It was just a matter of time before the king of virtual real estate would stake its claim in real real estate. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is now offering home listings at its namesake site.
In news first broken by industry blogger Shimon Sandler, if you enter the term "Homes for Sale" on Google.com, you have the option to type in a geographic area and hit a "Search Housing" button. That opens up a Google Maps page showing homes on the market in your selected area.
Taking it one step further, I entered the term "Apartments for Rent" and was treated to a list of rentals. And in a move likely to ruffle real estate agents' feathers, folks can list their own homes or apartments -- for free -- through Google Base.
Once again, I find myself fearing for HouseValues (NASDAQ:SOLD). The launch of Zillow.com back in February, despite its appraisal flaws, had me fretting over HouseValues.com. Now Google's real estate foray has me concerned over HouseValues' HomePages.com listing site.
The Motley Fool Hidden Gems recommendation was hit hard even before the arrival of competition from the Google and Zillow camps. The stock has shed half of its value since Zillow's launch two months ago, but the decline came as a result of the company's bleak financial outlook for 2006.
Analysts were expecting HouseValues to earn $0.69 a share this year until the company hosed that number down. The company's new guidance has it earning between $0.24 a share and $0.30 a share after what will likely be a $0.12-per-share hit on stock-based compensation.
Those sums are based on the company's revenues growing by at least 21%, and it remains to be seen what kind of impact new arrivals will have on HouseValues' growth.
Other public companies that may be affected include Realtor.com parent Homestore.com (NASDAQ:HOMS), Cendant (NYSE:CD), and ZipRealty (NASDAQ:ZIPR). Even though these companies didn't necessarily feel the pinch of Zillow's free and instant home appraisals, the ability to list on Google for free may hurt agents who depend on listings to derive as much as 6% of a home's ultimate selling price in commissions.
Naturally, if Google's real estate and rental listings grow popular, it will also have an impact on eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY). In fact, eBay may be the hardest-hit of all here, since it relies on the for-sale-by-owner market to pay for its auction listings.
Keep watching this situation. When Google moves, things change.
eBay was a Motley Fool Stock Advisornewsletter recommendation in June of 2002. HouseValues was a recentHidden Gems stock selection.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz isn't interested in selling his home, even though he recognizes that the once-red-hot South Florida market is cooling off quickly. He does not own shares in any of the stocks mentioned in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
