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When Facebook came along it changed the way we connect with people. It allowed us to reach out and touch our old friends and to search for new ones. It helped businesses reach customers they didn't previously know were out there. It literally changed the landscape of networking.
In a similar fashion,Second Porch, a Portland based company is changing the way we look at real estate. The firm recently launched the first ever portal for Facebook that allows users to rent and swap vacation homes and timeshares. The application runs inside of Facebook and updates fans and users on properties being posted by other group members. It allows members to contact each other and trade or rent their properties.
There are many timeshare and vacation rental sites out there in the ethernet, and some of the bigger firms like Re/Max and Prudential even have their own Facebook group pages. The difference is those are mostly static pages that require visitors to submit information to each company's site directly, and then the renting or selling is done offline. While they have a presence online, they aren't really tapping into all the benefits that social media offers.
Second Porch is one of the first real estate companies to harness the power of Facebook and include their rental and swapping features inside a Facebook application with updates and information going out to all its members.
The name of the application is "Rent & Trade Vacation Homes," which sits squarely in the intersection of two strong consumer trends: the mainstreaming of social networking, engaging hundreds of millions of users per day and vacation home rentals as the fastest growing segment of the lodging industry.
Due to the recession, many of the 7.5 million second home owners in the U.S. who previously avoided renting or trading are now being forced into the market in order to pay their mortgages. Second Porch hopes to tap into that market and provide an entry point for travelers and owners who have hesitated to rent vacation homes due to trust concerns.
Users can choose to "follow" a property, which allows them to bookmark the home listing and receive updates. They can view or discuss homes their friends are following or have recommended and decide if they want to follow those homes as well.
Second Porch integrates with Facebook's wall stream messaging, which allows friends to discover their friends' vacation rental homes (and the application) through tasteful updates, photos, and teasers. Simple to use filters help users to find homes using standard features, including rate, number of bedrooms, and location; along with unique filters for relationship and whether available for rent or trade.
For more information visit the application on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/secondporch/.
Comments
Well written but one note of thought. Unless I missed something when I signed up my Sanibel Island properties on Second Porch, Second Porch is not a real estate company. Its objective is to foster communication between vacation rental owner and vacation rental user. Or, between vacation rental owners for exchanges. Real estate sales are not yet in Second Porch's portfolio as far as I can see.
And that mere fact is another significant differentiating factor between this active process of dialogue and the static listing of Prudential, ReMax or other agencies that dabble in vacation rentals. Real Estate companies have as their primary objective selling properties, not renting them. The vacation rental function is a weak step sister and often taken on to boost the Realtor's ability to sell more properties.
By being an owner with two properties to rent or exchange on Second Porch, the biggest benefit for me is having a sense of who is coming to me to look for a rental. Similarl
Similarly , the vacation rental guest knows who I am. Second Porch takes the guess work out of renting for owner and rental guest. It serves the same function on home exchanges. With everyone working on the premise of "so much to do, so little time", having the ability to cut to the quick is an enormous advantage.
Their main function is and will remain the rental home arena. Almost 50% of second home owners would like to rent their homes but only 1% do. They site trust, or lack of it, as the main reason they don't. Second porch is aiming to change that with its transparency,
Another interesting angle is the community feature. If second porch can develop a successful community around one home and cause that home to be rented all year long, then second home owners like yourself can sell that home for more money than normal because it has a proven income stream built in.
Thanks for your comments.
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