policymap.com – all the demographic data you need !

By James Wexzilla

Joel Burslem, Founder and author , of one of the best real estate blogs, Future of Real Estate Marketing.com , recently brought attention to , as he describes, a “pretty cool” new site called PolicyMap.com ; the site offers:

“over 4,000 indicators related to demographics, real estate, crime, health, schools, housing affordability, employment, energy, and public investments.” where you can ” Search any location by address, census tract, county, state, zip code, school district, or Congressional district ”.

The information can be viewed in well designed multi-colored maps where you can ” zoom the map to your area of interest: a state, city, zip code, census tract, address, congressional district or school district”.

You can view tables to compare data across places and look at date over time” and “generate reports within specific geography from the community profile, IRS taxReport, housing data, and home mortgage reports and rental housing data.”

In Joel Burslem’s Blog about PolicyMap , he points out that he could “see (him) self possibly using PolicyMap to investigate a move to a new neighborhood”

As a Realtor at Coldwell Banker, I am often asked about specific demographic questions such as racial makeup, religion base, gender, age, criminality, etc…

However, for several reasons, including not knowing such changing data well enough to answer, the actual answers clients are looking for, and most importantly, Fair Housing Laws protecting discrimination, I am not at liberty to discuss.

However, as a Real Estate professional, I want my clients to have the information, they need personally, to make the right decision on where to live for their family. Policy Map provides one of the best tools on the market to point buyers, sellers, investors and Realtors to, as they describe, a “goldmine of information” you need to make an informed buying or selling decision.

Click here to read this article which appeared on Wexzilla on May 24th, 2008.