NATIONAL NEWS - While Wikipedia may be the best known example, wikis are not only becoming the first place people turn when conducting online research, but also when they're looking to build specialist online communities. It's not surprising, then, that wikis dedicated to real estate are emerging. InmanWiki, part of the Inman media group, the aptly named Real Estate Wiki and Zillow all are testing the real estate wiki waters. So is Wikia, the for-profit arm of the folks behind Wikipedia, which has high hopes for its online real estate communities.
Real estate wiki Zillow offers a range of online tools designed to assist real estate professionals market and promote their listings and businesses on the Web in Web 2.0 fashion. Agents are able to post property listings free of charge and can offer their expertise through the site's Real Estate Guide, Home Q&A and Zillow Discussions sections, explained Zillow's Sarah Mann. "The real estate industry is moving online more and more every day. More than 70 percent of all buyers start their search for a home on the Internet , and thus real estate agents and other professionals are finding that it is critical to have a presence on the Web."
If eyeballs are a measure of a Web site's e-commerce potency, then Zillow's real estate wiki appears to be in very good shape: More than 5 million users visit the site each month, according to Mann. "In fact, we currently receive over 25,000 user contributed pieces of information to our community every day. We'll continue to innovate in this space, and offer more tools for agents to connect directly with prospective customers."
Wiki pioneer Wikia is active and investing in growing its real estate wiki and associated communities. The site contains hundreds of pages of information covering a wide range of real estate topics; home buying, selling, renting and the home ownership process among them, as well as related information on its finance wiki, where visitors will find more than 1,000 articles on topics such as adjustable rate mortgages, buying a home and foreclosures.
"The goal is to provide a resource of unbiased information for home buyers, sellers and mortgage customers," Gil Penchina, Wikia's CEO, explained. "Wikis allow people to share tips on foreclosure management, find and share tricks that allow unscrupulous lenders to overcharge customers or identify language that is unfriendly to the buyer in a contract. The true power of a wiki is that it allows people to share what they've learned for the benefit of all."
Wikia sees promise of wikis' use in real estate going forward, according to Penchina. "We fully expect our real estate-related communities to continue to grow and thrive, there's undoubtedly an appetite out there for unbiased information about all things real estate given the current housing situation."
Source: Linux News