Mobile Real Estate Featured Article

New Real Estate App Flip Takes Inspiration from Tinder

By Matt Paulson
TMCnet Contributing Writer

Finding real estate used to be a long and time consuming effort, cross-referencing different sources to eventually find the house you want. With the advent of online real estate searches this task was shortened somewhat, but still takes time. Now, it appears that mobile apps are the next frontier for real estate searches, as multiple groups try to find the best way to connect buyers and sellers of real estate. Eastly is one of these groups, and the company has just launched an app called Flip, which uses features similar to tinder to quickly determine which properties a user does and does not like.

Tinder, for those who don't know, is an app that connects singles through minimalistic profiles. Users simply view a photo or two of a user paired with a short blurb. The user swipes left to indicate disinterest and swipes right to show approval, and if two users both approve one another they are allowed to start messaging.

Similarly, Flip shows users photos of real estate properties, along with their price, location and other vital details about the amenities included. From here, users can decide to “save” or “trash” the houses, narrowing down their choices. The Eastly team notes the fact that since more than half of Tinder's users are over the age of 24, this same market will have an easy time transitioning over to the Flip app. First time home buyers average to be between 30 and 32 years old, and are likely familiar with how Tinder and similar apps work.

Of course, Flip is not the only one taking notes from Tinder. Zilow and Redfin are two popular real estate apps that allow users to hide and save specific homes in searches, and an app called Zoomsquare even uses the same swiping formula to show interest in specific properties.