Survey Method for Facilitating Real Estate Transactions
First Claim
1. A method for operating a Web server to facilitate a real estate transaction comprising:
- receiving an initiate survey signal from a user computing device, said initiate survey signal indicating that a user associated with the user computing device wants to take a survey that may facilitate a predetermined type of real estate transaction;
first causing, in response to said initiate survey signal, a transmission of a first query relating to a predetermined type of real estate transaction to be directed to the user computing device;
first receiving a first answer of the user to said first query from the user computing device;
processing said first answer to determine, based on said first answer, a second query relating to said predetermined type of real estate transaction; and
second causing a transmission of said second query relating to said predetermined type of real estate transaction to be directed to the user computing device.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a dynamic survey for extracting data from a consumer that is contemplating a real estate transaction (e.g., the purchase or sale of a residence), processing the data to produce a report, and providing the report to the consumer. In one embodiment, a Web server transmits a query over the Web to a computing device associated with the consumer; the consumer causes the computing device to transmit an answer to the query back to the Web server; the Web server processes the answer to determine a subsequent query. The use of an answer to a query to determine a subsequent query typically occurs throughout the survey and results in the consumer providing answers to questions that are focused to the consumer, as opposed to be a general survey in which the answers to many queries are unlikely to provide data that is meaningful in facilitating the real estate transaction contemplated by a particular, individual consumer. In one embodiment, the queries are directed to: (a) identifying aspects of the consumer'"'"'s personality that may impact the real estate transaction being contemplated and (b) expectations of the consumer with respect to the real estate professionals that the consumer may want to engage to facilitate the contemplated transaction. The answers to the series of queries are used to produce the report that is provided to the consumer. In another embodiment, the report is provided to a real estate professional that evaluates the report to determine if the real estate professional is: (a) a good fit with respect to the real estate transaction being contemplated by the consumer and the expectations of the consumer with respect to the type of real estate professional that the consumer would want to engage to assist the consumer in the contemplated real estate transaction or (b) if the real estate professional knows of another real estate professional that is such a fit. If the real estate professional decides that there is a good fit, one or more referral transactions occur and a real estate professional is introduced to the consumer.
30 Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A method for operating a Web server to facilitate a real estate transaction comprising:
-
receiving an initiate survey signal from a user computing device, said initiate survey signal indicating that a user associated with the user computing device wants to take a survey that may facilitate a predetermined type of real estate transaction;
first causing, in response to said initiate survey signal, a transmission of a first query relating to a predetermined type of real estate transaction to be directed to the user computing device;
first receiving a first answer of the user to said first query from the user computing device;
processing said first answer to determine, based on said first answer, a second query relating to said predetermined type of real estate transaction; and
second causing a transmission of said second query relating to said predetermined type of real estate transaction to be directed to the user computing device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method for operating a user computing device to facilitate a real estate transaction comprising:
-
causing an initiate survey signal to be transmitted from the user computing device and directed to a Web server that is adapted to process said initiate survey signal, said initiate survey signal indicating that a user associated with the user computing device is interested in taking a survey that may facilitate a predetermined type of real estate transaction that the user may be contemplating;
first receiving, in response to said initiate survey signal, a first query relating to said predetermined type of real estate transaction from the Web server;
first causing a first answer of the user to said first query to be transmitted from the user computing device and directed to the Web server; and
second receiving, in response to said first answer, a second query relating to said predetermined type of real estate transaction that has been determined by the Web server based on said first answer. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A method for facilitating a real estate transaction comprising:
-
conveying an initiate survey signal, originating from a user computing device, towards a Web server adapted to process said initiate survey signal, the initiate survey signal indicating that a user associated with the user computing device wants to take a survey that may facilitate a predetermined type of real estate transaction that the user may be contemplating;
first conveying a first query relating to said predetermined type of real estate transaction that originated with the Web server and is in response to said initiate survey signal towards the user computing device;
first conveying a first answer of the user to said first query that originated with the user computing device towards the Web server; and
second conveying a second query relating to said predetermined type of real estate transaction that originated with the Web server towards the user computing device, said second query having been determined by the Web server based on said first answer. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A method for operating a Web server to facilitate a real estate transaction comprising:
-
receiving an initiate survey signal from a user computing device, the initiate survey signal indicating that a user associated with the user computing device wants to take a survey that may facilitate real estate transaction that the user may be contemplating;
causing, in response to said initiate survey signal, transmission of a plurality of queries directed to the user computing device, said plurality of queries having a personality profiling characteristic in which at least one of said plurality of queries is designed to assess the user'"'"'s personality type;
receiving an answer of the user to each query of said plurality of queries from the user computing device;
processing a plurality of said answers to said plurality of queries to produce a report for the user that may facilitate the real estate transaction that the user may be contemplating; and
causing transmission of said report from the Web server and directed to the user computing device. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
Specification