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Stribling enters mobile real estate via mobile Web

Brokerage firm Stribling has rolled out a mobile Web site to help house hunters on the go, showing the growing need from consumers to research on their mobile devices.

Stribling?s new mobile site is part of the company?s recent rebranding effort. Stribling is working with agency Interactive Partners on the initiative.

?Mobile is still in its infancy, and we wanted to bring Stribling up to speed,? said Sarah McCormick, project manager at Interactive Partners, New York.

?Our goal was to extend the brand and personality into the online world where they were lacking before,? she said.

Mobile rebrand
New York-based Stribling recently rebranded with a new logo, Web site and mobile site to help both its agents and consumers streamline their business.

Users can access the mobile site at http://stribling.com/.

The Stribling mobile site was designed to replicate the Web site with a customized experience that is different from other cookie-cutter mobile site designs.

Consumers can access open house listings and view properties via the mobile site.

The mobile-optimized Web site also features click-to-call and tap-to-email features that let users contact Stribler real estate agents.

Users can enter keywords including price, location and housing type to filter down the listing results.

Consumers can browse photo galleries on individual listings and view a customized map of New York to locate multiple listings.

Users can also learn about properties with descriptions and features.

In addition to the mobile site, Stribling has also developed an iPad-specific mobile site that looks identical to Stribling?s Web site but is optimized for the device to require no pinching and zooming.

On-the-go house hunting
Mobile real estate is quickly growing to become important as consumers use their mobile devices more to check out and comparison shop for apartments and homes while on the go.

For Stribling, it was important to develop a mobile site instead of an application because of the freedom it gave the company to change features easily.

Additionally, a mobile site does not force users to find, download and update an app.

For a brokerage firm, an iPad-optimized site lets agents virtually show clients different properties easily from their mobile devices. 

Although mobile and real estate seem like a natural match, the space is still relatively new and is still being tested by real estate companies to leverage existing marketing efforts.

For example, Citi Habitats used email marketing to drive awareness of its mobile app (see story).

?Mobile and real estate go together well because an agent is always on the move, but the social behavior has changed with how people are looking for information,? Ms. McCormick said.

?People are engaging with real estate more than just on their desktop and need this kind of information at their fingertips when it is on their mind,? she said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York