- June 9th, 2008
- by Galen
- Neighborhoods
Portland Neighborhood blogs: we don’t pump our own gas
But Portland, apparently, doesn’t pump pollutants in to the atmosphere, either. At least they’re more sensitive to it than other cities, as was noted in a Green Building Forum a couple weeks ago. A choice quote: “‘Portland is definitely out near the front if not in the front [when it comes to green building],’ Scott Lewis of Brightworks said.” Impressive! When will we see Oregonians getting their electric vehicles plugged in for them?
I enjoy discussing green living and design, as it’s an inevitable change that we will have to make, sooner or later. The Portland Water Bureau’s Water Blog has a few nice tips on “blue living,” (you know, the wet stuff that’s two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen), such as putting a picture of John Edwards in your shower. Yup…
Portland is also serious about their mass transit. Apparently, the MAX trains trains are made out of the same stuff as those armored bank trucks. Nothing a pickup can contend with, at least. If riding on a MAX train sounds too extreme, it’s not too late to participate in the 17 event “Pedalpalooza,” (June 12-28) and other “awesomely ridiculous” events.
Are there any Portland neighborhood blogs we’re missing? Let us know in the comments.
Join the discussion »- June 6th, 2008
- by Galen
- Neighborhoods, real estate
Buzzing Capitol Hill home by Elemental Architecture
Both the design blogs and the local blogs are abuzz about 209 12th Ave E Seattle, WA (Capitol Hill) today. Our primary photo is still the pre-construction mock-up (which oddly looks worse – usually they look way better), but click on through for the rest. The Contemporist has a nice photo spread too. The home is on the corner of 12th and John.
- June 6th, 2008
- by Galen
- real estate
Portland MLS address mess
Portland MLS rules are out of the ordinary. As a member of the MLS we are restricted from showing any part of the address of homes for sale on Estately. We can map and show every detail in the world about nearly every property in the MLS, but addresses cannot be displayed. You can see the roofline in Google maps, the front of the house in the MLS image and in Google StreetView, the cross streets, and the lat-long, but you can’t see the address.
It’s reminiscent of Oregon’s approach to pumping gas – Oregon consumers are also not allowed to pump their own gas because, ostensibly, they might blow up the station and, in reality, to keep the supply of crappy jobs high. Our best guess is that the address rule is in place to prevent thieves from breaking into empty homes. This is a valid concern – vacant homes are broken into now and again – but the fact that a) you can see precisely where the home is on the map and b) most thieves use this web 0.0 thing called a car to quickly identify vacant homes with for sale signs in front of them makes it a little less valid. Additionally, the easiest way of identifying vacant homes is the private agent notes which identify which homes are vacant and those notes are not shown on the internet.
The real reason, like it or not, is probably to make it harder for consumers to get all of the information about properties on the market and to force them to seek out a professional before they need one.
And how can you, the consumer, make the most of it? You can still search by address or mls number (like try 1049097 or 8048413). You can also hit the “send to friend” button on any property and email yourself the property or sign up to get emails for property updates; bizarrely MLS rules permit the emailing of addresses. You can also just read the cross streets off of Google maps. Barring those two routes, you can get a Realtor (via Estately’s Realtor recommendations if you don’t have a great agent already) and the agent can set you up with email updates or serve as your MLS number to address translator. Being an MLS number translator sounds worse than pumping gas to me.
Join the discussion »- June 4th, 2008
- by Galen
- Estately, real estate
What does Estately have in common with John McCain?
We both notified the media of important news on the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend. John McCain actually released his news (John McCain and his 1,500 pages of his medical records), but we did manage to inform reporters of our Tuesday release at about the worst time to deliver news all year – just as they were cracking their beers and lighting their barbecues. Really – we weren’t trying to fool anyone. So our Portland release was picked up (35,000 more homes on Estately!) by the msm (that’s the mainstream media if you aren’t hip to the acronyms) not quite on the release date, but close enough.
- June 2nd, 2008
- by Galen
- Estately, New Features, Transit
Introducing Improved “Near Transit” Search
Yes, it’s another feature improvement made to Estately! As you may or may not know, Seattle isn’t exactly known for its mass transit. The buses—or “road slugs,” as I sometimes call them—are good, but they’re no light rail. On our move south to Oregon, we knew we had to do something more take advantage of the many transit options available in Portland: bus, MAX light rail lines, aerial tram, streetcar, and trolley.
So what did we do? We added rail line to the “Near Transit” search option, allowing you to find houses and condos up to 2 miles away from specified bus and/or rail routes! Be one of the many who are leaving the gas pumps behind for public transit. If a mile-long walk sounds daunting, keep in mind that it takes the average person only 17 minutes to walk one mile. You can use that bus or train ride to get some good reading in, as well. Convinced yet?
This feature isn’t limited to just Portland – you can use it in Seattle and cities-soon-to-be-disclosed, too.
Join the discussion »