HotPads Daily :: The Official Blog of HotPads.com

Happy Leap Day from HotPads!

Today is February 29th, also known as Leap Day.  It only comes around once every four years, so by our calculations that makes it more special than Groundhog Day, Arbor Day and even (dare I say it?) No Pants Day.

Because this is an "extra" day, some companies give their workers the day off.  But we'll be hard at work serving our home buyers, renters, property managers, real estate agents and advertisers.

And like leap day, there is one piece of prime Washington real estate that's only available once every four years.  It's located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and it's one of the few properties in Washington, DC that's not listed on HotPads.

Even Uncle Sam is Unloading More Real Estate

A government report put out last year showed the federal agencies pay more than $130 million dollars a year to maintain over 20,000 real properties that they don't use.  Some of the properties are vacant.

So with a new project included in the 2009 budget, the feds will try to sell some of this property through the creation of a “real property disposal pilot.”   Agencies that own the property would get to keep 20% of the proceeds of any sale, with 80% going into the public coffers of the Treasury.

According to the acting controller for the Office of Management and Budget, the properties are worth more than $17 billion.

But don' look to buy government castoffs here.  We don't have a map icon for the "nondescript building with secret underground bunker" property type on HotPads.  The best we can do is apartments for rent in Washington, D.C.

Salt Lake Tribune Map Mashup Tracks Quake Tremors

In the wake of the recent earthquake in Nevada that shook the mountain states, the Salt Lake Tribune posted a Yahoo Maps/Mapbuilder mashup that allows readers to tag where they felt the quake tremors.  You can check it out for yourself here.

This was a doozy, registering a 6.0 on the Richter scale.  We hope that everyone affected is able to quickly pick up the pieces.

Luckily, major damage did not extend all the way to Salt Lake City, so you can still look for great Salt Lake City real estate on the interactive maps from HotPads.com.

Inflation Fears on the Rise

What's a bubble without inflation?  Just liquid soap?  Chewed gum?  For the U.S. economy, we may not need to ask that question.   

With the rising cost of gas, groceries, medical bills and repeated rate cuts by the Fed, economists worried that the United States is heading for a period of major inflation.  The Consumer Price Index posted a 4.3% gain over the past 12-months and it has been climbing from a level of just 2% last August.

But before you panic and go running through downtown New York real estate like the cast of Cloverfield, know that HotPads will do our part to keep the inflation beast at bay; we're still free to search, free to list, and with no referral fees.

Wanted: Good Tenant (What Property Managers Look For)

It's helpful to renters to know what property managers are looking for in a tenant.

While each and every property manager will differ, there are some general rules of thumb that you should keep in mind when you go to meet the manager.  This article from Bigger Pockets was written for property managers, but gives tenants a good idea of how they will be evaluated at the meeting.  Take a look at the post and note what the "scoring" system for the applicants looks like.  Here are some lessons I can gather from this:

Be On Time To Your Appointment.  I once had a soccer coach who said that if you were 10 minutes early, you were right on time; if you arrived right on time, you were late; and if you were 10 minutes late, he'd be gone.  It's the same for meeting your potential landlord.

Look Neat and Act Nice.  You only get one chance to make a first impression and it is vital to leave a good mark on your landlord.  This entails dressing appropriately and being courteous, polite, and good natured to the person who decides whether or not you get the apartment you want.

Complete Your Application (Well).  Make sure that you completely fill out your rental application and include any photocopies of licenses that may be required, as well as the names and phone numbers of previous landlords as well.   Also, if they charge an application fee, make sure you bring it with you. 

Be Qualified.  The general rule of thumb is that you must make 3x the amount of rent each year.  In some cases, landlords will accept a co-signer who guarantees your rent in the event that you will not be able to pay it.  In addition to rent, you must be able to put down the required security deposit that may range from a few hundred to a full month's rent.  As always, your credit score is also very important so make sure that you are building your credit to the best of your ability!

There are always extenuating circumstances that you should talk to with your potential new landlord when applying for an apartment or rental home.  The rules they follow when reviewing an applicant are generally not written in stone and can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.  However, use common sense when applying for an apartment approach an open house or tour the same way you would approach a job interview.  For more useful information and tips, check out our Renter's Guide! 

Find your Wayward Pooch with Zoombak

Now here's a new application that combines a few of our favorite things: dogs, more dogs and web 2.0 mapping.

The Zoombak™ Advanced GPS Dog Locator will find your runaway canine using the Assisted Global Positioning System (a combination of both satellite and cellular tech) on a lightweight locator fob that attaches to a dog’s collar with pouch. You can pinpoint your dog’s location on-demand via Zoombak.com, mobile phone or live customer care. You can also determine your dog's location in real time using our continuous tracking option.

Runaway pups aren't a concern for HotPads since luckily for us, neither Dora nor Bozzley are built for speed.

In any case, Zoombak looks very cool, but stick with HotPads when you need help finding an apartment or real estate for sale.

HotPads Reaches 100,000 Rental Listings Mark: World, Meet Bozzley the Bulldog

Those loyal blog followers might remember that HotPads set up an incentive system when we first started out that, when we reached 50,000 listings, we would get an office dog. 

Well, back in December of '06, we reached a big milestone of 25,000 rental listings and decided to go ahead and get half a dog to celebrate:  Enter Dora, the 14lb pug.  We all fell in love with Dora, so much so that when the 50,000 listing mark came and went, we added some new engineers, but not another dog.

Dora has enjoyed a lot of attention and fan fare as the sole mascot of HotPads, circling from desk to desk to receive belly rubs, perching on the back of your chair while you work, and overseeing the work here at HotPads. 

However, unfortunately for her (but fortunately for us), HotPads just hit another huge benchmark yesterday when we surpassed the 100,000 rental listings mark with an additional 800,000 for sale listings. 

Well, since we got half a dog when we reached the halfway point to our goal, when we doubled our initial goal we did the logical thing: we got Bozzley, who could not be defined as anything less than "twice a dog."

So world, meet Bozzley.

Bozzley is a 52 pound English bulldog who grunts, slobbers, snorts, snores, and drools... but looks adorable while doing it. 

His past times include chasing tennis balls, drinking from Dora's water bowl, and sleeping.  He came all the way from Parker, CO with his owner, Kevin Reiser to join the team as another official mascot.   

But fear not, Dora's willing to put the team first and is adjusting to life with another dog in her office.  I think that she might actually be grateful that Bozzley is here when she is tired and just wants to sleep... now there is another dog to play with too!  They love to model their shirts and you should see all the attention they get when they go for walks together. 

For more photos of the dogs, as well as the human members of HotPads, check out our slideshow on Flickr.

Celebrate Good Times! HotPads Reaches New Milestone

From our (very) humble beginnings in 2005, HotPads has always wanted to give renters the widest selection of home choices possible.  Now we are pleased to announce that HotPads has over 100,000 apartment and rental property listings on our website!

We'd like to issue a hearty HotPads thanks to the apartment community managers, real estate brokers, individual landlords, feed providers and other partners that have helped make HotPads the best rental housing search engine on the web.

As always, listings on HotPads are free, with no referral or success fees.  Companies with multiple properties can send them to HotPads with an automated XML feed, or update pricing and photos online.  Stay tuned for more developments as HotPads continues to match the best renters with the best rental properties.

Homebuilders Offering Price Protection Guarantees

There is perhaps no group of professionals working harder to earn their paychecks today than the folks responsible for marketing new homes.  Homebuilders have to come up with creative incentives for buyers and even master new technologies, like listing their properties though an XML data feed to HotPads.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that several builders are now offering a form of price protection to new home buyers; if the cost of comparable homes declines before the buyer go to settlement, the purchase price is reduced.  However, determining what "comparable" homes are and the amount of reductions can be complicated.

Not all builders will add this to their marketing arsenal, and some have tried it and stopped.  But it's a safe bet that until this market rights itself, marketing directors will continue to keep late nights looking for innovative advertising and promotional opportunities to move homes.

Sellers Turn Green to Make Some

Still facing rising inventories of unsold homes and falling prices, sellers have been trying everything from juicy perks for buyers agents to unloading houses in a raffle to get out of unwanted properties.  Now in response to higher fuel costs and environmental awareness, many are marketing the new "green" qualities of homes for sale.

Some sellers tout the existing energy-efficient qualities of their real estate while others are making investments in new appliances, insulation and even solar panels.  One new home community was even giving away Prius hybrids as part of a green promotion.

Don't think that HotPads isn't ahead of this trend.  We are proud to say that we have supported green houses since we launched our site in 2005.  Just look at our logo.