Company is First Developer to Release Commercial Real Estate App for the Smart Phone

Merritt Properties, one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s leading commercial real estate developers, announced today the launch of its commercial real estate application for the iPhone, the first to be released by a commercial real estate developer. It is available immediately as a free download from the iTunes App Store.

The commercial property search application can also be used on Apple’s iPod touch, making Merritt’s portfolio of 16 million square feet of commercial real estate easily accessible to brokers and prospective and current customers on a mobile platform. Screenshots are available to view or download on the app’s landing page on Merritt’s website.

Merritt Properties iPhone App Features:

• Customized Commercial Property Search: Results can be sorted by property type (industrial/warehouse, flex/warehouse, office and retail), square footage (minimum and maximum), city (throughout Central Maryland and Northern Virginia), radius and space availability.
• Commercial Property Profiles: Search results include the property address, building type, a photo or rendering, overview of building specs, available space details, floorplans and Merritt contacts.
• Map & Driving Directions: Google Maps show location details and driving directions from any location.
• Forwarding: Listings can be forwarded to another phone or email address.
• Automatic Updates: Automatic updates reflect real-time data as properties are leased, completed or become available.
• News Updates: The latest news from Merritt Properties can be viewed and shared.

The company chose to initially develop the application for the iPhone because it has the largest share of the smart phone market, but build-outs are planned for both the Blackberry and Google Android operating systems. In the meantime, Blackberry and Android users can access the commercial property search function via Merritt’s mobile website.

The app launch and mobile website are part of Merritt’s overall efforts to leverage new technologies and platforms – in an industry that has been notoriously slow to adopt them. According to an article in one of the industry’s leading trade publications, Real Estate Forum (July/August 2009), “Now clients or potential clients are just as likely to text, email, instant message or write on an agent’s Facebook wall.”

To make the company fully accessible to clients, however they choose to communicate, Merritt is also using a texting application that sends property-specific details to any mobile phone and has established a Twitter channel, Facebook fan page and LinkedIn group.