WEB REVIEW


WSJ Offers Helpful Real Estate Site

A real estate site from The Wall Street Journal offers news and research tools.

REVIEWED BY CHRISTOPHER M. LEPORINI

Web Site: RealEstateJournal.com
URL: www.realestatejournal.com

What the Site Offers

RealEstateJournal.com provides real estate news and market data from Dow Jones & Co. Inc., which publishes The Wall Street Journal and WSJ.com.

In addition to original content, RealEstateJournal.com features home listings from REALTOR.com®, tools from Bankrate.com, and content from other real estate information providers. Real estate professionals can use the site to stay current on real estate new and trends, track industry numbers, and research market information. This site provides separate channels for residential and commercial real estate.

Valuable Site Features for Real Estate Professionals

• Demographic Maps Toolkit. This tool maps any U.S. location and its surroundings by street address. You can then choose which demographic data—such as total housing units, vacant households, owner-occupied properties, renter-occupied properties, median housing value, and per capita income—you want to display within a five-mile radius of your location on the map. This visual depiction of demographic information may be useful in your marketing materials or listing presentations.
  
• Buying and Selling. This section provides you with a gateway to real estate news and mortgage information. The articles are from The Wall Street Journal and WSJ.com. You can stay on top of the latest news and trends, from average sales prices to which markets will be most affected by mortgage rate-driven reductions in home values.
  
• City Profiles. Get your hands on quick demographic statistics and information to beef up your listing presentation or marketing materials. These city profiles provide basic geographic and population statistics, and information on housing, cost of living, taxation, education, arts and recreational activities, crime statistics, and more. However, the city profiles are available only for major cities. If you don’t find your city on this list, go to Neighborhood Data, and find a less extensive city profile that is powered by Sperling’s BestPlaces.
  
• E-mail Newsletters. If you want timely information sent to you, you can sign up for a number of e-mail newsletters provided by the WSJ.com network of business Web sites. RealEstateJournal.com offers free daily commercial and residential e-newsletters that provide the day’s real estate news and features. You also can sign up for daily or weekly newsletters from the StartupJournal, a Web site for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
  
• Commercial Channel. If you specialize in commercial real estate, this channel provides easy access to commercial articles, including regional newson current commercial market trends and outlooks; stories on technologyused in commercial office buildings and by commercial real estate professionals; and coverage of REITs(real estate investment trusts).
  
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  Suggest a Site For Review
  Every week, REALTOR® Magazine Online's Web review editor surfs the Internet to find sites useful to your business and off-hours lives. Have a favorite real estate Web site that you would like to see reviewed? Send your suggestions to Chris Leporini at mediatech@realtors.org. All decisions on which sites will be reviewed are completely at the discretion of REALTOR® Magazine Online's editorial staff. Please note: this column does not review individual practitioner or brokerage sites.
  
  The column's focus includes free sites, as well as sites that charge for goods and services, but which still offer a free component of practical, sustained value to real estate practitioners, such as a free newsletter or regular news information.
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  REALTOR® Magazine Online's "Web Review" summarizes the content of Web sites that may be of interest to members. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online are not responsible for, and nothing in the Web site profile shall constitute NAR's or REALTOR® Magazine Online's endorsement of, the web site, its content, products and services, or its provider. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online believe the information contained in this profile was correct and accurate as of the time it was prepared, but do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information and are not responsible for changes in the Web site. Members should conduct their own independent review of the Web site prior to any use of Web site, its content, products, or services to determine their suitability for the member's intended purpose.
  
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