New Google Maps Keeps RentalHouses.com Ahead of the Pack

Small Internet Listing Service company in Kentucky adopts, customizes Google Maps API open-source software.

LOUISVILLE, KY (PRWEB) October 13, 2005 -- High-resolution satellite photos of houses for rent now on the website of RentalHouses.com might seem more at home on NASA’s homepage than on an Internet listing service of home rentals. But with engineering once reserved for the CIA, Louisville-based RentalHouses.com has taken online rental home searching to the next level with high-tech mapping software from the Internet search engine company Google™.

Gwen Rigsby, who oversees the RentalHouses.com website where renters can search online for available homes for rent nationwide, said the adaptation of Google’s data – which went live in mid-September - to home rental searching is revolutionary among the cookie-cutter listing sites in cyberspace.

RentalHouses.com, which specializes in online listings of single family homes such as rental houses, condos for rent, duplexes, town homes, and small apartment rentals, is just one of many small firms that have piggybacked on large online companies like Google™, Yahoo©, and eBay® to surpass their competition.

Using free applications of online giants – known in the industry as open-source software – smaller companies can download state-of-the-art software, embed it into their own site, and then modify it for a specific use. For RentalHouses.com, “we customized the Google™ beta mapping and added our own features to show the exact location of the homes for rent, added links to similar home rental listings, driving directions, and other information,” added Rigsby.

The company’s home rental property mapping feature can interchangeably be a classic road map, full-color satellite imagery of the area where the rental home is located, or a combination, with satellite photo and roadways identified. A zoom function takes the feature down to street level.

Descriptions and photos of the available homes for rent are typical on most national sites like RentalHouses.com. Mapping programs are also common, Rigsby added, “but satellite positioning of multiple properties” – is not. Viewers can check out neighborhoods, see nearby shopping – even local landscape features – which are huge advantages in finding the ideal rental home, she said.

RentalHouses.com CEO Denis Frankenberger was enthusiastic about a recent rental home search in Dallas: the tenant chose the size and type of the rental home, also clicking the “pets allowed” box. Dozens of home rental ads appeared along with the clickable Google™ map option. “The renter needed a park nearby to walk his dog,” said Frankenberger, “and the map displayed all the homes for rent in the area. With the satellite imagery he even picked a townhouse for rent on a tree-lined street over one that actually backed up to a strip mall.”

According to Frankenberger, this style of website innovation increasingly occurs with smaller companies seeking a competitive advantage in a tight market. “It’s not good enough to just build a website and sit back. It must be more efficient, easier to navigate, and give consumers better tools to find what they need.” Entertainment or “wow value” of the mapping feature is also a plus: “Searching for houses for rent – and enjoying the experience – means visitors stay on your site longer, tell their friends, and will return again to find their next rental home.”

While there was no fee to use the new beta Google™ Maps, Rigsby said that “many, many hours and thought” went into incorporating the interface onto the RentalHouses.com website. She also added, “Our programmers, Bluegrass.net, also based in Louisville, KY, are incredible and there are many additional features utilizing Google beta maps in the works. With the expert help of Bluegrass.net, RentalHouses.com also customized the maps for the home rental owners and property managers. We added eight new mapping tools for the owners that among other things, track upcoming vacancies, rent comps, maintenance scheduled, and more ….”

The company, in turn, copyrighted its modifications. With thousands of rental home listings in over forty states and Canada, RentalHouses.com expects both, potential renters and property managers and home owners, to increase their activity on the website. “The response from both groups has been overwhelmingly positive,” added Frankenberger, with hundreds of new home rental listings being added since the feature was launched.

About RentalHouses.com

RentalHouses.com is a national online listing service of single family residential rental property serving rental property advertisers and potential renters of single-family homes, townhouses, duplexes, and small apartments for rent in the United States and Canada. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Rental Houses.com continues to expand across North America offering listings of homes for rent in new areas and opening new metro markets almost daily. For more information, visit: www.rentalhouses.com.

Media Contact:

Bill Rompf / VP Communications

Tel: 502-893-3638

Fax: 502-896-8515

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