Home listings on the Flyhomes search portal now show the breakdown of recent presidential and congressional voting trends in any given community.
Key points:
- Newcomer home search portals are looking for ways to stand out from the competition by offering data that others don’t have.
- Flyhomes says the voting information it shares on its site comes from the MIT Election Data & Science Lab, which was primarily made for research and academic use.
- A company exec said there’s a risk that it could “enable people to politically self sort,” but he also believes shoppers will find that many communities are balanced.
In the contest for consumer attention and clicks, home search sites boast a bevy of data — from snippets on pedestrian-friendliness to info on local schools and parks, in addition to original content — but one newcomer thinks homebuyers will be interested in the political leanings of the neighborhoods they’re shopping around.
The recently launched AI-powered home search from Flyhomes incorporates what the company calls NeighborVote — a section on individual home listings that shows the partisan breakdown of votes cast in the most recent presidential and congressional races. By clicking into a random home listing in solidly “blue” Seattle, for instance, a home shopper will see that nearly 90% of neighbors in that particular precinct voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and 85% of the residents of that congressional district voted for U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal in 2022.
Surfacing more neighborhood, homeowner details
The new voter data integration in Flyhomes is another example of how portals, often with the help of AI, are seeking to unveil more detailed information — not just about properties, but about the surrounding communities and the individuals who live there.
In February, mortgage originator Tomo launched its own home search offering, which highlighted “negotiation insights” for buyers — essentially details on the outstanding loan balance and interest rate on a house, as well as the home equity the owner has, which Tomo CEO Greg Schwartz told Real Estate News would arm the average homebuyer with the same data that investors look at when making offers on a property.
When asked if there were privacy concerns around putting this data online, he noted that it’s public records data and homeowners can request to opt out.
Politics are ‘certainly relevant’ to home shoppers
While neighborhood voting patterns may not be a top consideration for prospective buyers, politics can influence where people choose to live. Adam Hopson, Flyhomes’ Chief Strategy Officer, tells Real Estate News that providing this info can help buyers make the right decision on their home purchase.
“The political leanings of a specific area is certainly relevant to people as they’re searching for a home,” he said, adding that Flyhomes is currently active in 38 states plus Washington, D.C. “We think…
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