There has been much talk the past several days about Hitwise’s announcement that Realtor.com is still the reigning champ in the online real estate search arena…. Google’s share of the pie is rising – rapidly; to ignore that until now is pure negligence and arrogance.As I tell my daughter – whether in sports or business – there will always be somebody smarter, faster, stronger, meaner and more driven than she/we.And today brings this from Business Week -All the attention (and online traffic) has spurred rival Realtor.com to respond. The company’s new Real-Time Market Snapshot gives online home shoppers access to more recent sale prices in a particular neighborhood.But, in typical fashion that contradicts the consumers’ desire to have unfettered access to the information:In order to get that Real-Time snapshot you have to leave a particular property address and your contact info with Realtor.com, which then feeds your request to a local Realtor…. (Bolding mine)Questions:- Why can Realtor.com provide sold data, but our local MLS cannot?- When will Charlottesville’s data be available?- What good is picking a Realtor at random?On a side note, I received a voice mail from a Realtor.com rep today asking whether I was going to renew my “enhanced listings” package, which is really the ability to have more than one picture, and costs several hundred dollars – asking, “I am calling to see if you are ready to pay …”
Date Archives March 2007
Who says transit doesn’t increase house values?
Courtesy of the NYTimes:There are signs that Google’s shuttles could be affecting — albeit in small ways — the region’s housing market.When Adam Klein, a 24-year-old software engineer, moved to San Francisco in 2005 to take a job at Google, he looked for a rental apartment within a 15-minute walk of a shuttle stop. His walk to the Civic Center stop turned out to be a bit longer…. “Those stops have attracted people,” he said.The area surrounding one of the shuttle’s Pacific Heights stops had a dozen or so Googlers living nearby in 2005…. Generally, the more people demanding homes in a limited area will cause prices to increase.
The downside of Trulia’s new partnerships
Very soon after the announcement that Realogy would be sending their data to Trulia, I notice that Trulia’s listing for one of my listings no longer goes to my website, but instead goes to Century 21’s website. Traffic to my site goes down, and now any potential leads that I might have gotten will instead be routed through Century 21…. Not to mention that I have many more photos on my site and my site is much easier to customize to maximize my listings’ best features.But, I guess this will lead to more traffic for my listings, just not with as many pictures or information as before…. Rather than ensure a rapid response from the listing agent, directing people to Century 21’s site adds at least two more steps into the “getting more information” equation.
Friday links – 03-09-2007
The downsides of being a college-town investorHow to leave a voice mail – one of the best things I have done to respect others’ time is to say at the beginning of my voice mail,” This is Jim Duncan, press 1 to leave a message …” rather than force people who know me to listen to the entire message and then the menu of options for leaving messages. Time is valuable.What’s the rate?
Soccer and real estate
After playing in the league for the past five or six years, many of the faces are familiar, personalities are known and mutual respect has been earned…. Make no mistake, on the pitch there is serious, not-quite-fierce competition, but every player wants to win. Just as in the real estate community, I know who is a good player, who is fair and who is dirty – knowing and recognizing those differences makes for a better player and match – and I play accordingly…. Similarities between soccer and real estate:1) Preparation and training are key.2) Knowing the competition’s strengths and weaknesses is crucial.3) There are clear boundaries that are crossed frequently by some.4) Both require passion and dedication to be successful.
How vital is internet access?
Inspired in part by this post at the Center for Realtor Technology comes this week’s (probably month’s) poll – How Important is Internet Access in your next home? 99% of my clients deem internet access to be an absolute, non-negotiable necessity, on par with needing three bedrooms and two baths, or needing to be within 20 minutes of the UVA Hospital because that is what the residency requirements state (Match Day is approaching!) In the area surrounding Charlottesville and beyond the Urban Ring of Albemarle, one cannot safely assume that high speed internet access is ubiquitous – this is often very surprising to those relocating to the area.One would think that the MLS would offer this as a field by which we could limit our searches, but alas, not yet…. Calling the local phone company to see about DSL is another step, but often they aren’t 100% certain as to where their service extends.
Charlottesville is eco-friendly
With our smattering of green homes (that is growing) Charlottesville (and Albemarle, one would assume) has recently been rated as one of the Top-10 eco-friendly cities in the country, so says the Associated Press…. Most irritating is that nowhere yet has the criteria for being considered “eco-friendly” been detailed. Guess we’ll have to wait until 20 March when Country Home magazine hits newsstands.One of the folks who worked on the study(?) is Bert Sperling, famous for the Best Places rankings.