If a buyer came into my office and asked that question, I would first ask him what he can afford, offering to see if there are any houses in the neighborhood of interest that meet his criteria in that price range. If he refused this, which would be the most obvious and useful information for him, then I would give him the median home price, but explain that it does not mean much as it might include houses too small for him, and million dollar homes, all of which would throw off the usefulness of median home price. And, i would also be wary of him as a difficult buyer. Frankly the guys sounds like a know it all that will probably never be loyal and never buy.

Granted, the agents are not very helpful, but they are made up too. I am sure a good agent would ask a few question, while offering to get him he info he needs.

If he insists he wants the median price, or is willing to get info on what I offer, I would hop on the mls, do a quick circle or box search and give him the info. If he realized it did not meet the exact perameters of the neighborhood, and objected, I would probably throw him out of my office. That is not someone i wanted to work with no matter the commission. My time is taken up by good reasonable clients that I do a great job for.

Neoghborhood bounaries are arbitrary. I would ask some questions like does he want to be able to walk to shopping, have a view of the lake, be near the freeway etc.

If a guy does not want my help in figuring out if he can afford the neighborhood, that tells me he is a not someone I can work with. I am not sure how this guys wife can stand him. He sounds like a typical macho know it all that usually sells fsbo because they insist they know more than agents, and usually buys with redfin or asks you to cut your commission. Redfin can have him.

Agents, let’s be honest. Do you want to spend your time working with a difficult client, or save your time for the good ones?

I think any good agent can give any reasonable client the info they need. We do it everyday. As for them not being able to get it on line, I don’t mind. I have no problem with being the final resource. Most clients just want to be able to hop on line and see homes now an again. That small minority that insist on finding all the details on line are welcome to do so. But I will lose no sleep if they can not find it on my site. IO don’t think we owe them any big obligation to do so. That is what trained profesisonals are for. And to suggest that we can be replace by on line search tools, no matter how good, is a mistake anyway.

A simple acceptance of the fact that the internet is a broad source of information, is all that is needed. Insuring that our information is dovetailing with other information at the home buyer’s disposal is not an end result…it’s a journey toward. The abiguities that remain will not be by our design.

All it takes is for the mentality to shift from the end user being the member broker…to the end user being the clients whom that member broker serves.

http://web1.seattle.gov/mnm/

Check it out. It demonstrates one of the problems with this type of idea–bad results. I don’t see First Hill or Skyway as neighborhoods. Also there are other problems (at least with Firefox and Noscript).

There are any number of places where the City of Seattle has clearly defined neighborhoods. This post and its links have very clearly defined neighborhoods in Kirkland. Many neighborhoods have unique services, like Tam O’Shanter that comes with golf club membership…being a hair outside of Tam O’Shanter would then be “close but no cigar”.

But more and most important is that the world acnowledges and appreciates the attempt to be most accurate. For us, in the Seattle Area, it is not an option to not care about implementing technology. Many of our local residents are in the technology field. They know what can be done at a touch of a button. To say it can’t be done at a touch of a button is like saying everyone except those with the duty to know most, can do it better. That does not speak well of us.

What Mack and some others fail to see in this post is the building of the frustration. Joe did not start out frustrated and “barking orders”. In fact he was ecstatic at the info available on the internet, until he hit a brick wall when trying to use that information in a real estate office. As to cost, most of Galen’s site was written by a guy with no funding.

Embracing technology does not simply mean “being available on a computer”, it means integrating what we do with what everyone else is doing on the internet.

Even if you only consider the members’ needs, area 600 appears to have been defined during a time where most of the area was open land. Calling areas by numbers that have no meaning, is a defiant stance to refuse to integrate with the public at large.

Want to know the neighborhood name and boundaries? Do what everyone else does…Google it. It really is that simple in many places…not all…but many.

If you’re interested in a particular area, it’s best to simply define the boundaries.

The post is not about “us” and “we” it’s about them and them. Dovetailing the info into what is already available to the public on the internet is a service to the community at large. It shows that we are living in the present, and not the past.

Then there was Pierce County. Have any of you ever looked at the map designations in Pierce County, WA? Take a moment and do so. It is like an anachronism. There must be a hundred little teeny tiny, let’s call them neighborhoods for our purposes.

Now try to do a search or any other kind of work for a client waiting across the desk for immediate results. It is impossible! Little teeny tiny doesn’t cut it. We should be advocating for Pierce County agents to get together and make their areas logical…. Like Ours!

We can search area by price, we have sufficient tools to do the job with the “draw your boundaries” mapping tool.

I hate neighborhood mapping ideas. Time and energy spent better with clients.

Thanks for the thought process. Very cerebral.

There are many types of customers for residential real estate. And if the willingness to have someone walk into your office and bark orders at you to get them data is a characteristic you possess, all power to you.

But go back to your point. Are you suggesting that the members of the NWMLS pony up $1000 apiece to attempt to develop a website as good as, well, whoever’s?

I would like to remind you that NAR lost a kajillion dollars trying to develop a website back in the day.

Yours in Achilles,
– mack

Mack, I found your attitude so disturbing that I decided not to dignify it with a response. You should have quit while you were ahead.

“Most people do not know anything about houses, anything at all.”

“Traffic flow? Sound privacy? Light. Ventilation. Four things that inspectors never touch on – nor should they. I’m not playing Master Class here…

You think your real estate license somehow gave you a greater advantage over normal Joe’s to see light? Did a cape come with that?