UPDATED Thursday, August 22, 2019 12:11 p.m.: StreetEasy is doubling down on manual entry.
Today, the Zillow Group-owned listings platform is rolling out a dedicated app and upgraded back-end tools for agents to enter and manage their listings.
Now agents can edit open houses, as opposed to just adding or deleting, and more expansive amenity fields that allow agents to specify details like rental concessions, wheelchair accessibility, types of views, fireplaces and hardwood floors.
The new app, dubbed StreetEasy Agent Tools, offers all the same edit and management functions as the desktop version.
According to the company, the new software upgrades and app were tested with a pilot group of four brokerages and nearly 200 agents.
“Think of it as Apple announcing the next version of iOS,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “This is our next version of Agent Tools.”
When Agent Tools debuted earlier this year, StreetEasy’s insistence on manual entry over listings feeds provided by brokerages drew backlash from brokerage heads and agents. At the time, StreetEasy’s general manager Matt Daimler said the move to agents directly entering their listings was to reduce errors and improve consumers’ experience.
According to the spokesperson, more than 50 percent of StreetEasy’s listing are manually entered by agents currently.
Correction: Anchor Associates was originally identified as one of the brokerages that partnered with StreetEasy for the pilot test of Agent Tools. It was not, though some of its agents participated.