Now That’s a Smart Home

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HP presents the SmartHouse. Watch Robert Scoble as he takes a tour of this Über technology rich home. Don’t blame me if you find some impressive gadgets that may end up on your must-have list.

Honey, can we get that cool new…..

• CentralPark Whirlpool Fridge – It has a digital photo frame built into the door. Time to get rid of those fridge magnets….

• TMIO – It’s an Internet enabled refrigerated oven. Wow! Now you can prepare your meal before you leave for work, place it in the refrigerated oven, log into the oven from work and start cooking. By the time you get home, your meal will be ready.

• IP connected home – You can control the lights in your entire home over an internet connection – from across the world. Now the neighbors will never know if your home or not. A great way to keep the bad guys out too.

• Kitchen PC – A touch screen monitor where you can watch live TV, streaming movies, listen to internet radio all while searching for that killer Chicken Marsala recipe.

• Smart Fridge and Cabinets (Not available yet) – Based on the food and ingredients you have in your fridge and cabinets, it will suggest what you can make for dinner.

What will they think of next? A robot vacuum cleaner?

When a Celebrity Dies in their Home, Does it Become a Landmark?

After the tragic death of well known actor Heath Ledger, there has been some talk that the apartment which he rented in the trendy Soho district in New York City would now command a much higher premium on the rental market. In fact, according to the New York Post, it is already being quietly shown to prospective renters.

We wanted to get an expert opinion on the situation so we contacted top New York Appraiser Jonathan Miller who is Founder and CEO of Miller Samuel as well as the Executive Vice President and Director of Research at Radar Logic.

Q: So is there any truth to the rumor that when a celebrity dies in their home it becomes a landmark?

A: Thats the conventional wisdom, but I don’t think it does. In markets like New York or LA, where there is ample supply of celebrities, its simply part of the housing landscape. I think it could be more of a factor in markets that have very few celebrities, but even then, I think its a pretty thin argument.

From a marketing perspective, its helpful because it draws “eyeballs” to the listing through media coverage and name recognition. However, its been my experience that it more likely contributes to a shorter marketing time, but not a price premium. This is a generalization and there are always exceptions. I think that if such a premium exists, it would fade very quickly over time.

Q: With the Vacancy rate so low in Manhattan, will the unit Heath Ledger rented now command a premium?

A: No I don’t see it. You can look at this two ways. For those with morbid curiosity, they may want to be associated with a tragic event like this, but for just as many, they would not be comfortable with the idea. So the excitement of some is offset by the fewer number that would consider it as a place to live.

Q: How does his tragic death effect the building or adjacent neighbors property value or desirability?

A: I don’t see how it has any real impact at all. Again, there are already plenty of celebrities living in the immediate area.

Q: In your opinion, do the circumstances in which the celebrity died have any direct effect on the homes value? e.g. Accidental death, Natural Causes, Murder, Inside the home, Outside the home, etc…..

A: Thats an interesting point. I remember coming across a townhouse many years ago where a man murdered other family members and the property appeared to have a stigma associated with it when it was sold, but that stigma seemed to go away after it sold again. Perhaps if it was a celebrity, it would serve to offset the stigma somewhat so there was no impact on value.

In the case of John Lennon, before I moved to New York I had my first date with my wife when I was in college on the day he was shot so the event is on my mind every time I inspect a property in the Dakota. However, I never observed market evidence of its impact one way or the other (however, I didn’t arrive in NY until 5 years later).

Q: Have you or your firm ever been contacted to appraise the residence of a celebrity who has passed away?

A: Yes, all the time. You can’t help it here in New York with such a high density of celebrities. It also helps that we have (I believe) the highest attorney per capita in the country.

Q: On a lighter note, how about those Giants?

A: Its one of the main reasons the New York metro area real estate values have held relative to the rest of the country …ok, ok, so I am getting carried away here, but hey, local fans of Superbowl winners have a broad array of rights bestowed on them to say just about anything over the next year.

Thanks Jonathan!

Image Source: Adapted from Ninemsn (Heath Ledger as the Joker in the upcoming Batman Movie)
Note: Title inspired by a line in the famous T-Mobile commercial

Update: According to Mrs. Mogul, Heath Ledger’s apartment is apparently already rented.

House Hunting Tips: When Should I Buy?

Happy New Year from Trulia!
Between the subprime and mortgage crises, 2007 was certainly a rollercoaster year for real estate. So what’s in store for 2008? While we’re no fortune tellers, you can use the resources on Trulia.com to answer the question on every house hunter’s mind: Is now the right time to buy?

Check out local pricing trends, sign up for email alerts on your favorite properties, and get the scoop on your local market conditions from real estate enthusiasts on Trulia. Meanwhile, we’ve put together a list of Q&A from other home buyers to help you get started.

What are your local market conditions?
And how long do you plan on living in the home? Read on to find out what real estate pros recommend for one San Diego home buyer.
Q: Is a good time to purchase a condo in downtown San Diego… or do you think prices will still go down further?
Asked by Ray, Home buyer & seller in Bollingbrook, IL

Do you need to sell in order to buy?
If so, are you moving to a new city or state? Timing is even more important to home buyers planning to sell their primary residence and move to a new market. Check out the recommendations for one home buyer moving cross country and changing jobs.
Q: My husband and I are moving to Colorado as soon as our home in Illinois sells… Will we be able to buy a home without employment since we’ll have a 20% down payment?
Asked by Sueo, Home buyer & seller in Bollingbrook, IL

How will financing options look next year?
And what can you do to make sure you have the financing you need? One home buyer from Dublin, CA gets some free facts and predictions from real estate pros.
Q: Any idea how tough will it be to get 100% financing next year?
Asked by Faa, Home buyer Dublin, CA

Affordable winter retreats
If you love the idea of a snowy getaway but don’t want to clean out your retirement account, consider timeshares, fractional ownerships and nearby cities in your search… and hit the slopes!

	$147,000 Stowe, VT 3br / 3ba 2,500 sqft Fractional ownership
	$29,500 Vail, CO 2br / 2ba Prime week timeshare
	$272,400 Reno, NV 3br / 2ba 2,305 sqft Nearby deal

Like what you saw here? Read more, including celebrity house sightings here. Stay tuned for more home buying tips and sign up for the House Hunting email newsletter here.

(Mis)adventures in home selling, part 3: The End

It is with a mix of celebratory joy and nostalgic longing that I said goodbye to my SoCal townhouse for good this morning. Escrow closed yesterday, and as of today I am no longer a homeowner. Having rented in the Bay Area for a year and a half, I should be used to no longer being master of my domain, but it still feels weird to know that piece of real estate is no longer mine.

Having bought that lovely condo at the beginning of the last real estate boom, watched the era of bidding wars and inflated home prices unfold and peter out, and worked at Trulia for the past 18 months, I knew the negotiating process would be an interesting experience, and it certainly was.

First, don’t believe the hype: as far as I can tell, prices are dropping. Sure, I only sold my one house, and some markets like San Francisco and New York City are largely immune from market fluctuations, because everybody wants to own real estate there. But for the rest of us? Double-check your parachutes.

Second: if your house is on the market, take care of the mold now before your buyers request a 5-figure mold remediation credit, because they will.

Third: if you bought a few years ago, are looking to sell, and stand to make a substantial profit, don’t wait–sell now: you don’t know how the subprime mortgage market’s troubles will affect your home’s value, and the market may well have peaked in your area.

Fourth: if you’re renting now, stay where you are and save your money for a big down payment in a year or two. Those no-money-down, 103%-financing loans are disappearing fast, and you’ll likely have to borrow the old-fashioned way.

Sure, I’ll miss my house. I already do, and I think my cat does too–he sure loved running up and down those stairs (we got the kitties a rental with stairs, too).

But amidst the real estate frenzy that seared through the country over the past few years, I feel comforted by the feeling that the basics never go out of style: buy low, sell high, and get stairs for your cats.

Read the rest of my home-selling saga: part 1, part 2

(Mis)adventures in home selling, part 2

I heard every decade has its own housing bugaboo–the evil scary thing homebuyers are obsessed with when looking at home inspection reports. The 1980s had asbestos and radon gas, the 1990s had lead-based paint, and it seems the inspection scare du jour is mold.

Sure, mold (and asbestos and lead and radon gas and some exotic Madagascar millipedes) can be toxic and dangerous to your health, especially if you have allergies. But these days, it can also be used to get a free kitchen remodel.

My lovely townhome in Southern California is about one mile from the Pacific Ocean, and its front windows all get a lovely ocean breeze (we were lucky enough to get a unit that faces south-west). Does it have mold? Is the Pope catholic? Of course it has mold. The only place in the US that doesn’t have water- and airborne mold is probably Death Valley, and even there I’m sure you can find sneaky little spores making home sellers miserable.

What does this have to do with kitchen remodels? Well, if there’s mold in the house you’re trying to buy, you can get an estimate from your mold inspector that conveniently includes ripping up the kitchen walls, cabinets and countertops, and even appliance removal and replacement. And of course you make that estimate known to me, pointing out my house is uninhabitable in its current condition, but that you still want to close ASAP, so could I please send over $7K immediately so we can proceed with our KILLER MOLD ERADICATION, thank you kindly?

Some say mold can cause fatigue and asthma. I say it enhances creativity and may even have mild hallucinogenic effects. I’ll have a pound of that, over easy, please.

(Mis)adventures in home selling, part 1

After moving to the Bay Area about 18 months ago, it was time to shed my last ties to SoCal and put my lovely pre-Trulia townhouse on the market. Being the biggest housing bear in the company, I knew the halcyon days were over and suspected I’d probably have to live with a few lowball offers. What I didn’t quite expect was the kinds of comments from prospective buyers I’ve heard through my agent.

If there was any doubt the market has softened considerably (some say tumbled or crashed), take a look at the kind of gamesmanship sellers have to contend with. Gone are the days of 20%-above-asking first bids, waived inspections, and buyers begging sellers to accept cash bribes on top of bloated end-of-the-bidding-war-can-I-please-buy-your-house offers. Now, it seems, buyers aren’t content to offer 20% under asking–it’s become a game to gloat about it, and the nitpicky hunt for every possible blemish in the house is a competitive sport.

The old “deferred maintenance” euphemism, which used to mean “this house is falling down”, now means my lovely tile countertops are going to cost me $30K. Five-year-old, like-new appliances whose sole peccadillo is that they don’t look like a Mac Pro mean I’m a hopelessly unhip oaf stuck in pre-industrial mode (and wind up costing me another $20K). And graniteless kitchens earn sellers more eye-rolling than the crumbling brick foundations and leaky rooves buyers were happy to be saddled with even after spending 20% more than they intended to, just two short years ago.

I’m all about bargain hunting, but it’s bad form to kick the market while it’s down, and if you’re going to haggle, show some dignity. There’s nothing wrong with being a cheapskate and paying fair market prices–in real estate, it’s the responsible thing to do, and I certainly did when I bought this albatross you’re trying to buy from me. Just make the damn low offer, and quit being so guilty about it you have to disparage every atom of the place you’re going to live in for the next 7 years.

But I’m not complaining. Stay tuned for part 2.

What do people search for?

It’s Friday afternoon and I am getting ready to go out and start celebrating my birthday which this year conveniently falls on Saturday. People around the office have been making fun of my metrosexual party shirt so I had to put a sports jacket back on. Now I feel the need to express myself in a different way, so I am writing this blog post. I’ve been playing around with the overture inventory tool for a while and noticed some interesting things pertaining to real estate market search patterns across the Web. So, what do people search for?

Around 3 million people searched for the term “real estate” in October. But which cities are most popular? The table below gives the most popular geographic searches for “real estate” compared to the city population. The higher the ratio, the more popular the city is.

Lahaina, HI data looks very suspicious. Imagine over 200K people all moving into a city with less than 10K population. Hmm….it’s either a developer paradise, favorite web surfing location, or some kind of bug. Nevertheless, for everything else, the numbers are pretty interesting.

Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham are up-and-coming cities with quickly developing technology industries, seen as places for high-tech workers to find refuge from the exuberant housing prices of San Francisco and New York. Prices in Chicago and Phoenix have been growing steadily in the last few years. Could the current lack of interest be explained by the fact that the prices are topping out and it is not feasible to make a quick arbitrage buck? Can you help me explain the rest? As for me, its time to go and celebrate.

What is a “normal” American home?

In my role as a developer here at Trulia, I find myself using our massive amounts of home information to answer random questions that interest me. I figured I would take the readers of the Trulia Blog along with me on one of my data journeys. This particular question came about because I am still a bit shocked by the crazy home prices out here in the SF Bay Area. I grew up in the Detroit, MI metro area, and the whole idea that you have to be semi-rich to own a home is quite a culture shock for those making the move I did. This led me to wonder: What exactly is “normal” for the price of a basic 2 bed, 2 bath home? And where exactly can you expect huge deviations from this norm? In other words, it’s one thing to have a city full of huge mansions that everyone knows are expensive, but where do even the homes that most would consider “basic” places carry significant price tags?

Let’s start with the median value of a 2 bed, 2 bath home. For everyone who hasn’t opened a stats book in a while, the median is the value that comes from lining up all values in order and picking the one that is exactly in the middle. Using the Trulia database, I can’t only say that the median value is $249,900, but I can also say that the property that represents the median in Trulia’s database is this condo in Sarasota, FL.

So let’s take this concept city by city – here are eight median 2 bed/2 bath properties on Trulia in cities far more expensive than my hometown. Because it’s the median, the actual homes in the Trulia database will change. But they (and their price tags) are interesting none-the-less.

1. Coronado, CA – 120 C Ave, $1,579,000
2. Laguna Beach, CA – 990 Meadowlark Dr, $1,350,876
3. New York, NY – 300 E 40th St, $1,295,000
4. Malibu, CA – 6435 Zumirez Dr, $1,130,000
5. Islamorada, FL – 101 Gulfview Dr, $910,000
6. Newport Beach, CA – 280 Cagney Ln, $829,000
7. San Francisco, CA – 1011 23rd St, $815,000
8. La Jolla, CA – 5366 La Jolla Blvd, $799,876

So what have we learned? Don’t live in California. Okay, just kidding, but I learned that you can literally sell your middle-of-the road Laguna Beach home and get the mansion of your dreams in 95% of the US (MTV reality show not included). As for me, I work in San Francisco and am anchored to the Bay Area for the foreseeable future. Luckily, all this doesn’t really matter to me because I plan on winning the lottery. If anyone has any pointers on how to do this or can put me in contact with this guy, please leave a comment.

Blogging pioneer Robert Scoble at Trulia

We were honored a few weeks ago when Robert Scoble, the very cool tech evangelist, blogger and VP of media at Podtech.net, came by to interview Pete on the ScobleShow.

Robert also filmed a demo of Trulia and our tools – check it out here.

Scoble made waves over at Microsoft from 2003-2006 as part of the Channel9 video team, where he walked his camera into rooms with engineers, Bill himself and everyone in between. His book is a must read for brokers and agents considering using a blog to communicate with their customers.

Is age nothing but a number?

This graph shows the percent of existing homes that were built in a given year in San Francisco (an old city), Houston (a new city) and Las Vegas (a very new city). It’s interesting to correlate the peaks and troughs with events like the San Francisco earthquake at the turn of the century, the Great Depression in the 30s, World War II and other significant events.

After the April 18, 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, there was a significant spike in home builds — the yellow line shows that 2.2% of San Francisco homes were built in 1906, 2.4% were built in 1907 and 2.65% were built in 1908 (these numbers might sound small, but SF hasn’t gone above 1% since 1951!).

Taking a look at Houston from the late 70s to early 80s, it looks like the Oil Embargo bolstered home building in the city, which abruptly ended when the embargo was lifted in 1986 (ah, oil and money bring back fond memories of Dallas…).

And Vegas baby? Roughly 45% of all homes on the market were built in the past 10 years. Maybe all those kids that played poker online have decided to take it up full time.

Any other interesting observations? We’d love to hear them!