Housing News
Trulia Luxe Living launches, focus on celebrity real estate
Focusing on celebrity real estate
If TMZ has taught us anything, it’s that America is obsessed with celebrities. Move, Inc., Zillow and Trulia have long blogged about the goings on of celebrity real estate with consumers eating up the glossy photos of how celebs live.
Today, rather than continue to house celebrity real estate news on their corporate blog, Trulia has launched Trulia Luxe Living, with the header asking, “WHAT THE LUXE? We’re obsessed with all that glitters. If it’s fancy, funky or high-society, you’ll find it here.”
The heated race to get celebrity news
Like Move and Zillow, Trulia knows that consumers obsess over celebrity real estate but real estate professionals often don’t care, so separating the “Luxe” out of the corporate blog makes a lot of sense as the race toward breaking real estate celeb news heats up.
“We are real estate enthusiasts at Trulia and we love looking at homes. Who doesn’t want to see how a celeb decorates or what kitchen appliances they use? It is a simple guilty pleasure that we share with millions of Americans. Luxe Living gives us a platform to share these homes with consumers just like you and I!” Ken Shuman, Trulia’s Head of Communications told AGBeat.
First up: star maps
One of the site’s first major endeavors is the publication of their interactive star map, a play on the old tradition of star spotting. Looking at the map of the L.A. area, users can hover over stars to see who lives there, a picture of the celebrity, how much their listing is going for, and links to photos of the listing.
Using honey to attract bees is pretty smart- get consumers to click around on celebrity news and they end up in a listing on Trulia.com. It will be interesting to hear what the bounce rates are once consumers land there, or if the honey actually works to get them to check out their own neighborhood. Clicks should go up and if the trap is set properly, agents should see more exposure for their listings as consumers potentially click around once inside the Trulia search site.
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
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Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
…Click here to continue reading this story…
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Drew Meyers - Virtual Results
August 1, 2011 at 10:55 pm
I know there is traffic opportunity with regards to celebrity real estate…so this certainly doesn't surprise me in the least. But it's not a differentiator nor is it first mover advantage. And it's the last subject on the planet I personally care about; even my good friends at Zillow know that celebrity real estate is not my cup of tea. I could care less that Hulk Hogan or PDiddy – or any other big name celebrity – are selling their homes.
Stephanie Crawford, @AgentStep
August 3, 2011 at 1:13 am
I once wrote in a blog post about Taylor Swifts condo development, the one she lives in near downtown Nashville. I still get hits on that post.