MainRhode Real Estate Search

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37843381982850835922009-02-21T01:53:57.016-05:00MainRhode Real Estate SearchMainRhode is bringing the power of Google -- both in terms of strategy and technology -- to Real Estate for the first time.John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-60053584151998073752008-10-14T15:08:00.004-04:002008-10-14T16:44:27.400-04:00Picking a Domian for an Agent Site

MainRhode publishes "agent-branded" Real Estate Search Engines and one of the first steps in that process is choosing a domain name.For some reason, agents approach this decision with a level of stress that is more suited to watching your retirement evaporate in the markets than it is to deciding what URL you want your Web site to call home. This post is addressed to agents who are struggling

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-23103841833642562082008-06-21T10:23:00.004-04:002008-06-21T11:21:01.121-04:00Its not the technology, its how you use it.

Inman has an interesting article about a report out from a consulting group:"A new report by real estate consulting firm WAV Group suggests that real estate brokers, agents and multiple listing services are embracing technologies that can help them provide consumers with the kind of market information that makes third-party sites like Zillow a hit."I put my 2 cents in replying to Justin who

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-5270958905890731962008-01-16T09:33:00.000-05:002008-01-16T09:51:38.469-05:00John Maeda, Master of Simplicity, coming to RI

John Maeda from the MIT Media Lab is the next president of RISDI.Ever since I got my first copy in high school, Strunk & White's little grammar book The Elements of Style is the only grammar book I have ever used regularly. I even pass it out at Web Content Development training sessions. Not bad for a book that was originally conceived in the 30's.Maeda's book, The Laws of Simplicity, is like a

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-77425260222982554522008-01-11T20:51:00.000-05:002008-01-11T21:03:46.405-05:00Up Next: Seattle

On Monday, I am traveling to Seattle to work with agents from CENTURY 21 North Homes and CENTURY 21 Real Estate Center. We have launched Beta versions of the App (C21NHR / C21REC), which is newly named "Foyer".I am very excited to be launching in Seattle, considering all of the other great Web-based Real Estate companies that are based there, including Zillow. They also seem to have escaped the

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-7069216749583712942007-10-16T14:48:00.000-04:002007-10-16T16:30:07.997-04:00We are live with a Google-Powered Real Estate Search Engine

Over the last two weeks we have soft-launched a Real Estate Search Engine that is powered by Google Search Appliances.The practical benefit is that we are bringing the Relevance and Accuracy a search engine can provide to bear on Real Estate listing data. As far as I can tell, we are the first to do so. I'm still not sure what to make of that.I can say that I've been testing it for a while and

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-66823007357028497202007-07-31T12:19:00.000-04:002007-07-31T16:15:40.668-04:00The Big Omission

The race to mashup Real Estate listings with any database that has addresses in it has reached a new low. Last week, we saw Terabitz.com mashup the addresses of fast food places. Not to be outdone, this week a company called PropertyMaps.com is launching Real Estate listings mashed up with of the addresses Registered Sex Offenders.The subtle fear-mongering that PropertyMaps.com is using ("...we

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-74625368546303516102007-07-22T15:44:00.000-04:002007-07-22T18:40:04.345-04:00Realtor.com hijacking for errorsafe.com

Twice in the last week while trying to use Realtor.com my browser was hijacked by an ad for "errorsafe" which apparently is an especially nasty bit of spyware. This ad closes the browser and replaces it with a pop-up that either is or is designed to look like a system window. This pop-up informs you that errors have been detected in your registry and advises you to click the "OK" button to fix

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-54944343902751966922007-07-19T09:50:00.000-04:002007-07-22T18:44:44.321-04:00What not to do

Map doodads and mashups of existing data make it easy to look like you are adding usefulness to a Real Estate Web site, when all they really do is add sizzle to a cheap steak.Terabitz.com is a new example of technology driving content (instead of the other way around). One of their touted features shows how close fast food is to a listing by adding little hamburger icons to a map. Their next

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784338198285083592.post-52729025819457489482007-07-16T12:53:00.000-04:002007-07-16T13:28:35.882-04:00

"It is innovation's biggest paradox: We demand more and more from the stuff in our lives--more features, more function, more power--and yet we also increasingly demand that it be easy to use. And, in an Escher-like twist, the technology that's simplest to use is also, often, the most difficult to create." -- from "The Beauty of Simplicity" Fast Company Magazine, November 2005.For at least three

John Rowleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147481789425742659noreply@blogger.com2