Matt Goyer’s Real Estate Blog

Tech Crunch, Microsoft Exits Classified Listings Business.

Guess we don’t have to worry about syndicating to Live now…

Say you’re a Firefox user considering switching to Internet Explorer. If you Google download internet explorer you end up at the Get It Now page.

You would think clicking the “Get It Now” button would initiate a download of what you are looking for. But it doesn’t. You would think clicking any of the items circled in red might initiate a download; they don’t. Instead you need to look all the way below the fold to find the drop down I’ve circled in black.

This page is different than the one presented to Internet Explorer users but yet isn’t optimized around the user scenario of “so you’re a Firefox user looking to make the switch back.” There is no easy download button, no automatic OS detection, no messaging around why IE is better (is it?)

FAIL.

And if you think this is the only case of bad download design on Microsoft.com it is. The other day I had to download Virtual PC and I had to ASK SOMEONE how to download it.

The fatal and common flaw their pages share is the third hierarchy of tabs uses a button visual instead of a tab visual.

From Janelle comes the best listing photo ever.

The listing is 123 Orange Grove Ave:

And yes, that’s the primary photo. The second, and last photo, is of the kitchen which is missing a fridge.

CondoDomain runs afoul of MLS PIN in Boston, CondoDomain Gets Slapped.

Yeah, we don’t require registration and sign in for Boston just for kicks :).

I was also pleased to read another post about similar issues, Silly MLS IDX Rules.

Now we just need to hear from the brokers who actually want all these rules. It appears that the tech folks and the users certainly don’t want em and Zillow and Trulia love them as it puts them at an advantage over those who actually do the buying and selling.

This is great news!

Hopefully more MLSes follow their lead, NWMLS to Allow Brokerages to share more Data:

he Northwest Multiple Listing Service has announced policy changes that will allow brokerages to display more information on their websites. This means that if brokerages choose to, people will be able to see the length of time a property has been on the market, referred to as days-on-market (DOM), as well as cumulative-days-on-market (CDOM), along with the listing price adjustment history. The NWMLS will only allow the DOM to be shown if the CDOM is also displayed in order to insure that consumers are not mislead.

Zillow finally migrates from their own map platform to Virtual Earth. I’m surprised they waited as long as they did to do this. We certainly should have done it before we expanded beyond Seattle.

In our Virtual Earth news, Eric Jorgensen has been promoted to VP. Eric ran the group which Virtual Earth was a part of. It looks like Stephen Lawler is now the top guy on Virtual Earth.

“DashApps” - Third Party Services enabled by our open content platform!

Hunting for the home of your dreams? Coldwell Banker® allows consumers to search for homes with the “Coldwell Banker Home Search” button. It allows Dash drivers to access real estate listings and property details from their vehicle and instantly create a route to them.

We need to do this.

They’re $399 on Amazon…

If it was $200 I wouldn’t hesitate about buying one to play with. Maybe when I get a new car I’ll get one.

Recently the Seattle Times had a syndicated article on, Check out commute before you buy.

When you’re stuck in traffic burning $3+-a-gallon gasoline to creep along at walking speed, it offers time to think. Would it be easier if I left home earlier? Would I be better off riding a train? How bad will my commute be in five years? Would life be easier and cheaper if I found a job some place where the roads aren’t as crowded and the homes aren’t so expensive?

A new Web-based tool developed by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), a Chicago-based urban-development think tank, can help put facts behind those daydreams.

I checked out the tool expecting it to give me some sort of Walkscore like experience but for commuting but the site helps me answer none of those questions. I think I need a major in stats or something to answer those questions using that website.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology would be well served to hire a user experience designer or program manager to represent the average customer in their design meetings so that they produce something usable.

Inman, DOJ sues MLS in South Carolina:

The rules, the DOJ alleges, also “impose unreasonable objective criteria for membership and contain subjective standards for admission to membership that allow CMLS representatives to deny membership to brokers who might be expected to compete more aggressively or in more innovative ways than CMLS’s members would prefer,” which DOJ asserts could exclude such brokers or deter them from seeking membership.

I love it. Some anti-Redfin person (agent?) hacked my blog. I left the post because it’s kind of ridiculous. I also upgraded my Wordpress to hopefully resolve this hacking problem that has plagued me now twice this week.