Validation: Real estate analytics SaaS
Hi everyone. I'am thinking on building a landing page and trying to validate an idea for some real estate analytics SaaS in a relatively small EU country.
My target audience (at least at the first stage) should be people interested in buying flats (because it is the most crowded part of real estate market here now). Potentially other types of real estate later on. Real estate is quite a big buy so I'd expect that spending extra $20 or so wouldn't be a big problem (provided I it is useful)
My data source would be - some of the available (but scattered around) open data, scraping real estate ad sites (but not directly display them).
SaaS should provide - analytics and insights on current real estate market and insights based on historical data, current economic situation, etc. Very rough description - it would be quite a lot of graphs with insights.
This should put a user in a better position to negotiate, plan expenses, see how certain features impact pricing and how the value changes over time...
How does it sound in general - would it be worth a landing page?
Hi there! Your idea for a real estate analytics SaaS is intriguing, and it's great that you're thinking about validating it through a landing page. At Softkit, we have experience in developing data-driven applications, including those in the real estate industry.
Your approach of using open data and scraping real estate ad sites to provide insights on the current real estate market is a good one. We recently published a blog post on our website discussing how big data can transform the real estate industry, and it sounds like your SaaS could provide some of the same benefits to potential users. Here is the link to it https://www.softkit.dev/blog/real-estate-big-data-track-clients-examples/
One of the key advantages of using big data in real estate is the ability to track clients and provide personalized recommendations based on their preferences. This could be especially useful in your SaaS for users who are looking to buy a flat and want to see how certain features impact pricing and value over time.
Additionally, your SaaS could also provide insights on the overall health of the real estate market in your country, which could be valuable information for potential buyers looking to negotiate and plan expenses.
If you're interested in learning more about how big data can transform the real estate industry and how can help you develop your real estate analytics SaaS, feel free to check out our blog post or reach out to us directly. We look forward to hearing more about your project!
Good luck in your work. I think that is good idea. To make analytics for real estate is very important. If you provide analytics and insights on current real estate market and insights based on economic situation that will allow for buyer to find the best option and to negotiate. I recently sold my parent’s house and such analytics of real estate market was very helpful for me. I sold my house to this company. https://www.thepropertybuyingcompany.co.uk/landers/sell-house-fast I knew the situation on the real estate market so, I could negotiate a little bit. As a result, they offered me the almost the best price on the market and did the sale process quick.
I think there's a growing need for tech in the real estate space. Cities are growing fast and RE is one of the slower movers in the tech adoption curve so the landscape is still relatively open in terms of companies doing much innovation. Worth it if you think the data is available (does ZIllow want you scraping?)
I spoke with a company scraping for RE data like social media trends, airbnb prices, etc as indicators of gentrification / appreciation in value and had made a Saas on that for montly fee of a few hundred.
What's the actual problems you're solving for the user?
Indeed questions in this thread have me for second thinking:
If analytics/insights is really what the B2C user would really pay for.
If potentially a better fit could be real estate companies. Although I have to do some homework and find out current state of their tooling and data.
Looks like I have to find some people to speak about it and raise questions.
Then there is still a question.
possibly "analytics" is a little broad for consumer usage. Consumers need a particular pain point solved, and I don't know that anyone really identifies with a painful lack of insight. They do feel pain from FOMO, paying too much, missing out on a house they want, etc.
A business would profit more analysis/insights if you could collect data and organize and extract some valuable insight from it. IE - 5 new gyms and starbucks going into a developing and appreciating neighborhood indicates home price increases. Many natural disasters, flood, crime, walkability could also effect RE strategy long term.
I think there was recently some new legislature that speaks clearly to the legality of scraping public facing websites. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22180559
So, the value would be that people buying flats would get a better deal if they had access to your web application?
I think this falls in the category of an idea that has clear value, BUT is very hard to pull off. Ideas in this category have different risks than usual businesses:
I think your #1 thing to experiment with, even before a landing page, is to see if you can actually build a system that can do this.
Even if you have this data, it's not obvious that you can create an algorithm that can create accurate recommendations / predictions from it.
Best of luck!
Thanks! I am doing some experiments with data as I’ve got some it scraped.
In general I don’t believe it would 100% guarantee you find better deals. The ultimate goal would probably - you get better understanding in real estate dynamics instead of beeing a total noob (especially buying for the first time)
But getting a better understanding of real-estate dynamics is worthless to me as a flat buyer, unless it gets me a better deal :)
This comment was deleted 5 years ago
I don't have the answer, but the next question to ask yourself is:
"What is the simplest thing I can do that would answer this question?"
This comment was deleted 5 years ago
Since you’re targeting an average investor, you should be able to find places where they hang out online. I’m not in your market unfortunately so I can’t offer any specifics. Go to those places, post and be helpful, and mention your product when it makes sense to!