It has been a long time coming . . .

We just launched a MAJOR FACELIFT to BiggerPockets!

For years, people have been using our site to do everything from finding tools and resources, to discussing real estate, to making deals, to selling property, etc. We’ve just made it easier to do several of these things.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Created a New BiggerPockets Front Page — some of the great things you’ll find on the new front page of BiggerPockets.com include highlighted property listings, random member profiles, assorted public gallery photos, tags from our property listings, the latest forum and blog posts, and more!
  

• Re-launched our Property Directory to make it “2.0″ — it is now fully integrated into the social profiles of our members, and is easy to use and interactive! Members can save a property as a favorite, email it to their colleagues, subscribe to our main listing RSS feed, or customize their own feeds for individual State or even more specific listings, and much more!
  

  Of course, adding a listing is free and easy. Members (agents, investors, FSBOs, etc) can add investment properties, land, a primary residence, commercial properties, or even make a deal post on the property directory by going to the property section of their Dashboard or adding directly through the Property Directory page. Of course the listings are integrated with mapping, and are connected directly to the listing poster’s profile.

• Established a Property Notification “Matching” System — members can select criteria that interests them, and once a listing is added to the site that matches that set of criteria, the user will be notified in their Dashboard — if they elect to do so, they will also be sent an email letting them know that a match to their requirements has been made. The user can then remove individual notifications if they are no longer interested in seeing them, and disable or deactivate all notifications.
  

• Built a Community Gallery Page – members who elect to share photos by creating a public gallery will see their property photos in our gallery page.
  

• Cleaned up several areas of the site, and made many other changes to improve the user experience.

Stop by and see how BiggerPockets has stepped up the game!

Next up . . . . stay tuned! (did you really think we’d share all of our secrets?)

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Tags: 2.0 propertiy, bigger pockets, biggerpockets, biggerpockets.com, find real estate, Google maps, investment property, maps, property directory, real estate, real estate social network, social network, web 2.0

Site member and blogger, Scott Ficek wrote a great post tonight on his blog that reviews the New BiggerPockets Real Estate Social Network. Please support us and Scott by visiting his post:

BiggerPockets Gets Even Better!

Enjoy!

Tags: biggerpockets, real estate 2.0, real estate social network, real estate social networking, social networking, web 2.0

See what everyone will be talking about:

Join The Real Estate Social Networking Community!

Tags: biggerpockets, biggerpockets social network, real estate network, real estate soclal networking, social networking, web 2.0, web20

Things are changing so fast online, and Web 2.0 is taking over. Mashups are the newest rage for now, and there will certainly be cooler stuff to come in the not so distant future. Hopefully these technologies will continue to make it easier to learn about, buy, sell, or rent properties. What are the coolest real estate web 2.0 sites out there right now?

UPDATED January 6, 2007

1)BiggerPockets.com

BiggerPockets (yup, that’s us!) underwent a fabulous Web 2.0 transformation, and created the Premiere Real Estate Social Networking site out there. With a focus on networking, dealmaking, and education, the site brings a professional approach to the world of real estate for both the consumer and professionals. Join the community and help build your real estate network!

2) Zillow

Zillow came out of nowhere and took the real estate world by storm. It allows anyone to find rough estimates of the valuation of their home by searching comparible properties. While values are not always accurate, the site continues to get it better.

3) RealEstate ABC

RealEstate ABC just released their Beta property valuation tool to compete directly with Zillow. It uses Google Maps in its technology mashup and allows you to do cool things like adjust values of properties given certain market conditions, web 2.0 style, something Zillow does not have. They seem to have beaten Zillow at their own game.

4) Trulia

Trulia scrapes real estate sites to find listings and brings it all together in a clean, well designed site. Using Google maps and RSS feeds, the site seems to have taken the lead in the future of online property listings. I’m looking forward to see how they begin to compete with Craigslist for FSBO listings.

5) HotPads.com

Hotpads.com is an apartment, corporate housing, and roomate search site for the next era. With interactive mapping, great graphics and free listings, this is one site to watch! (Note: they don’t have a ton of listings, yet, but this cool site will catch on)

6) Propsmart

Propsmart.com, is another site that scrapes the web for property listings. Like the others, it uses GoogleMaps for interactivity. Nothing really to write home about, IMO.

7) Google

Who better than Google to use Google’s technology for real estate? The 800-Ton Gorilla is jumping into the game, bringing fear to the hearts of real estate web entrepreneurs everywhere.

HousingMaps (Honorable Mention)
HousingMaps.com is one of the innovators of the real estate space of Web 2.0. Dreamworks software engineer, Paul Rademacher, created a blend of Craigslist and GoogleMaps to introduce one of the first recognized nextgen real estate websites. While not the most beautiful site, this creation kicked off the revolution. A salute to one of the forefathers is in order, I believe!

These sites are all worth keeping your eyes on as leaders in the web 2.0 real estate space. We will look out for any new ones and will certainly keep you posted!

Tags: Ajax, mashup, real estate 2.0, Real Estate Websites, web 2.0, web20