The concept of on-demand service via mobile app was made most famous and well known by Uber, the car service company. I've always been in love with how Uber works because of how happy it makes both drivers and riders. But there's a new app on the streets called Curb Call, a peer to peer mobile app that connects nearby and available real estate agents with buyers who are on the curb of a listing, ready for a showing.

Though Curb Call connects agents and buyers like Uber connects passengers and drivers, there are some important differences between how it works compared to Uber.

Here's how Curb Call works:

For the Agent

Imagine you've just wrapped up some showings for a buyer client and you find yourself with some time this afternoon where you'll be checking emails at a coffee shop. With Curb Call, you can set yourself to "available for showings" just by starting the app and pressing the "Available" button. Now, nearby buyers will see your bio and can request a showing from you during the time that you keep your status set to "Available."

For the Buyer

Buyers tend to start searching online, narrowing their favorites down to a handful and then do "drive-bys" to see the listings in real life, get a feel for the neighborhood, see the other nearby houses, etc. When a listing looks as good in real life as it does online, buyers have historically only had the option to call the number on the sign for the showing. But the problem is, what are the chances of that listing agent being available right then? What are the chances that they can even answer their phone right then?

This is a time of maximum excitement for a buyer and now with Curb Call, they can simply open the app, and see a list of agent names nearby this listing and available right now. They can click through each one and view the agent's self-populated bio and see how other curb callers felt about the agent's friendliness and their local knowledge.

When the buyer selects an agent from the app, a showing request is sent to that agent via a push notification. The agent will see the buyer's name and neighborhood for the requested showing. If it's a neighborhood that the agent covers and they want to go on a showing ASAP, they can accept the showing and will immediately receive the buyer's full contact information. The buyer will also receive the agent's full contact info.

From there, it's a matter of getting in touch with the buyer via the contact info received and letting them know that you are about to schedule the showing for ASAP and will contact them back shortly. The buyer gets to go inside of a listing that they have seen online and are now outside in real life, so they are happy with the on-demand service and the agent is happy to receive a late stage buyer lead.

Business Model

Curb Call is licensed to one brokerage in each metro area for exclusive use by their agents. The brokerage pays a monthly fee for the service and only their agents will receive leads from Curb Call buyers. The app can be optionally branded to the brokerage, as well.

Curb Call provides the brokerage with advertising material to integrate into their existing buyer-facing marketing to help get the word out and get buyers using it. They also launch a digital marketing campaign in each market that they launch in.

If you'd like to learn more about this new app and obtaining an exclusive license for your brokerage, you can visit their website at www.CurbCallApp.com.

To view the original article, visit the Tech Savvy Agent blog.