A Bird’s Eye View

Roost Raises the Bar on Keyword Search

You wanted comprehensive listings. And we listened, because you can’t do a partial search to find the perfect home. But, 10,000+ properties in a single city can be overwhelming; so we created search refinements to filter by property type, price, bedrooms, bathrooms, and even school districts.

You provided more feedback and we heard that basic “full text” search just wasn’t good enough. You asked to search across all of the possible amenities and features (there are hundreds of possible combinations). Building a search engine on top of broker IDX websites allows just that! You requested to use these search terms as interactive filters. Which homes have pools… which have hardwood floors… which have both? And even wanted to avoid specific amenities. I have a toddler… which homes do not have pools? We pushed each other and developed, what we think, is an evolutionary step for keyword search.

With our new keyword search feature, you can:

• Search across property description and key amenities: Need a home with a pool in Dallas? What about wheelchair access in Sacramento? Of course, an ocean view in Newport Beach would be amazing!
• Use “negatives” to avoid amenities you don’t want: Try “no pool” in Boston. If you really want to get tricky, you can combine terms to really narrow your search: “hardwood not Pergo”
• Search by MLS ID # to locate a specific listing.
  

Follow these simple steps to create your interactive filters quickly and seamlessly:

1. Surf to www.roost.com
2. Search a location, as you normally would (“Irvine, CA”)
3. Look for “Amenity / Keyword / Id#” in the filter area (in the left-hand “Refine Your Search” window)
4. Type in an amenity (e.g., “pool”) and click “Find”. (Notice a checkbox appears below for “pool.”)
5. Now search for another amenity (“hardwood”). (An additional checkbox appears for “hardwood.”)
6. You can now check / uncheck these amenities as you continue to filter your results!

Please share your experience with us so we can continue to make further enhancements. We’re constantly improving our features so stay tuned for more…

Click here to view an interactive video…

Alex Lange
CTO, Roost.com