I enjoy providing Seattle Bubble free of charge as a service to the community, but I recognize that the format here can sometimes be intimidating, making it difficult to get a good handle on the overall market picture without reading along every day. With that in mind, I created Sound Housing Quarterly, a subscription-based sister product to Seattle Bubble.
As of last Wednesday, the latest edition of Sound Housing Quarterly has been published. As the name implies, Sound Housing Quarterly is journal of the Puget Sound residential real estate market, published four times a year.
Benefits of Sound Housing Quarterly:
- Broad geographic coverage (7 Puget Sound counties).
- Provides a concise picture of overall market conditions.
- Cleaner, more printable charts.
- All the recent data compiled in a single package.
If that sounds like something you or someone you know would benefit from, head over to the website at HousingQuarterly.com to download a free preview of the current issue and to learn more about what Sound Housing Quarterly is and how to subscribe or purchase a single issue.
Here’s a brief preview of the type of charts that are included in Sound Housing Quarterly:
If you are involved in the Puget Sound housing market as a home buyer, a home seller, a real estate agent, or a real estate investor—Sound Housing Quarterly is written with you in mind.
This 42-page publication provides an overview of a variety of factors affecting the Puget Sound housing market, as well as a detailed look at county-by-county conditions, and a forecast for where the market is headed in the coming months.
Please take a few minutes to check out Sound Housing Quarterly and consider subscribing. Thanks!
biliruben » Aug 3, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I feel for you, Tim. You put a lot of time and effort into this site, and I hope it pays off for you, at least in some measure.
That said, when your target audience is tight-wads….
Maybe you should start a sister site reviewing stainless appliances and granite counters! Those wallets are probably a lot looser. ;)
The Tim » Aug 3, 2009 at 5:14 pm
RE: biliruben @ 1 – Thanks for the sentiment. No need to “feel” for me though. I’m actually doing pretty well overall (if a little bit over-scheduled), considering that they got this depression on.
David Losh » Aug 3, 2009 at 5:35 pm
RE: The Tim @ 2 –
You run a nice site and obviously I enjoy it.
Would I buy?
Based on the information here, or presented, there is a pattern that shows a trend of declining home prices. Buyers may have some interest. sellers may dispute the trend.
Beyond the numbers, like at the redfin site, or Rain City Guide, or Zillow, there is a back end to the content. redfin collects fees, Rain City adverises, the main poster gets clients, and Zillow is selling mortgages.
If you go down the line most sites have hard dollar back ends.
So, in my opinion you have a buyer pool who may be interested in your product. A seven county report doesn’t seem to be a concise picture. A buyer wants a house with a picket fence.
Now you may have some luck with a left brainer who wants to do it themselves, but redfin has already cracked that. So next you would be targeting who? For what? And when?
You’ll need to partner with some one in order to make the whole thing resonate with a buyer pool. Then maybe you can also pick up some income from lead generation.
Talk to Ray Pepper at 500 Realty, see if he has some ideas. Did you join http://www.biznik.com ? There are probably a half dozen people there who would be interested in your project.
Ira Sacharoff » Aug 3, 2009 at 6:18 pm
If The Tim gets enough people subscribing to Sound Housing quarterly, he will be able to continue offering Seattle Bubble free of charge. He will also be able to continue ” creating his own gig” , and not be beholden to ” the man”.
I just subscribed.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think The Tim wants to get rich doing this. I think he wants to make a living by being a resource for detailed, accurate, thoughtful information. it’s a worthy endeavor.
The Tim » Aug 3, 2009 at 6:20 pm
By Ira Sacharoff @ 4:
You’re right. I have other, completely unrelated plans in the “get rich” department :^)
b » Aug 3, 2009 at 6:43 pm
A product I would like to see, and one I think you could implement, is targeted reporting on a specific home to figure out a tight value range for it, using historical price inflation for the area, historical sales, previous sales of the home, etc. With all of the figures and information to back it up, kind of like a kelly blue book for a house. Sell it for $4.99 or $9.99 per report or something, so when buyers find a property they like, they can buy the report to help inform their offer and even show it to the seller to help convince them of fair value.
Jillayne » Aug 3, 2009 at 8:04 pm
b,
That’s a great idea. I do not sell real estate. I wonder what kind of similar service Realtors/agents offer buyers for free?
The Tim, taking b’s suggestion and offering it for far less may likely net you many small purchases similar to a music download for .99 cents and then they might be able to purchase 10 for $4.99
David Losh » Aug 3, 2009 at 8:22 pm
RE: b @ 6 –
That is a great idea.
b » Aug 3, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Jillayne -
Yeah, it would depend on how much you could automate which would require a lot more resources to initially create. But for $10 a report, which a service like CarFax charges and sells a lot of, you could do part of it manually and still make some money until you built up the information. I know I would pay for such a service, maybe you can get 10 for $50 or something. I find myself trying to do this back of the envelope on properties I like based on past sales of that home, but I dont have access to old comps in the area, neighborhood appreciation rates, etc.
Magnolia44 » Aug 3, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Good luck, wouldn’t we all love to get away from the man and get our own thing going.
At least you have a start with a decent website.
The Tim » Aug 3, 2009 at 9:14 pm
RE: b @ 6 – I’m a little confused. Isn’t that basically what Zillow is giving away for free?
HandyMan » Aug 3, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Do you ever plan to update your blog at thatchmound.com? How are your other projects going?
The Tim » Aug 3, 2009 at 9:42 pm
RE: HandyMan @ 12 – Yeah I’ve been sorely neglecting that blog for way too long. The good news is that it’s because I’m just so dang busy. Certainly nothing to complain about in this economy.
b » Aug 3, 2009 at 10:18 pm
The Tim -
The Zestimate z-sucks. A more labor-intensive report, which was aimed at removing bubble pricing from the mix, would be worth real money.
deejayoh » Aug 3, 2009 at 10:55 pm
RE: b @ 14 – for $10, a business could put about 10 minutes of a skilled professional’s time into said report and still have any potential to earn a margin.
I’ll leave that business for somebody else…
but it may help you understand why “zestimate z-sucks”
David Losh » Aug 4, 2009 at 7:05 am
RE: The Tim @ 11 –
If you look at the over all business model of Zillow, in my opinion, the end goal was to do lead generation for mortgages. zestimates are high for a reason, in my opinion, for that purpose.
A Real Estate sales person may be the best person in the world and just be trying to make a car payment so thier judgement may be a little cloudy. A home buyer may be focused on the school district.
$10 is a little cheap, but there is a service in there that would give the buyer an outside perspective on a property purchase. They have three days of neighborhood review. In that time I think a buyer would want a resource like your quarterly report and refine it down to a specific property.
I think if the resources were set up, like tax records, a person could offer a report in about an hour. Pick an hourly rate of say $100 per hour and only take eight orders per day to start. If you farmed out the work to qualified people you could do more.
I think people would pay for the service. If you stayed to the 3 day neighborhood review you would not be interferring with a Real Estate transaction in progress, in my opinion.
If you think about it, you could refine the system so it’s more affordable. You could also get Real Estate professionals to contribute, or sell the service. For good or bad an outside resource is a part of transparency. I have told sellers for years they have to pay attention to all of the online tools, because buyers will use them.
Your report could be the outside perspective a potential buyer would use.
Kary L. Krismer » Aug 4, 2009 at 7:31 am
By b @ 14:
There’s no way you can accurately value a property without physically visiting the property. Zillow is probably just as accurate as any other method of valuing property that doesn’t entail an agent or appraiser actually seeing the property.
Kary L. Krismer » Aug 4, 2009 at 7:32 am
By The Tim @ 11:
Actually, assuming “b” doesn’t want it automated, it’s what HomeValues does for free.
David Losh » Aug 4, 2009 at 5:03 pm
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 17 –
A much better point, yes you would have to visit the property and the comps.
deejayoh » Aug 4, 2009 at 8:20 pm
By Kary L. Krismer @ 18:
I think you’re thinking of housevalues.com – which has pretty much tanked while Zillow is still hanging in there.
Kary L. Krismer » Aug 5, 2009 at 7:33 am
RE: deejayoh @ 20 – Yes, sorry. Housevalues. They were dependent entirely on agents spending money, and agents are not spending money.