This page will offer more information about working with your search results and what additional information is available about each home such as school info, mortgage calculators and more. The information below was provided by our search tool developer. They use the term visitor a lot rather than You. Sorry if this sounds a bit impersonal.
Returned Results:
After a visitor specifies the criteria they are looking for in a home and clicks the “Search” button, they are, instantly, taken to the results of their search on the results tab. The results are cleanly laid out with each listing displaying a thumbnail photo and the property’s primary information. Viewing the next page of results is quick and easy; clicking on the “Next” or “Previous” links makes the results smoothly scroll to the desired page.
Instant Sorting:
Once a search has been performed and the results displayed, the visitor can quickly change the ordering of their results. By changing the “Sort by” drop down box, they can reorder the properties so that those with the largest lots are first, the newest properties come first, the most recently updated properties come first, or any number of additional sort options. Sorting, similar to everything else, is performed in real-time and is completed instantly.
Email Updates:
On every search a visitor makes, they are given the option to subscribe to daily or weekly email updates for that search. Each email is richly formatted and contains extensive details about each property that matched their search. Clicking on any of the properties in the email will bring the visitor back to home’s original page where they can view even more details. You’ll be asked to set up an account to use this feature.
RSS Feeds:
Our search tool allows visitors to create their own RSS feeds for any search they perform. Similar to email updates, an RSS feed can provide visitors with updates on a particular search or on a particular property. However, the benefit of using an RSS feeds over receiving email updates is that RSS feeds allow visitors to receive the updates on their own time instead of sending them emails that they may be more likely to delete. If you want to learn more about the basics of RSS, you can watch a YouTube video here. You can also find out more about RSS feeds by searching Google for “RSS,” or by going to www.google.com/reader.
Map Statistics:
Another first for the industry is our slide-out map statistics panel. Once the page loads, and whenever the map is dragged, zoomed, or otherwise changed, property statistics for the new map view and selected property types are automatically loaded in the background. Once loaded, a quick mouse-over on the “Map Statistics” tab on the right side of the map will reveal the median, mean, high, and low property prices for that area. It will also show the price-per-square-foot as well as matching statistics for the lot sizes and home sizes for that area.
General Info and Photo Slide-show:
For every property that has more than one photo, a Flash® photo slide-show is displayed. The speed and transition at which photos are shown is pre-set, and the automatic play and pause functionality allows you to effortlessly view all of the photos without touching anything. Additionally, visitors can click the “View Full Size Photos” link to view the original photos provided by the MLS.
Property Notes:
Every property has a small area directly beneath the photo slide-show that allows registered website visitors to enter in and save their own free-form text notes specific to that property. If the visitor hasn’t yet logged in or registered, they will be prompted to do so upon trying to save the note.
All of the standard property information is well organized and easily available as soon as a property is loaded. Not only can visitors quickly find what they are looking for, but they can also print the listing (along with a small map), view a PDF for the listing, contact the agent about the listing, share the property with a friend via email, and bookmark the property in their browser’s favorites. They can also view any virtual tours available for the property or add the property to their personal account favorites.
Google Street View:
Google’s Street View technology gives your visitors a chance to explore the neighborhood surrounding the listing without ever leaving their chair. By clicking and dragging on the initial picture, they can zoom, pan, and move the street view imagery to get a comprehensive understanding of the surrounding neighborhood on their own time. Not all homes have Google Street View capability… its a Google thing.
Mortgage Calculator:
The mortgage calculator is automatically set up for each property to calculate a mortgage payment based on a 20% down payment and a fixed mortgage rate that is easily adjustable in the admin area. The calculator itself works instantly, meaning that visitors don’t have to wait even a little bit before they find the result.
School and Community Information:
With relevant community information being so important to prospective buyers, school and community information is paramount to the sale of any property. The search tool satisfies this need by providing a wealth of information on the local schools, demographics, crime, housing stats, family facts, education, economy, health, climate, and even local stores and restaurants. Visitors get everything they need to know from a single spot.
As always we hope this post helps you get more out of your search experience.