Of course we all understand that with an Internet connection we’re just a few links away from a vast array of services, technologies, and information. But sometimes it’s helpful to see a road map to help navigate the many routes and destinations online, including places we never knew existed.
That’s the idea behind an information-packed chart developed by real estate blogger Paul Knegten, a co-founder of Bay Area real estate software company Amitree.
Knegten created the chart in an attempt to map the hundreds of companies active in online real estate — brokerages, search tools, listing services, back-office technologies, market data analyzers, and many more.
When Knegten first posted the chart on his Fixing Real Estate blog on March 6, he had already mapped more than 130 companies and websites. He’s been adding to the chart ever since, and by Thursday it had grown to more than 250 companies listed in 23 categories.
One of the companies on the chart is from Amitree, of course. Closing Time, now available for beta testing, is a customized checklist to help homebuyers navigate the paperwork and details of buying a home.
“This is a work in progress – and I’d love your feedback on what’s missing,” Knegten wrote on his blog. “This is v0.1 of what I hope will be a valuable guide to the innovation that’s happening around us in real estate technology.”
The news website BusinessInsider wrote about Knegten’s chart when it first appeared, quoting from an email message he sent them.
“For the first time, there is starting to be a healthy M&A (mergers and acquisitions) market for new startups as a result of the IPOs and growth of Trulia and Zillow,” he wrote in the email. “This chart is going to grow and multiply as more of these deals get done, more VC funding flows into the space, and more innovation spurs real change in real estate tech.”
Here’s a look at Knegten’s chart so far:
(Chart courtesy of Paul Knegten.)