`Content, content, content” could be the new mantra for real estate in the online age, as a look at the newly renovated Internet site for the Phoenix-based Realty Executives International demonstrates.
In redesigning its site, the 32-year-old broker/owner franchise company with offices in the U.S., Canada, Thailand, Mexico and South Africa puts the consumer in the driver’s seat.
The home page features a searchable map of the world, to make it simple for site visitors to click on a region to find the nearest Realty Executives office, then click again to make contact with it.
Prospective buyers also can find useful checklists for evaluating an individual property or neighborhood, how to work with a home inspector and what to do to obtain a mortgage. There also are tips for prospective sellers and more checklists to help with a move in or move out.
As with many realty sites, there is a mortgage calculator for helping consumers determine their price range and loan qualifications.
Arresting information
Like the Energizer Bunny, information available to home buyers just keeps growing and growing and growing, as consumers demand more knowledge before they make a purchase and information vendors develop new ways to package data from public records and other sources.
The latest suspect? Crime statistics.
Houston-based Online Data Services has unveiled Crime Check, the company’s new automated system for address-specific crime reports. Using data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Check not only produces a report of violent and non-violent crime activity for a specific neighborhood, but also assigns a grade from A to F, F being the least desirable.
To produce the reports, the company analyzes reported murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts and arson in the vicinity of a commercial or residential property. Each report costs $20 and can be ordered through the company’s Internet site as well as by telephone or fax.
The company currently is working on producing similar reports for neighborhood schools.
Another online source for local crime reports is produced by Orange, Calif.-based ConsumerInfo.Com. Its CAPCrime Neighborhood Crime Report also is derived from FBI statistics. Reports include scores for personal and property crimes, and compare them to national averages. In addition to the report, which costs $19.95, the company provides a free summary of the FBI’s annual “Crime in the United States” with each order.
Reports can be ordered online or by calling 1-888-888-8549.
Neighborhood news
Complete with a tiny barking dog on the home page, DataQuick Information Systems has finished construction on most of its new Web site, offering would-be home buyers the chance to drill down into the nitty-gritty details of their prospective neighborhoods.
The information in DataQuick’s Neighborhood Report Center, mostly gathered from public sources, includes standard property data, comparable sales numbers and statistics along with local demographics and housing and crime statistics. The demographics report shows income ranges, education levels, employment categories and family statistics of neighborhood residents.
Most of the reports in the neighborhood center are packaged separately and available to consumers for fees ranging from $5 to $9.95. Consumers can check out sample data reports before they order. A 13-month record of local sales trends is available for free.
Other user-friendly innovations on the DataQuick site include explanations of legal and other technical terms one might find in these reports, and explanations of how to read and interpret the data. The company also posts its privacy policies and lightens the mood with a handful of whimsical electronic postcards that site visitors can e-mail to friends.
Founded in 1978, the La Jolla, Calif.-based DataQuick company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Acxiom Corp. since 1995.
Moving ahead
The Internet’s leading mapping service has unpacked its brand-new online relocation Web site.
MapQuest Publishing Group, creators of MapQuest, showed off MoveQuest, the GeoSystems Global Corp. company’s new comprehensive online relocation guide that leads consumers gently through the not-so-gentle process of moving.
MoveQuest is the first such interdisciplinary site on the Net, combining home listings from Moore Data’s CyberHomes, apartment listings from RentNet, loan help from Countrywide Home Loans and insurance information from Allstate Insurance. Other content providers include Inman News Features, SchoolMatch, TMSI (for local cable and satellite television service), Homebuyer’s Fair and Dataquick Information Systems.
The site, which went live on the Internet last week will offer consumers home-buying tips, neighborhood demographics, local community information, school reports and helpful tools such as an interactive move-planning calendar and various calculators for making financial decisions.
“Approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population moves every year, according to the U.S. Postal Service,” said MapQuest President Perry Evans. “Whether relocating across town or across the country, the most important question always asked by the consumer is `Where?’ . . . Bringing together an integrated set of resources with a common framework of interactive mapping is a great way to add context to the consumer’s interaction.”
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Chicago Tribune Homes
Additional real estate information, including a monthly index of Inman News Features, is available at Chicago Tribune Homes on the World Wide Web. Go to http://www.chicago.tribune.com/homes/ and click News & Features.
