You might be asking yourself what difference an hour or even 15 minutes can make in your home search? In a world where homes are selling in less than 24 hours, being the first to know about a new home can mean the difference between getting an offer accepted, or watching it sell to someone else. You could literally receive an Instant Update in the morning, tour a home in the afternoon, and make an offer with a Redfin agent that evening. Break out the champagne flutes with dinner – you’re a new homeowner!

Since Redfin is a real estate brokerage, our notification system is built around the Multiple Listing Services (MLS), which is the most accurate and timely source of real estate data. Aggregator sites typically don’t have direct access to the MLS, resulting in inaccurate and out-of-date updates, and since Redfin is committed to making sure our data quality is top-notch, you’ll never get an alert about a stale listing. Since rolling out Instant Updates last summer to Redfin.com and the iPhone and iPad, growth has been phenomenal. Last week alone, we sent out nearly 12 million Instant Updates at a time when inventory is down across the board.

Setting Up an Alert

To sign up to receive instant updates on your Android device, simply download the latest version and we’ll guide you along once you fire it up. Or, to jumpstart the process, you can always visit “Alerts & Emails” in the app’s main menu to add mobile notifications to any of your favorites or saved searches. If you happen to have set up Instant Updates on a (cough) iPhone, then you’re already done – we’ll transfer your settings over automatically.

A big thank-you goes out to our Mobile team for making it special for our Android customers. We think this is a big win for those with an Android powered device, and we’d like to hear your stories about how Redfin mobile has helped you buy or sell a home. How have you used Instant Updates to your advantage?

The post Need for Speed: Instant Updates on Android appeared first on Redfin Real Estate Blog.

We got lots of feedback for improvements and new features, and we listened:

• Sort results: Just like on our website, you can now sort search results and favorites lists by price, address, beds, baths, city, days on market and much more – simply hit the “Sort” button in the context menu.
• Search radius: We now highlight the search radius right on the map, making it easier to tell where you’re searching.
• Map for each home: Every home is mapped right on its details page, so it’s easy to see where it is (we actually snuck this in last week.)
• Bugs & issues: We’ve fixed a bunch of bugs and addressed common issues to make it faster, more stable, and easier to use.

Keep the feedback and reviews coming. We’re listening and always making improvement to our Android App.

Sort Results	Search Radius

The post First Big Android Update appeared first on Redfin Real Estate Blog.