We’ve recently launched an iPhone application that allows Trovit users to search for flats or houses from their smartphone. The Trovit application uses Google Maps and GPS/GSM geolocation to display the property classifieds in the Trovit database that are closest to the user.

This application can be downloaded, free of charge, from the iTunes App Store. Once installed it will display the nearest properties, and the search can be filtered by type (sale or rent), by price, by area and by the number of bedrooms. The map automatically adjusts for the user’s position.

The application has been developed by Sacha Fuentes, entrepreneur and mobile application developer, through his development studio, muobo.com.

We hope this application is useful and we appreciate any comments you may have!

This holiday season, Trovit’s employees pooled together a collection of non-perishable items in an effort to give back to the community. In partnership with local non profit organization,
Banc dels Aliments, collections will help those in need in the area of Barcelona.

A little while ago we launched the map search functionality, and we’d like to tell you a little bit more about the improvements we’ve been making as well as some features which could prove useful to your search. Some of them have come about because of users’ feedback, so we hope they prove useful to your search on Trovit Homes. You can access the map view from the search results.

Here are some of the features we’ve incorporated into our map search:

• You can sign up for email alerts directly from the map, so you’ll be the first to know about properties that are new to the market as well as those that have reduced prices.

• Send the map to yourself or to a friend so you can save the property you’re interested in, or share it!

• A permalink so you can save the specific property you’re interested in.

We’ll keep working in order to offer you a better search experience, and we always welcome ideas and comments!

We’ve just launched a new application for Trovit users who have Android cell phones. This application allows users to search for property from their phone while they’re out and about. Through a Google Maps integration and using GPS or GSM geolocation, the application shows the properties on the Trovit database that are located near the user.

The application can be downloaded from the Android Market (a service that allows users to automatically download and install applications for their cell phone). Once installed, it will display nearby properties. Users can also filter the search (by type: for sale or for rent, and by price, area or number of bedrooms) as well as save their favourite properties for future reference. The map refreshes automatically as the user moves.

The Trovit application is available in the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, France, Poland, the US, the UK and Italy.

The application was developed in record time by the team at and.roid.es (who also posted the news on their blog) and it was great working with them! and.roid.es has been following Android OS developments for nearly two years, and they’ve managed to create the largest Spanish-speaking Android community. They’ve also organized several Android events and development courses.

We hope you find this application useful! and.roid.es have prepared a launch video (in Spanish) explaining how the application works:

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world just released a study of trends in usage of French online career services sites.

A total of 11.5 million French Internet users accessed a careers services and development site in May 2009, up 45% versus year ago, presumably driven in large part by the effects of the global financial crisis.

Pole-emploi.fr, the government-owned careers agency, is France’s most visited careers site with 3,9 millions visitors in May 2009. Groupe Vocatis ranked second with 1.3 million visitors, followed by Trovit France Jobs with 1.1 million visitors and Keljob Sites with 1 million visitors.

Since May 2008, “Trovit France Jobs” or “Trovit-Emploi” has increased its number of visitors by 281%. Impressive! ;D

Not too long ago we rolled out the functionality to filter search results to see ads with reduced prices. After seeing how popular this feature has been, we’d like to present a new functionality: a price evolution graph. This allows you to see ads’ price evolution. This is especially relevant when you have to negotiate a sale price for a car or a home.

To see the price evolution graph, click on the More option which appears with each ad. The graph will only appear for the ads whose price has been modified at least twice.

Here’s an example so you can see exactly how this shows up on Trovit:

At Trovit we’re always aiming to offer you more content, of a higher quality. At the moment, we have over 2500 sources for classified ads. This allows us to be the largest classifieds ads site in Europe. However, you’ve surely found that one of the sites included in Trovit isn’t helping in your search: maybe because the content isn’t useful or because you don’t like its design. For these cases, we’ve created a new functionality, giving you the option to block ad sources from your search results.

To activate this tool, you must click on the X that appears next to the name of the source you wish to remove from results. You can see this clearly in the following example:

After clicking on the X, a window appears to explain how, if you reconsider, you can include this source in your search results again. We hope you find this option useful, and, as always, we’ll gladly welcome your comments and suggestions.

Because of the current economic crisis, many sellers have reduced the prices of the property or cars for sale. In order to make it possible for our users to detect these reductions, we’ve created a new functionality: under the price filter, we’ve added a check box with the number of ads with reduced prices. If it’s selected, only ads with lowered prices will be visible.

Here are a couple searches for cars and homes at great prices, which sellers are very interested in getting sold:
- Mercedes (1,385 reduced ads)
- London (5,085 reduced ads)

To see the ads with price reductions, click on the check box under the price filter.

Trovit seeks to make its product better every day, if you have any suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

comScore, one of the global leaders in measuring traffic on the Internet, has released the first report of activity in the Spanish online real estate category in September 2008, based on data from the comScore Media Metrix audience measurement service.

According to the report, three million Spanish Internet users visited a site in the real estate site category, representing a five percent increase versus year ago. 396,000 of them visited Trovit Casas, our search engine for homes in Spain, which becomes the fourth real estate website in Spain after Fotocasa, Grupo Facilísimo and Idealista.

After being recognised by Nielsen as the second fastest growing website in the UK, we’re proud to be recognised by comScore as one of the most important real estate websites in Spain.

Google is quietly adding more and more cities to their Streetview product and we just integrated Streetview in our search engine in France and Spain. We think being able to look at the buildings and the surroundings can be a very interesting feature for our users who are looking for a new house.

Since a few hours ago, you can already navigate the streets of Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia in Spain, and Paris, Lyon, Lille, Toulouse in France. We hope Google will shortly add more cities to Streetview and they will automatically show in Trovit.