Real Estate, Software, Chocolate on Top

It’s a beautiful day, what exactly am I doing inside when I could be out running or playing Frisbee?

This is the thought that kept creeping into my head for the majority of last Sunday afternoon as I sat at my desk trying to convince myself that I was indeed being proactive and getting a jump on this week’s work – when in fact I had barely accomplished anything other than flesh out some ideas for articles and constantly check Twitter for updates.

Upon realizing this I thought it would probably be best to take a short break and clear my head, with the intention that doing so would let me come back to my work with some fresh ideas. I decided to wander upstairs to visit our realty support team to see what was new with the weekend crew, if they were not too busy taking calls and answering emails.

After chatting for a few minutes I happened to peer out the window and noticed a large blue blob sitting in the backyard of a house down the street. Not knowing what on earth it was, I asked one of the support representatives, and was informed it was a inflatable above-ground pool. Turns out there was something wrong with the water pump and it needed to be repaired, so it was deflated for the time being.

Taken aback, I asked how they knew this – did they happen to know the people that lived there? I was told that no, we have never spoke to them before, yet we know a tremendous deal about them. For example, I was told that this family recently purchased a new patio set, the lady of the house loves to garden, and they have a cute dog.

These observations were not confined to this one residence either, I was told of the time a house down the block was victim of a hit-and-run from a utility truck, how the neighborhood children like to build bike ramps in a cul-de-sac, and how one neighbor’s raspberry plants are growing quite well this year. All of this information collected in passing from our support team’s fifth floor vantage point.

After hearing all this, my first thought – well actually my second thought, after “our support team has some voyeuristic tendencies that need to be addressed” – was most any real estate professional would love to have detailed hyper-local information like this. Think about it – the best way for real estate agents to provide timely and accurate information to help their clients, as well as position themselves at the centre of the conversation, is to have access to extremely detailed local information such as this.

However, it is obviously not practical (or for that matter legal) for real estate agents to stake out a neighborhood in order to get all the information they can about it to help them provide better service. So what can you do in order to get the pulse of your neighborhood or selling area?

The answer, unsurprisingly, lies in the power of the web. Over the past few years there have been a number of startups that are looking to capitalize on the rise of hyperlocal information in order to provide consumers and businesses better results. The Following is a run down of some of the best services, and what you can do get hyperlocal results:

Yelp – A user-generated review site for local business and services. Want to know where your prospects like to shop? Check out this site and then use the results to figure out where to buy closing gifts from.

StreetAdvisor – Want to know how people perceive different streets or segments of a neighborhood? Check out this site, which rates streets on many different metrics – so you know where to target your efforts for maximum effectiveness.

Outside.In – Want to know what’s making news in your neighborhood? Use this hyperlocal aggregator to find out what’s being said, by whom, and when.

If nothing else, remember to check out Point2 Homes. Our agents have added a tremendous wealth of local information to neighborhoods all over the globe, which you can use to help enhance your business and learn about surrounding areas. Either that or come down to the Point2 HQ and ask one of our customer service representatives – they seem to have all the information!

One Response to “Point2 Neighborhood Watch”

1. StreetAdvisor says:

   August 20, 2008 at 8:01 pm

   Thanks for including StreetAdvisor in this list. We’re working hard to make our services as useful and user friendly as possible, such as our inclusion of Google’s StreetView so you can see what a street looks like while you read reviews about it. We welcome contributions from agents as well as from local residents!