While we’re on the topic of heatmaps lately, check out Hotpads, a Washington, DC-based company founded in 2005 by three University of Notre Dame roommates in order to make the home-finding process simpler. Their latest product is the rent ratio heat map which uses different colors on a map to highlight areas in a specific geographic area that are better to either rent or buy in. The rent ratio is home’s sale price divided by the rent price of a comparable home in the same neighborhood. A high ratio, highlighted in red on the map, indicates renting is more economic in an area, while blue coloring, a low ratio, means you’d be better off buying a home outright.
Hotpads also allows you to input variables to match your situation so you can see exactly what you can afford to buy and rent helping you make better home-picking decisions. Plus if you want to see if their are, for example, schools, parks, and shopping centers in an area you’re interested in, the company maps such points of interest as well.
Hotpads offers other services as well including a foreclosure map, a renters guide, buyers guide, and even an insurance center.
via techcrunch
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