A reader kindly forwarded us to a “new” website called, Neighborcity and we gotta say, aren’t Trulia, and Zillow enough?
We didn’t see anything on this site worth discussing that isn’t already found elsewhere. To us, this site is a complete waste of time. Focus your time on Trulia, Zillow (if you must to get a very, very, very rough estimate of your home’s value), and your local MLS. If you want community, go to Trulia, but beware the Realtor answers are usually loaded to bait you in.
Oh, one last thing, check the ranking of agents on Neighborcity. We’ve learned our lesson about calling out fellow agents, but that data is clearly flawed.
Thanks for the tip to the site, best of luck to them. We are fans of technology in real estate and applaud all efforts, but we weren’t impressed. We look forward to be proven wrong.
[Editor’s Note: Okay, we took another look at the site from the perspective of someone shopping for a home somewhere in the country. We’re used to dealing with internet savvy buyers and sellers, so we’re a bit jaded. We can see value in the site for those that are just beginning their home search and land on this site a la Google.]
You should also mention http://www.NewHomeSource.com as a resource. They post residential new construction only, which can be found at great deals these days, their data is also the new construction section of http://www.sfgate.com.
Keep in mind, there are new home deals to be found out there, and that generally leads to more choices and greener builds.
Personally, I would rather build into my home, the cost cutting measures, before my utilities truly skyrocket.
Alex,
Don’t be mad that you didn’t make it into NeighborCity.com’s top real estate agents for San Francisco! Our featured agents are top producers in their respective neighborhoods. We map past transactions to match buyers and sellers with competent, local Realtors who have a proven track record.
While we don’t have $87M in startup funding and a flashy enough name, our many clients apprecaite the service we provide in helping them find the right home and agent. We also produce all of our technology here, in San Francisco, CA, instead of India, China, or other countries and are completely self funded!
We will keep you abreast of new updates that bring value to home buyers and sellers so maybe you can provide a more balanced view. Like I said, don’t be mad that you didn’t make it into our rankings and keep chasing listings and perhaps you will work your way up!
Jonathan,
Not worried at all. I never said your technology wasn’t good. For now, you’re just like all the rest, and I read every single site out there all the time. Keep me posted on updates and I’ll gladly take a second look, but if you can’t take the heat from people in the biz reviewing all the products, get out of the kitchen. Best of luck to you.
condescendent is the best polite word I can find for Jonathan post.
Jo! loosen up! It’s friday night! (alex, please insert link to the WTF video please – I can’t find it. )
You mean this one? Jonathan Needs to Harden the Fuck Up…
;) thanks
(add tags to that post, like video or whatever. I searched and couldn’t find it!)
tagged: “humor” and “harden the fuck up” for future reference. Chopper needs to do another one…lighten the fuck up. Man, potty mouth on me tonight or what!?
I just found a major bug on neighborcity: Neighborhoods are defined by zipcode. oooooops. Doesnt work that way in SF.
–> all those techs are “fine” PROVIDING that the *startup* keeps in touch with the REAL world – aka real people, ie a network of real agents in all the states and major cities to manually detect problems, manually correct datas etc.
It takes time thus MONEY and SALARIES (or commission or whatever you call it) to develop a computer model of a people-to-people relation.
I know that *zillows* and such are “cool” and useful in many suburbs where you can indeed buy or sell your house on internet, with no agent, by using a listing site, and a prepaid contract drafting tool. But this is SAN FRANCISCO, and it’ll be web 3.0 before there is any technology that can even come within a reasonable range to a real human Realtor for The City.
(random requirements such as views price assessment, RE maps including the topological terrain, the bus’ lines [includes the difference between a street car, an OWL line etc], noise and traffic, sun orientation, a good nose for finding remains of mold, etc).
I’m not an anti tech person. Quite the opposite. But I’ve used too much of the available RE tools not to see their falling short of an experienced Realtor, like Alex (and many others).
Indeed, Alex is one of the only worthwhile link between human agents and techs – and amazingly, his (IMO) best achievement (the Tour de San Francisco) is still uncopied and unmatched – probably because it takes time AND experience (others lack either one and often both).
(no, I’m not paid by Alex. But I admire his effort to go out and help OTHERS “for free”. And he’s still truthful to his core values, after those many years of trying new ways to spreed the news).
sorry for the typos.
This website is full of outdated information, stolen from outdated MLS listings. Found a home you like on the site? The “real estate specialist” in the San Francisco office will not only pretend that they are a “local agent” or “partner” of someone in your area. This local agent will probably harass you to work with them until you either set an appointment to see a home, or until you tell them to stop. However, the “real estate specialists” will continue to call, e-mail, and push another agent your way. Those tricky folks at NeighborCity will lie and tell you the home may still be available, when they know perfectly well that everything on their site is flawed. They take 30% commission from Realtors they send your way, making them sign an agreement before taking out clients. It’s basically an agent matching service, and their website can not be relied on.
Neighborcity gives inaccurate and negative information on real estate agents. They indicated that my license was expired…my license is current and was never expired. Also They posted that I was inexperienced as compared to my peers. I have eighteen years of selling in the District of Columbia and Maryland. I am not sure how they rate me as inexperienced. They are posting / providing the public with misleading information regarding realtors.
also, they refuse to change or correct the lies they post.