What is ‘Onboard Mobile’?
Onboard Mobile provides real estate companies with access to trusted neighborhood  and listings data, enabling their development team to create mobile sites and applications.

Onboard Mobile is a pre-defined data package that was put together specifically for the mobile market.  The data fields included will help developers since they have to deal with limited space on a mobile screen.  Onboard will help companies provide first-rate applications and web sites.

How is this different from other Onboard offerings?
We have designed this product offering with the mobile market specifically in mind.  Our customers do not need to spend countless hours deciding which data is best for their application – we have already done the grunt work.  Just provide your developers with the data.

How can the data be accessed?
The data is accessible either through bulk file delivery or web service.  Please talk to a Sales representative to determine how the data you are interested in is accessible.

What type of companies will be able to utilize this information?
The data sets contained in the mobile package are relevant for a number of different market segments.  Our local information is relevant to those in Real Estate, Financial Services, Media and much more.

Who is already using your data for mobile sites and applications?
A number of reputable companies already power their mobile applications and websites with our data.  SmarterAgent is one of these companies, a leader in providing real estate information on the mobile platform.

When is this available?
This offering is available immediately.  Please contact our sales team at sales@onboardinformatics.com to discuss how you can use this information in your current business plan.

Why the focus on the mobile market?
Usage of Smartphones has exploded in the past couple of years.  Consumers want information instantly and are often not at a computer when they need it.  This is especially true within the real estate industry.  They want to know what are the listings in a market when driving through a neighborhood, or the value of a house that see when walking the dog or even the community characteristics when traveling to different counties.

Here are some interesting statistics on mobile usage:
1. According to TMP Directional Marketing’s annual local search study:
a. 127 % more users accessed local content via downloaded applications on mobile devices, compared to June 2008
b. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of respondents in 2009 stated that they expect their search results to reveal businesses within 15 miles of their homes or places of work.

What is the pricing for the mobile package?
The pricing is competitive and is designed just for those who are looking to build out their mobile applications and websites.  For current clients we will be more than happy to discuss how this offering fits in with their current data strategy.

Tags: Mobile, mobile apps, real estate mobile apps, smartphones.

We are excited to release, Onboard Mobile, our newest product platform providing real estate companies with access to property listings and community data, enabling their development team to create custom mobile sites and applications.

With more and more real estate companies getting into the mobile app space and having been in the business of providing real estate data for almost a decade, it only made sense for us to put a mobile platform together.

Key features include property listings, real-time photo web service, community demographics, school information, home values, home sales trending, home sales transactions and local establishments. The platform is compliant with the most innovative GPS capabilities, such as the ability to show users the proximity to schools and nearby businesses while they are out touring homes.

Benefits of Onboard Mobile

Tags: applications, iPhone apps, Mobile, mobile sites, real estate and mobile, real estate mobile apps, smartphones.

We have been receiving a lot of questions regarding our new Listings Web Service and are excited to answer.  I’ve put together the following FAQ but please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or our sales team if you have further questions.

What is Onboard’s Listings/IDX offering?
Onboard provides access to listings (IDX content) via a  Listings Search Web Service for use by agents and brokers who participate in and have credentials for the respective MLS they are accessing.  This is NOT an offering to allow those without MLS approval to access listings content.  Clients must still have appropriate MLS credentials and must still follow all MLS compliance rules in order to access, use and display the respective MLS content.

What does Onboard’s Listings/IDX product currently do?
Onboard Informatics builds direct relationships with each MLS to gain access to IDX data on behalf of our clients. We organize and clean the data and enhance it with various standardized search parameters, tagged with Onboard content and make it available for searching on our customers’ websites while ensuring compliance with MLS rules and regulations.

Why should I use Onboard’s Listings/IDX (Internet Data Exchange) solution?
• Quality. Dependability. Support. And the simplicity of accessing the data from a single interface no matter how many feeds needed
• Integration of Onboard’s additional product offerings
• Minimize technology & licensing costs
• No hidden fees for photos and other services
• Minimize internal maintenance costs
• The benefit of additional features to the product, as they are developed

How is Onboard’s Listings/IDX product offered?
There are two ways a client may access this content:

1) We provide a web service that allows search across all MLS feeds through one consistent interface.
2) We provide individual bulk data feeds that allow clients who are MLS approved participants, to load the data into their own databases for search and other purposes. Clients can choose what works best for them.

Who are the target clients for Onboard’s Listings/IDX offering?
There are two main audiences that will benefit from Onboard’s offering:

1) Real estate brokerages that provide services in multiple geographies (typically regional or national brands)
2) Real estate application developers who build websites, CRM solutions and other systems for agents and brokers that require IDX content

What makes Onboard’s offering unique?
There are three primary differentiators of Onboard’s offering:

1) Onboard is the only company that provides access to IDX listings via a web service
2) We undergo a rigorous process to ensure the data associtate with these listings, is cleansed and mormalized to ensure it is consistent, acurate, and searchable.
3) We optomize the listings with our own content to enable unique search based on parameters that are currently not offered in the marketplace.

How long will it take to implement Onboard’s Listings/IDX offering?
Once approval from the MLS to use IDX on a client’s website is completed, which can take several days, the technical integration of the search web service can be accomplished in a few weeks time, depending on the technical abilities of the development team. If a client chooses bulk feeds, the integration to the client’s database may be completed in even less time.

What is the pricing model for Onboard’s Listings/IDX offering?
There are pricing models designed to fit both the needs of value-added reseller partners and direct clients. We also offer discounts for current customers and multi-year commitments.

For more information on our Listings Web Service or for how our solutions can best fit your needs contact us at 646.747.3899 or info@onboardinformatics.com.

Tags: IDX, listings, Real Estate, web service.

Background: A client wrote in regarding the square footage of a property. They were concerned because our data had one value while other data sources displayed another, causing them to question the validity of our data.

Question: How is square footage determined in Onboard’s Home Sales Data?

Answer:The square footage as well as other characteristics of a property is derived from public sales records. In regards to square footage specifically, Onboard’s goal is to provide the most universally applicable value so that our national product is consistent from zip to zip, county to county, and state to state. Since on a national basis gross square feet is populated substantially more often than any other square footage (i.e. living square feet) that is how we’ve prioritized the population of this element in our product.

Several other data providers allow for their end users to make adjustments to property information found on their website which can be one explanation for differing values. It is important to note that Onboard’s data is not available to be altered externally by end users. This is to ensure Onboard maintains its reputation as a reliable data source. That being said, we value our client’s feedback and continue to encourage them to notify us of any possible errors that they may find. We investigate and verify each issue that comes across our desks and will make changes when necessary.

Tags: data accuracy, FAQ, home sales, square footage.

Background: One of our clients questioned our estimated sales prices for properties in specific counties in Texas. They wondered why some of the prices returned were estimated rather than actual prices.

Question: Why does Onboard have estimated home sales prices for some counties in Texas?

Answer: While most information concerning property transactions is available for public access, some states (or counties within states) consider the sale value to be private and confidential information which does not need to be disclosed. It is up to the parties involved in the sale as to whether the price will be disclosed. This decision is indicated by whether the price is recorded on the face of the property transfer document. If it is, then the price has been disclosed. If not, it has not been disclosed. Texas is one of 14 states that consider property transactions to be private.

Other Non-Disclosure states are:
• Alaska
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Utah
• Wyoming

In the event of a non-disclosure on a particular property, other information may be used to estimate a sale price. Property information and ownership transfers with loan amounts and/or mortgage transfer taxes are generally indicated. In these cases, the standard practice is to estimate the sale amount by applying a calculation to the mortgage value for sales (not refinances). This formula is based up on a careful study of millions of sales and the ratio of the purchase price to the mortgage amount. There are several different formulas based on the type of sale and mortgage (FHA mortgages for example) and these formulas are industry standards.

Background: A client forwarded a concern that one of their users had about our Crime Statistics for a neighborhood in New Jersey. The neighborhood is considered to be safe yet we have shown the Crime Risk Index to be higher than the national average. The user questioned the accuracy of our data.

Question: Why would a safe neighborhood have an above average Crime Risk?

Answer: First, we should point out that Crime Risk is defined as the chance that a crime will be committed against your person or property when compared against every other ZIP code in the United States. This is not a count of the actual incidence of crime in an area. Risk indexes are useful in that they level the playing field in terms of the size of the location and the number of persons living in it.

There are several factors that might contribute to above average Crime Risk data for a relatively safe neighborhood:

• Keep in mind that a crime risk of 150 does not indicate high crime and is very typical for cities – even in their safest neighborhoods.
• ZIP codes often contain several disparate areas. Perhaps a family lives in a gated community, but there may be other areas included in the ZIP code. Some times, truck stops, highway corridors, commercial / industrial areas located in the ZIP code can have a negative effect on overall crime rates.
• Neighborhoods are constantly changing. The risk indexes are based upon the most recent seven years of FBI crime reports. While the index is weighted more heavily toward the more recent reports, neighborhoods can change quickly with new development and population growth.
• High income, affluent neighborhoods often demonstrate a high risk for property crimes such as motor vehicle theft and larceny.

While OBI uses a vast majority of resources available for this index, the primary historical source for this information is the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR). It is important to note that, as with most governmental sources, the UCR report lags present day by two to three years. There may have been significant increases or decreases in crime risk in the intervening period. We encourage our clients and their customers to consult with a knowledgeable local Real Estate agent or contact the local police department for additional information.

Background: A Director at an Indiana High School wrote in regarding outdated information for her school. While requesting the information to be updated, she wanted to know how we go about updating our School Information in general.

Question: How is OBI’s School Data updated?

Answer: Throughout the year we have an ongoing process for updating our school information. We aggregate information from many different sources to provide the broadest, most comprehensive dataset possible. Our process includes:

• From June through mid-September we collect core data on public schools and school districts. That data is collected by phone to capture the latest changes in key district personnel, school openings and closures, and restructuring of school districts.
• During our core update, we also update phone numbers, fax numbers, grade spans, enrollments and other data specifics regarding program offerings such as before/after school programs, etc.
• On a rolling basis throughout the year, additional updates and verification efforts are performed through mail surveys, websites and telephone interviews.

What is also valuable is the input we receive from our clients and by extension, their customers. Data by its very nature is imperfect, dynamic, and perishable. Feedback from our clients and their customers help keep us abreast of possible errors or changes which are inherent in this kind of information gathering. So thank you for your question and keep them coming.

Background: A gentleman based in California called in.  He had seen our data in the Home Values section on one of our client’s sites and had been tracking three properties over a period of time. Recently, he noticed that all three went up in value since January 2009.

QUESTION 1: Why do values on properties change?

ANSWER: Values are constantly changing to reflect market conditions. Every day thousands of new transactions, new listings and new economic information is added to our system.  Our valuations are not actual home sale values – they are valuation estimates.  We encourage anyone to contact their local real estate agent or appraisal company to obtain a professional and complete valuation.  Finally, we do welcome these inquiries as it gives us a chance to correct and improve our data in case of actual errors.

Below are three of the main reasons Onboard’s Home valuation estimates change:

• We may have received and processed new data for the entire valuation segment.  An example might be a new county taxroll with updated assessment values or tax amounts.
• We may have received localized information that impacts a specific address.  An example might be a handful of recent sales or foreclosures to homes near the property.
• Between valuation cycles, we “timeshift” values in our database along the trend-line of values for that valuation segment.  For example, if prices had risen at a steady .5% per month and our Home Valuation API request arrives two weeks into the monthly bulk delivery cycle, the returned value would be shift +.25%.

SUPPLEMENT: Our product support team researched these three properties and at first glance they did look suspicious.  Given the current economic downturn, we took a closer look at these homes with prices rising rather than falling. Our findings showed that during the last three months, additional data became available related to these properties which we were able to incorporate in our valuation models.  This was the primary reason that valuation estimate numbers changed from the original estimate.  It was also noted that while the three properties got new estimates, their confidence scores also changed, they all went down.  What does this mean?  Well, simply put, it means that we felt more confident with the values in January than the new values we show in April based not only on the availability of the information but also its consistency.  As a marketplace becomes more volatile, statistical models provide less certain results.  As time goes on and new data is available, additional changes to value estimates and confidence scores will occur.

QUESTION 2: Can Onboard’s valuation models be accessed and modified by Real Estate Agents or Home Sellers?

ANSWER: Onboard works with thousands of data sources available publicly and privately.  Our data is managed and maintained exclusively by Onboard employees and every change undergoes a rigorous verification process which ensures that any change to our data is – with reasonable certainty – one that results in greater accuracy, coverage or currency.   Our data is NOT available to be altered externally by end users.

However, it is possible for clients to build interactive solutions based on Onboard content that would allows for real time modifications for the end user.  This would not result in a permanent change in the underlying Onboard content.  We encourage our clients to engage us in creating great design and user friendly solutions on top of Onboard’s “raw” materials.

One last bit of info…during our research we noted that our client’s website was not displaying the confidence score which would have helped the end user better understand the valuation estimates we provide.  Onboard does not have control of how our data is displayed on any website, nor do we want to.  However, we are always in contact with our clients to ensure our data is effectively implemented.  We passed this on to our resident relationship manager who is working with the client to add this feature.

Tags: home price, property value.