Zats really cool… February 7, 2006
Zillow has launched!
I just got an email from Zillow’s Director of Communications and she passed along the fact that not only is their blog live, but a beta version of their site is live as well… Rich and David flipped the switch!
So, what does Zillow do?
In two minutes of of a Skype [...]
DOJ-”opt-out” and a war with a “discounter” January 29, 2006
A new Broker opens an office and has no listings yet. He goes to area brokers and asks if he can advertise their listings in his “window” to help get him started. Mostly they say yes. They are not trying to force out the competition and they are more than willing to [...]
ZIP, Zillow and ZAP - Part 1 of ? January 19, 2006
OK, let’s “Get Real” for a minute.
On the one hand we have the consumer who wants what they need, no more; no less, for a price that seems reasonable.
Now, let’s look at the “service providers”, both as you know them, and as I know them as an insider. From an insider’s [...]
FSBO will not take over the world January 4, 2006
And with a title like that, I might just eat my words. There was an interesting story in New York Times story about FSBO yesterday. It describes a (ugly!) FSBO online service in Madison Wisconsin that has grown immensely over the past few years. I feel a little like a curmudgeon [...]
Didn’t Pay Your Mortgage? Don’t Worry. December 13, 2005
I always enjoy reading the perspective of Slate economist Daniel Gross… and when he covers real estate issues, it’s all the better.
In Didn’t Pay Your Mortgage? Don’t Worry, David explains how banks are more forgiving than ever…
With the passage of the consumer-unfriendly bankruptcy law and the cram-down rampant, the personal finances of those with [...]
Real Simple Syndication (RSS) for Real Estate November 26, 2005
I can tell from some of the questions I got from my past post about RSS feeds that I was going over some people’s heads. As the resident geek here at Rain City Guide, I feel it is my responsibility to explain RSS feeds and why they are so cool… So let’s begin with the [...]
Is it Time to Refinance to Cash Out? November 15, 2005
The Seattle Times posted an interesting article giving the pros and cons of refinancing homes in order to take out an cash (or a line of credit). Interestingly, the number of people doing this is extremely high with “nearly three out of four homeowners who refinanced through Freddie Mac between July and October cashing [...]
Hacking Your Dream Home November 10, 2005
While we’re thinking $100M huge, here’s a question to lighten the mood up:
What sort of “neat” things and convenience features would you design into your dream home?
This question was recently posted at Ask Metafilter and there have been some wonderful responses. Here are some of my favorite:
Built-in bookshelves
Stereo speaker plug-ins in [...]
Yahoo Maps is Now Driving Innovation! November 3, 2005
I’ve been waiting (and searching) for a mapping site that gives multi-destination directions and the new (still in Beta) Yahoo Maps definitely delivers!
Here are some of the features that I have wanted to see in an on-line maps and how the Beta Yahoo Maps stands up:
Multi-destination: This allows you to type in a [...]
Tax Reform Hits Home… November 1, 2005
CNN reports on some of the tax-reform proposals that have recently come out of a presidential panel. (note that none of these changes are law… yet… but rather they are just proposals and still have to go through congress.)
The panel recommended lowering the mortgage interest cap, which is the amount of a loan [...]
