Look back through this blog and you won’t see a single mention of Trulia.com. Trulia gained a lot of attention when it first rolled out. It scared (and continues to scare) real estate agents. But I don’t know why… It’s just a web site. It doesn’t replace a real estate agent.
If you are not familiar with Trulia, it’s a big giant site that provides real estate listings. They scrape or pull listings from multiple places and display listings for all to view, search and ponder.
They started in California, and have slowly branched out to a few other major markets. Now they are active in Arizona.
I got a call a couple of days ago from Kelly Roark, Vice President, Industry Development for Trulia. She provided this email below to let me know what was happening at Trulia. Kelly was a very nice, professional lady. I don’t think she or anyone at Trulia is trying to replace agents. She even says that we (agents) can provide the most accurate info on a property. And now I share Kelly’s email with all the avid readers of this blog:
Dear Jay,
Nice speaking with you this afternoon! As promised, here’s an update for your blog:
Since we opened our online door in September 2005, we’ve been working hard to build a great search tool for home buyers, real estate agents, brokers and home sellers. Our goal is to simplify the search process over multiple property Web sites from the time consumers turn on their computers, and then quickly point them to the richest source of property information on the listing brokers’ Web sites–the people who’ve often sat at a home seller’s coffee table and can provide the most accurate information on a property. Check out the latest at www.Trulia.com, including new features that you and your readers might be interested in:
• New state launches in big real estate markets. Trulia is now live in Arizona, in addition to CA, NY, NJ, TX, FL, PA, NV, IL and OH. Plus, we’ll be adding several more markets in July and will be nationwide before year end.
• Cool new product updates and features: Check out our new user search views (screen shots available at your request) to meet just about any preference in home viewing, as well as our school and census data:
o Gallery view – the latest in real estate search technology: if you’re a visual person and can’t be bothered by words, click on this feature and search by thumbnail photo rather than address
o Search results map with property details – Skip the double-click process with this new view option: as you click on property search results, the accompanying city map is replaced with property details on the right so you can quickly scan information
o Full map view – Trulia mapping to the max: view full-screen map details with this exciting, visually enticing new mapping feature
o School overviews and census information – Consumers can get a quick snapshot on Trulia.com of publicly available information that’s important within a home buyer’s search process – things like student/teacher ratio in specific markets, student performance, crime statistics, median family income, travel time to work, and more. Here are a few examples:
1. http://www.trulia.com/city/AZ/Phoenix/
2. http://www.trulia.com/city/AZ/Scottsdale/
3. http://www.trulia.com/city/AZ/Tucson/
• Leading Real Estate brokers sign-up: We continue to generate strong support and feedback from leading real estate listing brokers across the US and are driving traffic to many thousands of real estate sites. Recently we announced over 15 major brokers (see press release at the bottom) that have their listings indexed by Trulia, with dozens more joining every day. And in Arizona, broker leaders such as Realty Executives Phoenix, Realty Executives Southern Arizona, Long Realty, Russ Lyon, Century 21 Metro Alliance and Prudential Arizona Properties are on board as well as your site!
Feel free to contact me if you have questions, and please spread the word to all your friends, colleagues and readers!
Thanks,
Kelly
…………………………………………………….
Kelly Roark
Vice President, Industry Development
TRULIA Real Estate Search
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Jay’s Opine: Really not all that surprising. Do you think the value of your home increases as the structure ages and deteriorates? Generally speaking, older homes are in more need of repair, have higher maintenance costs, and aren’t as energy efficient as newer homes. Yet home values tend to increase over time…. Hmmm. Is it the actual structure that increases in value, or is it the LAND the structure is sitting on that increases in value? It’s all (well mostly) about the land…
Land Prices Increasingly Drive Housing Markets, Fed Study Says
By Campion Walsh
From The Wall Street Journal Online (June 22. Article Link)
WASHINGTON — Housing prices in big U.S. cities have increasingly reflected underlying land value rather than building value since the mid-1980s, and that trend is likely to continue, according to a Federal Reserve study released Tuesday.
In the 46 biggest metro housing markets, land’s share of property prices increased on average to 51% in 2004 from 32% in 1984, according to the study authored by Michael Palumbo, chief economist in the Fed’s flow of funds section, and Morris Davis, a former Fed economist now at the University of Wisconsin.
The increase was especially sharp during the 1998-2004 housing boom, when land’s share of property values gained 11 percentage points, the study said.
“With residential land having appreciated so significantly over the past 20 years around the country, the future course of land prices is expected to play an even more important role in governing home prices — in terms of average appreciation rates and volatility — in the next two decades,” according to the study.
The report concludes that land’s increased share of property values “could mean faster home-price appreciation, on average, and possibly larger swings in home prices.”
Even if land appreciation returns to the slower pace seen before the 1998-2004 boom, cumulative gains in land value mean that house prices might rise more quickly on average than they did before the boom, it said.
Regionally, relatively expensive housing markets have seen somewhat bigger increases in land’s share of prices in the 1998-2004 period, but the current housing boom has been marked by rapid appreciation of residential land “just about everywhere,” according to the report.
The Fed study also found that at some point since 1984 most large U.S. cities have gone through one pronounced price cycle in which residential land lost value for several years, usually after several years of rapid appreciation.
“In real terms, land prices have generally taken several years to go from peak to trough, and the subsequent recovery from these price declines has generally occurred at a more gradual pace,” the study said.
And Jay adds: Land values in and around the Phoenix area have exploded in the last couple of years. We recently listed and sold several 5 acre parcels inan area northwest of Phoenix called Whispering Ranch. As recently as two years ago, these parcels were selling for $8,000. Today’s prices? $60,000 - $100,000. Don’t you wish you’d bought a dozen two years ago? Another real life Phoenix land story…. an Air Force Sargent calls and says, “I’m looking for a couple of acres in Queen Creek. I lived near there about 10 years ago and am moving back. Can you help me?” I thought this guy might not understand the BOOM Queen Creek has gone through in the last couple of years. I asked him roughly how much he wanted to spend. He said $4 - $5,000 tops. Then I had to break the news to him that two acres in Queen Creek would probably cost him over $200, 000…
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ActiveRain.com is a new “social network” for real estate professionals. (It’s also going to be a darn find way to locate real estate professionals).
Social networks are getting a lot of buzz lately. ActiveRain may be the best implementation of a social network I’ve seen yet, and they claim (and I believe it) that they are the first one for real estate professionals. It hasn’t been up long, but it’s already picking up steam. You can upload a VERY detailed profile, link to other professionals, etc. The owner/CEO/head geek is also very responsive to input and feedback. The guy actually answers email (if you’re reading this Matt, get AR going in Canada! I’ve got agents there ready to join!)
Blogs for members are coming soon. I see little (yet significant) changes to the site on almost a daily basis.
So if you are a real estate professional (and that means agent, lender, inspector, title company, builder or coach) you really ought to register on Active Rain. It’s free. Here’s your chance to get in on the ground floor of something that could be huge…
What do you have to lose? Do it…. do it here!
From their press release:
Bellevue, WA June 14, 2006: Real estate B2B services company ActiveRain Corp., has launched the real estate industry’s first online networking resource for real estate professionals. The ActiveRain Real Estate Network is helping real estate professionals to grow their businesses with simple and effective tools.
The Network’s free services help real estate agents, mortgage brokers, builders, and others in the industry to quickly and simply increase their network of contacts, and to expand their web presence. Members can set up a profile in under 5 minutes. One RE/MAX agent tells others “it’s easy to do and the price is right.”
Members are using the network to connect with each other. Clients are also catching on. A John L. Scott agent wrote that “Within 1 week of posting my profile . . . I have already had a client call me and begin working with me.”
CEO Matt Heaton, founder of the project sees the site as a way for real estate professionals to develop their own online network where they can easily connect with each other and with their clients. “It’s been exciting to see how active the members have been at growing the network to this point. It’s their network and their doing their part to build it.”
The company will continually add tools to help develop the social network. The community of members is helping to design the site. Their input has helped to add an associate’s list, enabling users to grow a referral network. Coming is a personalized blogging system to help draw more visibility to member profiles.
The community is quickly becoming a simple and effective tool for real estate professionals to network and grow their businesses.
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Here is a stunning view of the Superstition Mountians. Taken March 6, 2006 from the patio rooftop deck of a current listing we have in Gold Canyon.
Sorry that I’m breaking my own rule of not posting our listings on the blog. I can’t help it. I just find this shot that good. Thought those that aren’t from around here might appreciate it. Yes, it does snow around here on occasion. (*rarely* IN Phoenix, but I could see the snow on the Superstitions from by back yard in Gilbert (nowhere nearly as well as these folks could though!!!)
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Jay’s Opine: Well here’s a shocker… But do we really need to know the amount of sweat the average Phonecian releases on any given day? And comparing that to glasses of lemonade just seems…. wrong.
Phoenix Reclaims Title As Sweatiest City
The summer sun might be a breath of fresh air compared to the rain or snow of months past, but Old Spice reminds us again this year that some cities are downright sweaty in the summertime. The company released its Top 100 Sweatiest Cities List this week, ranking Phoenix as the the nation’s top perspiration producer for the second time in four years.Phoenix turned up the heat to jump to the top of the list after dropping to just No. 3 last year, living up to its nickname “Valley of the Sun.” The city also took top honors in 2003.Cities in Texas and Florida continued to dominate the top 10 while, for the first time, a city in Nevada cracked the top 5 with Las Vegas ranking No. 2. The least sweatiest cities include Green Bay, Wis., Colorado Springs, Colo., and San Francisco.
View The Full List
The rankings are based on the average U.S. male/female height/weight and the average high temperature for 2004 in each of the cities during June, July and August. The sweat level was analyzed based on the assumption that an individual was walking for one hour. Living in what now ranks as one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, the average Phoenix resident produced .76 liters of sweat per hour during a typical summer day in 2004 — more than two 12-ounce glasses of lemonade. In a two-hour period, residents of Phoenix collectively produced more than enough sweat to equal a 12-ounce glass of lemonade for everyone in the state of Arizona, according to a news release.In recognition of the dubious award, Old Spice will be delivering a year’s supply of Old Spice Red Zone antiperspirant to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.
“Weather patterns are constantly changing, and this of course has a tremendous effect on where cities fall in the Sweatiest Cities ranking,” said Dr. Paul Ruscher, associate professor and associate chair of meteorology at Florida State University. “While cities like Phoenix have consistently remained one of the top 10 sweatiest cities, cities like San Francisco, which ranked No. 68 last year, fell to the bottom of our list at No. 100 — claiming the title ‘Least Sweaty City.’”
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