slightly OT- IF you were looking for a home to rent or Buy?

[Colbyt]

Nope. I am not selling something. I am asking your opinion for a site I am developing.

Guys and Gals this is an easy one. Everyone's opinion is of equal value.

If you went to a web site where homes were listed for sale or rent and there were 11 fields you could search with, what would you add or subtract from the following list? There would be a generous text space for additional info. So here would be things you would use to include or exclude a property from consideration as you searched a database.

Some items like residential, condo, town home for rent and for sale would already be selected BEFORE you were searching.

Please keep in mind you can only have 11 total.

Price : Style : Area : Subdivision : Square footage : Age : Bedrooms : Baths : Half Baths : Basement : Offered By: Agent or owner

I really appreciate the comments for this group as I know from experience there are some sharp people who hang out here.

Just so I stay in character there are also some butts who hang out here. -:)

Colbyt

[Phil-In-Mich.]

{snip}

I don't know which real estate market you are aimed at, so I cannot comment on your selection. And I know what works in the RE market in Upper Midwest won't work in desert south west. I don't think most people in Upper Midwest are all that knowledgeable of subdivision names for most homes, or builder's name. I have heard talk that in other states, sub-divisions are known by the home buyers.

However, in Michigan at least, the local school district is important (FYI: some suburbs here are divided between two or three "consolidated" school districts with neighboring communities, school district names may not coincide with political boundaries.)

And while we are on the subject of web information on real estate, the last Agent I talked to was real keen on distance to local grocery store. For example: 2 major grocery stores within 2-mile radius. Cannot say I have seen such info offered on web based home ads. I still thank by last agent for being so keen on that point.

Phil

[Colbyt]

Your first comment does surprise me but it is in line with comments that others have made. Around here I think most people know the subdivision names, at least the better ones. Since I am setting this up for a multi-county area, I have to keep some things more general than I would if it were for a specific location.

I also think most people relate school districts to subdivisions in a general way. I am hesitant to get into the school district issue because if I provide a field for one, I have to cover them all. There is a limit to how many mysql queries shared hosting can handle effectively.

Your grocery store comment has been echoed once or twice in other replies, both as a positive and a negative. When we first moved to our current location we had to drive 5 miles to buy a gallon of milk. Now we have every store one could want about a mile away. About a mile away is the perfect distance for me.

Colbyt

[Phil-In-Mich.]

{snip}

After re-reading my post, I see what I wrote could be taken a couple of ways, so just to clarify: In my area of the USA, home buyers are very aware of the 'area' as in the political boundaries of the suburb cities, villages, and townships. There is also in some of the larger political boundaries what I call 'communities'. Sub-divisions are a group of homes developed by a builder of 20 to 200 homes of a similar style and price range. There can be 5 or even 10 subdivisions (usually all different builders) in a community, and in some specific cases many communities in a political boundary.

I think I remember someone telling me a 'subdivision; was sometimes ( or someplace) a slang term that equates to suburb city, village or township (what I call a political boundary.). But I had thought your list the query for 'area' was meant for suburb city, village, or township. As I am re-reading , maybe you meant like East or West, a much greater scope of the area than as I took it to mean.

Just wanted to make sure our comments were using words to describe similar things. Don't envy you on your ASP web page design. A lot of long nights ahead of you.

Oh, and yes, keeping up with the floating boundaries of school districts would almost be a semi-full time job any more.

Phil

[Colbyt]

Your definition of subdivision is correct of course. I'm not sure the general public is quite that accurate around here. The dominant subdivision becomes the primary name used for a group of subdivisions.

Since I will be dealing with multiple counties, towns and communities, AREA will in fact be the 8 major points of the compass with a central added and will apply to the county in question. It is the best solution I have thought up to date for defining geo boundaries for so many different and diverse places.

Are you still active in real estate?

Colbyt

[mm]

My mother wanted to live in walking distance of a grocery store. She expected that some day she would not be able to drive, and she didn't want to depend on others for her food. She planned to use a 2-wheeled shopping baskets. Eventually she wasn't able to drive, but by that time, even the 1/2 or 3/4 mile to the grocery was too much for her.

I live less than a half mile from a street with all kinds of shopping, including a supermarket. Yet it's quiet where I am.

My girlfriend for a while lived on a quiet street about 8 miles from the nearest supermarket, most of it on two-laned road overcrowded by all the new housing built. Eventually they built a Giant only 5 miles from her.

I like my situation a lot better.

[mm]

Although renting is not the loser some people claim if you're rent is low enough, I think almost all people have in mind whether they plan to rent or buy when they start to look.

After my father died, we moved when I was in the 6th grade, and the school district was the major thing my mother was looking for.

Do what's best for you financially, and I'm probably in the minority anyhow, but I hate the phrase town home. You can't sell someone a home, only a house, and town house is a perfectly good phrase. Town home was invented by advertising types to make their townhouses seem better than the other guys', but now everyone uses it so it gives no one any advantage.

For girls. I know the difference between Tudor and Gothic, but I don't care much.

Someone should make clear somewhere whether this includes the basement. AFAIKNow, it doesn't, but I still see this as a big source of confusion.

You can't put full and half baths into one field?

[Colbyt]

Not and have it be a numerical field that can be searched with a range __ to __ .

And that has been a complaint of more than one respondent in other forums. Theu want want to search for bedrooms and bathrooms using a number, not a text field. Also consider that many homes now have 2 or more half baths, with a single field two halves make a whole.

There has been much confusion over basements and even the proper way to measure square footage for as long as I can remember. That isn't likely to change anytime soon. Anyone shopping for a home should carry a tape and do their own measuring to get the answer they want.

[mm]

That's an outrage. What if everyone goes out for the day and you leave them alone. Will they mate and have quarter baths?

That's an outrage.

First I measured my apartment to figure out how much space I was moving out of. 1400 square feet. Turned out to be the same as my first and second floor of the new townhouse.

(I guess you coudl sell a home if you sold it with the people who lived there still in it.)