Marc Davison of 1000watt Consulting and Inman News' blogger/journalist doesn't think current online real estate search is geared towards humans. He wrote an excellent article called Rethink Real Estate Search that points out several things that online real estate search currently does that isn't geared for humans, and other things that online real estate search ought to do that is geared for humans. We were pleased to read Marc's analysis because we feel hubbuzz.com is creating an apartment search experience made for humans. See below…

"Humans don't search by zip code."

My sister was recently house hunting and using a widely popular real estate website to search listings that required a zip code search if you wanted to narrow areas. She emailed me and asked if I could send her a list of zip codes that matched up with some specific neighborhoods in Denver. She thought that since I was in the real estate search business I would have that handy. I don't. Then she asked me how she was supposed to figure that out.

To me, zip codes are meaningful if I am mailing a letter. They are not useful when I am looking for stuff. I happen to know my zip code, my sister's zip code, my work's zip code - but I don't know the zip code of some of my favorite neighborhoods.

On hubbuzz.com apartment seekers can search by neighborhood, city or region. You can look at the big picture if you so desire, or you can get down into the thick of it. What's important is that you can search defined areas in terms of how people live. People live in neighborhoods, cities and regions – they don't live in zip codes.

Take Los Angeles for example – this is a BIG city - who would want to search the whole of LA? You wouldn't know where to start, and you would be at it all day trying to figure out what apartment is located where.

"Humans don't search homes from space. Or on maps filled with little blue markers."

We agree. That is why we are in the process of creating a map for apartment seekers that is actually useful. Stay tuned for more on this exciting project in development.

"Human don't analyze comprehensive Census data that pop off listings like a Crayola box of colored graphs, charts and heat maps."

When we first started building the hubbuzz.com neighborhood database we considered adding census information (crime rate, average household income, population, etc) to our neighborhood profiles. However, we began to wonder if the information was really useful. I live in a neighborhood where my income is below the average income…so what? Point is, when I am looking for a place to live I want to know what the vibe of a neighborhood is. I want to see photos of the neighborhood. I am interested in living in a walkable neighborhood. Can census tell me that? Census data has to be translated into something meaningful.

"Humans don't sift through 12,000 listings that 'match my criteria.'"

One of hubbuzz.com's fundamental goals is to give apartment searchers qualified listings that match their criteria. This goes for amenity and location searches.

What if you want to live in Orange County or Ventura County in California? These are metro areas that aren't really metro areas. In most cases you can't just search apartments in Orange County and get answers – because computers/programmers don't have Orange County earmarked as an area, like for instance, Los Angeles or San Diego. You would have to know the name of a city in the county to search listings.

On hubbuzz.com, you can search apartments in Orange County and Ventura County as their own ‘metros’. So if you want to live in the OC, by the beach, in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartments, that allows dogs – you can accomplish this search. Likewise, if you know you want to live in a Huntington Beach apartment, you can do this too. You can look at the results how you want to look at them – we match your criteria.

"Humans don't want their search experience cluttered with advertising."

You won't find any flashing banners, star bursts or 3^rd party advertising on hubbuzz.com.

"Humans drive around neighborhoods, meet neighbors and spend time getting a feel for the neighborhood."

When it comes time to purchase a new car, the Internet has made it much easier these days. You can even 'build your own'. Choose a brand, choose a model, choose a color, and then buy. You can tackle the majority of the purchase funnel online.

Historically, shopping for an apartment online isn't as easy. You have to do a lot of your research offline AKA driving around, getting a sense of the vibe, asking questions. This is something that has to happen first because you need to narrow down a big area into something manageable and meaningful.

Though we will never negate the importance of getting a real life look at the neighborhood, at hubbuzz.com apartment searchers can virtually test drive neighborhoods too. They can take a spin around 'walkable' or 'kid-friendly' neighborhoods, or any other one of our neighborhood characteristic searches. You can read neighborhood profiles, see photos, view a map with hotspots or read neighborhood blogs. And then when you have narrowed it all down, you can check out the apartment selection in your preferred areas. 

Our tagline is "Cities. Neighborhoods. Apartments. Life." This tagline, in a way, is the hubbuzz.com purchase funnel. We realize that at the end of the apartment search process you are signing the lease on a place to live, one of the most important aspects of your life. We take our contribution to that decision seriously because we know how difficult and important it can be.

We welcome comments, suggestions, criticism – please send us your ideas on how we can make our apartment search more human.