As 2009 winds down and the real estate market enters winter hibernation, now seems like a good time to talk about some of the changes on the horizon here at Seattle Bubble.
First up, a subject that we’ve discussed a few times here in the past: name change. “Seattle Bubble” is a name that made sense when I started the site in 2005 as a simple blog to explore the idea of a growing housing bubble. Now that the site has evolved into more of a general news and discussion site on the subject of local real estate and related economic issues, it’s time for a new name that better reflects our identity.
To that end, beginning in 2010 Seattle Bubble will become Sound Housing News. This name reflects both our regional focus on the Puget Sound, our topical focus on housing issues, and our analytical approach to the data (with “sound” as an adjective meaning “reliable, sensible, or based on reason”). It also matches Sound Housing Quarterly, the subscription product I launched last year as a sister project to Seattle Bubble.
Once the name change takes effect, we will be moving to a new domain at SoundHousingNews.com. Don’t worry though, all your old bookmarks and links will still work and will be automatically forwarded to the new address. From a reader interface perspective, the change will be seamless.
Next, in the coming months there are a number of site function and form improvements that I’ll be making. Here’s a brief list of upcoming features in the pipeline:
- More newspaper-ish format front page featuring a variety of content / sections.
- Weekly podcast (ideally structured as a 1-hour live call-in program).
- Better integration of the forum and the blog.
- Better organization of archives, highlighting the most useful content like how-to’s and real estate resources.
- Improved methods of highlighting related quality content on other sites.
So what is my list of improvements missing? What would you like to see that would make this site a better resource for you? Let’s hear your suggestions and your thoughts on the upcoming changes.