The rumblings are getting louder that big tech is looking for ways to get deeper into multifamily housing. Google, Facebook, and Amazon are all exploring different ways to establish a larger presence in the industry. At this point, it’s not a matter of if, but when and how big. 

Like any other new vendor entering the industry, I hope they listen and learn first, before just jumping in with a misguided approach that doesn’t meet the needs of renters or operators.

For fun, let’s start with Google. What new could Google bring to our industry?

Here are three things I’d love to see from whatever becomes Google for Multifamily:

Real-Time Pricing and Amenities in Google My Business

I’d love to see direct pricing/availability feed integration into Google My Business (GMB) listings. Google has previously tested something similar with VaultWare (now MRI MarketConnect), so it will be interesting to see if they pursue a direct feed integration to display pricing and availability, along with tour scheduling and industry CRM integrations. 

Beyond pricing, it would make sense for Google My Business to highlight specific amenities and key features that they know renters want to see throughout their search.

This isn't really new; Google could easily follow much of the same path they took with hotels here. A lot of what Google offers now related to hotel marketing and sales stems from their acquisition of ITA Software back in 2010 ... so look for a major acquisition or data partnership (likely a major ILS or property management software provider) to make a product like this possible.

Compare the results for a hotel search compared to a search for apartments in the same market:

With the hotels, you can see locations, as well as current pricing, search based on your travel dates, and sort by a few key options (budget stays, luxury, highly rated, etc.). Lots of data points needed to make a more informed buying decision.

Compare that to the apartment search in the same area, which only returns location and ratings. Not nearly as much info for the searcher, leaving an opportunity for Google to improve their results based on pricing and availability data that are already readily available from property management software feeds.

Don’t Forget Nest and Assistant

Take that search a few steps further with the current Nest/Yale integration, and you could see where Google could offer a complete “search-to-sidewalk” self-tour experience for renters. The prospect could book their tour right from the property’s GMB page, then receive a code to unlock the Yale lock when they get to the apartment. You could even put a connected Google Home device in the model to answer any questions that the prospect might have while they are looking around in the apartment.

Not quite ready for self-guided tours? No problem, Google could auto-schedule tours for prospects through Google Assistant (like they're already doing for restaurants) and populate all the data into your CRM (or your leasing team’s Google Calendar) for you.

Google Rental Ads

There’s no question Google (and YouTube) Ads are an effective and efficient way to intercept traffic and steer potential renters to your property at every step of the shopping process. Still, the Ads product for real estate still has a lot of room for improvement, especially compared to what Google offers for product retailers and hotels. 

In Ads, I’d love to see more pricing and availability integrations there, too. Same deal: They have a whole Google Hotel Ads platform that could translate well to an Ads product for multifamily. Additionally, I could see them borrowing some features from Google Merchant Center and Local Inventory Ads to help showcase specific apartment units, proximity to the prospect’s location, and more.

Need some quick traffic to those last few stale units on your Vacants list? Run super-targeted ads that showcase today's price, your location, and a few great photos to reel in more interested prospects. That gets way easier with smart ads that can use your existing data feeds.

Google Insights for Multifamily 

Finally, I could see Google offering a self-serve Insights/Trends for Real Estate data product. Whether you’re looking for data on regional and neighborhood-specific demand for apartments, population and migration trends, shifting traffic patterns, people looking for jobs in a given market, or any number of other factors driving multifamily development and acquisitions, Google has more data on those areas than just about anyone … especially when it comes to true customer behavior (both online and how we move through the real world).

That data would be especially powerful for developers looking to make decisions about where to build, what to charge for rent, what amenities renters are actually searching for, and other important insights to help determine what their product should ultimately look like.

Now, I don’t have a crystal ball or anything close to an inside track on what Google is working on or what they will ultimately offer to multifamily marketers and developers. But these ideas seem fairly obvious and doable, should the tech giant choose to pursue and put resources behind them.

I’d love to hear your ideas. What else do you want to see from Google? What do you think they’ll offer in any future multifamily-focused products? Let me know your thoughts.