News
05-31-2007, 10:18 AM
Who Needs a Computer? Getting
Home Values Via Cell Phone
By Lauren Baier Kim
Web site: Housefront.com, launched in April 2007, has home-value, property and sales-history information that can be accessed online or via cellphone through text messaging.
Coolest functions: Out for a Sunday drive and see a house you like? Text the home's address to 46873 ("HOUSE") from a mobile phone and get information on the property's potential sales price, size and number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. (The site doesn't charge fees for its text-message service; your mobile-phone carrier's normal rates apply.) Housefront.com also shows sale date(s) and price(s) paid, so for nosy individuals who want to know how much a neighbor paid for his or her house, this site is for you. To his knowledge, Housefront is the only free site that make the names of past buyers available, says James Eberhard, Housefront.com's chief executive officer. (Other sites -- such as RealEstateABC.com -- post past residential sale prices and transaction dates, but no names.) If you sign up for a free account with the Web site and give a cellphone number, any Housefront.com report received via text message will be saved to your online account -- along with your previous queries -- so they can be viewed later on a computer.
[Housefront.com]
Home valulations and past sale data are available to consumers via cellphone from Housefront.com.
How it works: Housefront.com aggregates housing information from public records, and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data. (The site obtains its MLS information through partnerships with real-estate professionals.) Click on the "View Map" tab to bring up a larger Google map (with street map, satellite and hybrid views available) to see the home's location on a larger scale. Choose "Compare to Similar Homes" to pull up a chart that will list information such as the subject home's prior sold price, prior sold date, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and lot size, shown side-by-side with data on comparable properties nearby. Selecting "Filtering options" will allow you to limit the number of homes shown by factors such as location and price. Clicking on "My Searches" brings up a chart of the homes you have queried (which is useful for comparing and contrasting properties' prices, sizes, current values, etc.). Hit "Compare Checked Homes" for a side-by-side comparison of those properties.
Pluses: Your Housefront home-value text messages needn't consume too much of your phone's memory, since they'll be kept on the site in your account. Email alerts on updates to neighborhood property values or when local homes come up for sale are also available to registered users. The site accepts public comments about properties -- which gives homeowners and house hunters an opportunity to share critiques on a home. Zillow.com has a text messaging service similar to Housefront.com's, but Zillow does not make consumer's searches via cellphone available online.
Drawbacks: As with other home-value Web sites, past sales data and property information may be limited or not available for some homes. A specific address is needed to perform a home-value search, so a newcomer to an area can't use the site to get a general feel for property values in a neighborhood without first finding a home's exact street address. While the site provides sales history and property data, one crucial piece of the real-estate puzzle for any neighborhood -- for-sale listings -- aren't published on the site. The public comment option may provide consumers with valuable insight on properties, but there is potential for abuse as any visitor can post "opinions" about specific properties, whether or not that person is actually familiar with those homes or not. The email alert system may be helpful to any consumer who wants to track a specific housing market, but the function is only available to site visitors who register with Housefront as a home's owner. Although it is public record, some people might not be pleased to find all the details regarding their home purchase -- including their name -- available for everyone to see on the Web.
Insider tips: Check out the "Search Popularity" box for each home that you search. Housefront.com keeps track of searches by all users and will note a property's "House Rank" -- or popularity (out of all homes searched on the site), as well as a city's and a neighborood's rank. Click on "House," "City" or "Zip Code" on each home-search page to get the 100-most popular homes, cities or ZIPcodes searched on the site. As early as the end of this month, Housefront.com will allow real-estate agents to post for-sale listings on the site, says Mr. Eberhard.
Home Values Via Cell Phone
By Lauren Baier Kim
Web site: Housefront.com, launched in April 2007, has home-value, property and sales-history information that can be accessed online or via cellphone through text messaging.
Coolest functions: Out for a Sunday drive and see a house you like? Text the home's address to 46873 ("HOUSE") from a mobile phone and get information on the property's potential sales price, size and number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. (The site doesn't charge fees for its text-message service; your mobile-phone carrier's normal rates apply.) Housefront.com also shows sale date(s) and price(s) paid, so for nosy individuals who want to know how much a neighbor paid for his or her house, this site is for you. To his knowledge, Housefront is the only free site that make the names of past buyers available, says James Eberhard, Housefront.com's chief executive officer. (Other sites -- such as RealEstateABC.com -- post past residential sale prices and transaction dates, but no names.) If you sign up for a free account with the Web site and give a cellphone number, any Housefront.com report received via text message will be saved to your online account -- along with your previous queries -- so they can be viewed later on a computer.
[Housefront.com]
Home valulations and past sale data are available to consumers via cellphone from Housefront.com.
How it works: Housefront.com aggregates housing information from public records, and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data. (The site obtains its MLS information through partnerships with real-estate professionals.) Click on the "View Map" tab to bring up a larger Google map (with street map, satellite and hybrid views available) to see the home's location on a larger scale. Choose "Compare to Similar Homes" to pull up a chart that will list information such as the subject home's prior sold price, prior sold date, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and lot size, shown side-by-side with data on comparable properties nearby. Selecting "Filtering options" will allow you to limit the number of homes shown by factors such as location and price. Clicking on "My Searches" brings up a chart of the homes you have queried (which is useful for comparing and contrasting properties' prices, sizes, current values, etc.). Hit "Compare Checked Homes" for a side-by-side comparison of those properties.
Pluses: Your Housefront home-value text messages needn't consume too much of your phone's memory, since they'll be kept on the site in your account. Email alerts on updates to neighborhood property values or when local homes come up for sale are also available to registered users. The site accepts public comments about properties -- which gives homeowners and house hunters an opportunity to share critiques on a home. Zillow.com has a text messaging service similar to Housefront.com's, but Zillow does not make consumer's searches via cellphone available online.
Drawbacks: As with other home-value Web sites, past sales data and property information may be limited or not available for some homes. A specific address is needed to perform a home-value search, so a newcomer to an area can't use the site to get a general feel for property values in a neighborhood without first finding a home's exact street address. While the site provides sales history and property data, one crucial piece of the real-estate puzzle for any neighborhood -- for-sale listings -- aren't published on the site. The public comment option may provide consumers with valuable insight on properties, but there is potential for abuse as any visitor can post "opinions" about specific properties, whether or not that person is actually familiar with those homes or not. The email alert system may be helpful to any consumer who wants to track a specific housing market, but the function is only available to site visitors who register with Housefront as a home's owner. Although it is public record, some people might not be pleased to find all the details regarding their home purchase -- including their name -- available for everyone to see on the Web.
Insider tips: Check out the "Search Popularity" box for each home that you search. Housefront.com keeps track of searches by all users and will note a property's "House Rank" -- or popularity (out of all homes searched on the site), as well as a city's and a neighborood's rank. Click on "House," "City" or "Zip Code" on each home-search page to get the 100-most popular homes, cities or ZIPcodes searched on the site. As early as the end of this month, Housefront.com will allow real-estate agents to post for-sale listings on the site, says Mr. Eberhard.