Pittsburgh Homes Daily

Last weekend, Joel Burslem asked whether anyone in the industry was willing to step up to the plate and create a site to track real estate news.  I looked into it and 10 hours later, it’s almost looking like a functioning website.  So:

This morning, I am pleased to announce that I am releasing Digg for real estate, my own Digg-like social networking / bookmarking / search site for real estate professionals, called Housing News.  I expect to be working out bugs for some time, but it is far enough along to float a test balloon and see if there is interest in the industry for me to develop it further.

It is built using Pligg, an open source project that is currently in beta testing.  As I see it, there are several advantages to it.  First, the site / interface is open to customization.  Looking for a feature?  Let me know what it is!  Don’t like a part of the site?  We can change it!

Second, the user (if allowed by the site owner) can switch between different templates for the site.  You won’t be able to have the two column or three column Housing News debate, because eventually, you will have the option of choosing your preferred version.  I currently have that feature disabled because I haven’t customized the other templates, though.

Third, the website can pick up and publish rss feeds almost automatically.  If I input a website rss feed into a script and run the script, it will publish the posts to Housing News.  This means that the site could serve as a blog / news aggregation site until there are enough people posting articles and voting to make the human edited component meaningful.  I currently have to manually enter the rss feeds and run the script though.

Finally, because it is open source, there is a dedicated group of professionals committed to helping develop the code and adding features.  They don’t just want to be digg.  They want to be the next digg!

What am I still working on about the site?

1. The search feature is, dare I say it, just broken.  It usually returns all results, unless you search by a tag, and then it sometimes returns all results. 

2. I have taken off the RSS feed that is published by the site because it is not properly handling some website addresses and descriptions.

3. You can submit a page through another website by bookmarking / favorite: Submit to Housing News.  The submit part of it works fine (though you have to register).  However, I haven’t worked out the corresponding: Vote for this article on Housing News, for a site that has already been submitted.  I also need to make a smoother transition to voting when the page has already been submitted.  Currently, it says that it is already posted to the site and sends you to the search page (which is broken).

4. I’d like to customize the color scheme and categories.  I also need to figure out how the queued posts are ordered and take off the multiple register / login buttons from the site.

5. I am currently allowing semi-anonymous voting (it tracks IP addresses if you aren’t logged in.)  When there are enough people participating, I’d like it all to be registered.  Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to allow anonymous submitting until that time, so you have to register to submit.

6. Need to develop a privacy policy.  Don’t worry: no spam will be sent from me I can’t say that others won’t be able to get your email though.  I honestly haven’t looked into it yet.

7.  Top stories currently only require 2 votes.  I’ll up that when it’s warranted.

8. I’m going to play with a digg-like feature that allows you to post the top stories on your website.  I’ve seen the code working, so it’s just a matter of customizing it.

9. Images in posts don’t display.

What do I need your help with?

Glad that you asked! 

First, please play around with the site.  Tell me what doesn’t work for you, what browser, etc.  Also tell me what you like and what you don’t.  After all, it is a site for all of us.

Second, if you would like to have your feed automatically submitted, please let me know.  I’m going to load them up 5 at a time or so so that it isn’t overwhelmed and I can test to make sure it is working.  Any volunteers?

Third, if you find it useful, pitch in or spread the word.  There’s no way that I have the time or desire to code, test and submit everything that probably should be.  So if you can help, I’d love to figure out a way for you to do so.  Users are welcome

I guess that’s it (at least for now).  I present: Housing News.