HotPads Daily :: The Official Blog of HotPads.com

(And now for the announcement...) Introducing HotPads Facebook Application

Housing is inherently social - group dinners/bbqs, parties, clean-up detail, movie watching, music sharing, etc.

The HotPads Facebook App allows users to tap their networks (friends, friends of friends, and regional) to set-up the best living situation possible... whether it be the big move off-campus, summer internship housing, or just living in the "real-world."

Whatever your next housing entails... include your friends.  The HotPads Facebook Application enables you to do just that!

What Can You Do with the HotPads Facebook App?

HotPads Facebook App allows Facebook users to look for roommates and post sublets within their networks and share rental home listings with their friends.

• Need a Roommate?

Create a roommate listing to alert your friends and networks that you are looking for somebody to live with.

• Want to be a Roommate?

Search your networks for people looking for shared housing.  You can search roommate postings from your friends, friends of friends, or within your networks

• Need to Sublet your place?

Create a listing and allow your networks to see that you are looking for someone to take over your lease.

• Looking for a new place with your friends?

Collaborate with your friends by sharing listings via Facebook Messages or posting listings directly to your profile.

Getting the HotPads Facebook App

Adding the HotPads Facebook App is quick and easy.  Just follow these 3 steps:

1) Create a Facebook Account or Log-in to Your Existing Account

2) Locate the HotPads Facebook Application

There are 2 ways you can find the HotPads Facebook Application:

a)  You can simply follow this link to take you directly to the HotPads Facebook application: http://apps.facebook.com/hotpads

                         Or

b)  You can search the Applications directory for "HotPads."

To do this, click "edit my applications" and select "Browse More Applications."

Then, search the apps for "HotPads."

You will be taken to the HotPads Facebook Application home page that should look like this:

Here, you can see which of your friends have already added the HotPads application and what others have said about HotPads.

3) Click "Add this Application"

You can add the HotPads application to your facebook profile by selecting "Add This Application"

Now, when you post links or share properties, others will see it on their Facebook home page, as well as in your profile!

Please add the HotPads Application and share your thoughts... We are always looking for suggestions for how to make it as user-friendly and helpful as possible, as well as any ideas for cool features!

 

   


  Check out this 3 minute video introduction!
 

We Have an Announcement...

Unfortunately, it looks like it will have to wait:


Are you on the edge of your seat??

The 52nd Carnival of Real Estate

... is up over at Sacramento Real Estate Voice.  The hosts chose a Monopoly theme with which they were able to highlight numerous great and insightful posts.  So make sure you head on over to check out these great real estate articles.

And remember, submit your real estate blog posts each Sunday by 3 pm to be considered for the Carnival of Real Estate.

Internet Software Engineers Needed!

We are looking to bring on a few more engineers...but we are having trouble finding candidates!  If you are a computer engineer...or you know someone that is, and are interested in learning more about HotPads please let us know!

Here is a short job posting:

We're looking for people who understand the fundamentals of the Internet and Java, and who want to quickly become experts in both. We work on many small projects at a time and release new features frequently. Immediately, you'll start working with experienced developers and contribute to features that might be released days later.

If you're interested in mastering many or all of these technologies, HotPads is a great place to do it:

Linux, Java, DNS, MySQL, Hibernate, Tomcat and Resin, Spring, Spring MVC, Lucene, Amazon's S3 and EC2, ArcGIS, JavaScript, DWR and Google Web Toolkit, HTML, CSS, XML, Flash, Flex and AJAX technologies

We work hard but have a lot of fun.  If you are interested, please email Matt Corgan at mcorgan@hotpads.com . We look forward to hearing from you!

Don't we look friendly?  (Except Doug Lewis in the middle...)

If it were only for rent

Someone listed a house in LA for $165,000,000.  Highest ever for the US.

The monthly payments on a 30 year, $165 million mortgage would be around $1 million!  If it were for rent, you could expect to see it listed for $500 thousand to $1 million per month.  Yes, that's about $20k per day!

Slick house though:  http://guests.themls.com/profile_page.cfm?mls=07-201017

Casting Call for A&E's "Flip This House"

We have just received word from a casting director with A&E's hit show Flip This House that they are searching for a brand new team to star in the upcoming season!

As many of you know, this show documents the "flipping process," where real estate professionals buy run-down or attention-needing properties, fix them up, and (hopefully) sell them (hopefully) for a profit.

Flip This House currently features teams operating in New Haven, Atlanta, and San Antonio and is A&E's highest rated lifestyle show...  and now they are looking to expand their reach by introducing a new team for the upcoming season. Does your team have what it takes?

From the casting director:

We're looking for confident, charismatic, motivated and opinionated people who "flip" residential properties for a living.  We want real-estate adrenaline junkies who love the high risk, high reward nature of their jobs and who are devoted to doing a great job!

So, all you real estate professionals who are involved in the flipping process and are interested in staring in the upcoming season of Flip This House, make sure to check out the official casting notice (Download flip_this_house_casting_notice.doc) and email 813 Casting and Departure Films at fth@813casting.com!

Introducing: HotPads' Renters Guide

HotPads would like to introduce its newest addition: our Renters Guide! 

Here, you can find lots of information pertaining to renting and apartment living.  For example, check out some of these articles to get started, but make sure to visit our Renters Guide for a complete list of articles available!

General Information:

• Security Deposits
• Rental Acronyms
• Fair Housing

Apartment Hunting:

• Renting with Pets
• Evaluating an Apartment
• Questions to Ask a Landlord

Worksheets and Checklists:

• The Apartment Rating Worksheet
• The Roommate Agreement Form
• My "Perfect" Place

HotPads also teamed up with SavvyMiss.com, the free website community dedicated to connecting, empowering and informing women.

However, don't be thrown off by their female target audience, SavvyMiss offers a great deal of information EVERYONE could benefit from... especially men!

We would like to sincerely thank Savvy Miss for allowing us to provide our users with many of their informative articles about apartment life. 

Ranging from space-saving techniques, entertaining tips, and decorating tools, SavvyMiss proves to be an invaluable tool by offering some great resources for decorating, entertaining, and all other aspects of living in rental units.  Check out some of these articles on HotPads

• Container Gardening: Make Your Place Blossom
• How to Clean Up your Place and Gear Up for Summer
• How to Host a Barbecue in Style 

and remember to visit SavvyMiss for numerous other topics!

We are dedicated to providing our users with the most information as possible, so we hope that some of this additional information and resources will be helpful! We will be continually adding to this guide, so please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any suggestions for topics or articles or if you have any questions that you would like us to answer!

Happy 4th of July!

HotPads wishes everyone a happy 4th of July! 


See you tomorrow!