HotPads Daily :: The Official Blog of HotPads.com

HotPads $1,000 Renter Bailout!

With discussions of the down economy permeating the news, we here at HotPads have decided to offer a bailout of our own in the form of a $1,000 Sweepstakes!

Whether your rent is $300 or $3,000, everyone could use an extra THOUSAND DOLLARS to put towards their monthly payments!

This $1,000 Renter Bailout begins RIGHT NOW and entries will continue until April 14th with a drawing to be held on April 15, 2009.  One lucky person will be the recipient of a nice, fat $1,000 check from HotPads.com to put towards their rent (or mortgage)!

For more information, read the official Rules and Regulations or go straight to the online entry form!

Hot Pads: The Hottest Entries in the Southwest

After writing a post spotlighting great homes in Georgetown, I received a number of "tellafriend" emails with real estate listings boasting other enviable or unique features.  It seemed silly to keep them to myself, so from time to time I'll share with the community (if you find a listing you like, let me know!)

The theme for this edition of "Hot Pads" is Hottest Entries in the Southwest.

"Most Palatial" 

Look at these gorgeous stairs leading up to the main house in Scottsdale, AZ.  It would be hard not to feel like royalty ascending these!

5 bedrooms, 10 baths, & 6 car garage

"Most Cardio-Required"

Maybe you like to "make an entrance"... well, do I have a home for you! I really like the description too, "This house defines SEXY real estate." I'd agree.

Camelback Mountain, Phoenix, AZ

"Most Art-fully Decorated"

This piece, called "Dance of Life" commands attention at the entrance to this incredible property in Sedona, AZ.

The whole house is artfully decorated, check out more pictures!

"Most Ghost Town-esq"

This totally unique, huge estate in Scottsdale, AZ does have the sort of feel of a historic ghost town from the front.

Check out Silverleaf at DC Ranch, it's truly gorgeous.

"Best Camoflaging"

This house almost dissappears into the surrounding mountains, but don't be fooled, it includes all the amazing luxuries like 5 bedroom suites, a 6 car garage, and a pool with a waterfall!

All in a guard-gated luxury community in Las Vegas!

Well, that's it for now! You can see more luxurious and amazing houses on HotPads on the Hottest Pads!

psss... Follow us on Twitter!

HotPads Integrates Google Street View into Housing Search

HotPads is committed to giving our users the most information possible during their housing search.  From our demographic heat maps to points of interest and neighborhood information, we have strived to make our users the most informed housing shoppers as possible.  And we have just added a new functionality to that end: Google Street View.

If a picture speaks a thousand words, there are about a million words spoken with Google Street View. This integration allows users to see exactly what the property looks like and what is in the surrounding area. 

(isn't Miami Beach beautiful?)

The utility of Google Street View to users is immense; you can chart your walk to work, get a feel for the neighborhood, get a sense for the traffic, and become well-aquainted with a place before you even step foot on the same street.

Check it out by going to HotPads and clicking on a listing! 

pssss... Follow us on Twitter!

Twitter Your HotPads' Listings

Twitter has really taken off and established itself as a useful social networking and information sharing tool.  We Twitterers here at HotPads recogize the site's utility and application to the real estate industry and have developed a way for you to promote your HotPads listings on Twitter.  

Promoting Your Listing on Twitter

After you have listed your apartment for rent or home for sale on HotPads, we give you the opportunity to promote your listings on other top sites (free).  

To promote your rental or for sale listing on twitter, just follow these 3 steps:

1. Create your listing on HotPads
2. Click "Post to Twitter"
3. Enter your Twitter account information

And your done!  

Your listing and a link to your property on HotPads will be displayed on your Twitter page! 

 

(Note: you have the opportunity to edit your twitter posting before you post it as an update to your twitter page)

If you haven't started already, Follow HotPads on Twitter!

HotPads Adds Foreclosure Listings and Heat Maps!

Shopping for a foreclosure deal or just interested in which areas of the country have the most foreclosures?  Now that information is just a mouse click away on HotPads.com!

With over 130,000 apartment and rental property listings, HotPads is one of the top two rental property search engines in America.  With the addition of homes for sale in November, HotPads is now one of the most comprehensive housing search sites on the web.  And now users can browse over 500,000 foreclosures powered by RealtyTrac.

HotPads' Foreclosure Heat Maps visually portray the markets hit hardest by the recent housing crisis and increased foreclosure rate. In the future, users will be able to track the trends of the foreclosure rates in different markets by comparing historical foreclosure heat maps on a week-by-week and month-by-month basis. This will bring a greater transparency to the housing crisis and illustrate the trends in each market.

 

HotPads Distributes to Even More Sites

Property managers and real estate agents who list their properties on HotPads.com have long taken advantage of the additional leads and convenience of the free HotPads listing distribution service.  By simply posting listings to HotPads, their apartment vacancies and homes for sale are seen on over a dozen of the most important housing search sites on the web.

HotPads has recently added even more partner sites, including properazzi.com and rentBits.

As always, HotPads wants to thank everyone in the real estate community that has helped to give HotPads over 100,000 rental listings and more than ten times as many houses for sale.

Long & Foster is the newest Broker on HotPads!

If you've been hearing gongs going off around Washington, DC then the noise is probably coming from the HotPads Mansion.  We're celebrating because Long & Foster Real Estate, one of REALTOR® Magazine’s top companies, is now showing homes for sale on HotPads.com.

Long & Foster has long been known as one of the most successful real estate marketing companies and their agents are some of the best in the business.  We appreciate Long & Foster taking notice of the amazing growth in users that HotPads is having and we'll be watching as the leads come in from our audience.

For anyone in the industry needing to get more leads and close more deals, HotPads has the most comprehensive array of free and paid advertising programs for real estate and an eager audience that knows HotPads.com is the place to find your place.

HotPads Welcomes Toll Brothers

We are happy to announce that Toll Brothers, one of the nation's top builders of luxury homes, is now a part of HotPads.com.  Home buyers looking  for new homes for sale in two dozen states can now browse these premier properties on our site and see photos, floorplans and maps.

HotPads now hosts over 100,000 apartments and rental property listings along with over one million homes for sale.

Home builders, real estate brokers, apartment community managers and other companies with a sizable portfolio of homes are all invited to automate their listings on HotPads via our free XML data feed.

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.

Huckabee, Obama take Iowa; HotPads Has Big Day, Too.

Breaking news out of Iowa has Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama each winning their respective party's election in Iowa.  Hats off to the new frontrunners, but apparently it's only HotPads that can unite Democrats, Republicans and Independents.  Just yesterday we saw the most users ever visit HotPads.com, blowing away the previous daily record.

The people have spoken, and they want change.  Change from boring, hard to navigate sites with fewer real estate listings.  Much of our explosive growth is fueled by our innovate map-based housing search and the recent addition of our Buy vs. Rent portal that lets users see all of their housing options based on monthly payment.

Next, HotPads will look to ride this momentum into New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida; we already have thousands of apartments for rent and homes for sale in all the primary (and secondary) states.

HotPads.com Launches Insurance Center

As with the recent addition of for-sale listings and our new Buy vs. Rent search tool, HotPads is always looking to provide more information to help you with your housing search.  Most people don't want to think about it, but shopping for and updating insurance plans is an integral part of the moving and home buying process.

So today we launched the new HotPads Insurance Center.  This online resource guide has articles and information on homeowners, renters, auto, life and flood insurance.

So check it out today, and consider it an early Christmas present from HotPads.

HotPads for Your Google Homepage

One nifty feature of Google is that it allows you to create a customized home page called iGoogle, loaded with free widgets that give you access to the latest news, weather, YouTube videos or even games like Bejeweled and Tetris.

But now the real fun begins, with the launch of the HotPads iGoogle app.  The HotPads Apartment Search gadget lets you launch a rental housing search right from your iGoogle desktop.  You can use HotPads to browse the listings of upwards of 80,000 apartments and rental houses from coast to coast.

The Google desktop app is now one more way for folks to find and use HotPads.  And while you're at it, you can also check out our Facebook application and instructional videos.

HotPads to the Rescue for Web Classifieds

A recent Washington Post article describes what we've all known to be true for some time; Online classified are a mess.

While newspapers are steadily losing their edge in the classified market, online classified are booming.  Traffic to classified websites has grown 23 percent in the last year, while in some markets newspaper classified have seen a 20 percent decline.

Unfortunately, where there used to be one or two major newspapers serving as the go-to place for classifieds in an area, there are now hundreds of websites in every category.  One industry expert, Greg Sterling with Sterling Market Intelligence, described the online classified community as "A confusing jumble of sites" and said "If you're a seller, that's a problem, and if you're a buyer, that's a problem."

Of course, HotPads looks to solve problems, not create new ones.  Unlike most websites featuring real estate classified, HotPads is proactive in working with apartments owners, property managers and other partners to ensure that as many communities as possible take advantage of the free listings.  This gives visitors to HotPads one-stop shopping for a comprehensive list of available places to live, and no need to check dozens of other sites.

For property managers, the HotPads listing distribution service means that by simply listing on HotPads, their communities will be shown on other classifieds sites like Yahoo Real Estate.  And the one of a kind map-based user interface makes HotPads a preferred destination for tenants, giving them more qualified leads.

Problem solved.  (For real estate classifieds at least.  You're on your own if you need a car or a job.)

(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!
 

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!

Wow, Those Summary Squares Are Cute!

Today we also launched "new and improved" summary squares.  They are much smaller, less intrusive, and well... kind of cute.

Our summary squares indicate to the user that there are too many listings in a given area to display them all. When a housing shopper sees these summary squares they need to either zoom in or adjust their search criteria so that the properties can be displayed. 

You can see these summary squares in HotPads' most dense areas like NYC, Miami, DC, and Detroit.

HotPads Launches Satellite Imagery and More...

Today, HotPads Launched HotPads 2.0.  Just about everything on the site is new, but the most visual difference is the addition of Satellite Imagery provided through our integration with Microsoft Virtual Earth.

 

Side-note:  Matt did the paint art above and yet he didn't care for mine the other day on this pic.

Here at HotPads we try to give users as much information as possible so that housing shoppers can make more informed decisions about their next home.  (Links to our new and improved search functionality are at the bottom of this post.)  However, a common gripe we have been hearing from users is that our search interface was becoming to cluttered...too busy.  This new version attempts to solve this problem with a new condensed "search console."

New and Improved Search Features

• New HotPads Maps - link
• Microsoft Satellite Mapping Integration - link
• Neighborhood and City Demographic and Housing Stats with Wikipedia Articles - link
• Political Party Affiliation Mapping - link
• Demographic and Housing Heat Maps - link
• Points of Interest Mapping including Schools, Universities and Public Transportation - link

As always, if you have comments, suggestions, tips, gripes, questions, feedback, or feedforward let us know at info@hotpads.com .

Introducing "HotPads Chat"

We're always open to suggestions on how to improve both HotPads and our blog, HotPads Daily, so when someone suggested that we check out meebo, I got right on it.  I've seen this chat functionality on other blogs and I liked it, so I decided to give it a test run on HotPads Daily.

Now, you can chat with a member of Team HotPads (which would most likely be me, Colleen, or Douglas) LIVE... much like you can with AOL Instant Messenger or Google Chat.  And you can do it right from the comfort of our blog!

So if you have any comments, suggestions, tips, or are just bored and want to see what's going on over here at HotPads, meebo me!  TTYL!

Who Needs Sealand?

We are fortunate to have thousands of great rental housing listings on HotPads, but every now and then, a listing is created that warrants mention.  Whether it's an unusual amenity, a great company website, or whatnot, I feel it is my responsibility to share with the blogging-public these great HotPads listings. 

So today, I would like to introduce Bini Island.  

Now, I know HotPads is a rental housing listing service, that does not provide For Sale housing and I know that HotPads is only available in the United States, but how can we turn down this listing?!?

Bini Island, located in Quezon Province, Philippines, is up for sale for USD 30,000.  This 10,000 sqm "flying saucer island" is almost perfectly round, surrounded by white beaches and crystal clear water, and, best of all, lacks any pesky Mangrove trees.  If you are worried about the drinking situation, fear not... fresh water is available on the next island over, which is less than a kilometer (.62 miles) away. 

There's lots more information and photographs of the island, so check out the listing: Bini Island

For details on owning land as a non-Filipino citizen, check out this info on property ownership

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well,  we're pretty busy here at HotPads, so we didn't have enough time to make personalized Valentines to send everyone we care about this year. (Like we did last year...just kidding) But that doesn't mean that we forgot you!

We want to wish everyone who has helped and supported us a happy Valentine's day!

In lieu of an edible, cute, expensive, or odorous gift, I hope you'll accept this beautiful image I created.  (It was really hard to draw that heart)  You can save it to your desktop to look at later or even print this blog post to have a tangible sign of our appreciation.  Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?!? Happy Valentine's Day!

A Grammar Confession: I over use the Ellipse

It is well known within HotPads that I over use the ellipse (the ...).  I like using it, I feel it helps me make not-so-dramatic pauses when I write.  It helps me write conversationally.  I like to write converstationally... (oops) but I need to confront this issue head on.  In congruence with the 9th step (skipping over the first 8 steps) to recovery from this I felt the need to make this public announcement.

That being said, I am excited to announce that the adored ellipse is now featured prominently on HotPads' home page.  Users are now able to see "more..." popular cities on hotpads.  In fact, we launched landing pages for all cities.  They are not your typical "landing page"....they are actually very useful for rental housing shoppers, launching users directly into a housing search with other useful information about the city.  For instance: Phoenix, Fort Worth,  Albuquerue, Denver, Washington DC, Boca Raton... (oops) you get the idea.

Since I am coming clean on my use of the ellipse, here are some selected blog posts of mine with their ellipse counts (maybe the good folks at iiProperty will launch an ellipseometer):

City Mouse...Country Mouse 8 ellipses
25,000 Listings and Dora 3 ellipses
Population Density Heat Maps 1 ellipse
An "A" for Effort 2 ellipses
Web 2.0 Icons 2 ellipses
One is Silver and The Other Gold 1 ellipse
Comment on Too Much Coffee 2 ellipses (Editors Note: Doug Lewis used 5 ellipses in his post.)
Gmail Goes More Web 2.0 4 ellipses
Happy Birthday HotPads! 1 ellipse
More Home Valuation Data?? 10 ellipses
A Rose by Any Other Name (picking HotPads' name) 4 ellipses

So there it is... I put my cards on the table.  For those that are pressuring me to use such devices as "commas" or "colons"... hold you horses...

Heat Maps vs. Geographically Based Economic Data

Over the last couple of years, housing search sites have been quickly innovating in an attempt to give users the best search experience possible.  They are finding more ways to seemlessly give housing shoppers the data they need to make more informed decisions.  One of these innovations has been demographic and housing heat maps launhced by Zillow, Trulia, and HotPads.  (the links go to the heat maps or pages explaining the heat maps)  LA Times Article

These heat maps are great for giving housing shoppers relevant information about different areas of the country or different neighborhoods.  However, we found the king daddy heat map with the Geographically based Economic data (G-Econ) project at Yale.  They have created a 3-D Rotating Globe Heat Map of world economic activity.  (That is a lot of bells and whistles.)  Its a very cool tool and worth checking out. 

Maybe, just maybe, it could be used to explain the disparity in how much house $1 million gets you around the world...

If a Picture is Worth a 1000 Words, How Much is a Video Worth?*

With videos and podcasts being all the rage in the Real Estate industry, I was inspired to take our Help/FAQs section up a notch by creating video guides that demonstrated how to use various features of our site.

I described the video masterpieces I would create, complete with cool transitions, special effects, and voice narration and eventually convinced the others that Camtasia Studio 4 was such a great screen recording, editing, and publishing program that it was surely worth its $299 price tag.  I had visions delusions of grandeur, of Academy Awards for my "Managing Property Permissions" video and proudly showing my "How to Create a Detailed Listing" video at the Sundance film festival. 

I decided to start with an easy one: creating an account.  Now, creating an account takes about 15 seconds-- most of which is spent trying to remember your mother's maiden name before deciding to just change the question we ask when you lose your password.  I recorded the screen as I went through the process of creating an account and then went to town editing my short screencast. When I finally sat back to admire my video, I learned to my dismay that 15 seconds was ample time for me to have created the worst screencast ever produced.

As I watched in horror at the neon orange post-it notes flying across the screen, the words of my Drawing 101 professor (critiquing my final VIDEO project) echoed in my head:

"I love your attention to detail--you must have used a ruler to make all your lines so straight! I know art really isn't your thing, but I admire your attitude."

Well, I hope his willingness to focus on effort rather than ability is shared by all, for I went on to create over a dozen more videos.  The majority of the video tutorials I made were meant to act as guides for property managers and to assist them in creating, editing, and activating their properties' listings and managing their companies.  They may not be winning any awards, but they serve their purpose and, hopefully, will help answer some of the more common questions we receive.  Here is the directory of help videos, check some of them out.

Now, if you are interested in watching videos that demonstrate how you can use HotPads to search for apartments and rental homes... you are spared. 

Screeniac.com has created a very impressive screencast that  provides a very thorough guide for using  many of the features of HotPads.  We thank Molly for taking the time to highlight our site and producing such a great video, complete with voice narration!  (For the record: Screeniac used Camtasia Studio 4 to produce the screencast too...)  They also have a number of other screencasts to check out.

*If you assume that the value of a picture in terms of words remains constant... and 1 picture= 1,000 words... then is the value of a video simply the total number of frames (or pictures) in a video X 1,000?  Seems to make sense, but I would bet that there would be some sort of diminished return going on.

HotPads Launches Points of Interest Mapping

Today we launched Points of Interest Mapping.

Now, on HotPads users can see the location of all schools, public and private, from pre-k to graduate school, and get relevant information for all of the schools including total enrollment, faculty to student ratio, and contact information.

Users can also view public transportation train stops in select metro areas including DC, New York City, San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago, Denver, Boston and Seattle. 

Schools and access to public transportation often weigh heavy on the mind of housing shoppers.  Points of interest mapping along with the area mapping and demographic search, political party affiliation mapping and housing and demographic heat maps, give users the ability to make more-informed decisions about their next home.

Real Estate Search Technology and Business Time Line

There has been an explosion of innovation in the real estate search industry over the past two years and beyond.  HotPads has created an interactive time line that tracks both technological advancements and business events (investments, acquisitions, and IPOs).

It is a good resource to get a broad understanding of this rapidly changing industry.  The companies we have tracked include Zillow, Craigslist, Oodle, Trulia, Redfin, zipRealty, Rent.com, Apartments.com, National Association of Realtors, Move, and of course HotPads.

It is impossible for us to get everything.  We missed a great deal, so if you know of something that should be included that wasn't please email us at timeline@hotpads.com .  Please include a description of the event, the date it happended, and a link to a relevant article or press release.

Link to Time Line

Video Guides

Some of you may have noticed that there are now links to watch a video example on our homepage, as well as in our FAQ/Help section.  These videos show you how to use many of the features of our website and will, hopefully, be able to better answer the more common questions that we have been asked.

Right now, we have on-line tutorials for creating a basic listing, managing your properties and company, inviting new managers, and many more.  We will also be adding videos to aid those searching for new properties.

As we roll out the first batch of videos, please be kind!  As we get better, I'm sure they will begin to look a little less cheesy and may even include voice narration!  If you have any suggestions for videos, let us know!

In the meantime, check out how easy it is to create a listing on HotPads!  (The video takes 1 1/2 minutes to show you how to create a listing and activate it... but I've done it in under a minute)

Population Density Heat Maps

I was embarrassed earlier this week when I yelped upon seeing Population Density Heat Maps on HotPads.  I somehow missed the fact that we launched them last week.  This is an interesting layer.   We had to really play with the color ranges in order to get proper disparity  between areas.  Here is a link to Dallas with the properties hidden.  Link

We are launching a new version of the site this evening.  I wonder what little goodies will be included....

FAQs/ Help Topics

You might not have noticed it yet, but we have begun to revamp our "Help" section to account for  all the additions, modifications, and improvements of the past few months.  We are hoping that the updated FAQs will better answer your questions about searching, listing, and everything else.

We are constantly trying to improve HotPads and we want to provide the most user-friendly experience as possible.  To do this, we need to know what users want, so we are very interested in getting feedback about our site.   How easy is it to use HotPads?   How well do we answer your questions?  What would you like to see us offer?  What do you dislike about our site? 

If you have any requests or suggestions, small or large, for how we can improve our service, tell us!  You can e-mail us, comment anonymously on our homepage, take our survey, or just leave a comment on our blog.

HotPads Launches Demographic Heat Maps

We launched demographic heat maps for the entire country this morning.  Right now there are five sets of heat maps; Per Capita Income, Household Income, Age, Percent Renters, and Average Rent.  We have posted a description of the release along with screenshots of most major metro areas.  We think it is a very pretty page.  Link

These heat maps allow users to quickly visualize important information about different areas nationwide, all within the same interface they use to search for their next home.  Of course we still have our congressional district maps up and our other area mapping and data retrieval (wikipedia articles, demograpic graphs etc.).  We believe these tools give housing shoppers the ability to make more-informed decisions about the area they choose to live in and the property they rent. 

Its also just fun to gawk.... 

BJB Partners bringing neighborhoods to life

We sure like it when property management companies have good things to say about our website and we need to return the favor this week.

BJB Partners out of Chicago will be adding their communities to our site in the upcoming week, and they have an attention getting and innovative website showing animated neighborhoods for their respective property locations.  http://www.bjbpartners.com/site/main/home 

This map is authentic Chicago; notice the attention to detail of the red car on I-90 using all lanes available to reach it’s destination as quick as possible.

HotPads Launched 2006 Election Edition

Today, we launched a 2006 Election Edition (elections.hotpads.com), which provides information about this years’ closely watched elections for the House of Representatives.   

The 435 congressional districts are outlined on HotPads’ Maps, with red and blue designating the party affiliation of the districts’ current Representatives.  By clicking on the districts’ "I" buttons below the districts' titles, users can view quick facts about the district including the current Representative and the candidates in November’s contest.  By clicking on the quick facts bubble, users can get more detailed information:  HotPads has incorporated Wikipedia articles with detailed information about the candidates and the close races.

For those housing shoppers that want to shop for
their next home based on political party affiliation, you can access the Congressional information on the normal site by selecting "Congress" in the "Areas" menu on the right hand side of the screen.

We hope you enjoy!  Don't forget to vote!

 

Saved Searches

We added the ability to save searches and return to them later.  To save one, just zoom to the location you're interested in, set your pricing and bedroom criteria, and hit "Save this search" at the top right of the screen.

To find one and two bedroom rentals between $2,000 and $3,000 in the Financial District of Manhattan.... well, your screen should look like this:

Then hit "Save this search" and you can give it a name.  If you're logged in, your search will show up on the home page and on the "My Searches" page.

If you want email alerts about new properties matching your search, choose daily or weekly.  I added an hourly option as well for anyone who really likes this stuff.  (Anyone want minute-by-minute updates???)

New Features Launched Today

We have launched a map-based neighborhood search portal. Now, as housing shoppers search for available rental properties on HotPads.com, they will be able to compare neighborhoods, zip codes, cities, counties, and states based on age, income, average rent, type of housing, aerial imagery, and Wikipedia articles.

Just remember to click

Area Mapping - At the click of a button, users can highlight different areas (zip codes, neighborhoods, cities, counties, and states).   Clicking a "?" in an area displays information about the area that enables housing shoppers to put the location of a property into context.

The screenshot to the right is of the downtown neighborhoods of Chicago.  All properties have been hidden.  Link

Quick Facts - When surfing, users can quickly view area facts including Population Density, Median Income, Median Rent, and the percentage of people that rent.  When users click the Quick Facts bubble, the full area detail (described below) appears below the map.

The screenshot to the right is the "Quick Facts" of Miami, Florida.  Link

Map-Based Demographic or "People" Search

Age Distribution - Users are now able to compare different areas based on the age of its residents. The screenshot to the right is from zip code 94129 in San Francisco. Based on the graph, housing shoppers can see that this particular neighborhood has a lower percentage of residents under the age of 20 and a higher percentage of people between the ages of 20 and 30 than the national average and other neighbohoods in the city.  This data is based on the 2000 Census.

Income Distribution - Users can also view the income distribution of different areas (zips, neighborhoods, cities, counties, states).

Link

Neighborhood Descriptions and Aerial Photography

Neighborhood Wikipedia Articles - As users search for available rental housing, they can view relevant Neighborhood Wikipedia Articles.  The content of these articles is generated by the Wikipedia Community and provides neighborhood descriptions, histories, and other relevant information.

The screenshot to the right is of SoHo in New York City.  Link

Neighborhood Views from Microsoft's Birds's Eye View and Google Maps - As housing shoppers hunt for their next home, they will get a "Birds's Eye View" of potential neighborhoods thanks to an integration with Microsofts' Virtual Earth. 

In addition to Bird's Eye View, users can also view satelite imagery from Google Maps.

The screenshot to the right is of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.  The properties have been hidden and the neighborhoods highlighted.  Link

Housing - Users are now able to determine the average rent and the distribution of the different sizes of buildings (number of units) in particular areas.  Users can get a feel for the area by looking at building sizes.  The area to the right has most residents living in large apartment communities.

Housing shoppers can see the average rent in areas based on Census data.  They can also see the rent distribution of HotPads' current listings based on number of bedrooms. 

The screenshot to the right is the housing data for Dallas.  Link

My Notes

Last week we released a new feature called "My Notes" and a brief explanation might be useful.

"My Notes" can be used by anyone with an account.  Housing shoppers can save personal notes on particular properties.  For instance: What do you like about the property? Have you contacted the Poperty Manager? Have you visited the Property? etc.  It is best to be used in conjunction with "My Favorites" so that the properties are saved to your account and they are easier to come back to.

Property managers/owners/agents can save note regarding what information they need to add to a particular listing or who they have been in contact about a particular rental.

"My Notes" are only viewable to individual account holders.  This is not public information.

One is Silver and the Other Gold

We are launching a new verison of the site today.  While there will be many enhancements to the site...I think it is notable that we will be replacing the "Favorites Basket" with the "Thumbs-Up".

I thought the "Favorites Basket" had a great deal of charm...like a three-legged dog.  I will miss it.

Link to HotPads

Have you seen our "Link to this Page" feature?  Just click it to capture your current view of the map.  After you click it, copy the URL of the page and you can email it to friends, or bookmark it, or teach it to your parrot.

http://hotpads.com/map/index.htm?plv1=25.792313,-80.128049,c,7450,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,6000,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1

Well, what else is new?

HotPads is just improving by the minute. Besides the list of technological improvements mentioned, I have added a few informational pages to HotPads.

1.) Frequently Asked Questions Page

Having a FAQ page means that HotPads users are now just a click away from getting help.  With a detailed list of questions separated into different categories, any potential problems now all have solutions.

2.) About Page

Are you interested in learning more about HotPads? The newly linked About page provides a brief history of HotPads and how it started. Plus, valuable contact information is listed as well. This page is just an informal introduction to the HotPads founders and the rest of the team. Now, it’s your turn to introduce yourselves through this blog!

3.) Press Page

This was created for those interested in seeing what others have to say about HotPads.

With these pages that add to our main search site, HotPads (and hopefully its users too) is more complete. Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions.  Now, please enjoy while you peruse the newest HotPads pages!

15,000 and Counting!

At HotPads, we want to provide our users with an easy way to search through a comprehensive offering of detailed rental home, apartment community, rental condo, sublet, and find a roommate listings.

When HotPads launched last November, we had only a handful of listings, and they were all in our home town, Washington, DC. We had a long way to go before HotPads could live up to the slogan “the place to find your place.”

But, by being free-to-list so that anyone with a place to rent has the opportunity to showcase it to our users, HotPads’ listing base has snowballed, growing to over 15,000 active listings!  We’ve still got a long way to go, but with this growth, many cities are becoming dense with housing options, the way we envisioned when we started the site: New York; Washington, DC; and Dallas (please . . . check’em out).

HotPads Enhancements

We launched several enhancements to the site. These enhancements may not make you ooooh and ahhh, but they have significantly improved the user experience. We are excited about them, but admittedly, that does not take much. We are continually trying to make improvements and appreciate your feedback on the site! Here are a few of our new features:

1) Dynamic Summary Squares - Our summary squares show the number of listings
in a particular area when listings are too dense to display on the map.  Now, as the user narrows his/her search results, the summary squares adjust accordingly or disappear when the density of listings becomes small enough.  This important feature can be best expcerienced in NYC.

2)  Three New Zoom Levels - We have launched three new layers of the map.  One layer is a new closest zoom level, about a four block radius.  For now you can only see this level in our most dense areas of NYC and DC.  The two other new levels are an intermdiate level to make zooming in on houses more seamless and a new top layer (this is a pretty one).

3)  Bouncy Icons - As you view the listing details of a porperty the property's icon bounces up and down.  Not only is this feature cute, but also helps housing shoppers identify the property that he/she recently clicked on.

4) Re-centering Preview - If you click on an icon at the bottom or right of the map, instead of the preview bubble being hidden, the map re-centers so that the entire bubble is visible.

5) Help Bubble - The first time a user visits the map on HotPads, a Help Bubble is displayed on the map.  This will hopefully help users get the gist of the site quickly.

-Douglas (Its my birthday)