In June, we hosted "Elevating the Real Estate Customer Experience" webinar, joined by the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR). Andy Hawkes, Senior Account Manager at Mapbox, was the main host and he began by diving into how HAR has utilized Mapbox to build a leading real estate platform that empowers both realtors and home buyers.

Andy kicked things off by introducing the additional host for the session, Erick Del Orbe, Senior iOS Developer at HAR. Erick began his career as a web developer, handling all things mapping for HAR and playing a key role in transitioning HAR onto the Mapbox platform, leveraging its capabilities to enhance their real estate services. 

Erick then provided an overview of the Houston Association of Realtors, a 50,000-member board and one of the largest regional associations in the country. HAR has won several awards for its technology initiatives, and primarily focuses on representing real estate agents and brokers.

Throughout the webinar, we explored how HAR leverages Mapbox to enhance the real estate customer experience, driving innovation and efficiency in the market. Let’s dive into their Q&A. 

Note: Parts of the blog below have been paraphrased for clarity and readability.

Addressing Market Challenges in Real Estate with HAR

Andy: What are some of the main challenges faced by both these realtors and the home buyers and home sellers in today's real estate market?

Erick: We serve both realtors and consumers, and everything we do is centered around that. On the realtor side, they need to stand out among all these other realtors to consumers. We provide them with tools to visualize properties and conduct searches. More than anything, the reason we serve both them and the consumers is to put realtors first for consumers. So we also provide tools for consumers, not just for realtors. We serve both of them.

Andy: Could you elaborate on what specific challenges realtors face?

Erick: Realtors need to distinguish themselves in a crowded market. We provide them with visualization and search tools to help them stand out. This is crucial because consumers have many options and need to see what makes a realtor different.

Andy: And what about the consumers? What challenges do they face?

Erick: Consumers want straightforward tools to find a good home and a good realtor. They just want to look for a home, find a good home, and find a good realtor. We provide tools that meet those needs, ensuring the process is as seamless as possible for both realtors and consumers.

The Early Days and Choosing Mapbox as a Partner

“When we were considering moving to Mapbox, we really asked ourselves, if we're going to move off of Google (Maps) , we better pick a company that we can trust and that they're not going to do a rock bull after a couple of years. Mapbox has really been a partner for us and allowed us to develop and grow with them. You get a cost efficiency without sacrificing the standard of the product.”  - Erick Del Orbe, Senior iOS Developer at HAR

Andy: Tell us a little bit about the early days. You've been with Mapbox for almost eight years, so it would be really interesting for our audience to learn about your journey with Mapbox. Initially, why did you choose Mapbox as a partner? What were the challenges you and your team were facing at that time?

Erick: Yeah, it's kind of interesting to think about that. We've been with Mapbox for so long. Back then, we were using Google Maps, and they changed their pricing strategy. The new structure would have significantly increased our bill. So, we started evaluating other options. We even considered lowering our usage, but in real estate, mapping is essential. You can't have real estate without showing the areas.

Andy: What other solutions did you consider?

Erick: We looked into rolling out our own OpenStreetMap-based mapping solution, but that would have required too much maintenance. We didn’t want to redirect so many resources to that. Then we found Mapbox, which was such a great fit. It’s a beautifully looking product that solved our issue of high costs. We could continue and even grow our usage without worrying about breaking the bank.

Andy: That sounds like a pivotal moment for HAR.

Erick: Absolutely. Mapbox has been a great partner since then. We initially came to them to solve our cost issues, but we stayed for the great product and the excellent tools Mapbox has offered over the years.

Milestones and Market Leadership with Mapbox

Andy: Looking back at these years, could you share some of the milestones from your product perspective? How has Mapbox helped you achieve business goals and really move into that market leadership position that HAR currently sits in?

Erick: Yeah, like I mentioned, having a partner like Mapbox gave us the freedom to dream big. With our previous vendor, we felt constrained and worried about sudden cost increases. Mapbox provided stability and reliability, which allowed us to focus on serving consumers and realtors effectively.

Andy: Can you give an example of how this partnership has impacted your product development?

Erick: Sure. Around the time we switched to Mapbox, we undertook a major redesign. Normally, we would have had to throttle our use of maps, being cautious about where and how often we used them. But with Mapbox, we had the freedom to prioritize user experience, whether for realtors or consumers. This flexibility was invaluable, especially in a market where costs are constantly rising.

Andy: It sounds like Mapbox really empowered you to innovate.

Erick: Absolutely. Mapbox's support and the ability to freely implement the best solutions for our users have been crucial. It's allowed us to focus on what truly matters: delivering top-notch tools and experiences for realtors and consumers alike.

Customization and Flexibility with Mapbox

“We seamlessly transitioned our custom data layers to Mapbox. The ability to experiment and know that we could bring over our data and utilize a vector map was awesome. It provided the flexibility and customization we needed, which was super cool.”  -Erick Del Orbe, Senior iOs developer at HAR

Andy: I think what's cool is how Mapbox gave HAR the ability to go as fast, sophisticated, and customized as you wanted. Can you tell us a little more about that? Because I think that's a real sweet spot for the Mapbox platform and why our customers love us.

Erick: Yeah, absolutely. Speaking of customization, one of our biggest concerns when switching over was how we would bring our own custom data as data layers. We had a few vendors, and we also had our own data to integrate. Despite Mapbox not being as widely known in the space back then, we found it super easy to move our custom data layers into Mapbox. 

Andy: That sounds like a significant advantage. Can you elaborate on how this process went?

Erick: Sure. Our previous vendor had a bunch of examples, but they were primarily for Google Maps, not Mapbox. Despite this, we seamlessly transitioned our custom data layers to Mapbox. The ability to experiment and know that we could bring over our data and utilize a vector map was awesome. It provided the flexibility and customization we needed, which was super cool.

Live Demo from HAR

Erick began his demo to show how he leveraged Mapbox to enhance their platform. Erick began his demo to show how he leveraged Mapbox to enhance HAR’s platform, skip to 10:35 in the recording to follow along.

Erick demonstrated how HAR uses Mapbox in their main search tool, Drive Time Search, which is utilized by both consumers and realtors. He highlighted the seamless integration of custom data layers and vendor data, showcasing the flexibility Mapbox provides. Erick emphasized the superior quality of vector maps and the consistent, crisp visuals across iOS and web platforms. 

He also introduced a tool called Showing Smart, which facilitates agent-to-agent communication for scheduling home showings. This tool, enhanced by the Mapbox Directions API, creates optimized routes for home tours, making the scheduling process more efficient. Erick concluded by mentioning the successful implementation of Mapbox's mobile SDK in their Showing Smart mobile app, illustrating the extensive capabilities Mapbox offers HAR.

Mapbox for Real Estate

Mapbox simplifies Real Estate with a complete, out-of-the-box solution. You can get started right away — add a map to your website and your iOS or Android app in minutes. Our intuitive 3D style is the default basemap for your map, or you can choose from our other classic styles. In addition, Mapbox unit-level geocoding allows users to search for listings in a specific location, and enables validation of exact customer addresses including apartments and business suites with coverage of 5M multi-unit buildings and over 20M unique units in the US. It also helps users choose their desired neighborhoods using our Mapbox Boundaries, and use the Isochrone API to help them discover what’s nearby within specific walking, driving, and cycling ranges. Lastly, Directions can show relative distance to places nearby. 

Ready to see more? Watch the recording to learn more about how the Houston Association of Realtors uses Mapbox to enhance their business or create a free account today to get started.