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.
Browsing Category sideblog
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?
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.
Charlottesville is a Distinctive Destination
as does the Cville theme park meme, thanks to the National Trust for Historic Preservation:With a captivating blend of colorful history, distinctive architecture and Southern hospitality, Charlottesville, Va., is a destination unlike any other. In the shadow of the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains in Albemarle County, Charlottesville still reflects the revolutionary ideals of the founding fathers who once called this place home. Here visitors can walk in the footsteps of Jefferson at his beloved University of Virginia and at Monticello, the home he designed and redesigned, built and rebuilt over the course of four decades….”When you combine the spectacular natural beauty of the region with Charlottesville’s architectural and cultural heritage, it’s easy to see why this is such an ideal destination,†said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Jefferson loved his home here more than any place on earth, and two centuries later, visitors are just as captivated by Charlottesville’s charms.”
Charlottesville Neighborhoods – Martha Jefferson
The Martha Jefferson neighborhood, bordered by North Downtown, Woolen Mills and Belmont, is facing a significant transition – Martha Jefferson is leaving the neighborhood.  This neighborhood is a prime example of how quickly a neighborhood can change, and also why it is important for a buyer to do his or her own due diligence when shopping for a home.From the C’Ville Design Center’s excellent site:The Martha Jefferson Hospital is the major center of activity and employment in the plan area, which generates some related uses in the neighborhood, including a number of doctor’s offices….  Fairfax Taylor and his family lived in the neighborhood during the mid 19th Century.Homes’ ages range from the early 1900’s to the 1970’s with the odd new, in-fill home here and there.Garages/Basements: Finding a garage would be rare.  Finding a functional (clean, dry) basement – not so difficult, but your definition of functional may change from “livable” to “I could do laundry here.”Home prices and Architecture: the gamut.
Trulia and Google bag another big one
Realogy (ERA, Century21, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s) is stepping to the plate:From a press release:Tomorrow, Realogy Corporation will announce a new online listing distribution strategy that will result in all CENTURY 21 listings becoming accessible through the Google and Trulia Web search portals…. This strategy is a fantastic point of differentiation from our competition….It’s a fact that over 58 percent of all Internet searches on “real estate” and related terms are conducted on Google and its search partner sites. Meanwhile, Trulia.com is one of the fastest growing sites in the real estate category and reports that it refers over two million buyer visits to external listing sites each month. Seventy percent of Trulia users surveyed indicated that they This is good for buyers of real estate, as both offer better searching capabilities and data display than many local MLSs, and good for sellers as it expands the reach of their Realtors’ marketing.