Task #2 Trulia

Trulia.com is user friendly real-estate site that offer a lot of cool features.   The site provides helpful stats, opinions and maps.  Take a look at the site and let me know about a feature that you like and why. 

Comments

[jljarman]

I have not been to many real Estate Sites. I visited a few after reading this task in order to get a feel for what trulia.com may have that is DIFFERENT. I really liked that there is a special section for recent price reductions. This would be helpful if you are looking at certain properties that may have been out of your price range before, but are now within reach. A customer may have given up on the property, only to see that it is among the recently reduced. This gives the consumer new hope, and the real estate company a sale they may have lost otherwise. It is impossible to know who to update about price reductions unless someone is a serious potential buyer. This feature broadens that audience.

[djriley]

Price Changes is not a common feature for real estate sites, but definitely a helpful one. It helps you realize the potential behind that market and truly gives more insight on where that housing market has been in the past.

[hanorton]

Like the user above, I haven't really taken the time to look at real estate sites before, but what I immediately loved about this sight was the ability to form a bond with other people on the market. This sight gives you the option to read blogs, post questions, chat with experts and browse in a "safe" environment, with people just like you ... not just realtors trying to push for dollar signs.

[levanslo]

I love how Trulia gives you the change in average listing price. I don't believe other real estate sites give you this much info. The property type, the advice you can get from agents or others through blogs, and figuring out your mortgage!? This is over and above what I would have expected from the website. They are definately helpful in trying to help others to find whats right for them. Very user friendly!

[Dan Panetti]

I like the option under the advanced search options where it allows you to choose the size of the house, the lot size, and the year it was built. This option was not on the other real estate websites I looked at. I think it gives the user the ability to find exactly what they want.

[Marc Bricker]

The feature I like best on this site is the option of property type. Most other site only list homes and give you search options of price range, beds and baths if you want to be more specific you to go into the advanced search options.. With Trulia.com your basic search give you these option plus property type and square feet with out having to go in to the advanced options. The benefit of this is that you can narrow your target property quicker and easier with out having to open another window. This is great option.

[albutler]

The feature that I liked best about Trulia was the "save" option. Most times when searching for homes, you have to remember all of the various places of the houses that you were looking at. With the saving feature, you can go to your profile and look at all of the options that you liked and keep track of them more easily.

This site could generate revenue in advertising space (of course) as well as making deals with real estate firms. Perhaps they get a percentage of the commission if the buyer originally found the property through their site?

[jljohnso]

The My Trulia account feature was my favorite on the trulia.com website because I find it beneficial for those looking for houses and property to be able to write and save notes on their favorite homes and also to be able to save homes and receive email updates when information changes. It seems easiest to have an account on that website and have all of your personal notes and ideas on each house that you've looked at.

[tmsimila]

The feature that I noticed that other real estate websites didn’t have that I liked was the Today’s Local News Feed. This feature pulls up local listings for your location and shows you’re the newest houses/apartment on the market in your area. I assume that it uses your IP address to find your location and pulls up your city since I have never been on the site before to enter personal information about where I live.

[lrmark]

The feature that I came across that I have not seen on other real estate sites is the community info. It shows the income levels and crime stats for that area. This is nice to have when you are moving to an area you are not familiar with. Also I liked the blog and Q&A section as well.

[Ryan Bunger]

I haven't been to too many real estate web sites but the feature that I like was the regional map showing the locations of the houses that I searched for. If I was looking for a house location would be key and this would be a major help. I could make sure that I'm still close to my place of employment and discover anything else in the area like the golf course and lake that I found in my search. It also allows mr to easily comapre the different homes within the region so I can still be connected to the things I want to.

[lmdixon]

I agree with levanslo. This site make the user feel like they have control and can easily get the information they need to make their decisions. Having so many different types of information on their page and being so helpful definitely makes the site superior to others.

[Kari]

I made a major move about three years ago- 600 miles. Because the drive was so long, I wanted to make the most of each visit. To maximize my house finding effort, I spent hours looking at real estate websites. One of two things I liked on the Trulia site was the section on "price reduction". I found this interesting because it would let you know if a house is now in your price range. A reduction also indicates the seller might be more willing to work with a potential buyer.
In addition I liked that upon entering search parameters, a map would pop up and show where all the houses were located. This is very useful for someone not familiar with the area. I spent a lot of time inputting addresses into MapQuest to find out where a particular house was located.

[blknuutt]

The feature that I liked was how the average price listing was shown and how it changed from the previous week. It is very helpful in deciding to buy a home. I also liked how you are able to save notes on homes you are interested in and how you are able to receive email updates on recent changes to the homes you viewed.

[ccburke]

Trulia is different from other real estate sites simply because they are not looking for profit and they make money through advertising on their site. They have buyer guides and heat maps that help you understand the listings of price changes. I like how easy it is to navigate and the fact that the advertisements correlate to home buyers and not just everyday consumers.

[Catherine]

As a former property manager, I found this site very interesting. I am, however, quite shocked that I have never heard of it considering that when I managed the properties (both residential and commercial sales and leases), I did a lot of internet searches when I was involved in revamping the website (www.moyleusa.com).

What I particularly like aobut this site is that the advertising reaches a more targeted audience (i.e. college educated, married/committed, income, etc) and that this target market is communicated to through a vast network of sites. In the real estate industry, it's very difficult for a company to find a target market, as it is typical that buyers come to you when they are ready. But through this site, it appears that there are links to/for investors that specifically look for certain types of property to invest their money in. (make sense?)

[tlj5384]

Trulia is a very easy site to use, and has a lot of useful information about real estate. My favorite part is "Stats and Trends" For most people it is important to know information about the area they plan on moving to. Some examples are the crime rates, local school information, and the rent vs. buy calculator. I thought this site would be very helpful in finding a home, and area to live in.

[Jonathon Folse]

Trulia seems like a very well organized website. I like all the features on the site especially the notice about its mobilization on cellphones. This makes it easire for people to locate properties on the go which a definite key in todays fast paced world.

But the one feature I liked was the "rent vs. buy". I appreciated this feature because I have never seen before on any other real estate sites. This feature will make this site stand out. This is extremely helpful for consumers when trying to discern between the two options and which one is best.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1025106400]

Trulia is different from most real estate sites because it is bombarded with market information on almost every market that you would want to search. Many sites stick to local markets and they definetly do not offer so much information. I really like the “Popular Questions” section under “Advice”. It really shows what agents and buyers/sellers want to know.

[dkraisan]

I like how when you go to the site the front page shows local news feeds on houses in your area. This right away catches you eye when it is something local. It is also cool how they show price reductions on houses. This would be beneficial for someone looking for a house that they can get a good deal on.

[jedowney]

Trulia.com is a great website for real estate because it goes above and beyond normal real estate sites. You can type in a zip code and see all the houses available as well as lots/land. The site tells you information about the home, photos, and maps of the location. It also gives you a hint as to how much money you will be spending every month for the mortgage payment. It shows you houses of similar size and their costs, so you can compare the costs. The sales trend is also very helpful in knowing if you would like to purchase the house.
This site is great for everyone because it has so much information for all types of audiences. New families would be curious about the mortgage and things that are near by such as school. Bargain hunters would use the recently reduced aspect. Individuals would like to compare the costs as well as every other audience.
The biggest difference about this site is the mortgage estimator with links to the banks. This could generate rather large revenue from the banks costs of ads.

[meschmie]

One feature I found interesting that I don’t think I’ve seen on other real estate sites is it shows the prices paid for recently sold houses. This makes it easier to see the kind of houses that are in the area and about how much the house you are looking at should be worth compared to the houses sold.