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Trulia personalizes real estate listings with Trulia Suggests

Home listings site's new tool goes beyong basic parameters to learn from home buyers' opinions and behaviors.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
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Trulia Suggests' home listings pages includes property information as well as ways for home buyers to indicate their interest in the property. Trulia

In an effort to better tailor home searches to customers' interests, real estate listings site Trulia has launched new functionality that aims to learn from home buyers' interests.

While real estate sites tend to present properties based on basic parameters such as neighborhood, number of bedrooms, and price range, Trulia thinks its new Suggests tool can present a better selection based on users' opinions. Trulia says its proprietary algorithm tracks individual home buyers' behavior to immediately surface personalized results determined to appeal most to users.

Trulia's personalized property suggestions appear in a photo-centric presentation and can be refined by indicating which homes hold appeal and which don't by clicking "Like," "Hide," or "Follow."

"We're going beyond the search box to bring consumers smart product 'suggestions' in a fun, easy and visually-engaging way," Lee Clancy, Trulia's vice president of consumer products, said in a statement. "With housing inventory so tight right now, this product will open up the eyes of consumers to homes and neighborhoods they might not have explored in the past."

Trulia hopes the new personalized results will help distinguish itself from real estate rivals Zillow and HomeSnap.

Trulia Suggests debuts as a Web-only tool, but the company plans to launch the feature on iOS and Android apps next quarter. The service will eventually be extended to rental properties.

Trulia Suggests' search results page. Trulia