding this to include all states but I need to work with people who have access to the data. I'm not a realtor... so I need to work with realtors/brokers to make this a nationwide product. Either that or I bite the bullet and buy my own access to the data (which I don't believe is cheap).

 

[kengreenwood]

Example of the final product - http://www.cindyoatess.com/

 

[kengreenwood]

DEMO - I created a demo movie that explains the functionality of the website and how it can be updated directly from the website... see:

http://www.oneworldmedia.com/mls/demo.htm

 

[internext]

Excellent job! My comments/observations (from cindyoatess.com): PLEASE stop all the ALLCAPS descriptions if this is possible. Also I dont see how someone can directly link to a specific listing. Am I missing this? Also just noticed that a listing with a virtual tour would not open the virtual tour in Firefox. (MLS ID: T2296444)

 

[kengreenwood]

Excellent job! My comments/observations (from cindyoatess.com): PLEASE stop all the ALLCAPS descriptions if this is possible. Also I dont see how someone can directly link to a specific listing. Am I missing this? Also just noticed that a listing with a virtual tour would not open the virtual tour in Firefox. (MLS ID: T2296444)

Good points - I was troubled by the CAPS as well. My issue there was that some realtors were using all CAPS and some weren't ... therefore, it looked inconsistent. I'll probably take your advice and just let it be inconsistent.

And you are correct in that you cannot link directly to a specific listing since it's one big application - not a bunch of individual web pages.

Regarding the missing virtual tour - that's a case of garbage in garbage out. The invalid link is being pulled from the IDX file. Can't do anything about that.

thanks...

 

[kengreenwood]

Anyone interested in just the search functionality, I just finished stripping everything away but that... and it would be easy to embed it directly into your website (assuming you have access to an IDX download for the listings you want to display). Just need to set up AMFPHP, run a script to create the MySQL database, run and schedule the daily download script and load up the .swf and other supporting files on to your web server. Would probably take an hour or two.

http://www.oneworldmedia.com/mls/search_only

 

[DNBA]

awesome i love it.

 

[kengreenwood]

UPDATE - I've added a component within the flex application that leverages the new google ga.js tracking statistics technology. This way - ANYTHING the user does WITHIN the flash application is captured and recorded in your google analytics account. This could never be done before but it is now possible. Pretty sweet stuff - I can see what buttons are being clicked and how many times, what the user is searching for etc.... very powerful.

 

[Compassion]

good info to read/learn about.

the site is clean - first time i have knowingly seen with the adobe editor...


I will be interesting in implemting this in Colorado and California...


What is the song?

 

[kengreenwood]

The song was something I picked up from AudioJungle.net - just a piano loop that I liked and my client liked. And it avoids any copyright infringement.

 

[WebBrands]

Hey Ken,

NICE work! Sent you an e-mail to Ken @ OWM.

Cheers,
Chas

 

[kengreenwood]

Update - I have begun integrating the urlkit functionality into the MLS site I built. This solves the issue with Flash files and how they interact with the web browser (ie the back and forward buttons). This will also allow people to send DIRECT links to specific content within the flash file itself...pretty sweet stuff. For example: If Cindy wanted to send to a client a specific result set of homes that are priced at $500k and have central A/C and a fenced in yard, she could email them this link:

http://cindyoatess.com/test/#/Produ...ood=f;singlestory=f;multistory=f;guesthouse=f

and when you go to that link, you'll see what happens...

The main test site is http://www.cindyoatess.com/test

If you click on the menu options of that test site, you'll see how the integrated urlkit functionality keeps track of the users movement within the site and the browser buttons will work accordingly.

I need to complete the deep linking but you get the idea. Bottom line is that this blows away the main issue I've had with Flash files - the browser integration.

 

[DNBA]

looks good but i think you need a cleaner url. you should probably cache the queries and make shorter urls. also load time takes too long for some reason.

 

[kengreenwood]

looks good but i think you need a cleaner url. you should probably cache the queries and make shorter urls. also load time takes too long for some reason.

no doubt - I am certainly going to trim down the url and correct the page loads... still in it's inception right now...

 

[copper]

Beautiful site.
But, it takes awfully long to load.

I guess you need to work on SEO part including SEF URL.
Also, I heard that you can incorporate text with flash for SEO purpose.
I have no idea how, but, seen discussion about it.

 

[kengreenwood]

Beautiful site.
But, it takes awfully long to load.

I guess you need to work on SEO part including SEF URL.
Also, I heard that you can incorporate text with flash for SEO purpose.
I have no idea how, but, seen discussion about it.

Yeah, I need to figure out how to get the site size trimmed down - Flex components tend to be rather bulky in size (ie a Datagrid is over 200k alone.... and an EMPTY flex app is 150k by itself....).

Using a combination of the URLKit and an entire html layer site underneath the flash layer will allow SEO practices to work...

 

[tonyfloyd]

Ken...i didnt forget you......was in Florida....need to get back on it again....will keep u posted.....

tony

 

[kwok]

Very nice, so it has to be a broker or agent to get this on our website? Wonder if an outsider who has an appropriate domain can own a site like this. If so, please PM price. Thanks.

 

[RustyK]

very nice. Would be nice if you embeded a live person too. Please pm your price.