I’ve been a little busy lately, so I haven’t had a lot of time to give an update on some of my favorite conversations around the web… Nonetheless, I’m back for an abrivated version (i.e. only 9 articles instead of the usual 10)…

Beau turned me on to a great article by Jay regarding the 30-year trend for Mortgage Rates… Interesting stuff. Also, don’t miss Jay’s tribute to Harry Ramos…

I just got an email from someone at Windermere letting me know about Windermere’s new (beta) mapping platform… This is an update to the beta mapping platform they released a little over a year ago and I think they’ve made some great improvements… Here are some features I like: (1) Simple map-based search, (2) intuitive zoom feature, (3) Simple pop-up interface, (4) the filter tool is relatively straightforward, (5) viewing the details doesn’t require a page reload, (6) same with viewing the “list of homes”, (7) saving, emailing and/or contacting an agent can all be done without leaving the map view (8) simple city, state, zip box allows for easy navigation to distant locations… The only complaint I have is that the design doesn’t feel polished, but considering it is a beta and the technology works well, the design is minor…

Steve Weise also let me know about his map-based appraisal tool he recently released and asked me to solicit feedback from the RCG community… His interface is too GIS-specific for my tastes, but maybe other’s will find it interesting and/or useful.

Clever, but probably too simplistic, Rob let me know about his collection of quotes that compare the great depression to today’s housing market. Any way you look at it, he provides a good read…

Greg picked up the new Move commercials on YouTube… The latest fun news around Move is that my favorite commercial (Search) got picked up by AdForum and is currently displayed on their front page!

I really like how Zachary picked up the ball and started posting videos of his properties… They are not high art, but I think they are darn useful, especially for someone selling land in such a beautiful area!

Sometimes being a great agent means divulging the good with the bad… Osman tells us how people can and do loose money in real estate…

I hate homework too!!!

The NYTimes real estate blog is officially dead. (although it is everywhere now, I first saw it on Luxury Sarasota Living). I can’t say I’m particularly sad, because the main editor seemed to have such a thing against real estate agents that his blogging on the subject just wasn’t very interesting… (Marlow also noticed this tendency of Damon).