The San Francisco Citizen

Google Maps just added real estate listings as an optional search.  This comes on the heels of the very useful Google Transit. It seems our Friends at the Googleplex seem to think we want more everything:

Google Maps is evolving from a driving directions and business search tool, to a comprehensive representation of all the world’s information, on a map.” That’s why Google Maps started to integrate different layers of information when you search for an address and it added a new “More” button to enable layers for photos and Wikipedia articles.

Don’t count on this new service to show you a complete picture of the Bay Area real estate scene (there’s no listing shown for Red Rock Island for example), but it’s a great start. You can even refine your search by number of bathroooms, etc. Get started by simply clicking on “Show search options.”

Pretty soon, we won’t need real estate agents or brokers for anything, right?

Welcome to the future!

To find out, let’s hear from Jordan Kobert, former Strategic Operations Manager of the San Francisco Chronicle. After getting numerous phone calls to get him to sign up for six months of home delivery, he talked with a salesperson and then rejected the idea:

“Less than a dime a day and I said no.

Did I mention I used to work at the Chronicle…”

That’s got to hurt. Apparently, the folks selling subscriptions are wheeling and dealing, so you can get it for less than a dollar a week. They might even let you name your own price and they might even throw you a $10 Target gift card.

It’s quite obvious the Chronicle, like the free San Francisco Examiner, gets a great deal of value from your eyeballs reading their ads reliably on a daily or almost daily basis. Maybe this is a good deal  for you?

Which job is lonelier - shilling for the New York Times or the San Francisco Chronicle? Tough call.