As of today, you can search for your next house on Google Maps. To do this, begin at http://maps.google.com.au. Click the link to the right of the Search Maps button, labelled Show Search Options. Once you do so, the link will change to Remove Search Options and you will see a drop-down menu, where you should choose Real Estate.
You can refine the search by the usual controls you see at a traditional real estate site, such as Rent/For Sale, type of dwelling, type of bedrooms, number of bedrooms, car parking spots, area, and so on.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpSoAue9bf0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.com.au%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Frealestate%2F&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
If you are browsing, just enter a street or suburb and you will see balloons indicating properties for sale. When you drag the map, the listings on the left will change to reflect the map window. You can explore any of them.
Clicking More Info in the speech bubble leads to detailed information about a specific property. Google has partnered with numerous real estate agencies to obtain the listings. Undoubtedly, the incumbent real estate website companies will be wondering how their traffic and revenues will be impacted by this Google innovation.