14 DAY TRIAL // Google is very happy to give out its products for free, but it never does so without the potential for revenue in there somewhere. Google Maps is a great tool for a lot of things and the best thing about it is that it’s free. And now, in the UK at least, it has gotten even better with the addition of real-estate listings. You can use Google Maps to look for houses across the UK thanks to property listings from a number of partners in the real-estate business.
“Good news today if you’re house-hunting in Camden Town or Kew Gardens - property search has come to maps.google.co.uk. From today, visitors to maps.google.co.uk will be able to click ‘Properties...’ on the More menu in Maps to see a little red dot on the map showing every house or flat for sale or rent,” Google announced.
“The search can be refined by choosing features like sale or rent, bedrooms, bathrooms, and price. The map will update to show the properties matching those criteria - and also dynamically update as you scroll and zoom around the map until you’ve found your dream spot,” the announcement also read.
Google says it already has hundreds of thousands of properties for sale or rent listed in Maps UK. The entries show up at any zoom levels, so, even if you’re as far out as to see the entire country, you will still see some red dots. Of course, as you close in on an area you’re interested in, the listings get more detailed.
Interestingly, all the different layers and views in Google Maps, like Photos, Satellite and even Earth view will be available. Since Street View now covers much of the UK, it’s easy to check out the place and the surroundings without having to actually go to the location.
Already, there are quite a lot of listings thanks to partners like PropertyLive, Zoopla, Ezylet, SmartNewHomes, Vebra, Property Pal, Spicer Haart, Countrywide, and Zoomf. Google says any real-estate agent is welcomed to enter its listings and the service is free and open to anyone. Google plans to monetize the new feature with ads, like it already does with Google Maps and most of its other web properties.