Most Americans don’t expect the housing market to recover until 2014 at the earliest, according to a survey released this week by property websites Trulia and RealtyTrac.
That sounds bad news for Trulia itself, except the six-year-old company has already survived the crash, is now profitable and getting itself in shape for an IPO.
At a media briefing at its new 30,000 square-foot offices in San Francisco, the management team described how revenues were doubling year-on-year and it had finally turned profitable in the second half of last year. Staff numbers have climbed to 280, up from 170 at the end of 2010.
Pete Flint, chief executive, explained Trulia had to change its model from servicing a few million-dollar accounts with big banks in the early days to addressing the needs of real estate agents across the US.
“We’ve turned that model inside out – and that was caused by the recession when those big budgets disappeared – and now it’s about providing [return-on-investment] positive tools for tens of thousands of individuals across the US,” he said.
Trulia makes money from display ads and subscriptions, as agents sign up to get their listings featured and receive leads through Trulia’s systems.
From a consumer’s point of view, I like its easy map-based approach to searching for suitable properties according to criteria you set, with links to the full property listings and details on open houses. Its new iPad app is particularly effective as maps can be pinched and zoomed to pick out properties available in particular areas.
With iPhone and Android apps as well, the share of mobile visitors is growing rapidly.
“I look back at when I was doing this with a map, a phone and a bunch of printouts or a newspaper, now it’s going to be one [mobile] device and it’s not going to be Craigslist that you’re using,” said Mr Flint.
Trulia acquired the startup Movity in December and this week showed off how its integration of open data, such as crime statistics on neighbourhoods, would be added to its service.
Trulia beats its nearest competitor Zillow on some metrics – engagement and page views – but trails it still on unique users (8.5m v 11m in March, according to comScore) and visits (25m v 29m).
Having seen and survived the housing bubble burst, it may reward its VC backers Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital, by taking advantage of the current dotcom IPO bubble.
“We’re building a team and we’re growing rapidly, while we’re not ready to file yet…we’re focused on the best user experience and, if we do that, the riches will follow,” was the official management comment on that possibility.
