[photopress:ShackPrices.gif,thumb,alignright]As of midnight last night, ShackPrices.com is live. We have a post up on the ShackBlog about what you’ll find on our new site, but I’ll summarize it for our readers here:
What is ShackPrices?
[photopress:map_sample.jpg,thumb,alignleft]ShackPrices.com is a snappy Google maps-based real estate search site that makes finding a home better by augmenting each real estate listing with data about what is nearby, including the distances to nearby landmarks, nearby schools and nearby bus stops. ShackPrices also helps home buyers learn about cities and neighborhoods through reviews, statistics and photos. Home buyers can search for shacks (shabby to chic, of course) across all of Western Washington on ShackPrices.com.
What makes ShackPrices.com different?
[photopress:tabs_1_2_3_4.jpg,full,alignright]You’ll spot some obvious things that differentiate ShackPrices.com right off the bat, including information about what is nearby every listing (check out the surroundings near this Ballard listing) and Suggested Shacks, which predicts houses home buyers might be interested in if they like any of the 20,000+ houses for sale on ShackPrices.com.
ShackPrices is still in its infancy, so expect more handy features in the coming year and please let us know how we can improve your experience.
Let me be the first to ask the obvious question… Where are you getting your listings?
BTW, I love the interface… It is very clean and I really like the way you’ve implemented a lot of your AJAX features and added things like “Shack Recommendations. Great job!
Dustin, I’m glad you like the site! ShackPrices is a member of the NWMLS, so the listings come from all of the brokerages who are Northwest MLS members in Washington State.
Excellent work. Looks like I’m going to be very busy playing catch up with you and Doug. I assume you’re using Ruby & Postgres?
Are you and/or Doug a broker now?
Thanks Robbie! We are indeed using Ruby on Rails for our back end and a Postgres database – we’re 100% open source.
No, neither of us are brokers. We have a broker on staff.
ahh… very cool!
Great search tool! Glad to see your using open source technology. I just created a site using joomla – love working with the OS stuff.
Question – does the NWMLS also deliver you the solds data? My local MLS does not.
Tom, the Nwmls does deliver solds data, which is very quite progressive of them. There are some rules about what can and can’t be displayed, but nothing overwhelmingly restrictive.
I don’t know what “Ruby on Rails” is, but that new product of yours is clearly a “Polished Gem!”
Best of luck with it Galen. I especially liked the differentiation between houses and condo buildings! Knocked me OUT! It looked like a Monopoly game and was great for navigating to or away from condos.
I prefer the “non aerial” version of map searches like this one myself, though I like aeriels AFTER I find the house when I want the most detail. Loved the “nearby” feature.
We’ll have to get together sometime and do a full blown Ardell behind the wheel. I would like to see more increments of value. People like to creep up and broad ranges are sometimes TMI. Not many look from $400,000 to $500,000. Usually $400,000 to $450,000.
Personally I like the increments in $25,000, like $400,000 to $425,000…more use friendly. People like to “peek” over their preferred price and not jump in to “deep water”.
Congratulations!!!
Greg Swann gave it a great write up…you are definitely his “golden boy”, and deservedly so.
Second obvious question… how do you plan to monetize the site? Ads? Referrals? Or is your broker on staff actually going to sell homes?
Nice work. Beautiful layout. Fast. Some basic comments. First, I would probably make it more apparent that it’s a WA only site. Some users may type in a different area… I.E. “Las Vegas” because they don’t know (or take the time to read) and in turn get frustrated.
If the person finds a home they like… what do they do next? There is no contact information… I know this is a problem, because I have run across the same issue in the past.
Other than that beautiful!
Galen,
I just had a realization! I think you’re giving more love to real estate mashups than to Taco Truck mashups… What’s with that?
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