* Keeping an eye on the real estate market with Trulia
One of the great successes in online business has been the realty market and here in the Network World Web Applications newsletter I’ve covered a number of Web products and services over the years that support the realty business online.
The last of these that I discussed was Trulia, a service that provides consumers with a range of realty services including comparisons, value estimates, and advice.
A Trulia service feature I subscribed to was tracking property that is similar to a specific house. I chose a property like mine that was on the market and every now and then I’d get an e-mail with details of similar properties in the area going and off the market – a great way to keep an eye on what your local market is doing.
Of course whenever you sign up with a company for a service like that somehow you always get on the list for other “useful” newsletters and so, this afternoon, into my inbox dropped Trulia’s “House Hunting Tips.” OK, not bad, but as I’m not actually house hunting (I’m watching the market to see what’s going on, not with a view to selling) and I’ve bought and sold enough houses not to need any tips it wasn’t really what I wanted. On the other hand the newsletter featured some high priced homes around the country that seemed worth a look.
The first house was pretty cool (Truckee, Calif.; $1,295,000), but not really to my taste and it had fairly poor photos (with really weird lighting on the exterior shot). The second house (Austin, TX; $1,900,000) was pretty interesting, but the realtor (Coldwell Banker) obviously didn’t bother to proof their presentation as all the photos are shown twice.
The third property in the newsletter was in Phoenix, Ariz. for a measly $2,986,950 (such a weird price – why not make it $2,986,950.95?). Even here the presentation doesn’t have much pizzaz.
This is the problem with realty online: There’s now so much of it and realtors want to get the best possible selling opportunity without spending too much money. In fact, once they’ve done the nuts and bolts of preparing to sell there is little incentive to spend more of their time and money maximizing your profit – see Steven Levitt’s “Cracking the Real Estate Code” in Wired.
On the other hand, when they are selling high priced homes ($1,000,000 plus), then I’d expect a little more effort than I would for a regular house. In the next issue of this newsletter I’ll look at a Web application that I found via the Trulia Web site that provides a much more compelling sales proposition.
Editor’s note: Starting the week of Nov. 19, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter’s subject. Beginning ‘Monday, Nov. 12, the Web Applications Newsletter, written by Mark Gibbs, will be merged with the Network Applications News Alert and will be named the Web Applications Alert. You’ll get Mark’s Web apps pick of the day, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day’s network applications news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Mondays and Wednesdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.
