Everyone’s talking about homesdatabase.com

This week everyone’s talking about Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. (MRIS’s) new 2.0 beta version of homesdatabase.com, the public search portal, which has just gone live at beta.homesdatabase.com.

The original website launched in March 1999, and Jonathan Hill, Vice President of Business Development for MRIS, who are based in the US, was quoted on Inman News as saying the site recently recorded about 900,000 monthly viewers. It’s one of the top real estate websites in its market.

So why are chins wagging about yet another site revamp?

Firstly, it’s new and shiny 2.0! There’s a host of web 2.0 search features and design, reported on by Inman News.

MRIS themselves are saying that when everything is perfect the new site will eventually replace the old site early next year with a major radio, print and online ad campaign. It’s always been a site that is free to both consumers and real estate professionals and displays no advertising.

RISmedia reported on the beta launch saying:

“According to the association, HomesDatabase.com 2.0 signals an important shift in the online real estate category, which has been defined largely by media companies and venture-funded startups. These entities, for all their innovation, often offer consumers an incomplete, sometimes biased, and less-than-current selection of listings, a critical shortcoming given the gravity of the real estate transaction.”

geekestateblog.com most succinctly summed up the buzz around the relaunch, arguing that the new homesdatabase.com website is an attempt to take on sites like trulia.com, zillow.com, and redfin.com: “many MLS systems across the United States have been critical of listing aggregator sites like Zillow and Trulia and they now have entered into the arena to try and take back a piece of the pie”.

At propertyportalwatch.com we think that the buzz might be because the property world has been swept up in the 4 part online video drama starring a real estate superhero character, which MRIS have created to promote the launch. Mr Is (yes, a play on their name) is a real estate practitioner “empowered by a new tool – homesdatabase.com 2.0 – that freed him from the costs and hassles associated with web marketing”…

And they said it was just about connecting directly with consumers…