There may still be a way to produce a solution that doesn’t involve Rightmove, but requires more effort and a bit of business acumen (after all, clearly the demand is there).

I own a local information website and was looking to distribute an android app that notified users via their phone of new properties on the market. I spoke with some local estate agents and they were really keen. The advantage is that estate agents reach a local market (or reach those that are looking to move to the area) directly without the use of a property portal.

The problem is that the estate agent site would need to push the property details to the app perhaps via an intermediate website. This requires either integration with the estate agent website or a standalone utility that estate agents use alongside the content management system for their website. Estate agents would be prepared to pay for either the integration work or for the standalone app. I was hoping to use my town as a free testbed and then look to expanding to other areas if succesful.

After all, smart phones have the potential to take over from the internet in some areas, portal sites is an obvious choice, when technology means that estate agents can reach their target audience directly without the use of third party portals. And if Rightmove are slow off the mark.

I’ve got a bookmark to the site on my homescreen, which to me works as well as a dedicated app. If you could add the better search options and user login (for saved searches etc) from the main site, I’d put it on my phone.

What a shame.

Thanks anyway!