July 15th, 2010

CNN/Money’s Best Places to Live 2010

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Specialist

The results are in for yet another annual collaboration between Onboard Informatics and CNN/Money to cast light on terrific cities with growing job rates, great schools, safe neighborhoods, and plenty of activities for residents. This year’s Best Places to Live feature looks at top small cities (as opposed to 2009′s list of small towns with strong economies).

With over 100 miles of trails and an unemployment rate of just 5.1%, Eden Prairie in Minnesota fit the bill for this year's top small town.

Our data team worked closely with CNN to provide housing, financial, quality of life and other data for the filters they selected to produce the most concise and accurate information possible.

To start, all U.S. cities with populations of 50,000-300,000 were considered. Places with a median family income of over 200% or less than 85% of the state median were excluded, as were towns with a white population of over 95%. From there, the top 100 towns were decided after screening out retirement communities, towns with significant job loss, poor education systems and high crime scores.

We then worked with CNN/Money on the ranking of the top towns based on housing affordability, school quality, arts and leisure, safety, health care, diversity, and other points in our extensive set of quality of life content sets.

CNN/Money also released lists for top earning towns, most affordable homes, quickest commute times, best weather (hottest and coldest cities), and youngest cities. Users can also search for nearby cities to see which nearby towns made the grade. Dive deeper into the heart of the community right on the article, where Gowalla business reviews and comments from Facebook are integrated.

Congratulations to this year’s list of top cities!

Tags: America's best small cities, Best Places, Best Places to Live 2010, CNNMoney.

July 9th, 2010

Family Circle’s 10 Best Towns for Families

By Michael Groysman, Marketing Intern

Family Circle has just released their new list of the 10 Best Towns for Families, 2010 using Onboard Informatics’ community, school, and points of interest expertise. This year they chose towns with affordable homes, quality schools, access to health care, green space, low crime rate, and financial stability.

In first place is Edmond, Oklahoma which has “abundant parks, miles of walking and jogging trails, and a lake teeming with bass and bluegill” and other scenic charms. Family Circle also looked at “Good Deeds” for each of the top 10 places, revealing a list of close-knit American towns.

Family Circle has been working with Onboard to find great towns for families since 2007.

Here are this year’s top towns:

1. Edmond, Oklahoma
2. Hampton Township, Pennsylvania
3. Edwardsville, Illinois
4. Windsor, Colorado
5. La Verne, California
6. Round Rock, Texas
7. Simpsonville, South Carolina
8. Meridian, Idaho
9. Bristol, Rhode Island
10. Bettendorf, Iowa

Check out the article to see what residents have to say about their hometowns.

Tags: Family Circle.

June 28th, 2010

Our New & Improved Web Services – AVM, HVE, Recent Home Sales

By Colleen Staunton, Product Manager

Onboard Informatics has recently made a number of enhancements/improvements to our AVM (Automated Value Model), HVE (Home Value Estimator) and Recent Home Sales web services. We recognize the importance of providing our clients with continual improvements in order to ensure that their website users have access to the most accurate and up-to-date information. These enhancements include new search types and also adding a number of new fields to the XML output. Most importantly we have greatly improved the performance of these web services on our client sites.

A new Property ID search type was added to each web service. Developers will be able to utilize this search so that users can see prior sales on a specific property from our Recent Home Sales web service. This search could also be used for those clients that have both Recent Home Sales and either AVM or HVE. Pulling the Property ID from the Recent Home Sales and submitting it to the AVM/HVE web service will allow developers to more easily access valuation information.

Also added to our Recent Home Sales was a Date Range search filter. Users can now enter a specific date range that they would like to see recent home sales from, no longer limiting results to an ‘x’ months back filter. This feature will allow consumers to find the information they are looking for in a more concise and thorough manner.

In addition to the new searches, and probably more importantly, we added a number of new fields to the XML output of each product. These new fields will provide more context around a particular property. Users will be able to look at detailed property information without having to go to multiple sites.

Last, but not least, we are happy to report that the response times for our AVM and HVE products has seen dramatic improvement. The average decrease in the response time for our AVM clients has been 61% while the average decrease for our HVE clients is 64%. Considering both web services already had sub-second response times, this improvement is another case of Onboard not being satisfied with the status quo. These improvements will make for an even better user experience for users visiting our client’s web sites.

If you would like to discuss any of these enhancements in more detail please feel free to contact our Support team at support@onboardinformatics.com.

Tags: Add new tag, AVM, Clients, home sale records, home sales, property value, web service.

April 29th, 2010

The Rise of Neighborhood Search

By Colleen Staunton, Product Manager

The tagline ‘Real Estate is Local’ is often echoed by those in the Real Estate industry. Consumers are not only buying a house but they are ‘investing’ in the surrounding neighborhood as well. They often look to see if there are others with kids the same age as theirs, what the closest schools are, and where are the places to eat. All of these things are part of a neighborhood’s make-up.

In an article posted by Matt Carter on Inman News, Name your neighborhood: the new wave in real estate search, he discusses the growing importance of neighborhood search. While more and more real estate portals/brokerages are trying to implement this type of search, the concept is far from new. Onboard has for years talked of the need to provide consumers with the right type of information. This includes giving them insight into the local community, or neighborhood. Onboard clients Washington Post and Redfin are a few examples of clients of ours that use neighborhood boundaries on their websites. Others, like Prudential Douglas Elliman and NY Post provide neighborhood profiles using neighborhood level demographics, as opposed to the usual zip code level demographics.

Matt Carter pointed out how not everyone is in agreement on what the actual boundary of a neighborhood might be. Washington Post is a perfect example of this. They prefer to define their own boundaries since they feel they have the local knowledge. Onboard is able to easily geocode their boundaries and provide the matching community information. This site allows the user to research the neighborhoods and see the polygons laid out on a map all together. When searching for houses in a neighborhood on Redfin’s site the user will see the distinct outline of that neighborhood. Their listings are then shown within that neighborhood. Both use boundaries for slightly different reasons but are highly effective.

Washington Post Neighborhood Boundaries

Redfin Neighborhood Boundary - Back Bay, Boston

Another option is to allow users to ‘find’ what neighborhood is best for them. This is especially helpful in bigger cities or when home buyers are moving to new areas. They may know what they want in a neighborhood but may not know where to look. Giving users the option of selecting from a set of lifestyle criteria will result in a much better search experience.

Neighborhood boundaries are really only the tip of the iceberg. Brokerages and real estate websites have many options when they consider their website strategy. Implementing neighborhood boundaries means you must also have the appropriate neighborhood-level demographic, school and market information. Users will want to know how many single-family homes are in the area, what the crime rate may be, which schools are in the immediate area and also what some recent home sales have been. For those that do not want to implement a map search on their site they can easily tag their listings with the neighborhood and link that to the relevant content.

The advantages of allowing users to search by neighborhood are extensive. You can improve your SEO while becoming the neighborhood expert. It’s no longer acceptable to just provide basic census data at the zip level on websites. Realtor.com and Zillow, who both offer their users neighborhood level search, are the top two sites in US internet usage for the Real Estate category, according to a Hitwise February 2010 report. Combined they account for 10% of the market. The Top 20 contains a number of other sites that have one or more neighborhood features on their site, including #3 Yahoo! (profiles), #6 Trulia (Search, boundaries and profiles) and #20 Redfin (search, boundaries and profiles). Consumers are very savvy and will ultimately go elsewhere to find the information they are looking for if your site does not offer it.

Tags: neighborhood boundaries, neighborhood data, real estate mapping, real estate neighborhoods.

April 2nd, 2010

A Time for MLS Strategy, Teamwork, and Execution

By Kim Cipriano Prior, Director of MLS Market Development

Every industry has a coming of age – a perfect storm of economics, technology, politics, environment and people power all aligning for the big kaboom….and guess what? It’s happening. But it’s a great kaboom, not a scary one. It’s not a time for fear or doubt, hiding or insignificance; it’s a time for strategic leadership, group participation and execution (yes, the “action” kind).

I just returned from a 2-day whirlwind trip to Houston for HAR’s Real Estate Information Symposium. Hats off to the HAR team for delivering value with an organized, educational, timely and inspiring gathering on the heels of the annual Clareity conference in Scottsdale (also quite deserving of the aforementioned accolades). Being present (and honored) at both of these events and taking away significant wisdom from the front of the room and the back of the lounge, I am ridiculously excited about the times we are in, and even more-so for the times ahead. I am also proud to be deeply involved in the business from the inside out – truly understanding the choices, challenges and opportunities of the MLS community and working hard to deliver valuable, relevant solutions to “real” issues.

Here are a few of my observations.

This week, we were treated to a wealth of information on three timely offerings to the MLS: NAR’s RPR, First American/Core Logic’s Information Network and Move’s FIND. These services are all initiated from outside the MLS, utilizing MLS data as the core valuable content. We looked at these offerings from soup to nuts in terms of product detail, contract review, and opinions from MLSs.

There is obvious urgency to act – not necessarily to sign a contract with one, two or all of these but to do something. MLSs are feeling the pressure to take action to deliver services to members (via one or all of these or with internally funded/implemented tools). It is time for Association and MLS leadership to lead strategically. There are critical business decisions to be made; each with impacts – some single level and others with branchy, thorny trickle downs.

These decisions can impact the existing culture, philosophy and/or business practices of an MLS and ultimately dictate its long-term relevance and perhaps survival. Go with RPR, fortify our system or do both? Go with RPR, First American, FIND, all, some, or none? Focus on consumer engagement that takes greater eyeball share of  online consumers? Destination, distribution or both? These are just a handful of decisions that must be made. On top of that, there is the stacking of residual actions to follow from those decisions and their results.

There is so much intellectual property within the MLS community which is obvious at forums like CMLS but really emphasized at the intimate settings of Clareity and REIS. There are bold, daring leaders from large and small entities who have pioneered their own tools, and with lessons from failures and/or successes, have redefined their organizations. There are newer CEOs and Executives delving into their organizations, facing new challenges and assessing the field, trying to understand the best move.

Look at what HAR has done – taken the reigns and assembled REIS; what an exceptional example of industry leadership and belief in teamwork. As individuals, this group is powerful; collectively, one can only imagine what is possible with that strength, experience and knowledge. I believe in the coming months we will all benefit from the results of the enhanced teamwork and information sharing that continues to escalate during this time.

Here’s what I know for certain: there is uncertainty, there is opportunity, there is energy. MLSs are in a powerful and pivotal role in rapidly changing times. It’s time to take inventory, take action and take on the future.

Exciting times.

Tags: Clareity, FIND, First American, HAR, MLS industry, MLS leadership, MLS strategy, MLS trends, REIS, RPR.

March 25th, 2010

Listings Web Service Pre-Wired for Touchscreen Search

By Scott Petronis, Senior Director of Product Management

Joel Burslem at 1000watt had a great post yesterday about the potential for application developers in using Apple iPad. Multi-touch technology, as Joel says, will bring back simplicity in search.

Case in point: Yahoo’s new Sketch-a-Search application. A user can draw on the map to “lasso” results and confine their search for places of interest to specific regions.

Finding lunch near our office is now as easy as creating a fingerprint.

The adaptation of touchscreen and multi-touch services for real estate search will depend on the flexibility of the content it is attached to.

It’s worth mentioning that our Listings Web Service is equipped with the capabilities to take advantage of rich search experiences quickly.

Onboard’s Listings Web Service allows you to send in a polygon and retrieve all the listings within that polygon, whether it was drawn in a computer browser or on a touchscreen.

In addition, applications built with widely available services like Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search, Google Maps or Bing Maps can be easily integrated with our web service to deliver a cutting-edge search experience. The developer simply needs to capture the polygon created in that app and send it to our service.

These advances in mapping applications will continue to help reduce development time and effort. Keep in mind, most of these devices also have GPS capabilities so a latitude/longitude point can be quickly determined so the user doesn’t have to input anything. Of course, the Onboard Listings Web Service also accepts a point and radius to conduct a search. For more accurate results, the service also approximates drive times and walk times so people can search for listings within a 20 minute walk from where they’re standing, for example.

Tags: 1000watt, Listings Web Service, mobile, mobile real estate, neighborhood search, search polygons, Yahoo Sketch-a-Search.

March 5th, 2010

BusinessWeek Names 2010′s Best Affordable Suburbs

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Specialist

BusinessWeek and Onboard Informatics teamed up once again to collaborate on BW’s Best Affordable Suburbs in America 2010 story. BusinessWeek evaluated information provided by our content team to determine the best affordable suburb in each state as well as an overall winner with high marks across the board.

The economy in Fishers, Indiana has remained strong, earning them the top spot in this year's Best Affordable Suburbs in America.

All the suburbs on the list are towns within 25 miles of the most populated city in the state, with populations of 5,000 to 60,000, median family incomes of $51,000 to $120,000, and lower-than-average crime rates. We weighted a variety of factors including livability (short commutes, low pollution, green space), education (well-educated residents, high test scores), crime (low personal and property crime), economy (high job growth, low unemployment rate, high family income), and affordability (median household income, cost of expenditures). Affordability was most heavily weighted in the calculations.

As for exclusions, BusinessWeek decided to penalize places with bad weather, a lack of racial diversity, high divorce rates, and few children.

Our content team worked closely with BusinessWeek to create this data-driven story based on their criteria and the filters they selected to produce the most concise and accurate information possible.

Fishers, Indiana was determined to be a fantastic choice for families with its diverse housing market, safety, great schools, and unemployment rates that were almost 4% below Indiana’s average.

It’s no surprise that the extremely accessible Glasgow was named the most affordable suburb in my home state of Delaware. (Not that there were all that many towns to choose from, considering Delaware’s entire population barely edges out that of Lower Manhattan…)

See which town tops your state’s list here.

Tags: affordable towns, Best Affordable Suburbs in America, Best Places, BusinessWeek, most affordable suburbs.

March 4th, 2010

Complementing Listings: Clareity Consulting Profiles Onboard’s MLS Product Suite

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Specialist

Onboard has recently been profiled in a new Clareity Consulting white paper on enhancing real estate search with enriched community content. The profile offers some context about Onboard’s role in the MLS space, as an IDX provider, and how our products help MLS administrators and Associations stay competitive by adding value to their subscribers.

Who is Clareity Consulting?
Since 1996, Clareity has been providing information technology consulting to the real estate industry. They provide a wide range of services to MLSs, Associations, brokers, franchises, and software providers in the residential real estate space. Over 100 clients turn to Clareity for services such as transaction management, market research, project management, recruiting, and strategic planning to name a few. They are are thought leaders in the industry, with dozens of real estate publications that run the gamut from the future of the MLS space to IT securities.

Who is this paper intended for?
Although MLS and Association Executives are the primary audience, you don’t have to be an MLS executive to find a great deal of value in this paper. You will get a sense of how Realtors Property Resource (RPR) is changing the flow of information in the industry, which is something everyone – especially MLS operators – should keep an eye on.

What else will I find out?
Clareity reviewed our Listings Web Service and our process of acquiring MLS feeds and dispersing IDX content with our enhanced search capabilities beyond those on your typical property search site. Onboard’s IDX feeds go through a multi-layered credential process, which is detailed in this piece. You can also read Clareity’s independent review of Onboard’s IDX securities processes.

This paper also takes a closer look at Onboard’s MLS OneSource suite and what our local neighborhood content really means for MLSs and Associations. Clareity recognizes that supplementing MLS listings with additional value-added content is a hot topic for any real estate entity with a consumer-facing website.

Click here to read the white paper.

Tags: Clareity Consulting, IDX solutions, MLS OneSource, MLS services, RPR.

February 23rd, 2010

The State of Lifestyle Search in Real Estate

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Specialist

The New York Times recently reported on the growing importance of lifestyle search in the real estate industry:

“Homebuyers often embark on their home search armed with a vision of their ideal property, a laundry list of features they’d love to find or can’t live without.

Several bedrooms. Large kitchens. A yard big enough for a garden. But what if you prize home traits that extend beyond property lines? Good schools, ethnic restaurants or grocery stores a mere stroll away?

Divining this from the address on a home listing can be difficult, especially if you are moving to a new city. Fortunately, many Web sites are incorporating ways for users to pinpoint the neighborhoods and properties that might best suit their home needs and lifestyles.”

Read on about how Onboard and some of our clients are changing the face of real estate search, one step at a time.

February 23rd, 2010

Z57 Inc. Reports New Client Acquisition Based on Industry-Leading IDX Solutions from Onboard Informatics

By Stacey Ret, Director of Marketing

Z57 Inc., a leading provider of real estate online marketing services, announced the company has transitioned thousands of their clients to the Onboard Informatics’ Listings Web Service platform, their Internet Data Exchange (IDX) solution. With the 2009 integration of Onboard Informatics’ state-of-the-art IDX solution, Z57 REALTORS® websites deliver timely, accurate and useful consumer listing information.

These newly integrated services combined with the historically available products from Onboard Informatics, such as home sale values, comparative values, local information on schools, community, businesses and more, have led to an industry-leading complete solution for both REALTORS® and consumers. This product provides MLS-approved Z57 clients and their site visitors the ability to search for home information based on a variety of parameters including, but not limited to: address; zip code; and local community — with filters for distance, time periods, price range, and property types with relevant localized content.

Z57 recognized the need for REALTORS® websites to meet the changing times and demands of buyers and sellers. With the addition of these data-rich tools, Z57 clients now have a competitive advantage throughout the real estate cycle.

Some of the key benefits of Onboard’s Listing Web Service platform include:

* Fully integrated branding, to convey a consistent message, look and feel.
* Administrative tools are easily accessed in the host’s Marketing Control Center (MCC).
* Visually compelling search forms invite visitor interactions.
* Property search results are integrated with Google maps.
* Comprehensive IDX statistics track results for valuable feedback.

“Over five years ago Z57 identified in Onboard Informatics a technology partner we could grow with — one that provided enterprise-class data gathering, processing and distribution,” said Ryan Whitlock, Z57 COO. “In 2010 we anticipate the expansion of our long-term partnership with Onboard based on new client acquisition from the superior functionality of their IDX solution.”

“Since 1998, Z57 has proven that stamina and technological innovation in the business of real estate website marketing is a winning combination,” stated Marc Siden, Onboard Informatics CEO. “Our strategic partnership with Z57 further supports their commitment to providing their clients with industry-leading content through powerful end-to-end solutions, helping them gain strong advantages in a highly competitive marketplace.”

About Z57 Inc.
San Diego-based Z57 Inc. is a personal Web marketing company for thousands of real estate professionals. Founded in 1998, the company specializes in feature-rich designed websites, with content, listings, lead capture and conversion tools, buyer/seller traffic generation through effective online marketing plans, listing syndication, Search Engine Optimization, drip e-mail marketing and a highly trained and responsive customer service team. Z57 provides clients nationwide with proven real estate solutions matched with personal service from more than 150 dedicated employees. The Southern California Internet marketing firm was recognized as an Inc. 5000 company and San Diego’s No. 1 Web Development and Design Company. For more information, call (800) 899-8148 or visit http://www.Z57.com.

About Onboard Informatics
Since 2001, Onboard Informatics has provided comprehensive local, regional and national real estate data solutions, powerful Web tools and Web services to some of the most innovative companies in the real estate, publishing, and technology. Onboard delivers seamless integration of property listings, community, school, neighborhood, geographic and demographic information to support clients in achieving business objectives on Web and mobile platforms. Privately held since its founding, Onboard is located in the heart of the world’s financial center in the Wall Street area of New York City. For more information about Onboard Informatics, visit http://www.onboardinformatics.com.

Media Contact:
Sue Almon-Pesch
For Z57, Inc.
Phone: 858-205-0516
E-mail: sue@speschialpr.com

Tags: IDX, listings, Listings Web Service, Onboard Informatics Listings Web Service, Z57.