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Sechelt, BC V0N 3A0
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SUNSHINE COAST REAL ESTATE SEARCH SERVICE
OPTIMIZED FOR MOBILE PHONES IS NOW AVAILABLE

SECHELT, BC, CANADA — November 26, 2009 — Sunshine Coast real estate agent Gary Little has today released the first mobile phone version of his internet-based property searching service. The service works with any modern smartphone with web browsing capabilities and the results are specially formatted to take into account the small display screens on these devices.

This new search service is ideal for finding virtually any MLS®-listed property for sale in Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Sechelt, Halfmoon Bay, Pender Harbour, and neighbouring areas on the Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast is a popular area of British Columbia located 40 minutes via ferry from West Vancouver.

The search service allows properties to be found in two different ways.

  1. The first technique is to specify any combination of desired property attributes: property type, property location, age of listing, minimum price, maximum price, minimum bedrooms, minimum bathrooms, and special features (waterfront, view, or workshop).

  2. The second technique is to perform a free-form text query of a property's information. This allows a property (or group of properties) to be quickly found by entering an MLS® number, street address or street name, postal code, or a keyword of interest in a property's description field.

The keyword search capability makes it possible to locate very specific groups of related properties. The keyword can actually be a sequence of words separated from each other by a space character; in this situation, a property is found only if every word specified is in the property's description — an AND search. To find a property with any of several specified words in the description, the alternative words are enclosed in parentheses and separated from each other with a comma character — an OR search.

Wildcard searches are possible using the "*" character. For example, pano* matches the words "panorama" or "panoramic". Exclusionary searches are possible using the "-" character. For example, court -tennis matches all properties containing the word "court" except those that also include the word "tennis".

Results of either type of search are shown on the screen one property at a time and the user can switch between properties with a simple click. Photos are shown for each property as well as basic property information and a thumbnail map showing the property's location.

"The popularity of smartphones has radically changed the way buyers want to obtain information on properties for sale, especially when they're cruising neighbourhoods of interest in their cars." said Gary Little of Royal LePage Sunshine Coast. "With this new search service they can, within moments, learn enough about a property to decide whether it's worth pursuing further. It's the ultimate in convenience."

The Sunshine Coast real estate search service optimized for mobile phones is available at http://m.GaryLittle.ca/. The original version of the service, designed for use with desktop and laptop computers, is available at http://www.GaryLittle.ca/search.html.

The computer programming for the property searching service was done by Gary Little himself. He is a former marketing manager in the computer industry and the winner of two industry awards for excellence in software programming and design.

Real estate search innovation from Gary will continue early in the new year with the planned release of a mobile phone version of an interactive real estate map showing the locations of Sunshine Coast properties for sale. It will be a complement to Gary's popular full-featured interactive map at http://map.GaryLittle.ca/.

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Note: BlackBerry phones require BlackBerry OS 4.6 or later. For optimal presentation of search results, turn on the Support JavaScript browser configuration option. Earlier BlackBerry OS versions may work when the Support Style Sheets browser option is turned on, but the presentation of the results will be imperfect.

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Gary Little is an innovative real estate agent in the offices of Royal LePage Sunshine Coast in Sechelt, British Columbia. He is well known for his use of technology to provide compelling real estate tools for the general public, notably his interactive real estate map of the Sunshine Coast and his real estate statistics service. You can contact him through www.GaryLittle.ca.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Gary Little, realtor®
Royal LePage Sussex
5485 Wharf Ave., P.O. Box 65
Sechelt, BC V0N 3A0
Cell: 604-741-5347
Office: 604-885-0299
Fax: 604-885-0298
Twitter: @GaryLittleRLP
gary@garylittle.ca
www.garylittle.ca

This news release is located online at: http://www.GaryLittle.ca/pr-20091126.html