A real-estate website scheduled to debut today is packed with information about individual U.S. neighborhoods – from coffee shops to income levels, crime rates and weather trends.
HomePages.com combines aerial mapping with comprehensive home listings and other local information. It’s being launched by HouseValues Inc., a publicly traded Kirkland, Wash., company.
The free site incorporates a number of features now available only by accessing multiple sites, said Greg Sterling, an analyst covering interactive media with the Kelsey Group, a Princeton, N.J.-based market research and consulting firm.
In addition to providing aerial views of neighborhoods, the company has partnered with the Multiple Listing Service to enable homebuyers to search listings nationwide. The MLS is a computer-based system for relaying information to agents about properties for sale.
“People spend a lot of time looking at what they want and trying to understand what their home may be worth,” said Matt Heinz, senior director of marketing for HouseValues. In fact, 72 percent of consumers believe that neighborhood selection is more important than the house itself, Heinz said.
“Parents with young children prioritize schools,” he said. “You can’t change the school you’re going to live next to or that your children are going to go to.”
No registration or downloads are required to use the free site. The site makes money by enabling agents to create personal versions of the website to use as a marketing tool.
One agent who agreed to participate is Cheryl Love of the Cheryl Love Team at Re/Max in Breckenridge.
“My time with my clients is extremely limited, so I try to do as much as I can over the Internet,” she said. “It’s a terrific product for me to put just that much more information into my buyers’ hands, and it may eliminate the need for them to make a trip.”
Its introduction is likely to increase competition for advertising dollars real-estate agents now spend with traditional publishers, Sterling said.
“It will put pressure (on publishers) to offer comparable tools through their own websites,” he said.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-820-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
