Archive for June, 2009
Do they have to want to beat us in everything we do?
Why?
Well, does the acronym IRA ring a bell?
Actually for baby boomers like me, its probably not what you think. The Impact Risk Assessment.
After quite a long ongoing campaign, (not without WTO involvement) recently in the news…
Now Australia may lift a 75 year ban on New Zealand apples following the release of a draft Impact Risk Assessment by quarantine officials late this afternoon. But New Zealand farmers are not expected to celebrate. Instead they’re likely to protest strongly over the severity of restrictions designed to prevent the spread of the disease ‘fireblight’.
Anyway that is not the content of this topic although, for me personally after I left the BNZ in 1977, I worked for the NZ Apple & Pear Board at Port Nelson for the local fruit season Feb to June 78……and that’s where I remember the precursor to the CER part.
If you talked to anyone involved in the pipfruit industry in those days, in the same breath they would have quite loudly expounded their thoughts regarding exports of Apples to Australia ……….well less said about that. Actually, that’s another post in itself.
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Actually kinda amusing in a sort of abstract way, but not much more than the last week after us here in the land of the long white cloud, have had our record NZ lotto Jackpot, you could say the base/foundation has been laid….
And it can only be logically concluded the Ockers took this as a challenge. So what can they do?
A monster from a Kiwi perspective………….
$35million +……(and A VERY HAPPY…..winner)
And, ……..our cousins across the ditch, well they’ve got to beat that, haven’t they?
They’ve decided that there is no way those Kiwis are gonna beat us, and have managed to come up with a Jackpot even beyond ours, and I here I may add, …..just a bit above ours.
BUT all is not lost, courtesy of the Internet us here in NZ can purchase a ticket online to be in Australia’s BIGGEST ever lottery prize.
Perhaps the neatest thing would be if someone outside Oz, maybe in NZ won the main prize?
June 30 2009 | Nelson and New Zealand | No Comments »
Vividly remembering The Eagles’ Don Henley, just before launching into “Dirty Laundry“, uttering these words in Melbourne “………. I dedicate this song to Mr. Rupert Murdoch”
And frankly, how true his words/lyrics are today, in 2009?
I don’t recall having seen My House My Castle recently, or if I had it must have been the first series years & years back, so when they were running preview teasers for last weeks episode, ( aired 22nd June 09 ) I couldn’t help but notice there was plenty of Real Estate Agent “rip-off” sprinkled through the 15sec of airtime the teaser preview was exposed to.
They also mentioned the program was to include a segment where they were hunting for “NZ’s Most Honest Real Estate Agent.”
So sitting down with a freshly brewed cup of coffee, I was curious to see what this was all about. The first segment was, I’m sad to say…..was indeed a rip-off, vendors trying to sell a home that clearly had fire damage, to the extent that you could see quite plainly that the rafters / struts inside the roof cavity were all charred and appeared to be in a “crumbly” state, certainly on a visual inspection not up to a “load bearing” standard.
According to the eye witness’s testimony they thought that it would not have needed much more that a gentle push on the wood for it too snap. Later in the same segment a subsequent inspection revealed that much of the previous charred wood inside that roof cavity had now been painted white, obviously someone was trying to hide something. FAIL here on the vendors and from the testimony of the folk interviewed, FAIL on the RE Agent too.
Then came a segment where the announcer Rob Harte I think it was, stated he was going to find the most “Honest Real Estate Agent in NZ.”
The video showed them setting up a red “lie detector booth” on the back of a ute / pickup and from memory (memory unfortunately, because unlike many TV1 shows, the whole TV2 episode is not online) they also had a red carpet that led up from some drop down stairs off the back tray.
And so with baited breath, I wait for Rob to travel around New Zealand. The video shows him travelling through Auckland streets and proclaiming with a loud hailer / megaphone in hand “Honest Real Estate Agents apply here” (or something similar)
Then we watch him visit various RE agencies, and go inside to ask for volunteers for his “lie detector” test.
After trying most of the big multi-national RE Agencies, he went into a Barfoot & Thompson, our NZ Realtors Network partner in Auckland, and yes, of course they did provide a candidate. (After all if you’ve been in business this young country of ours for 86 years you’re obviously doing something right)
Ok now here’s my gripes.
1. It was not New Zealand at all, it was just Auckland! Why did he not say the most honest agent in Auckland, well I guess I’ll have to wait for a reply to their message board.
2. Our local paper the Nelson Mail (26th June 09 edition- Page 21) also conducted a near on half page review of the episode I have been writing about. Rightly so they highlighted the very bad example above of the charred timbers inside a home that was attempting to be sold.
Regarding the last segment of the show, they mentioned Ian & Lesleys home in Pakuranga, one of the finalists in My House My Castles’s “Castle of the Year” contest.
BUT buried in between these two reviews, 1 out of the reviews 14 paragraphs spoke of the segment about the “Honest Real Estate Agent” search.
It reported….
Are there any honest real estate agents out there, he (Rob Harte) asked? Well, the first four agencies he visited in Auckland refused to take part. Not very promising for a whole.
The same paragraph concluded by saying ……
Harte admitted that My House My Castle has not been kind to agents over the years and that might have accounted for their reluctance to appear on the show.
Ok, so why does the reviewer not complete the story on this segment?
The fact that the fifth agency visited, Summit’s NZ Realtors Network partner in Auckland, Barfoot and Thompson did provide a candidate, seems to have escaped the reviewers attention. And that candidate was none other than the branch’s manager. I think it was the Remuera office but as I didn’t tape the program that’s from memory.
Well guess what?
When Rob, standing there in the street with his lie detector machine attached by wires to the Barfoot & Thompson manager, asked the questions, again from memory 4 or 5 questions I recall, the manager answered them all and was declared NZ Aucklands? most honest agent.
What was lost on me was why did the newspaper reviewer, not mention this seemingly positive outcome of the segment.
Yes admittedly it was on the last visit to RE Agency office no. 5, and the previous 4 had denied themselves a great opportunity, however that wasn’t even mentioned, or by my way of looking at it, not even alluded to in the article.
I believe the reporter failed in their duty here.
June 29 2009 | Nelson | No Comments »
Well according to an article in todays Sunday Times, that is what is happening.
According to data provided by Terralink …….
The numbers have been consistently higher than the previous year, reflecting the increasing pressure homeowners are under as the recession bites.
Terralinks‘ MD, Mike Donald, chips in ……
“mortgagee sales were hitting ordinary homeowners, and 36% of forced sales were driven by the major banks. He expects mortgagee numbers to keep increasing, especially as unemployment rises.”
and follows this up with………
“There’s no slowing down 251 is a pretty strong increase and when you look at the curve from December it’s still accelerating upwards. There is no sign of it abating.”
So should panic set in?
Lets pump it up a level…. According to realestate.co.nz……….
The keyword “mortgagee” was the number one search term by visitors to the site, which has more than 110,000 listings.
And then Treasury recently stated…
Treasury has forecast that house prices will fall 12% by March next year, identifying rising unemployment as a pressure factor.
So, with a sense or urgency I thought although I hadn’t heard of any such activity locally lately, I had better double check for sure.
After searching the whole Nelson / Tasman region (756 listings on realestate.co.nz) I came up with the above answer.
And then I thought there are some private sellers who use TradeMe, so I had better check that out to be sure too. Surprise, surprise.
So to the “Mortgage Sales reach 1-in-25″ headline on Page 3 of todays Sunday Star Times, all I can say is………….!
BUT I thought it was worth bringing to interested parties attention, especially like the half dozen emails I got this week (all from overseas potential buyers I might add) that asked about the region and its sustainability.
In fact 3 commented, “considering the tough climate in NZ, and the current downturn in home prices……what price could I….” Well, what could I report to them on this……..unfortunately for them probably what they didn’t want to hear…………and that was, just the truth about the current local Nelson/Tasman market. See above.
So finally just to set the record straight, its not 1-in-25 here in our region BUT its 0-in-756!
But with a background like this, and this, and not forgetting this, you really can’t be surprised now, can you?
June 28 2009 | Buyers and Nelson and New Zealand and Sellers and The Market | No Comments »
When you hold you first Open Home for your new or near new home you will have two types of visitors.
1. Lookers, just as they would visit a show home, looking out for ideas and colour combination’s for their own new build. Also getting ideas for wardrobes, kitchen/bathroom/garage/hallway storage options, inspecting your style of light fittings/switches/dimmers/etc, etc.
2. Genuine buyers looking to buy a near new home, perhaps time constrained and who just don’t want to wait 3-6 months for a completed one. Some may already have been past “new or near new build” owners, who, now that they are reaching mature years just do not want to go through the whole driveway, footpaths, fencing, garden, landscaping thing all over again from scratch and want it already completed, preferably in an “easy-care” way.
However crucially with a near new home comes one important proviso that doesn’t come with older homes, and that is, buyers for your home are going to consciously compare your For Sale Price with that of buying a section and building a new as advertised $1000 a sq metre dwelling on it.
From experience I can tell you that many don’t make the next logical connection, that once you add those two together you still need to allow another $30-50k to satisfactorily complete the driveway & paths, fence the property, landscape it, fit drapes and curtains, garage/workshop bench/shelving fit out, garden shed and concrete base, clothes line, etc.
Pricing a home is a very subjective thing, no emotion should come into it, it needs to be clinical, easily said, harder done.
If one of the agents who appraised your property got it right 100% of the time, don’t you think they have just hit on the idea for what might become the most successful non-food related franchisee idea in the world.
If they do get it right 100% of the time, then shouldn’t they be on a plane to New York, London, Tokyo or Sydney where they would be busy 12-14hrs a day, and become multi-millionaires with-in a year? But alas this isn’t the case, and even valuers who train for years, and spend 8hrs or more a day on the job perfecting their valuer / appraiser skills, still don’t get it right 100% of the time.
If you’ve got a recent opinion of value from an industry professional, then you may have seen something like the above in the attachments, sometimes with colour photos of the relevant SOLD properties.
Its data on sold properties from REINZ, and when completing an appraisal, its one of the sources we use to query comparable properties sold.
As part of the process I conduct to arrive at what I believe is a accurate opinion of value, I extrapolate this data and compile my own comparable SOLD properties price list like so….
This aids me greatly, and should so for others to do it themselves too, in allocating my opinion of value to a property.
Long story short, here is what I do and keep in mind this only works on exact comparables, i.e: New for New – apples for apples style. After pulling all the sq m of homes up, (which I might add some agencies are very slack at entering!) I then subtract the CV value of the land from the overall CV of the property. This should by rights give me a close approximation of the build cost. This build cost is then just reversed back to a sq m costing. That allows me to work out an average or median for that suburb, or even drill down to the actual sub-division itself.
I highlighted land + sub-division above, because this part of the equation is easy, demonstrable and as transparent as can be.
Practically all new land releases/ subdivisions, except for possibly the largest/best/best view block, generally have a price usually with 5% of each other so that helps to make the median on the land side of the maths pretty accurate.
Clicking on the above calculation chart you will see the medians. (admittedly based on a smaller sample than I would like, but had no other choice for this data range)
In the above example, it shows $1393m2 based on CV wise and $1402m2 based on the actual selling price. You would also be wise to look at “days to sell” in conducting this opinion.
These calcs work well, as I mentioned above, for new or near new builds, its not so reliable for older homes.
A reasonably tight range I might say, if an agent came along and said I can sell it for $X, and yet that price worked out to say, $1650m2.
If its $250m2 more expensive that the past recent solds, then the home had better have a reason that no one has seen or been made aware of yet.
Does it have hidden cellar, fallout shelter, a walk in fridge, a hidden outdoor entertainment area with winter fire/pizza oven, perimeter lighting with laser security spotlighting & CCTV Alarm feature, copper spouting, whole house underfloor heating powered by solar roof panels, etc I’m sure you get the idea.
If it has cost that much to build over the median home build cost for the previously sold dwellings, then buyers better be able to see it, and if all the other agents missed those features above, then, well…..?
So in summary, if an agent came along and told you they “can sell your property for $XXXXX” yet that was $30K above what the other agent said, are they just telling you “what you want to hear” to get the listing? (commonly referred to as BUYING THE LISTING in the industry)
Or can they show and demonstrate how they got to that conclusion, and are those figures / math’s included in your opinion of value given to you in writing, or is it “something they did back at the office.”
In these days, and with such a large amount of money at stake, your home, shouldn’t you be able to see how they justify their opinion?
Keep in mind this is just one of the three methods, I like most agents, use to come to an overall opinion we feel confident to stand by.
June 27 2009 | Buyers and General and Nelson and Sellers and Stats / Sales Data and The Market | No Comments »
There has, for the last 10-15 years, been an increasing percentage of the population for whom conducting themselves online is more preferable in many cases to being “face-to-face.”
In NZ in 2009 for $20 a month extra (at least that’s the case for Telecom) you can speak to just about anyone anywhere on a landline in Australia or New Zealand.
In contrast to this ostensibly easy and not expensive access to talk over the phone, we have still seen Facebook, MySpace and others gaining more traction each year.
Not logical right? Correct.
Skype is different as technically its really just a voice/video ph connection replacement, albeit for free to other Skype users. (for connection to landlines and mobiles you have to pay charges)
So is it possible that some of us more, shall I say, chronologically challenged persons just don’t get it?
Not to put too fine a point on it, I think the answer is yes.
I’ll try to explain.
It hit home for me about 10 years ago when I witnessed an exchange that transpired between two cashiers in a large retail establishment in Wellington.
It seemed that even though these two young lasses were less than 3m away from each other they thought it was more logical to txt each other. That’s even though they also had a telephone on each of their pods and could of internally rung each other and discussed the night before much less visibly that both of them txting each other. Together with this as they were less than 3m away from each other, with no walls or barriers, so even if one of them lowered their voice, the other would still hear.
That was my insight into the “developing” social skills that these teenage youngsters were germinating. What I thought was logical sure wasn’t by them!
With the current fiscal situation, spending being cut back, events like 9/11, the London bombings, the Bali ones in this part of the world still reasonably fresh in older individuals minds, wars on terror, overall reductions in traveling citing safety concerns, higher energy costs, threats from many corners, its quite understandable that we could see more insular behavior from people, and therefore more cocooning type activities.
Wikipedia reports
The term (cocooning that is) was coined in the 1990s by Faith Popcorn a trend forecaster and marketing consultant. Popcorn identified cocooning as a commercially significant trend that would lead to, among other things, stay-at-home electronic shopping. (well, she definitely got that right didn’t she?)
The term Cocooning has progressed to, of course, e-cocooning. Then a natural extension of that was to the term tele-cocooning.
Obviously the practical benefits of tele-commuting or working from home in many cases outweighs showing up to the office, and for some certain remote locations is the only choice. Tele-cocooning more broadly describes a “social/personal choice” rather than an action like tele-communting.
In all of this it was the more recent phenomena of social networking that certainly wasn’t predicted that well.
Cocoonings overall effect on Real Estate? ……..I believe still growing in NZ……….after all you wouldn’t build a new 3-4 bedroom home today with out a study, would you?
According to a recent 2009 AVID study, over 41% said they must have a home office/study while a further 35% “really want” one. Another 14% said it would be nice if affordable.
According to polled answers from US home builders, who thought that although there was a growing trend to downsize overall home size, that flew in contrast with things like 26.7% of folk “Must Have” an “Oversized Shower with seating” while 36.2% “Really Want” one, and a further 20% would if it was affordable.
PHOTO CREDIT – Shower Photo – Trendir.com
This report from a North American site talks about the next phase after cocooning….
The latest trends reflect the realities of life. After Sept. 11, 2001, a pall was cast over the nation, and people wanted to “nest” in their homes. Today, instead of cocooning, people are turning to “hiving” says interior designer Kathy Adcock-Smith. “They are doing more at home,” she says, “they are multitasking with entertainment, food, theater, and work.”
Home design hasn’t changed overnight, but it is evolving. Nesting calls for soothing, quieter colors, plushier fabrics, and lots of pillows. Hiving means livelier color, less clutter, multifunctional workspaces, and more opportunity for interactivity. Why shouldn’t you want to whistle while you work at home? Hiving also means having more luxury at home by scaling down.
“Hiving” entails making connections to others from within our homes.
“Borrowing from the metaphor of a beehive, abuzz with activity, hiving represents engagement, interaction and connection with the outside environment,” according to Yankelovich, a marketing consulting firm that tracks consumer attitudes.
Can you make outdoors attractive to Cocooners?
ABOVE IMAGE – Courtesy of Born Rich website
Well read this, (from a US article obviously) and see if it rings a bell?
Inside Out
There is a large trend of indoor to outdoor living. People want to be outdoors, but they still want to feel as secure and comfortable as if they are indoors. This has led to the desire for screened in porches with fireplaces, outdoor patios and backyards with fireplaces or fire pits, and three-season porches that are decorated just as any other room in the house. Outdoor rooms are in demand. Furniture that can be used both indoors and out is another trend.
So overall this “Concooning” term is really just that, a term for something we have been observing in Real Estate for some years now, and yes it is having an impact, certainly on the style of new homes being built, and perhaps on the extent of renovations in older homes.
And the future….I’ll let Marketingcharts tell the story from a recent study….
Most of the anticipated cost cuts indicate Millennials are hunkering down and embracing an increasingly “cocooned” lifestyle, the survey finds. Seven out of 10 teens and twenty-somethings expect to eat more home-cooked meals; two-thirds plan to eat less fast food; and more than half (53%) say they will stay home more.
June 26 2009 | Buyers and General and The Market | No Comments »
Lifestyle is central to living in the Top of the South, ask many people who moved here from out of town and that’s exactly what they will tell you.
So its always nice to see that vein demonstrated through the realities of a business operation, and reflecting just the sort of benefits that “lifestylers” typically value.
According to a Press Release issued by the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand, New Zealand shoppers have voted Fresh Choice Nelson as the best Fairtrade supermarket in the country with an impressive 47 Fairtrade product lines.
The release says that “consumers nominated Fresh Choice Nelson on the Cnr of Collingwood St Bridge St & (not that other infamous Collingwood St corner 170m south where another Nelson RE agent nearly didn’t make it) because they believe it has a genuine commitment to providing quality produce that is sourced ethically, whether that is organic, local or Fairtrade.”
It goes on to quote Mark A’Court, store manager for Fresh Choice Nelson as saying,
“We believe that it is important to stock quality products that come from farmers who have a decent quality of life: the Fairtrade model is just good business.”
As you might know I have spoken of this local supermarket before when highlighting their “buy local” campaign to actively source, promote and sell goods found with-in 200km of the store.
For more information visit: www.fairtrade.org.nz
June 24 2009 | Nelson | No Comments »
This ACT is now law and will be in effect by late 2009. Plain English forms just make sense.
But is there more?….well actually, yes there is.
John Bradley, whom I don’t know, was apparently the Century 21 franchisee in Paraparaumu, and worked in Real Estate with his wife Andrea, for 10 years. The rest of his story is here.
John states
As a result of his experiences, John now has a vivid understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
OK I’ll be the first too admit I haven’t read all 93 pages yet, but John has obviously put some real time & effort into this tome, and by letting all and sundry download it for free, shows the type of chap he is.
You can also see, read and download the whole new 2008 ACT from his website too.
From a glance and quick read through the first two chapters it certainly appears to be informative.
I was actually testing out a new TV device at the time, and happened upon Parlimentary TV at the exact time when Clayton Cosgrove was talking the Bill through its final reading, and so was listening at that time to both sides of the debate.
For all NZ Real Estate agents who want to prepare themselves, and have ancilliary knowledge (in addition to Industry bodies notifications and seminars) of the new Real Estate Agents Act 2008, passed into assent last September, and which becomes law in NZ later this year, it wouldn’t hurt to check this out.
And did I mention, its a free download.
June 22 2009 | New Zealand and The Market | No Comments »
Hold on a minute, that’s the suburb I live in. What can I say?
Colour me impressed, however I will admit when people from other parts of NZ tell you there local RE experience in relation to home prices, you sit back, look at your local Stoke Real Estate market and ask yourself “another blip on the radar, perhaps?” Regular readers here will know from my commentary that this blip has repeated itself often over at least the last 6 mths. Now the figures are out!
The Herald on Sunday reports that in comparison, Central Auckland copped the heaviest hammering.
It seems many times over the last few months when I have written about “how busy we are” or how prices for homes locally are holding up (re my recent quoting of % of sell price ach’d compared to listing price) that nay-sayers come out of the woodwork.
Well, love to hear what they will say about this now.
The main reason I decided to include that % difference between asking & selling was because frankly, locally I am tired of buyers from out of town, usually the big smoke, telling me “well I just lost $50,000 on selling my place, and so therefore I’m going to attempt to recoup it by offering $290,000 on this advertised $340,000 property.”
As a Real Estate Marketer I am tasked with educating interested parties, especially buyers, the state of our local market. But once confronted with how strong it is, they still doubt, and place silly almost ridiculous offers. Of course that is their prerogative.
What the article illustrates is that in some parts of NZ those silly offers may have got further, but the report in todays Herald on Sunday does make one thing patently clear to me, NOT in STOKE!
In the depth of Andrea Milners article comes the following……
While most homeowners have watched their home values slide since the market peak at the end of 2007, Stoke, Pukekohe and Wellington Central defied the downturn, enjoying gains. Papakura’s median has stayed the same, and Auckland’s Mt Albert has seen only 0.1 per cent shaved off.
So hand in hand with Supply and Demand, will be any effects from Immigration & Unemployment. So I’m sure the Herald will be just like me, and will watch keenly how the rest of 2009 pans out.
Just in case you also missed it, Gareth Kiernan, MD of Infometrics, also rated Nelson on top in his latest regional property market indicator.
He compared average sales volumes, days time to sell and prices over 73 suburbs, for the 3mths to May.
His results were…
“The five top-scoring areas are Richmond in Nelson, Auckland’s eastern beaches, Titirangi in West Auckland, Albany on Auckland’s North Shore and Eastern Wellington.”
And here’s another view from residents originally from further south, in an article also published today in the Herald on Sunday.
For more info on Stoke, go here.
June 21 2009 | Nelson | No Comments »
Now this is good news for Real Estate persons, and great news for buyers too.
The above headline is being made by Layar this week, and they’ve been getting some attention in the last few days because of their software. Regular readers may remember my previous posts on situation awareness and location awareness.
What is this Layar then?
I’ll let them, Layar, (by SPRXmobile) explain.
Layar is a free application on your mobile phone which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone.
Layar is available for the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic and other Android phones in Android Market for the Netherlands. Other countries will be added later. Planned roll-out dates for other countries are not known yet.
So hows does that work?
This is reality.
This is AR, or Augmented Reality.
Well lets say you’re new to a town, and set out on a scouting mission.
You arrive at the highest part of the town, and glancing around you notice that particularly attractive small seaside suburb “over there.”
Now sure you can use your mobile to take a pic or video or even utilizing its built-in GPS be location aware, perhaps with a bit of help from something like Google Maps.
But what say as you pan an area with your mobile phone, bits of info, in our example case as you pan across Canal Lane,………
……up pops a photo onto your mobile that informs you there is a home for sale “down there” on that street in your view at no. 18, and then in an info screen at the bottom tells you some more basic details about it, plus its real easy to request further info/data.
Here’s the first paragraph from their 16th June Press Release that hints at other uses for this addition to location awareness.
AMSTERDAM, Tuesday June 16th, 2009. Mobile innovation company SPRXmobile launches Layar, worlds first mobile Augmented Reality browser, which displays real time digital information on top of reality (of) in the camera screen of the mobile phone. While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, jobs, healthcare providers and ATMs. The first country to launch Layar is The Netherlands. Launching partners are local market leaders ING (bank), funda (realty website), Hyves (social network), Tempo-team (temp agency) and Zekur.nl (healthcare provider).
Sounds promising for Real Estate use I’d say. Likewise I could imagine a new town resident looking for some temporary accommodation would find this beneficial too.
Wouldn’t you believe it, just as I am finishing writing about this, up pops this, another player on the scene, a bit out of left field but at least another glance at the possiblities for this technology. Even a version here to replace your car GPS that actually looks even better, and its on an iPhone. Actually seems there’s a few out there.
June 20 2009 | Technology and photography | No Comments »
Two technologies meet for the benefit of Real Estate?
Heard of Google Earth?
And Oogle Tours?
I thought so.
I’m here to report today on something that can only be construed as “about time” and one of those that makes you sit back and say “why not”, plus at the same time “why didn’t someone thing about this before……………and if they did why didn’t they decide to go forth with it?”
It is just so obviously such a good thing. And I suggest in 12-24 months, will (should) be accepted as the “norm.”
The Guided Photo Tour at Starward Homes in the US, that’s what I am talking about.
The above graphic is similar to a normal overlay on Google Earth.
But if you merge a couple of things……
…well then you can not only imagine what your new home (this is advance preview for a new housing estate) will look like, but you can see perfectly where connecting roads are, intersections, and utilizing the Google Earth features available on this site, see where the elevations are, recognise your situation relevant to your neighbours, visualize the local parks and reserves, etc.
Another thing is the overall interactiveness, “easy access” of the Starward site, and the fact that most all of the visual pages have an accompanying Adobe Acrobat download. Many Oceania sites could take something from this.
After visiting, you simply cannot leave this site and say you were not informed.
Now to my mind, that’s what the internet should really be about.
Just in case you thought this was all they did, if you are a developer you should also check this out, and the associated links. Oogle Tours link here.
June 19 2009 | Technology | No Comments »
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