Picket Report Statement

Earlier today, we were made aware of some offensive and unacceptable content on Picketreport.com.  Our website aggregates content created by third party vendors. In this case, we did not carefully review the neighborhood descriptions, which are provided by a vendor, prior to the launch of our site yesterday. As soon as we became aware of the content, we removed it.

This is a tremendously embarrassing and humbling experience for our young company, and one we regret more than we can explain.  We promise to find a new and better way to share community information in a way that is informative and not offensive.

We apologize profusely for this experience and anyone we may have offended.

-PicketReport.com

Groupon for Real Estate

We happened to stumble upon a startup company called KeepSum at the Inman Connect Conference in NYC. KeepSum is the “Groupon for Real Estate”. It’s a great way for Realtors to keep track of all the new technology or other products as well as an excellent way for new startups (Like us!) to get their product in front of Realtors.

The process is simple, sign up and KeepSum will alert you of the new deals. If you’re interested in the deal, go to their site and click on “Get Now” and they’ll send you a coupon code for the product. Most of the coupons are for at least 60% off. Some of the deals that are up right now are Unlimited Electronic Signatures for $9/month and $20 Off professional floor plans for your listings.

If you’re interested in saving money for you business, KeepSum is definitely the place to look!

Our New Office!

Picket Report is so excited to announce that we have moved from our first office into one of the premier office locations in downtown Detroit, the Compuware building.  We are now on the ninth floor, with fantastic views of the city, the Detroit River, Comerica Park where the Detroit Tigers play, Ford Field where the Detroit Lions play, and even Canada (where Canadians play?).  Anyhow, the space is a perfect fit for us, allows us to grow, and even has an open air balcony!  Needless to say, we are so excited to be here!  This is the first of two exciting announcements coming this week.  Stay tuned for the second one!

For more information about us or to learn more about your area – go to picketreport.com

Who’s using PicketReport.com?

So the other day I was kind of curious to know where all the people who had been using PicketReport.com were coming from. So I did a little research in our Google Analytics to find out more and figured I’d share it with everyone.

One of the cool pieces of info I found was that we’ve had visits from over 65 countries. Other than the U.S., the other top countries were Canada, India, United Kingdom, Australia and Brazil. Here’s a map of the countries we’ve had visits from (light green = few visits and dark green = lots of visits).

When I drilled down further into the U.S. to see which states are using PicketReport.com I found that Michigan (surprise! If you weren’t aware, we are based out of Detroit) was the top state, with California, New York, Texas and Illinois rounding out the top 5 (See below). The cool thing about this is that we’ve had people from all 50 states visit the site!

Now for personal reasons I was curious to know which cities in particular, all the traffic is coming from. And surprise, the majority was from Detroit (with a lot of help from our friends at Quicken Loans) along with New York City, Chicago, Mishawaka (Indiana) and San Francisco. (Picture below)

So now you know where people are researching neighborhoods from! If you want to know more about your neighborhood be sure to check out PicketReport.com to learn about the lifestyles, schools, amenities and safety of an area.  If you’d like to get this information on your site visit our Facebook page to check out our widget or contact us at brian@picketreport.com or 313.444.3241 for information about our Lifestyle API.

Do You Really Need Self-Storage?

Self-storage is a massive industry that goes unnoticed until you need it. You may obliviously drive by the rows of units on a daily basis. I know I did, until I started working in the storage industry as a Marketing Analyst at SpareFoot.com. And even though I’m in the industry and I love when people use our site to find storage, the sad truth is that the vast majority of storage renters have paid more to store “stuff” than that stuff is actually worth.

Along with movers, realtors, and perhaps recruiters, self-storage is one of the industries synonymous with a big move. There are myriad reasons that people rent a storage unit during a move, but three of them can be calculated like an investment: home staging, downsizing, and renovations. This post will walk you through some simple calculations to determine whether self-storage would be a net positive or negative investment for your move.

Home staging
If you’re selling a house, you already know the importance of a well staged home. Professional home stagers usually remove about half of your home furnishings, and if you don’t have a place to store it, self-storage can be the simplest solution.

Although houses can be shown without home staging, professional staging raises the selling price of a home by 6-20%, according to StagedHomes.com. We will use the bottom end, six percent, to calculate whether you should use storage for home staging. We will assume it takes six months to sell the house and move to a home with space.

(List price of home * .06) – (monthly cost of a storage unit * 6) = net profit/loss

If my home is listed at 200,000 and large storage units near my home rent for $280 per month, then a successful home staging would put $10,320 in my pocket.

($200,000 * .06) – ($280 * 6) = $10,320 net profit

Downsizing
Moving stuff into storage in order to downsize into a smaller home is harder to justify. A successful downsize usually requires getting rid of stuff, but a good storage unit can be a good investment with a large enough downsize.

You should know your current and predicted monthly expenses, whether you’re renting (rent and utilities) or owning (mortgage, homeowners insurance, property tax, and utilities). This formula will help determine whether you should store or sell your excess furnishings for a serious downsize into a smaller home or apartment.

(Current monthly expenses) – (predicted monthly expenses) – (monthly cost of a storage unit) = monthly profit/loss

For example, if my current home costs $1,450 per month in upkeep costs, and I’m planning on moving to a smaller home that costs $1,100 per month, my storage unit must cost less than $350 in order to justify this move. If I find a unit that can hold all these items for $150, that’s potentially worth my time and effort to move to a smaller residency.

($1,450) – ($1,100) – ($150) = $200 per month

If you come up with a monthly loss, you’d be better off selling these furnishings and repurchasing them when the time comes.

Renovations
Home improvement is one of the quickest ways to add value to your investment. It is also one of the quickest ways to drive an entire household crazy. Not only is the room you’re renovating in a half-complete state, the displaced items cause clutter throughout the rest of the house. If you value your peace, renovations are an acceptable use of short-term self-storage.

(Cost of reno – future value of reno) – (monthly cost of a storage unit * months stored) = net profit/loss

If I’m changing my kitchen floor from ugly tile to hardwood, I’ll say it costs $3,200 to renovate but will increase the value of my home by $3,500. But the project will take two months, and I need a 5’ x 10’ to store all the appliances and dishes. If I can’t find a storage unit that fits my needs for under $150 per month, I will have to put up with a dishwasher sitting in my living room in order to profit from the renovation.

Conclusion
For all other purposes of self-storage, it should be a simple equation: am I going to pay more than what this stuff is worth in order to store it?

(Value of goods stored) – (monthly cost of a storage unit * months stored)

This equation makes it apparent that while short-term storage can be justified, long-term storage is often a bad financial decision. The all-too-common underlying problem of too much stuff should be solved in another manner. Sell, donate, or gift the stuff you were going to store. You don’t want to pay out of pocket just to have the ability to be a packrat.

Tony Emerson is a Marketing Analyst at SpareFoot.com. He’s helped a wide variety of storage seekers (from military in Colorado Springs to students in his hometown of Austin, TX) make the right financial decision on self-storage. SpareFoot.com also powers SelfStorage.com, a storage finder and resource for storage operators.

Where do people move to/from?

I was just recently reading a recent blog by Quicken Loans and thought I would reshare. Forbes has a nice interactive map that displays where the 4o million people move to and from each year. You can check it out here.

The Top Three U.S. Cities for Public Transportation

Today our guest blogger, Margot, from the Blog Content Guild, provided us with a great write-up of the Top Three Cities for Public Transportation.

Figuring out where you want to move doesn’t have to be as difficult as quantum physics is for an English major. You just have to decide what you want out of a city, and make a list of cities that fit your criteria. As many of us become more environmentally aware and downright frustrated with sitting in traffic, cities that have good public transportation systems become increasingly popular. Unfortunately, moving to a public transit friendly location like New York could have its downsides. You might have to live in a tiny apartment and put half of your possessions in a Brooklyn storage facility on the other side of town. No place you move will be perfect, but here are three cities to consider if you want to trade your car keys for a fare pass.

1. Portland, Oregon is one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the U.S. So, it makes sense that its public transportation system is highly efficient. You can go almost anywhere you need to in Portland on the Trimet light rail or on one of the city’s many bus lines. If you need to get around downtown, you can do so for free. Getting around the rest of the city won’t cost you much. Fares range from $1.75 to $4.25, depending on how far you’re going and whether or not you buy a day pass. If you want to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Portland skyline and landscape, you can ride on Portland’s innovative Aerial Tram.

2. If you want to move someplace with an impressive public transportation model, consider Denver. According to U.S. News and World Report, Denver is the best place in the nation to ride on a bus, shuttle, or rail. If you need to get to the airport in a hurry in Denver, you can hop on an affordable Sky Ride bus. And you can reach any shopping destination at Denver’s Street Mall for free on a MallRide Bus. If you’re still not sold on Denver’s public transportation prowess, you should know that city plans to spend millions of dollars to improve their bus lines and light rails over the upcoming years.

3. Some New Yorkers will disagree, but New York City is considered one of the best cities for public transportation in the U.S. NYC’s accolades are based almost entirely on the city’s mammoth subway system, which can get you wherever you need to go in the Big Apple. Plus, the state government spends more money on public transportation in New York than it does anywhere else. It makes sense that the public transportation system is relatively efficient in a city where most people don’t drive.

So, if you’re tired of guzzling gas and twiddling your thumbs during rush hour, consider ditching your car and moving to one of the three cities above.

If you’re planning on moving to Portland, Denver or New York City and want to know more about the neighborhood be sure to stop by PicketReport.com and research the area!

Moving Tips From an Observer.

Recently I helped my parents move. Talking with them the past couple of months and then finally moving them, there were a few things that really stood out to me, that might make your move a little bit easier.

Communicate. If you have a family and friends helping make sure they know what goes where, what’s going and what’s staying. It’s easy to get lost in the madness of trying to cram everything into the moving truck, just make sure you communicating along the way with everyone.

Preparation. This probably seems obvious, but planning ahead is key.  My parents started sorting through their belongings and furniture months before they  moved. They chose what they wanted to keep and sold the rest in garage sales, gave away to charity or family and friends.

When you’re preparing for the move, know exactly what you’re taking and how much room it’s going to take up in the moving truck. If you think you know exactly how much space it’s going to take up in the truck, prepare for more. It’s better to have extra space than leave something behind.

Label. One Thing I thought my parents did really well was label all the boxes. They knew they were going to be putting most of their belongings in storage until they found a permanent home, so they made sure they knew what was in each box. You don’t have to put a list of everything, just a rough idea, so you’re not looking through everything trying to find where you put your tie clips.

There are plenty of tips and helpful guides to moving on the interweb. I just wanted to share a couple of things that stood out to me that might make moving just a little bit easier!

One more thing, while looking for moving pictures I noticed that everyone looks very happy (yeah I know they’re fake, but come on!), like the one below. Have they ever moved?

If you’re still researching where you’re going to be moving to, be sure to check out PicketReport.com and learn everything there is to know about your neighborhood!

Anatomy of a Happy Home (Infographic)

For those of you who are  married or living together (or will soon), Trulia put together an infographic on what are the 11 features in the house that they thought would best enhance their relationship. Pretty cool stuff!

 

Our favorite Steve Jobs quotes

Our Co-Founder and CTO, Patrick Misch, picked out some great quotes from Steve Jobs. We wanted to share them with you.

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.”

“That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works”

“It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much.”

“We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”

R.I.P. Steve Jobs, your creativity and innovation has blessed and touched many people. Thank you.