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MARKET BLOG/NEWS
JDR's new mobile website
Homeowners can dispute values online with county
Lowering appraisals could be a click away
Homeowners can dispute values online with county
At last, great news on the real estate front - because we're in Houston, Texas!
Our Relocation Director, Linda Rosen, attending a luncheon held by the Houston Relocation Professionals on February 14, 2008 and heard the following comments. We're so lucky to be in Houston, Texas!
Houston Statistics - Greater Houston Partnership
Per Deborah Mostert, Manager of the Economic Development Division
in her “State of Houston” speech on February 14, 2008:
- The *100,000+ jobs created in Houston in 2007 was 8% of all jobs created in the country (*awaiting verification by the Federal Reserve Bank in approximately mid-March 2008)
- Houston’s population is 5.54 million – ranked as the 6th largest metropolitan area, passing both the Washington D.C. region and the Miami region
- Houston ranks #1 in job growth in metropolitan areas
- Houston ranks #1 in fastest growing companies in metropolitan areas
- Houston ranks #2 in logistics for metropolitan areas
- Houston ranks #3 in youngest median age of population for metropolitan areas
- Houston ranks #3 in lowest tax burden for metropolitan areas
- Three growth areas that are fueling Houston:
- Upstream energy(energy exploration, production & field services)
- Architectural & Engineering Services
- Health Care
- Per Mayor Bill White during his portion of the February 14th presentation:
- In the last 4 years, 250,000 jobs have been added in this region
- Projected job creations in 2008 are the same as 2007
- When combining per capita income and cost of living adjustment, Houston is #1 among large metro areas as the best value
- When you compare top 10 cities by population, Houston ranks #2 in parks per capita
- The three major goals that Mayor White wants to accomplish before leaving office are:
a. To increase police officers by 10%
b. Spend $1 billion in floor improvements and
c. Reduce Houston’s tax rate
- The violent crime rate is down by 8% per 100,000 compared to 2003, the Mayor’s first year in office
John Daugherty Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
SEATTLE – (March 20, 2008) – After marking the 41st anniversary of the creation of the Houston real-estate firm that bears his name, John A. Daugherty, Jr. now has something else to celebrate. He is the winner of the Luxury Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented to him at the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat in San Diego this April.
LuxuryRealEstate.com CEO John Brian Losh announced Daugherty as the winner after weeks of competition with other prestigious brokers vying for the honor. “John [Daugherty] has done a remarkable job of creating and sustaining the most successful high-end realty firm in the Houston area,” said Losh, who is also CEO, chairman and broker of Ewing & Clark, Inc., Seattle’s oldest real-estate brokerage. Daugherty, a fourth-generation Houstonian, founded John Daugherty, Realtors on March 8, 1967 and has served as its president and chief executive officer ever since. In 2007, the firm reached $8.1 billion in total property sales since its formation. John Daugherty, Realtors is the largest seller of upscale residential real estate in the Greater Houston area, currently employing 170 real-estate agents and 84 support-staff members. Daugherty attributes his company’s remarkable growth to the sophisticated marketing approach he has developed over the years, as well as his belief that “the client above all” must be the slogan practiced by every employee of his company.This is the second time LuxuryRealEstate.com has given the Lifetime Achievement Award. The first person to receive it was Diane Turton of Diane Turton, REALTORS® in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. She received it at the Fall Conference in Vancouver, B.C. in October 2007. The 6th Annual Spring Retreat will feature two main speakers: Ben Stein, the famous actor and economist, and Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, president of Real Living, Inc., one of the fastest-growing real-estate franchises in the United States. For more information on John Daugherty, Realtors, visit www.johndaugherty.com. For more information on the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat, visit www.luxuryrealestate.com/conference. About John A. Daugherty, Jr.John A. Daugherty, Jr. is a member of both the Houston Association of REALTORS® and the World Presidents Organization. He currently gives both his time and money to Target Hunter, St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation Board, Texas Children’s Hospital Development Board, United Way and the University of St. Thomas, his alma mater.
Brian Losh CEO of Luxury Real Estate.com visits Houston
Last week the CEO of Luxury Real Estate.com and the Board of Regents,John Brian Losh (Brian) traveled to Texas to visit several Who’s Who Luxury Real Estate members - John Daugherty, Realtors, Bradfield Properties, Turnquist Partners Realtors, Inc. and Briggs-Freeman Real Estate.
In Houston he met with Monica Duff V.P. of Operations, Cassie Julich, Director of Marketing and John Daugherty of John Daugherty, Realtors. Brian had the pleasure of listening to John Daugherty sing the praises of our network to one of their newest agents. Brian was so impressed with the quality and innovation of the marketing materials, John and Cassie have been creating that he took samples of many pieces back to Seattle.
Introducing... the new JohnDaugherty.com!
My name is Mike Karikas, and I led the technology side of the new John Daugherty web site you're viewing right now. I thought I'd take a moment to let you know a few cool things you can do on this site, since I know it quite intimately.
Searching
Searching rocks. You can search on any page! Really, every page of this site can search the entire MLS with a Quick Search button at the top. If you've already searched, that Quick Search tab turns into 'Refine Search', letting you narrow down what you're looking for. You can also see how many results you'll get before hitting 'Go'. And, you can search by neighborhood, which makes sense, but no other Houston site we know of lets you do that (they do larger MLS areas instead).
Property Pages are Gorgeous and Awesome
Design wizard Jon Mendoza, who's the best real estate designer I know, pulled out all the stops spearheading the design for these property pages (and every other page, for that matter). It looks great with a fancy slideshow and Google map right on the page, tons of information, and you can do a lot, too! You can send listings to your phone, schedule an appointment, find homes nearby, learn more about the area... lots of great stuff. If I was selling a house I'd want it looking like one of these pages!
How this has ruined my life: Now I compare all other real estate property pages to this one, and just shake my head.
Have New Listings Emailed To You
You may notice the 'Save this Search' link floating around the property pages. If you sign up for a MyJDR account (see that Login link at the top?) you can save searches, and then have new listings that match your search emailed to you. You can every have new listings emailed to you hourly! If you want to stay on top of an area, this is the way to do it.
Map Search
This is a fun part of the site. You can go straight to a particular neighborhood, learn more about it, and search for listings, of course. You can even toggle between a map view and the regular search results view to see the results! And, when you search, it only searches within the part of the map you can see... so if you want to search for just a particular area, just zoom in to it, and only listings in that area will come up!
Tons of Information
The new JDR site is more than just listings, it's also a wealth of information and services. The Houston Area pages showcase about 40 different neighborhoods, some with their own videos and photo slideshows. It's a great way to learn about the neighborhoods and what sort of listings they have. There is also a lot of great information on how JDR can help you buy a home, sell a home, relocate to Houston... you can even order a restaurant guide!
.Mobi Site
Yep, we made a web site for your cell phone, too. If you go to www.jdrtx.mobi in your cell phone's web browser you can search the entire MLS, view photos and get a ton of listing information right on your phone. This is handy if you come across a home on the street (it'll look up any home listed in the MLS) or just want to check what open houses are happening on Sunday.
This site is huge, and I haven't even talked about the separate, agent-only web site running in back of all this. It's because of this site that I only went snowboarding once this winter, but it's worth it, because I've never been as proud of a web site as I am of this one. It's been my baby for a while now, and I'm beyond happy to finally share it with the world. I encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Again, I'm Mike Karikas of Neutrino, Inc. Thanks for reading this enormous blog entry.
