trulia.com Provides Therapy For The Property Obsessed

There’s a new fix out there for all of us property addicts: Trulia Snapshot was launched at the end of May 2008 and is billing itself as “therapy” for the real estate obsessed.

At a glance, this new application available on trulia.com may look like yet another map based way to show property listings. But some of the functions are very cool indeed, taking map browsing to a whole new level.

As the name suggests the emphasis in Trulia Snapshot is on images rather than text. The application offers a different way to browse property. It’s more like an online glossy magazine than a traditional search engine and trulia.com worked with its long time friends at Stamen Design to create the slick look and feel.

Not only can you browse by area, but you can also choose to let the application take you on a guided tour of properties in the area by pressing a play button. Animated property descriptions hover over a stylized black street map or Microsoft Virtual Earth.

In keeping with the aspirational tone (which encourages you to fantasize about your perfect beachside pad or Manhattan loft) properties can be sorted by most or least expensive, with most expensive appearing first by default to reel you in.

It certainly is addictive and maintains US based trulia.com’s reputation as an innovative real estate search engine.

Trulia Snapshot is just one of many “data visualizations” the company has launched.

Trulia Hindsight shows how housing booms developed, peaked and faltered over time, by allowing users to search for a location and then watch as properties appear one by one on the map according the year they were built, almost like iconic computer game Sim City.

Another application, Trulia Searchpaths, shows links between locations that consumers search, like an Amazon Recommends list for real estate.

In addition to these entirely new applications, trulia.com has continued to add new functions to existing search and list facilties. Most recently Yelp reviews for local restaurants, grocery stores, schools, banks and petrol stations have been added to the Google maps showing property locations.

This kind of therapy might only make things worse for the property obsessed…

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