MLS-owned Nestfully wants to make home shopping more pleasant
The new home search platform, a joint venture between Bright MLS and CRMLS, aims to inspire a sense of calm and simplify the process for consumers and agents.
Key points:
- Nestfully is joined by several MLS partners and plans to expand nationwide in the next 18-24 months.
- The site was designed to be simple and uncluttered for consumers, with the goal of creating a calm, stress-free shopping experience.
- Intended to be an open marketplace, Nestfully allows agents to list properties and receive leads for free.
When consumers and real estate agents visit the new home listing website Nestfully, the experience should evoke a sense of calm.
That's not a word most people associate with the homebuying process, but it's what the creators of the new portal had in mind when they developed it.
The site, which was born out of a joint venture between the country's two largest MLSs — Bright MLS and CRMLS — officially launched on Wednesday, March 29. REcolorado is also a participant, with BeachesMLS and the Miami Association of Realtors joining in the second quarter of this year.
The coverage area currently extends across 5 of the 16 largest multiple listing services, but the plan is to become nationwide in the next 18-24 months, said Amit Kulkarni, chief marketing officer at Bright MLS.
Nestfully was designed with the goal of minimizing stress during the home-search process; the site is intended to be clean, simple, unbiased and informative, which works, Kulkarni said, "because we are not serving different constituents, just consumers." It's also ad-free and uncluttered, which tested well with people who tried it out, he noted.
The site, which was developed by Constellation1 in a manner of months, includes features to help keep consumers updated on new listings that fit their search criteria, said Mehul Patel, vice president of product management and technology at Constellation1.
For real estate brokers and agents, Nestfully provides an open marketplace where they can add listings and receive leads for free. Listing agents are prominently displayed on listings pages and can be contacted directly.
The site will essentially be a revenue-neutral operation, with expenses generally covered through MLS fees.
"This is not a revenue play for Nestfully. This is 'let's help consumers connect with a local agent and not charge anybody for those connections,'" Kulkarni said.
Although the site will be competing with other established portals for consumers' attention, Nestfully is not out to become an all-in-one destination supporting the entire homebuying process. Kulkarni believes people would rather have unbiased information than feel obligated to get all their services in one place.
"Do you want the easy button or do you want the I'm-going-to-do-this-right button with the right partners?" Kulkami said, noting that for such a big decision, people should be shopping around for the best home as well as the best services, including lending.
"It's already an agitated, stressful time in your life… at least when you're searching for your home, have it be a pleasant, calm experience so you can really settle your mind and focus on the important things," Kulkami said.