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Real estate is on my mind – I could easily do a linky goodness edition on the theme today.
Overstock.com Inc. is getting into real estate search (realestate.overstock.com) for bargain hunters who are already on their site to get overstock items. So now you can not only find the house, but you can buy the sheets, silverware, and curtains for it. You can also get a car for the driveway!
Overstock has more than 3 million classified, foreclosure, and auction listings. They have some fun with the site and their branding. I think this is a good example to many sites that are overly busy, complicated, or boring (no fun or branding). I’m a fan of sites that keep search simple from their home pages (be it online dating sites, social networks, or other similar sites).
They have an “O-Hot Value” logo next to the best deals. To come up with the information, they rank each home’s value relative to others in its neighborhood. The site will automatically show auction, distressed and foreclosed properties first.
But peel away the idea and the idea is not as compelling (see MSN’s blog post). The site is an aggregate of listings of various real estate sites and the search isn’t top notch. The sole purpose seems to be make money on advertising.
Maybe you’d be better off studying up on this instead.
