Matrix Blog

This morning I had the honor of appearing with Ken Prewitt and Tom Keene on the Bloomberg Surveillance radio program. I listen to their show regularly via podcast so I eagerly accepted their invitation to appear.

Here’s this morning’s interview [mp3]. “Miller Says NYC Housing Prices Down 25% From September 2008” – a state of New York housing interview for a national audience. It’s not painful to listen to – I promise.

When I got to the studio, Tom and I began talking about his entré into the world of Twitter and the show’s Facebook fan page. He plugged my own Twitter page to his audience and my new podcast – The Housing Helix. Nice!

My friend Rudy, Social Media Guru (and Maven) at Trulia, who is a big fan of the Bloomberg show, blogged about my interview and used Twitter to interact with the show. Thanks Rudy!

Fun!

Tags: Television, Radio

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Trulia’s got a broker alternative to blogging called Trulia Voices. It a merger of the power of social media an specific housing locations.

A recent request for mortgage refinancing tips, tricks and advice was posted.

So much has been made of historic low mortgage rates as an incentive to refinance or purchase a home, yet its not just about low mortgage rates.

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Trulia’s got a broker alternative to blogging called Trulia Voices. It a merger of the power of social media an specific housing locations.

Last week, a question was posted:

If President Barack Obama could change or fix anything about housing what would it be?

My answer has been the highest rated response so far. C’mon, don’t you feel the need to vote for my answer, or even fake it and vote for mine anyway?

Actually, there is a wide variety of interesting suggestions worthy of reading.

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Since the new iPhone and it’s 2.0.2 software came out, I have been lovin’ the new apps that have entered the fray. The power of GPS allows blending data and location into a nice neat package. And endless array of possibilities.

One of my favorites of the just released: the Trulia iPhone app (disclosure: I have been on Trulia’s Industry Advisory Board since its inception). But it’s not just for the iPhone.

I got a demo of the beta when I was at Inman Connect SF last month. I have to say, unequivocally, that the app is even better than “more cowbell.” Actually it’s incredibly easy to use, allowing me to see what is for sale in the immediate area, drilling down to property details and what open houses are available (inside joke: thanks so much for not calling them “open homes”). It also enables viewing the Trulia voices feed specific to the location.

Keep it simple, make it powerful.

In fact, I’ve really been iPhone App happy lately. I was turned on to two other apps by my friend Andrew, that I find myself using everyday (aside from “iSaber“) called Jott and Evernote. Awesome.

Proud father moment: My teenage son was out with a bunch of his friends and one of them pulls out an iPhone, exclaiming, “hey guys, check this out!” and began brandishing iSaber with it’s Star Wars sound and light effects. My son looks at the kid and deadpans, “yeah, my Dad uses that one.”

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I thought I wouldn’t make it there:

Here’s a glass is half empty whining, seeking empathy recap:

• Drove to JFK, pouring so hard traffic would periodically come to a stop on the expressway
• JetBlue flight was packed, with warm air blowing like a convection oven at about the halfway mark
• Two kids, about 3 and 4 years old, screaming, fighting and crying for 6 hours directly behind me, parents oblivious or helpless
• Two people next to me became fast friends, speaking so loud for 6 hours straight, I couldn’t tune them out with my iPod. I now know their mortgages, financials, plans to divorce, how they met their spouses in intimate detail
• My tv screen went black halfway into the flight
• Room wasn’t ready for 2 hours at the hotel
• Apple store across the street ran out of iPhones 20 minutes before I got there, and were surprisingly rude

Here’s a glass is half full, glad to be here in San Francisco summary:

• But I made it, alive
• 65 degrees, sunny (perfect)
• Met a ton of old friends, long time online friends finally in person
• Brad Inman can still put on a show
• Chief Economist at BofA main session gave great, forthright overview
• Listened to Craig Newmark – quirky and endearing, “Constitution gets used again after the election” discussion (plus, as an added bonus, Craigslist discussion)
• Hung out with Dustin Luther, saw his terrific presentation at the main conference
• Winced at hyperinflation talk (1000%, 20 years, without factoring in corrective market forces) but otherwise loved the bull vs bear discussion, and at the end decided I didn’t need to jump off the Golden Gate
• Couldn’t twitter during the conference, no ATT reception on the main conference and didn’t realize how simple the wireless password was. duh!
• Went to the Trulia BBQ – on the trolley and spoke at length with the Marker Man who had to turn sideways to fit – best (only) meatballs I have ever had in SF
• Had dinner with some of the smartest econ bloggers out there – UrbanDigs, Naked Capitalism, Calculated Risk and their better halfs
• Realized it was about 2:30 am EST and had to end the evening without going to the Curbed party (I know, serious wimp)

Going to cook some more today.

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Trulia launches yet another innovation today called Trulia Snapshot that further shows that they are the leaders in capturing and managing listing information for consumers. (disclosure: I am on their industry advisory panel)

Its one of a number of innovations they have released that deals specifically with the visual representation of data.

Trulia Snapshot is a tool that allows you to browse properties listed for sale on Trulia in a very different way. The photos are placed over a map of the local you are interested in and you can view by most to least expensive, oldest to newest, etc.

My favorite feature is being able to see where the specific listing sits within the housing stock available for sale.

Very cool.

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Ok, I admit it. I am slowly getting sucked into social networking. I am evolving from the experimentation stage to the exploration stage. I am now ready for the productivity stage.

My usual go to sites for Social Networking these days are all over the map.

• Twitter – a good place to see a steady stream of consciousness and an occasional cool link.
• Facebook – my first step into SN. Beyong playing Scrabulous and Oregon Trail with friends and strangers, I am not the originator of much communication through this medium.
• LinkedIn – a business Facebook with the centerpiece around my resume.
• Inman – a huge resource and a great way to stay in touch with people in the industry.
• Trulia Voices – I get a steady stream of questions and answers (including mine) that pertain to topics I am interested in. The alternative to blogging by real estate agents.

I have tried a few others but these have been the sites that have peaked my interest.

Now a new social network site called MyDealBook has entered the fray, leveraging the 300,000 register users of Property Shark, one of the best real estate data resources out there. Ryan Slack, the CEO of MyDealBook called and gave me an overview of the concept.

The “deal” is the centerpiece of the conversation and links to the deal build the credibility of the originator of the deal, hopefully to entice clients to consider using them. It is a very cool concept and perfect for those in real estate.

MyDealBook is a social network. It is a place where real estate professionals, investors, developers and service providers such as architects, contractors, appraisers and attorneys can maximize their professional opportunities.

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Periodically, I like to round-up some of my favorite recent blog posts that are housing market/credit/economy related. A lot of good information can be backed up in a Time Capsule.

Quote of the week…

The paperless society is about as plausible as the paperless bathroom.” —Jesse Shera [librarian and author]

• Stopping The Bailout! [Paper Money]

• Are There More Than 50 People Blogging In Real Estate? [Bloodhound]

• The house that got away…. [360 Digest]

• As Greenwich Goes..? Maybe Rich Aren’t Immune In Housing Crisis [CNBC Realty Check]

• A Silver Lining To The Foreclosure Crisis: More Affordable Housing [Planetizen]

• Economic Stimulus Check Burned For Warmth [The Onion]

• It took 11 Hours for Someone to Point out the Obvious [Marginal Utility]

• Trulia, madly, deeply [Businessweek/Hot Property]

Tags: CNBC

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Got to hang out with Rudy Bachraty and catch up since he joined the Trulia team – he’s running the Trulia Blog now.

Rudy did this Trulia Voices video on the run. Fun stuff. Good grief – too much of me – I’m not an agent.

Remember the Verve Pipe?

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One of the things that has always bugged me about the way many analyze real estate markets is the prevailing wisdom that foreclosure properties are not relevant to understanding the market…that foreclosure sales are “tainted.”

A sale coming out of foreclosure is a sale anyway you slice it. It represents competition for existing listings. If foreclosure list prices happen to be lower, they will influence non-foreclosure listing prices and time on the market for all properties. Foreclosure listings or sales are not some special transaction in a vacuum. The decision to include them should not be affected by whether the market is rising, falling or stable.

So I thought it was pretty cool to see the announcement of Trulia’s partnership with RealtyTrac and the addition of 400,000 foreclosure listings to the more than 2,000,000 listings that are currently available on Trulia.com

Coincidentally [wink], this month’s Trulia Trends Report spotlights foreclosure listings. The report is based on a continuing evolution of ideas that has come as a result of the collaboration between [Trulia](http://www.trulia.com) and my appraisal firm [Miller Samuel](https://www.millersamuel.com).

Trulia understands how important it is not to arbitrarily filter out content.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Trulia Industry Advisory Board so I may have been temporarily insane when I wrote this post.

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Here is the October issue of Trulia Trends, a report of listing trends and consumer search patterns.

The report is based on a continuing evolution of ideas that has come as a result of the collaboration between [Trulia](http://www.trulia.com) and my appraisal firm [Miller Samuel](https://www.millersamuel.com). (disclosure: I am a member of [Trulia’s advisory board](http://matrix.millersamuel.com/?p=1001).)

In this month’s issue the spotlight focused on the Denver, CO area.

Download the October 2007 Trulia Trends Report [PDF] here.

Here is Trulia’s post about the new report.

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Here is the September issue of Trulia Trends, a report of listing trends and consumer search patterns.

The report is based on a continuing evolution of ideas that has come as a result of the collaboration between [Trulia](http://www.trulia.com) and my firm [Miller Samuel](https://www.millersamuel.com). (disclosure: I am a member of [Trulia’s advisory board](http://matrix.millersamuel.com/?p=1001).)

In this month’s issue the spotlight focused on the Boston, MA area.

Download the September 2007 Trulia Trends Report [PDF] here.

Here is Trulia’s post about the new report.

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