According to Ori Feibush, a local real estate entrepreneur and the founder of South Street's
OCF Realty, the process of finding a house to buy in Philadelphia--or anywhere else in the country, for that matter--is exponentially harder and more complicated than it actually needs to be. Partially, says Feibush, that's due to the fact that for most prospective buyers these days, the process generally begins with a search on a website that is incredibly difficult to navigate. "I liken them to
Craigslist," Feibush adds. "They're often used, but they generally just create frustration for the end-user."
As it happens, Feibush thinks he's come up with a viable solution: An animated real estate-listings website that he likens to "a
SimCity map of Philadelphia, and one that really tells the story of Philadelphia."
While that may indeed sound like a decidedly odd concept, consider the details: The website's map will feature precise boundaries for the city's neighborhoods, which will discourage crafty real estate agents from referring to a Strawberry Mansion property, for instance, as being located in the Art Museum District. As for the listings themselves, says Feibush, they'll be limited to price, number of bedrooms, and number of bathrooms. "You don't need to have a thousand options," he insists.
And yet on the other hand, the city-specific real estate map will come complete with copious details in the form of content from
Naked Philly, the real estate blog maintained by OCF. "We'll have certain bars highlighted, certain restaurants highlighted," says Feibush. "We're really just trying to simplify the process (of home-buying) in an almost fundamentally stupid kind of way."
Feibush also insists that the new website and its attendant map won't be used to give preference to his company's listings. The site, which will be located at
http://nakedphilly.com/map, is scheduled to launch at the end of June.
Source: Ori Feibush, OCF Realty
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighborhood? Please send your Development News tips here.