iHomeFinder IDX

iHomefinder is a well established IDX search solution available to agents in many of the largest markets in the United States.  It is likely that they already have data in your market, so check with your MLS.

Their product offers all of the key features of property search that are important to REALTORS and their clients.  Their base product offers search by city, zipcode, price and other standard form based criteria.  Lead generation on their solution follows established paradigms in IDX services including save a listing to favorites, save a search, and registration for automatic listing alerts.

They offer a full service back office solution for agents to access their registered users, gain insight into their search behavior, property interests, and contact information.

Ease of Use

Depending on your market, you will first need to contact your MLS to insure that iHomefinder is a current vendor and obtain the IDX agreement that is usually required to display IDX listings on your website.

Once the proper documentation is completed, you will fax the signed forms to iHomefinder who will then configure your IDX solution and prepare the links to property search for your website.  Like other IDX vendors, you can brand yourself to your property search with logos, photos and contact information which adds to the attraction of consumers to contact you about any mls listing that appears on your website.

Key Features

There are critical features to having a successful IDX search on your agent website – they include an easy to use property search, ability for customers to save listings to favorites, and the ability to register to receive notifications whenever new listings match their search criteria.  iHomefinder delivers all of these features beautifully using a very attractive and modern layout.

Managing your registered users is also very easy with iHomefinder.  Simply log into your dashboard on their website to view all of the customer information and customer activity on your site.  View a customer's featured property search criteria, favorite listings and other information that will allow you to manage and cultivate business from your IDX enabled website.

Map Search is available at a premium fee, and we strongly suggest that you consider it strongly if it is within your budget.  The offer Microsoft Maps, one of the standards in the industry that makes searching for properties by map very routine for consumers.

iHomefinder also offers Listing Syndication as an added feature.  Listing Syndication is the process of publishing your listings to top real estate portals for consumer viewing.  When a customer inquires about a listing or want to view the listing detail page on the real estate portal, it links directly to the page on your website to enhance lead capture.  This tight integration is a great feature.  Be aware that iHomefinder can only be responsible for sending your listings to the portals, there is a chance that your broker’s listing feed, franchise-listing feed, or MLS feed may trump your listing.  Unfortunately this is beyond their control.  Results will vary from portal to portal – rules for handling duplicate feeds are different at Trulia, Zillow, realestate.yahoo.com, googlebase, cyberhomes and others.

Seller Property Organizer

Sellers can sign up for Property Organizers just as any other visitor to your site. Using Seller Management, you can add the seller’s property so that it is listed on the My Listings tab of the Property Organizer. The Seller can then click on the listing to view the activity on their listing.

Sellers may also save searches and properties in their Property Organizer. This information can help them in their search for a new home and keep them up-to-date on the market where they are selling a home.

Strengths and Weaknesses

This is a strong Product in the marketplace and they have kept up with product innovation in the IDX industry over the years.  Their design is lovely, but may conflict with the overall design of your website.  There may be some options on how to soften these conflicts.  Be sure to ask iHomefinder about this if it is a concern of yours.

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