Technology Tuesday

Consumers today are increasingly using the Internet to research and buy everything from books and baubles to cars and houses. Two-thirds of consumer electronics and computer shoppers start their research on the web, 92 percent of web users read reviews when considering a purchase, and 84 percent of real estate transactions start online. To that end, it’s important to use a site that offers the best tools and resources all in one place. For real estate, that site is Sawbuck (www.sawbuck.com).

Most people want to start their home search alone. They don’t want to feel beholden to an agent just to track the sales in their target neighborhood or get a feel for how prices are moving. But when they get serious, or the right house hits the market, they want to start the home buying process right away. Sawbuck was created to streamline the process – from simply searching to making an offer; making sure consumers get the best of everything and saving money along the way.

Sawbuck.com gives buyers unmatched access to real–time MLS data, including active listings, contracts and recent sales, and allows them to set up instant alerts for when things change – with no obligation. When ready, Sawbuck connects buyers and sellers with top local real estate agents, streamlines their transactions, and saves them money at every turn. Buyers who work with Sawbuck’s agent partners get a below-market mortgage, saving thousands up front and hundreds every year.

Sawbuck.com gives consumers more than a list of homes for sale. The site’s search view is unique because buyers can view an infinite number of homes at one time on a navigable and sortable map, which lets consumers choose how they want to search – across an entire metro area or just a single block.

Other key features of Sawbuck.com include:

· News Feed: live market activity within search results – new listings, price changes, contracts and sales – much like Facebook’s status updates. Sawbuck is the only company that does this.

· Custom Videos: In less than a minute, buyers can hear about the main details of a home and see pictures without having to scroll, click or read. The videos are generated for every listing from Sawbuck’s always up-to-date website content, so they remain current even in the ever-changing real estate market.

· Market Guide: an overall look at the local housing market, including total listings, new listings, price reductions, days on market, months of inventory, median sales price, contracts and total sales; filter by property type and number of bedrooms.

· Market Health Score: Sawbuck’s unique score combines metrics for inventory, change in median sales price, “pull-through” (percentage of contracts that close) and “equilibrium” (the balance between new listings, price reductions, contracts and sales); compare the market health of any city, zip code or neighborhood in Sawbuck’s coverage areas.

· Location-aware Mobile Site: On-the-go home shoppers can access the company’s mobile site (m.sawbuck.com) from any web-enabled smartphone.

Throughout September 2010, Sawbuck compared the 30-year fixed mortgage rate available to its customers with the national average rate as reported in Bankrate.com’s weekly survey of lenders, a reliable indicator of mortgage rates for the last 20 years. The average Sawbuck rate was 0.35 percent better. On a $400,000 mortgage, that’s a savings of $83 per month, or $29,711 over the life of the loan. Sellers receive a 20 percent refund of the listing commission at closing.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Sawbuck currently serves twelve metropolitan areas: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, Phoenix, Providence, R.I., San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. The company plans to expand to several new markets in 2010, including Austin, Philadelphia, Portland, San Antonio and Seattle.

Contact Information

@sawbuck

http://www.sawbuck.com/blog/

http://www.facebook.com/SawbuckRealty

http://www.linkedin.com/company/319256

Cynthia Nowak

cnowak@sawbuck.com

Sawbuck: 202.537.0117

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This guest post is part of our Technology Tuesday Series. We seek out the latest and greatest technology companies out there whom we feel offer cutting edge products and services to consumers. Our readers are interested in the financial and real estate industries as consumers and professionals. If you feel that you or your company has something wonderful to offer and would like to write about it, please contact us at liz@dalesiegel.com.