Are You Using Dwellicious?

Dwellicious (Dwell-icious) was introduced to the real estate industry at the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in New York City last January. Inman has also placed Dwellicious in the running for its Innovator Award in the Most Innovative New Technology category.

"Dwellicious is a social bookmarking site for people to organize, share and discuss the search for their next home."

I think buyers will love the great features on Dwellicious. It really is a great tool for house hunters using the internet to aid in their search for a home. Sellers can use Dwellicious to keep track of competing properties. Creating an account is a free service. Buyers and sellers can bookmark their favorite listings and check on them without having to go to each individual site.

Dwellicious features:

* Users access the Dwellicious website and simply download a chicklet to their tool bar.
* Users are able to bookmark any listing they find on most of the popular real estate websites.
* Dwellicious is a social bookmarking site. So, unless the user opts out, their favorite listings are there for all the world to see.
* Each user receives a personal URL (http://Dwellicious.com/USERNAME).
* Users can share their bookmarked properties by giving friends and family their Dwellicious URL or share their favorite listings via the Facebook and/or Twitter interface.
* Dwellicious provides the most current data and updates bookmarked listings whenever there is a price change, photos added or the property goes off the market automatically.
* Bookmarked listings can be organized to the users' preference.
* The service provides users with a set of "Cool Tools" which offer such data as neighborhood and school information, comps and maps.

So, how does Dwellicious work for you, the real estate professional? With the upgraded Dwellicious Pro, you will be able to create a custom URL for your clients. Now, when your buyer goes on a house hunt via the web, you will know what else they are looking at. No, it is not a "big brother" tool. It is a tool that can help you develop and maintain a trust relationship with your clients. In addition, I think clients/customers just may see you as innovative, an internet-savvy real estate agent and one who provides the best in service. Unfortunately, the cost for Dwellicious-Pro is not free. However, there is a free 1 client, 30 day trial.

Because this bookmarking site is niche oriented (which lowers the playing field), how popular it becomes as a tool for buyers and real estate professionals remains to be seen. So here is my Dwellicious challenge: please bookmark this blog and then:

* If you are using Dwellicious, post your comments and reviews here on my blog.
* If you are not using Dwellicious, try the free "test drive" with one of your favorite clients and post your experience here on my blog.
* I have asked one of my relatives, who is currently house hunting, to use Dwellicious. I will report back to you on this post when she sends me her comments.

By the way, you can go to the Dwellicious Help page to find which major real estate sites and IDX vendors work with Dwellicious.