HotPads Daily :: The Official Blog of HotPads.com

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!