San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) June 21, 2013

Climb Real Estate Group, the tech-powered Bay Area real estate residential brokerage, has launched a new alternative to map-based property search with the development of Climb Explore. In partnership with Pitch Interactive, Climb Explore has reinvented real estate search, not in a traditional map-based format, but by looking at search in a more graphic and visual manner. Climb Explore gets up-to-the-minute data directly from the same sources used by real estate agents and publishes homes using data visualization tools. This groundbreaking format is intended to serve a broad audience of buyers and sellers, professionals, and members of the general public interested in San Francisco and Bay Area real estate.

The new home search site features all available San Francisco-based properties including 89 different neighborhoods, all property classes including condominiums, TICs (Tenancy-in-Common), co-ops, 2-4 unit buildings, 5+ unit buildings, land, and commercial properties. Additional search criteria such as price, bedroom count, bathroom count, and parking will alter data in real time. Making the site real-time was paramount in the design of Climb Explore; when a user changes a search parameter, the search results instantly appear, providing the fast response time necessary for today’s consumers. Additionally, the level of interactivity of Climb Explore creates a more productive and richer experience.

“Our online visitors will now experience a more vibrant and seamless view of San Francisco real estate,” said Michelle Balog, Managing Sales Director for Climb Real Estate Group. “This valuable new tool represents a unique way for buyers and sellers in San Francisco to search for homes.”

The Climb Real Estate Group team, led by Technology Director Mark Choey, has been developing the new design over the past year, working with their internal staff and marketing to support the multifaceted mission of the company’s founding principle to reinvent residential real estate. Having created SFNewDevelopments.com, one of Climb’s flagship websites years before, Choey had been looking to take on real estate search for quite some time. However, he was looking to do something different. He says, “When looking at the state-of-the-art in real estate search websites, almost all sites start off with a big map of the area you are searching. Starting with a map to search real estate definitely has some benefits, but we also find this sort of user experience can be limiting. We wanted to approach the problem from a different angle.” After researching different opportunities, Choey was very impressed with the development team at Pitch Interactive, who are well known for creating interactive visualizations to illustrate complex data for technology clients. “I also really liked the fact that they had no experience in real estate. From that perspective, they brought in a crucial, unbiased viewpoint.”

“We wanted to take on the project because it was something new and challenging for us compared to the work we typically take on. Our first response when approached for this project was that we don’t do real estate. There are several real estate services that do a great job,” said Wesley Grubb of Pitch Interactive in a statement. “But after understanding Climb and the challenges of getting the best possible properties to clients, we wanted to take this on. Also, we really like the culture at Climb and felt that Climb fits well with our philosophy. Namely, the willingness to try something new and find a unique way to do something exploratory.”

With Climb Explore, consumers are offered a more engaging way to explore property through data visualization, which highlights target properties while giving access to other listings based within the same proximity of the search criteria. Grubb said, “The problem with current systems is that the search is limited and funneled. You get a limited list of properties based on what you search for. You rarely get to see the big picture or how related properties may look when you select multiple criteria.” This did not come easily. Through a complex algorithm, Pitch Interactive sought to provide enough information without overwhelming the user. Grubb said, “The most challenging aspect for us was searching for an explorative way to represent the data without overwhelming the visitor and without showing too few data points. “

The partnership is a result of Climb’s ongoing research and development efforts, many of which are focused on building new mobile and web-based experiences. The launch of the Climb Explore is an example of how Climb Real Estate Group plans to innovate the traditional real estate brokerage model — whether opening new office spaces in mobile Airstreams or developing essential digital properties — in new ways on both emerging and existing platforms.

“Climb Real Estate Group always strives to be on the leading edge of innovation — it is at the core of our company,” said Climb’s Marketing Director Chris Lim in announcing the successful release of Climb Explore. “We are working to engage home buyers everywhere in the Bay Area, now and in the future. Climb Explore encourages us to think about home search in a new way.”

For more information, visit http://explore.climbsf.com

About Climb Real Estate Group:

Climb Real Estate Group is a full-service general real estate brokerage with an emphasis on the purchase, sale, rental and marketing of select residential new developments, commercial and premier resale properties. They specialize in condos, high rises, lofts and homes in South Beach, SOMA, South Beach, Mission Bay, Rincon Hill, Potrero Hill and Central Waterfront. Our focus is on urban-style properties, specializing in new construction, historic loft conversions, live/work spaces, Victorian flats, modern condominiums, and stylish single-family homes. They also have exclusive access to off-market listings, foreclosures and developer specials.

About Pitch Interactive:

Wesley Grubbs is an artist, data visualizer and provocateur based in Berkeley, CA. In 2007 he founded Pitch Interactive, a studio whose focus is weaving code with design with statistics to find versatile solutions to communicate complex data for clients including Google, Wired, GE, Esquire, Scientific American, Popular Science and the

McKnight Foundation.

Built upon his experiences living abroad, degrees held in International Economics and Information Systems and his innate interest in the brain and cognition, Wes’ work focuses on revealing patterns about human behavior and how our actions impact our surroundings.

Pitch Interactive’s work spans illustrations, physical installations, console game user interfaces, software applications, websites and textiles. Their work has been showcased at the MoMA’s TalkToMe exhibit in in New York, the McKnight Foundation’s 30 year anniversary exhibit, the Foosaner Art Museum’s “The Art of Networks” exhibit, The Max Planck Science Express Train, the Data Flow books and many other internationally acclaimed publications.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebclimbexplore/climbsf/prweb10860647.htm

Article source: http://www.watchlistnews.com/2013/06/22/climb-real-estate-group-launches-innovative-new-real-estate-search-website/

Real estate search and marketing company Trulia is making strides in its push to cooperate with multiple listing services nationwide in order to better the quality of listing information online.

The company announced this week that it has signed up all five MLSs in the San Francisco Bay Area to its quality assurance system, Trulia Direct Reference, The system allows MLSs, brokers and agents to identify discrepancies between real estate listings from MLSs and listings on third-party syndication sites.

Trulia introduced the system last year. Participating MLSs provide Trulia Direct Reference with accurate data on factors such as list price and status. The system then automatically reports discrepancies back to the MLS, broker and listing agent. The agent then has the option to visit the third-party sources and correct the information. MLSs can participate in the system at no cost whether or not they syndicate listings to Trulia.

The five participating Bay Area MLSs are East Bay Regional Data Inc. (EBRDI), San Francisco Association of Realtors, MLSListings, Bay Area Real Estate Information Services (BAREIS), and Bay East Association of Realtors. MLSListings and BAREIS also syndicate listings to Trulia.

EBRDI was the latest to sign up. “TDR will ensure that our listings are accurately displayed and provide the highest quality exposure and experience for our members,” said Rosemary Scardina, CEO of EBRDI, in a statement.

With all five MLSs participating, “Bay Area homebuyers, sellers and renters will have access to high quality property information to help them complete their home search,” said Matt Dollinger, Trulia’s head of industry relations, in a statement.

Listings quality is a long-standing issue across the online real estate space. Some brokerages have cited listing inaccuracy as one of the reasons they’ve stopped syndicating listings to Trulia and other third-party sites. Trulia and rival Zillow have recently offered brokers incentives to feed the portals listings data directly and both companies say they prioritize listing information that comes directly from MLSs and brokers.

In a letter to brokers in May, Trulia CEO Pete Flint emphasized the company’s desire to partner with the industry.

“We know that direct data feeds from brokers drastically improve data accuracy. We ask for your help and support, and are committed to continue to work with the industry to improve data quality on all levels,” he said.

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Article source: http://www.inman.com/news/2012/09/28/trulia-working-with-more-mlss-listing-data-quality

San Francisco Bay Area luxury real estate company Alain Pinel Realtors has redesigned its website, adding property search by keyword and by lifestyle attribute, and adds the ability to search for for-sale homes within school districts and by the number of days on the market.

The new site also features a more integrated global search capability, three new blogs, and a toolbox with a rent-vs.-buy calculator for property listings.

The new site features a lifestyle search that allows visitors to search for a home by some of the lifestyle attributes they want a home and its neighborhood to provide. It’s one of the highlights of the redesign, said Rainy Hake, executive vice president for Alain Pinel Realtor.

Filtered by county or neighborhood, the search prompts visitors to provide relative importance to a variety of home/location-related features of prospective homes, including: “school quality,” “the arts,” “entertainment/dining,” “family-friendly,” and “shops and services,” among other choices.

APR.com screenshot.

The new keyword search option allows homebuyers to search for listings using keywords that might turn up houses with certain unique attributes that would take much longer to find in conventional search.

The site also features a cool map-based orientation to the 11 San Francisco Bay Area counties that Alain Pinel services that allows visitors to select various towns within a county to see homes for sale, a short introduction to the market and fairly robust up-to-date market data.

The site will be mobile- and tablet-friendly soon, with a mobile app and an iPad app in development, said Hake.

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Article source: http://www.inman.com/news/2012/04/10/san-francisco-area-real-estate-firm-redesigns-website

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 03, 2011

Up and coming real estate search website Homes.org recently interviewed agents and other professionals in the San Francisco, CA area to provide their readers with analysis on how that market is performing. Like many other areas in the country, right now in San Francisco, CA “the real estate market is great for buyers with interest rates and pricing so low,” Elisa Uribe, a Realtor® with Wells and Bennett Realtors told Homes.org. A recent report from DataQuick supports Uribe’s statement showing that in October the median sales price dropped slightly compared to the same time last year, however, the number of home sales saw a significant boost of 5.3% in the Greater Bay Area.

A number of publications, including Business Insider and DailyFinance.com, have listed the San Francisco as one of 2011′s best real estate markets. The increased activity suggests that people have taken notice. “Today’s buyer’s include investors and you will start to see more investors enter the market next year,” says Uribe. “And as a buyer you will have to compete against all cash offers so it’s best for buyer’s to get their team in place so when they find the house they are looking to buy, they feel comfortable with the agent and lender representing them.”

San Francisco Real Estate Market October Statistics and Analysis

County: San Francisco

Zip Codes in the City: 94101-94112, 94114-94147, 94150-94170, 94172, 94175, 94177

Population (city and county): 805,235

Total Households (2005-2009): 324,185

Median Home Value (2005-2009): $781,500

Median Sales Price in San Francisco: $635,000

Median Sales Price in Greater Bay Area: $350,000

Homes Sales in San Francisco: 448 homes sold

Homes Sales in Greater Bay Area: 6,444 homes sold

Foreclosures: 1 in 880 ( County)

Renters vs. Owners: 62.1% vs 37.9 %

Type of Home:

14% Single Family

6% Condo

80% Other

Popular Neighborhoods Seeing Improvements:

•     Balboa Terrace
•     Forest Hill
•     Forest Hill Extension
•     Forest Knolls
•     Haight-Ashbury
•     Hayes Valley
•     Ingleside Terrace
•     Lower Pacific Heights
•     Russian Hill
•     Sunset District
•     Twin Peaks West
•     West Portal
•     Western Addition
•     Westwood Highlands
•     Westwood Park

To learn more about homes for sale in San Francisco, CA, please visit: www.Homes.org

About Homes.org

Homes.org is a fast growing real estate search portal that offers users much more than MLS listings. Homes.org gives users access to a rich collection of resources, including but not limited to, real estate listings, home owner finance tools and home service tools. Homes.org brings buyers, sellers and renters important information about the current markets and intelligent tools by partnering with real estate professionals from around the country. Homes.org is a subsidiary of Star Nine Ventures, Inc. headquartered in Austin, TX.

About Star Nine Ventures®

Star Nine Ventures® is an Austin-based, marketing-driven venture creation company targeting a wide range of national business-to-consumer online marketplaces. Star Nine’s core mission is to build businesses that provide exemplary consumer experiences and unparalleled customer service.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prwebsan-francisco-real-estate/market-update/prweb9008006.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/12/03/prweb9008006.DTL

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Nov 17, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
Zephyr Real Estate once again leads the race in technology advances
for the real estate industry. San Francisco home shoppers need look
no further than their iPhone to find every available listing in the
city with Zephyr Real Estate Search, now available in the iTunes
Store.

The Zephyr MLS-powered search makes it easy to find all available
properties for sale in San Francisco. It is the only app that allows
users to search by specific neighborhood rather than just by zip
code, leading to far more nuanced results. The app includes GPS
detection to search in nearby areas, or by any other criteria that is
a priority for those looking for San Francisco properties.

By electing to create a free MyZephyr account, even more features are
available. For example, users will be able to find additional
properties not available on public websites, search pending and sold
properties, save searches and favorites, rate properties, make
notations, share properties with others via email or on Facebook,
receive new listing and price reduction email alerts, and use
Zephyr’s exclusive Home Tour tool. The Home Tour tool allows the
creation of customized multi-point driving directions of up to ten
properties, which is particularly useful for planning a tour of
Sunday open homes. All of the personalized saved information, from
searches to tours, is available from anywhere for those with a
MyZephyr account, whether utilizing the full site or the app.

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in mobile usage of our site over the
past year, and expect to only see that trend continue with the
expansion of the mobile market,” commented Randall Kostick, Chief
Operating Officer of Zephyr. “With a robust mobile experience in
place in a market area with too few good options in the real estate
sect, we expect to see our site and app traffic continue to trend
upward.”

Recognizing the proliferation of smartphones in the marketplace,
Zephyr’s mobile website provides those users with an app-like
experience so that all the tools and services are available to
non-iPhone users as well.

“The diligent and detailed process to develop this app was extensive
and reflects Zephyr’s commitment to create an easy-to-use tool for
our clients,” stated Hud Bixler, Director of Technology. “We
deliberately decided to develop a custom app rather than license
something ‘off the shelf’ so that the content would be more
localized, which we feel is crucial.”

Currently, the new Zephyr app serves San Francisco only; however,
development for additional cities in the Bay Area is planned.

About Zephyr Real Estate
Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San
Francisco’s largest independent real estate firm with $1 billion in
annual gross sales in 2010 and a current roster of more than 200
full-time agents. In 2010, Zephyr launched its new website, which has
earned two web design awards, including the prestigious Interactive
Media Award. Zephyr Real Estate is a member of the international
relocation network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; the
luxury real estate network, Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate; and the
local luxury marketing association, the Luxury Marketing Council of
San Francisco. Zephyr has six strategically located offices in San
Francisco, a business center in Marin County, and serves a large
customer base throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more
information, visit
www.zephyrsf.com .

        Contact:
        Melody Brown
        Zephyr Real Estate
        San Francisco, CA
        415.729.3555
        Email Contact

SOURCE: Zephyr Real Estate

http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=997B70F8BF308F97

Copyright 2011 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/zephyr-real-estate-debuts-iphone-app-2011-11-17