Many potential homebuyers turn to the Internet to find property listings and information, but one online company is trying to take it a step further by helping them find the neighborhood that best fits their lives.
Hoodeo.com, which calls itself the “neighborhood matchmaker,” launches tpday, debuting in 210 major metropolitan areas in the U.S., including Washington.
“We realized we had all the data to match people’s lifestyles with the right neighborhood,” said Damian Scott, president of Hoodeo.com and Eppraisal.com, the parent company of Hoodeo.com and home valuation information provider. “We wondered, why can’t we do it more intelligently?”
Like dating sites that match you with others based on questions, Hoodeo.com asks visitors preferences about things such as whether they want to live in kid-friendly neighborhoods, cities, suburbs or exurbs, and about price range and size of property. Other information, including education, age, profession and income level, is also obtained to create a profile.
Then an individual’s best 10 neighborhoods are generated, using algorithms to factor in data from the Census Bureau, Department of Labor and private marketing companies, said Scott.
In the future, Scott hopes to make the site more interactive and allow individuals to comment on specific neighborhoods.
Hoodeo has partnered with real estate search engine site Trulia.com, which has roughly 2 million property listings.
When a visitor clicks on a property on Hoodeo.com, real estate agent information from Trulia.com will appear.
Not everyone is convinced the model will succeed.
“Even though most of our buyers are first-time buyers, they all come to the process knowing where they want to buy. …Such a system might be useful to buyers relocating from out of town; but even most of these buyers have some existing connections that would give them target neighborhoods (friends, relatives, job, etc.),” said Guy Wolcott in an email. Wolcott is co-founder of D.C.-based Sawbuck Realty, a Web-based company that launched in January.
