Happy day.  The first edition of our Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate iPhone app is live today (actually ,11.59pm last night.)  But it’s not a ‘real estate’ app in the traditional sense, ie: pushing listings to your iPhone.  It’s a buyer centric app designed to solve a few pronounced challenges faced during the physical expedition through open houses. And that’s the key with the iPhone platform-  pick a few things that are already challenges in real life. Take something you do manually today, and make it automated, seamless, instinctive.

I may be dating myself here, but I began my career in the world of software product marketing and was well schooled on the software architecture approach known as the Jacobson Use Case technique .   In a nutshell, this means you start with the human outcome a user is trying to achieve, and align the technology to do it.  You choose the key outcomes a user would want, and think like a human being,not a software engineer. (Not that they aren’t humans, I mean c’mon I married one…)

So what does it do?

So here’s an overview of what our app, known as the Home Selection Assistant, does for a buyer.

WHAT: The app enables ‘smarter home selection’ through the open house process, utilizing native iPhone technology.

WHY: This app fits our consumer brand promise, and will act as a long tail branding machine. It will help fuel the Groundswell as it builds both brand associations and brand experience.

WHO FOR : It’s designed for buyers… all buyer-, those using BHGRE agents, and those who will someday. Because it has been architected around pronounced buyer challenges, it gives our agents and brokers, something different to talk about, and a way to engage more deeply with buyers during the home search process.

Go to www.bhgrealestate.com/iphone to download our app and start testing it out! We look forward to your feedback and we will add updates and features as we release subsequent versions.