How many people search on bedrooms but not bathrooms? When people search on both, what’s the pattern they use? If we highlight prices and BRs on the map does that give more clicks than just prices? How important are photos (times 50 different questions there)? How strong a signal is repeat views spaced over time? Saving a house to favorites? Sending a link to a friend? Clicking on comps in the neighborhood? Which comps do people zero in on (as evidenced by spending more time on the page)? How strong a signal is sending a message to the real estate agent on the listing? What areas of the country are seeing an uptick in search traffic? How long between claiming a house as an owner on the site, updating the information, and listing it for sale?
They are sitting on a (well-earned) treasure trove of data and it’s not unreasonable to think they could use that to be better informed than another buyer without that information.
Where they seem to have failed is in not augmenting that advantageous data with regular old boots-on-the-ground observations.
