It’s been a bit quiet here on the Kneedl Blog, but worry not, we’re just completely re-coding the site to combat our speed issues. Hopefully we’ll have some exciting news in the coming week or so.
Next up we’re headed to an area almost 100% different to Miami, Fl. the home of the Obamas, Washington DC. At the moment we’re researching neighborhoods, taking photos and planning the new site developments.
If you want to be a Featured Realtor, or can help out with neighborhood recommendations, please get in touch.
Good news! Kneedl.com is now available in Spanish and English.
On every page you’ll see a new button at the top of the page which allows you to switch between the two languages. Its doesn’t just change the text, we actually recommend different neighborhoods based on this switch. Some neighborhoods in Miami are very popular with the Hispanic community and we’ve reflected this with the language switch.
We are unfortunately not able to bring the APIs and Real Estate content in dual language as they are provided by third parties. We’re working through the whole site to translate all the remaining copy.
I’m going to try and publish regular updates on the tweaks and updates we’ve done to the site. I’m a big fan of ‘fail fast, fail often’ so I’ll be putting features live that may not be perfect, but please give us any feedback so we know if we’re going in the right direction.
This week I’ve mainly been fixing and tweaking:
In order for us to recommend neighborhoods on Kneedl.com we’ve gathered information from many different sources and combined this with on-the-ground editorial experience. Our aim is not to tell you about every neighborhood in every city. Our aim is to recommend the best neighborhoods for you.
There are many publicly available up-to-date resources for data such as crime-rates, house prices, schools and healthcare but the latest census in Miami was taken in 2000 and much of this information is actually misleading when you take into account Miami’s property boom and the recent downturn. Neighborhoods that were once small family homes and barren lots now host modern high-rises attracting a younger, more affluent resident.
Statistical relevancy is subjective. What may be an acceptable crime-rate for a young student looking for a bargain apartment may not be acceptable for an elderly couple seeking the quiet life. We’ve weighted the stats by what’s important to our three demographics (young and carefree, family focused and retirees) as well as taking into account the relative desires of Hispanic and non-hispanic residents.
Rather than relying solely on statistical information and trying to develop a fancy algorithm we found the best neighborhood recommendations were made by combining stats with resident testimonial and by unbiased Kneedl staffers actually visiting the neighborhood in person.
