New Real Estate App Lets Users See Their Future Neighbors’ Political Interactions Before They Move In

As if the US wasn’t segregated enough, a new real estate app promises Americans the chance to retreat even further from politically sterile communities by screening their potential neighbors for unwanted associations. The Oyssey app, which bills itself as a “real estate search management platform,” includes a feature that allows prospective homebuyers to check the political leanings of their potential neighbors before they move in.

“Without standard search filters, Oyssey’s pioneers have never before found block-by-block social and political data,” reads the app’s website. The platform sources that information from “election results and campaign donations, as well as housing trends and other public data,” writes the New York Post.

“It’s about getting buyers the homes they love,” Oyssey CEO Huw Nierenberg told Axios, writing about the app’s unique feature. Nierenberg also said he is on a mission to “democratize home search data.”

Oyssey, a relatively new company that just launched in South Florida and New York City this October, also provides users with a wealth of demographic data, including information on the age, education, and income of potential neighbors.

One of the most interesting data points that Oyssey offers is the ability to tell how many dogs live in your area. If you live in a place like New York City, this is really useful information. Either A) you like dogs, and want to know where you can see as many as possible, or B), you don’t like running over dogs whenever you leave your apartment and would like to know where they might be staying. Overall, a great feature.

When it comes to the politics of Oyssey’s contribution assessment, it is clear that there is much to worry about. On the other hand, you can see why home buyers would want this kind of information. Who doesn’t want to know their neighbors? On the other hand, it may not be such a good idea to encourage people to only hang out with people they already have in common. And, in a place like New York City, I don’t think you’ll find much political diversity, anyway.

Gizmodo reached out to Oyssey for a more detailed picture of where it gets all of its data.