Maps on profile pages are finally here!

Maps are a wonderful new feature that has been sweeping the net over the past year and no more prominent than in the real estate category.

Now when you browse an agent’s profile page you can navigate the homes they have sold and the home they are selling graphically through a map. Most of the transactions we are monitoring have specific points, but there are still a few that don’t and you may need to zoom in and out to get all the points on the map. We’ll be sure to fix that soon. Here’s another example of a profile page.

We’ve also simplified the profile page at the top to make it cleaner and less wordy.

Hope you like it and, as always, we love your feedback so be sure to let us know what you think!

The San Francisco Chronicle has a fascinating series of profiles of the bay area’s most productive real estate agents, who are all women: Olivia Hsu Decker, Malin Giddings, Diane Gilfether and Mary Gullixson.

The profiles include lucid tales of movie stars, French Chateaus and private jets to exclusive Golf and Ski resorts. And of course technology billionaire Larry Ellison’s $25m Japanese-inspired estate.

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the state of real estate in the especially hot markets in recent years [subscription required].

The article looks at investor speculation in the area, including many who have chopped their expectations dramatically in recent times. Some areas, like Naples, FL, have fallen by 50% year over year.

Other areas to suffer around the country were Sacremento, down about 30% year over year and Phoenix, down about 25%.

This summer may not be so hot in Florida and California!

Andy Kaufman, a real estate agent in the Easy Bay area of San Francisco points to an interesting article that looks at the return on investment of various endevours a home seller might undertake. Return on investment means the lift in price of the home divided by the cost of undertaking that activity (e.g. staging the home).

Not surprisingly it is the very simple things - cleaning up the inside of the home (973% return), changing the light bulbs to brighter ones (865% return) and cleaning up the yard (426% return) that help the most.

For the other seven go and read the full article.

Walk Through, the blog of the New York Times, has news of a real estate startup that plans to offer home buyers 75% back on their buy-side commission if they do most of the work. The company, Buysiderealty, launched today in California, Florida and Illinois.

According to the post, “The buyer logs on and gets preapproved for a loan through Chase, the mortgage lender owned by JPMorgan Chase. The Web site informs buyers of open houses and will schedule one for property listed in the local Multiple Listing Service. When the buyer is ready to make an offer, he fills out an online form and a BuySide agent prepares a written offer and submits it.”

Here is more from the company itself on how it works.

With technology offering easier ways for consumers to browse homes for sale, the enticement - especially on homes in those three states where prices are very high - is powerful.

The Wall Street Journal has a sharp and short piece on helping home owners determine the market conditions and pricing for their home. Including this excellent piece of advice from a realtor who suggests:

“Looking at recent comparable sales in the neighborhood, and determining what percentage of those homes sold in the first 30 days on the market. If less than 20% sold, you’re likely in a softening market. If 20% to 30% sold, you’re in an equilibrium market. Over 30%, you’re in an appreciating market.”

The article also points to Zillow.com, a fantastic web site to help value your home. Data thirsty home valuers might also like to try the newly re-launched RealestateABC.com in addition to Zillow to help answer the hopefully-more-than-$64,000 question of how much your home might fetch in today’s market.