Lamudi is a well known name when it comes to online property listings in Pakistan. The release of their mobile apps for Android and iOS has made it easy to access property information on the go. How well does that actually translate into practice though? Let’s find out in this app review.
Where the app shines:
The app is very well designed. Everything is laid down in a clear manner and you have access to all of the listings available on the Lamudi.pk website, which number over 100,000. There are multiple filters to narrow down your search that include city and area, property type, price, total area, bedrooms and bathrooms. So in terms of properties being discover-able and well presented, the Lamudi apps gets top marks.
If you choose to register with Lamudi, you can actually get alerts for saved searches when new properties matching the criteria are added. Another great feature is the addition of maps, which are powered by Google Maps. You can pinpoint where a property is and view up to 50 of them at the same time on a singe map. The ability to contact the dealer through a ‘Call’ button in the app is also a very nice touch.
Something that stood out was the standardized look throughout the listings, whether it was in pictures or descriptions so that gives the app a polished feel.
Where the app could do better:
While it is a commendable effort that ventures into new territory, we can’t help but wonder how useful it is going to be. The traditional way of doing real estate business in Pakistan is through property dealers. When you look through listings, the ratio of dealers to individual sellers is low. Unfortunately, this means that many listings have missing photos, price, addresses etc and you’d have to contact the dealer for detailed information.
For an app like this, being a property listing aggregator is not enough. It has to be a bit more. We love the design and how everything is presented but in terms of content, Lamudi needs to step up. Whether they do this through aggressive moderating or being more proactive in how they populate their directory is up to them.
Conclusion:
Lamudi.pk’s iOS and Android apps get top marks for effort but they need to do more to pose a threat to the traditional way of doing real estate in Pakistan. Right now, the apps are more of a passive way to search properties. This means you’d still be doing the usual; calling dealers, getting detailed information and setting up meetings to visit the locations. They need to move to an active approach where their app is a one-stop portal for a user.
The good thing is that they are one of the first companies whose sole focus is property and they have quite a head start. So if they play their cards right and keep on improving their product, there is no reason why the Lamudi.pk apps can’t be an indispensable tool for home-owners and house hunters across Pakistan.
Download:
You can download the Lamudi.pk app for Android here. For iOS, you can download the app from here.
Magnificent
What is the word “Lamudi” ? i wonder why their officials finalized such a crap name :p