Lifehacker: These Interactive Tools Reveal Your Home’s Future Flood, Heat, and Wind Risk

Lifehacker: These Interactive Tools Reveal Your Home’s Future Flood, Heat, and Wind Risk. “The following three organizations use advanced technology and models to estimate the risk most homes have of flooding by taking climate change and sea-level rise into account. They’ve created free and user-friendly tools with the latest data to help you make informed decisions regarding your home’s risk, where to build or invest, how to prepare for future flooding, and how to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.”

KATU: Bill would allow homeowner to remove racist, discriminatory language from Oregon deeds

KATU: Bill would allow homeowner to remove racist, discriminatory language from Oregon deeds. “Oregon lawmakers are once again trying to make it easier for homeowners to remove racist language from their housing deeds…. House Bill 3294 directs counties to create an archive where the racist documents will be stored, but they would no longer be visible in the chain of title.”

PR Newswire: Zillow’s new AI-powered natural-language search is a first in real estate (PRESS RELEASE)

PR Newswire: Zillow’s new AI-powered natural-language search is a first in real estate (PRESS RELEASE.) “Now home shoppers can enter phrases like ‘$700K homes in Charlotte with a backyard’ or ‘open house near me with four bedrooms’ directly into the Zillow search bar, rather than starting with a location and having to filter their way to the homes they want. They can also save their searches and have Zillow notify them when new qualifying listings come online.”

San Francisco Chamber of Commerce: San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Invests in Downtown with Launch of NEW Data Dashboard and Urban Planning Initiative

San Francisco Chamber of Commerce: San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Invests in Downtown with Launch of NEW Data Dashboard and Urban Planning Initiative. “This dashboard is open to the public and highlights key indicators of the city’s downtown economy. It is intended for elected officials, new and existing businesses, and media to explore downtown office activity, areas of investment, and sector-specific demands to inform decisions around the recovery of San Francisco.”

Q&A: UW researchers find privacy risks with 3D tours on real estate websites (University of Washington)

University of Washington: Q&A: UW researchers find privacy risks with 3D tours on real estate websites. “The team examined 44 3D tours on a real estate website. Each tour was for a home in a different state and had at least one personal detail — such as a letter, a college diploma or photos — visible. The researchers concluded that the details left in these tours could expose residents to a variety of threats, including phishing attacks or credit card fraud.”

PR Newswire: Zillow’s new tool powers home searches in up to five areas at once, letting shoppers move as fast as the market

PR Newswire: Zillow’s new tool powers home searches in up to five areas at once, letting shoppers move as fast as the market (PRESS RELEASE). “Now available on the Zillow app, the multi-location search feature makes the home shopping experience faster, simpler and easier by allowing shoppers to find available homes in up to five different areas at once; it also gives users the option to easily sift through the listings on the map or all in the same results feed. In addition, users can save their multi-location searches and opt to receive email and push notifications with results and recommendations.” Zillow is planning a number of other search enhancements. They’re mentioned in the release.

PR Newswire: New Zillow tool helps veterans nationwide discover condos eligible for VA loans (PRESS RELEASE)

PR Newswire: New Zillow tool helps veterans nationwide discover condos eligible for VA loans (PRESS RELEASE). “Today, Zillow announced that condo listings on its site and apps will include information about the home’s eligibility for a loan from the VA. This new Zillow feature is designed to help the 19 million veterans who are eligible to fund their home purchase using a VA loan.” Apparently there are different rules for condo eligibility vs home eligibility, thus the focus of the new feature.

Sun Current: Edina native founds real estate preservation platform

Sun Current: Edina native founds real estate preservation platform. “The startup, called HouseNovel, digitally preserves real estate history in communities across the U.S., including Edina. Founded by Edina native Amanda Zielike and her husband, David Decker, the company launched last month, inviting visitors to its site to search a specific address, browse their communities and input their own stories to be captured in history.” This site was a bit of a slow load for me; be a little patient when running a search, as there’s a lot of data to load.

PR Newswire: Zillow’s new side-by-side comparison tool helps home shoppers make faster, smarter decisions to find a home they love

PR Newswire: Zillow’s new side-by-side comparison tool helps home shoppers make faster, smarter decisions to find a home they love (PRESS RELEASE). “Now available on the Zillow mobile app and website, Homes to Compare gives buyers the ability to select as many as five homes and view the properties’ details on a comprehensive side-by-side chart. On one screen, users can compare more than 70 key listing details, such as price, square footage, lot size, property conditions, architectural style, interior features and more.”

CNN: ‘TikTok changed my life.’ Real estate estate agents find huge success on the app

CNN: ‘TikTok changed my life.’ Real estate estate agents find huge success on the app. “During the height of the pandemic, real estate agents across the country discovered that social media platform TikTok was an ideal way to safely show prospective buyers homes. Now, some are saying the video app has revolutionized the way they sell real estate — and it is here to stay.”

Techwire: New Portal Provides Statewide Property Data

Techwire: New Portal Provides Statewide Property Data. “Symbium, a startup working on tools to help make zoning and permitting work easier at the local government level, has launched a portal allowing anyone to look up information about properties across the state of California. Typically available via local assessor websites, real estate search engines and other such projects, the Symbium portal gives users the ability to search for a specific property, browse by area or filter by information such as assessed value, lot size or land use.”

New York Times: How Data Is Reshaping Real Estate

New York Times: How Data Is Reshaping Real Estate. “The added layers of technology in stores and entertainment venues — crowd-tracking cameras, information gleaned from smartphones, tallies of neighborhood foot traffic and sophisticated demographic data — aim to replicate the data measurement and analysis of the online experience. But privacy advocates are sounding the alarm about the technology as Big Tech is under increased scrutiny.”

Gothamist: In Pandemic’s Aftermath, Calls Grow For NYC To Regulate Commercial Rents

Gothamist: In Pandemic’s Aftermath, Calls Grow For NYC To Regulate Commercial Rents. “The City Council’s small business committee is considering a controversial proposal to limit how much landlords can raise rents on commercial tenants. The measure, first introduced by City Councilman Stephen Levin almost two years ago, would apply to storefronts and offices up to 10,000 square feet, which could also include some supermarkets. Levin, who sits on the committee, said rising rents have forced small businesses throughout the city to shut down, and that the pandemic has exacerbated the problem, creating a proliferation of vacant storefronts. ”