[Contest] Congrats to our “My American Dream” Facebook Contest Winner!

Throughout the month of February, we asked folks to share their American Dream with us on Facebook for a chance to win a $250 Crate and Barrel gift card. More than a hundred of you responded and we very touched by your stories. Congrats to those of you who’ve already achieved your American Dreams and best wishes to those of you are are still working to achieve your goals.

Last week, we tallied up the votes and named Jessica K. as our winner with 296 votes for her entry:

“My American Dream is to be happy; a nice home with land for my children to explore. I would like to stay at home and raise my children. I can see my husband and I sitting on our front porch, watching our children catch fireflies and knowing they are happy.”

Congrats and a special thanks to everyone who entered the contest!

[Contest] Congrats to our 2nd “My American Dream” Contest Winner!

During week #2 of our “My American Dream” Twitter contest, @dropastich won a $50 Crate and Barrel gift card from Trulia for her entry:

@trulia=>My American dream=>a safe loving home for my grandson to grow up in #Crate&Barrel #giftcards #myamericandream #contest #giveaway

Don’t forget to share your American Dream with us for a chance to win – we’re picking our last Twitter contest winner on Monday!

Here’s how to enter – it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3

• Step 1: Be a registered user of Twitter.com. (If you are not a registered user of Twitter, simply visit https://twitter.com/signup to register for free.)
• Step 2: Follow Sponsor on Twitter at @trulia.
• Step 3: Tweet (1) the hashtag #myamericandream and (2) a brief response to the following question: What is your American dream? Do not include personal information in your answers, including, without limitation, your name, e-mail address, or contact information.

Judging

• Beginning on or about the final day of each Submission Period, a panel of Trulia Judges will evaluate eligible tweets and select one (1) winner for the prior Period based on which tweet is the most apt, original, and interesting.

Winners Announced

• Each potential prize winner will be notified by direct message via Twitter within 48 hours after the then-applicable Period ends. Once the winners have been confirmed, we’ll announce them on our blog www.truliablog.com.

Click here for the full the official rules.

[Contest] Congrats to our 1st “My American Dream” Contest Winner!

Earlier this week, Trulia named @caitlin_melody as our first “My American Dream” Twitter contest winner. She won a $50 Crate and Barrel gift card for her entry:

@trulia My dream is simple ~ money to pay our bills & enough left over for a family trip a year AND a happy, healthy kids #myamericandream

Have you shared your American Dream with us yet? We’re picking our next Twitter contest winner on Monday, so be sure to enter – it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3:

How to Enter

• Step 1: Be a registered user of Twitter.com. (If you are not a registered user of Twitter, simply visit https://twitter.com/signup to register for free.)
• Step 2: Follow Sponsor on Twitter at @trulia.
• Step 3: Tweet (1) the hashtag #myamericandream and (2) a brief response to the following question: What is your American dream? Do not include personal information in your answers, including, without limitation, your name, e-mail address, or contact information.

Judging

• Beginning on or about the final day of each Submission Period, a panel of Trulia Judges will evaluate eligible tweets and select one (1) winner for the prior Period based on which tweet is the most apt, original, and interesting.

Winners Announced

• Each potential prize winner will be notified by direct message via Twitter within 48 hours after the then-applicable Period ends. Once the winners have been confirmed, we’ll announce them on our blog www.truliablog.com.

Click here for the full the official rules.

[Contest] Share your American Dream for a chance to win!

70% of Americans say owning a home is part of their personal American Dream – what’s yours?

• Does it include a suburban home with a white picket fence?
• Is it living in all 50 states before you die?
• Or do you aspire to rent a high-rise loft in a big city?

Trulia invites you to share your personal American Dream with us for a chance to win $50-$250 Crate and Barrel gift cards. From now until the end of February, we’re hosting contests on Twitter and Facebook – here’s how you can enter:

FACEBOOK SHORT ESSAY CONTEST

• Submission Period (Feb 9 – Feb 28, 2011)
  • How to Enter
    • Step 1: Visit Trulia’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/trulia
    • Step 2: Click on the Contest application tab
    • Step 3: Complete the online entry form with all required information including a short essay response (50 words or less) to the following question: What’s your American Dream? (the “short essay”)
• Voting Period (Mar 1 – Mar 6, 2011)
  • Other Facebook users will evaluate eligible Short Essays and select the winner based on what they think is the most apt, original and interesting entry.
• Winners Announced (Mar 11, 2011)
  • Winners will be announced on Trulia’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/trulia.

*Scroll down for the official rules.*

TWITTER CONTEST

• Submission Period (Feb 9 – Feb 28, 2011)
  • The first Period begins at 10:00 a.m. PT on February 9, 2011 and ends at 10:00 a.m. PT on February 14, 2011.
  • The second Period begins at 10:00 a.m. PT on February 14, 2011 and ends at 10:00 a.m. PT on February 21, 2011.
  • The third Period begins at 10:00 a.m. PT on February 21, 2011 and ends at 10:00 a.m. PT on February 28, 2011.
• How to Enter

• • Step 1: Be a registered user of Twitter.com. (If you are not a registered user of Twitter, simply visit https://twitter.com/signup to register for free.)
  • Step 2: Follow Sponsor on Twitter at @trulia.
  • Step 3: Tweet (1) the hashtag #myamericandream and (2) a brief response to the following question: What is your American dream? Do not include personal information in your answers, including, without limitation, your name, e-mail address, or contact information.
• Judging
  • Beginning on or about the final day of each Submission Period, a panel of Trulia Judges will evaluate eligible tweets and select one (1) winner for the prior Period based on which tweet is the most apt, original, and interesting.
• Winners Announced
  • Each potential prize winner will be notified by direct message via Twitter within 48 hours after the then-applicable Period ends. Once the winners have been confirmed, we’ll announce them on our blog www.truliablog.com.

*Scroll down for the official rules.*

… continue reading

78% of U.S. Homeowners Describe Home as the BEST Investment They Ever Made

Since 2009, Trulia has tracked American attitudes towards homeownership in its biannual American Dream survey. What we found this time around is that despite the nightmarish housing market, 70% of Americans still view owning a home as part of their personal American Dream. Moreover, we’re seeing positive signals for recovery from Millennials (young adults aged 18-34) and in the South & West.

Check out this slide show for the full survey findings:

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[UPDATE]: Pete Flint, CEO of Trulia, and Jonathan Miller, President and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc, discussed the results of the American Dream survey during our quarterly industry conference call on February 9, 2011. To hear a recording of the call, click below.

Today Show: Homes under $300K

Feelin’ the tug on your wallet? Brickhouse Barbara Corcoran’s on it – scoping out deals for under $300K. What’s there not to like about it? From Henderson, NV to Sarasota, FL – she’s hot to trot and so should you! Check ‘em out!

2736 Solar Flare Lane, Henderson NV 89044

$250K | 3bd | 2ba | 1,596 sqft

5511 Country Lakes Trail, Sarasota FL 34243

$284K | 3bd | 2ba | 2,304 sqft
Price reduced: $2K

12536 37th Avenue NE, Seattle WA 98125

$299,950 | 3bd | 1ba | 1,020 sqft

Watch the full segment here:

Watch past segments:
What You Can Get For $350K or Less

What You Can Get For Under $400K

What You Can Get For Under $500K

What You Can Get For $375K to $425K

Do you have a home that would be a great fit for the Today Show? Email it to pr@trulia.com.

Rent vs. Buy: More Affordable to Buy in 72% of America’s 50 Largest Cities

Trulia released the findings of its Q1 2011 Rent vs. Buy Index today. When we compared the median list price for a two-bedroom apartment, condo or townhouse with one year’s worth of rent for similar property, it’s actually more affordable to buy in 72% of America’s largest cities. To illustrate which cities are more affordable to buy or to rent, we created a cool interactive map to help people make smarter real estate decisions. Check it out!

Click on the slideshow below for the full Rent vs. Buy Index findings, including the top 10 cities where it’s more affordable to buy and to rent:

Trulia Trends Relaunches

Looking for real estate data? Check out the Trulia Trends section of our News Room – this is where we’ll be releasing and archiving all our industry data reports and consumer opinion surveys going forward.

Speaking of which, we’ve revamped our data program to kickoff 2011 with a fresh start. Our Rent vs. Buy Index and Price Reduction Report will now be issued on a quarterly basis while the results of our biannual American Dream Survey and Foreclosure Survey will continue to be released during our quarterly industry conference calls. Here’s the full schedule:

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Trulia Soars into 2011

As we jump right into the new year, Trulia is happy to report that we’ve closed out 2010 with a bang as the fast-growing site in the real estate category. Thanks to a slew of new product innovations and user-experience enhancements – such as Rental Search, Trulia Mobile and Trulia Local Ads, to name a few – Trulia’s market share jumped by 70%, the biggest gain of all the leading national real estate sites, according to Hitwise.

In fact, more than 89 million unique visitors accounted for more than 570 million property views. On average, that’s 47.5 million a month, 10.9 million a week, 1.5 million a day, 65,068 an hour and 1,084 every single minute!

Other notable successes Trulia achieved in 2010 include:

• Mobile searches grew by approximately 400%, now accounting for more than 10% of overall traffic and more than 15% of weekend traffic.
• Expanded consumer engagement more than doubled the number of leads that Trulia sent to industry professionals.
• Consumers used Trulia to find homes, gather insights about neighborhoods and engage with more than 500,000 real estate professionals in the Trulia Voices community.

To see all our 2010 achievements, check out the full press release (click here).

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Today Show: Best homes for under $500K with Barbara Corcoran

OK – for some this might be a bit out of your price range. But, it’s Friday afternoon and everyone could use a little pick me up – so chuck the caffeine crave and check out this eye candy will ya?

On this morning’s “What You Can Get For XX,” Barbara Corcoran shared some great picks that’ll leave you craving for even more eye candy.

Wasilla, AK
5661 East Cherry Circle
3bd | 5ba | 3,0101 square feet

*perks: oversized 2 car garage, huge detached workshop with bath, floatplane access and dock and guest cabin

Indianapolis, IN
6910 West 71st St
4bd | 4 full, 1 partial ba | 4,285 square feet

*perks: overlooks Traders Point Lake, 3 cozy fireplaces, 2 gourmet kitchens and near Eagle Creek

Nevada City, CA
18373 Sages Road
4bd | 4ba | 3,156 square feet

*perks: Gorgeous views (that will steal your breath), 3,000 gallon water storage

Bennington, NE
16002 Vane Street
3bd | 4ba | 4,015 square feet

*perks: Chef’s kitchen, elegant stairway, 2-tier deck, wrap around porch and great landscaping

Check out the full segment here.

Watch past segments:
What You Can Get For Under $400K

What You Can Get For $375K to $425K

What You Can Get For $300K to $600K

Do you have a home for the Today Show? Send them to pr@trulia.com.

Thanks!