Facebook Marketplace Gets Into Real Estate
Marketplace continues to be a big focus for Facebook, which intends on turning its social network into a portal for everything, from checking the weather and buying movie tickets to now listing your apartment or home.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook’s Marketplace has entered the real estate business with the expansion of its service to include home and apartment listings. The platform offers a venue where anyone can put up Craigslist-like ads for everything from furniture to clothing and cars, and lets you sell to anyone within 100 miles of you.
Search volume in the Marketplace tab has grown 300 percent globally since the beginning of this year, according to Facebook, which means the newest offering could be as successful as their social media platform, which has a monthly active users count of 2.07 billion.
Users can put their own apartment listings into this new section, while Facebook simply connects the listing between the owner and the renter—the firm claims that it doesn’t participate in any transaction. Any landlord or property owner wishing to list rental apartments on Marketplace must use Facebook’s partners Apartment List or Zumper to pull in listings. These partners will work with brokers, agents and other property managers to fill out the expanded housing section. Homeowners can also list their homes for sale on Marketplace.
The new option of the app could come in handy for property managers, as Facebook remains the largest social networking site, making it a good way for them to promote their rentals. According to a recent webinar hosted by SOCi and MHN, 65 percent of renters look at online reviews and ratings to help in their search.
“Marketplace is a popular place for people to look for a home to rent,” Facebook’s Bowen Pan, said in a statement. “Now that we’re adding listings from Apartment List and Zumper, people can search even more options in the U.S. to find a place to call home. First with vehicles and now with housing rentals, we’re partnering with businesses to bring more ease and convenience for consumers.”
The feature is currently available only via the mobile app in the U.S. and users follow a few steps to list their home or apartment. Users choose if they’re listing a house for sale or rent, add photos, fill out the listing details, and choose if they want the listing to appear on their profile only or on other buy-and-sell groups on Facebook.
According to Engadget, the launch will include search filters such as location, price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, type of rental, square footage and whether or not pets are allowed. Landlords can also upload 360-degree photos to add to their real estate listings.
Image courtesy of Facebook
