Austin Real Estate Guy Blog

It loads okay for me - not super speedy, but reasonable on Time Warner broadband. I would probably use it if I were looking for a home in the area. The only downside for me is that I am using a 1680 x 1050 resolution on my laptop and the map doesn't stretch to fit the resolution, so it's smaller than I would like it. Contrast that with the full-screen zooven and I'd probably use zooven more.

Sam,

I like your map search. I usually don't use them though because on most sites the maps are usually too cluttered up for my taste. I would love to get one up on my site eventually though because I'm sure many people prefer it. By the way, on your main site, I like your "about me" page. The page where you have the 10 things you don't know about Sam Chapman. Good stuff.

Barry - thanks for your eomments.  One thing I am looking to get an answer on is whether or not I can set up the map search so that only residential properties pop up.  That should speed load time.  As for the 10 things most people don't know, I thought it would make me look more like a regular person rather than just a business professional.

I am not a realtor.  I am a programmer familiarizing myself with the current real estate market.  I have been using Trulia.com because of the mapping function.

I just found your site this morning and like it because I can delineate an area by dragging a rectangle and then it zooms in on the homes within the price range I specified.  One thing that frustrated me about Trulia is that at times it would make houses on the map disappear and I didn't understand why.  Possibly now I know...your map plainly displays a message at the top "displaying top 100". Then I was able to use this information to make sure I saw all homes in a particular area.  Possibly there is some limitation to the number that can be shown, it would be ideal if I could change that at will to, say, display 500.

Your mapping is no slower than Trulia's for me, actually, I think it is faster.

I really liked seeing IBM labeled on your map.  I want to know where the big employers are.

One enhancement I would love on your site and Trulia is to have the price per square foot already computed for me and displayed on the preview box that pops up when you hover/click on a house icon.  It would be a great convenience not to have to figure that out each time.

Yours is now my favorite Austin real estate search tool. Thanks for blogging, I intend to add your blog to my RSS feed list.

Can you confirm how often your site is updated (assuming nightly from MLS)?

Carleen - thanks for all the comments.  They were very helpful.  The mapping software is third party and there is little I can do besides setting a starting point.  About updating, updates are done by individual agents in the MLS and them it is a matter of cache time at the Board's site and then the third party vendor site.  Again, nothing I control and I have a feeling that cache time varies.

That's what I was thinking when I saw that page. It just gives some quick info that helps your reader get to know you. I haven't done my "about," page yet. Would you mind if I did my own version of it? I'm in AZ by the way.

Barry - are you saying that you want to use a similar layout with your info?  I see no problem with that at all.