By: Wayne Robins Looking to set down stakes in Stafford? Or searching for a nice spot in Spotsylvania? The "Find A Home" section on the Web site of
The Free Lance-Star, a 46,250-daily-circulation newspaper in Fredericksburg, Va., is the place to go (
http://www.fredericksburg.com/Homes).
The section went online in midsummer, and though the "Grand Opening" isn't until next month, the site is growing as fast as this increasingly populated area 60 miles south of Washington and 60 miles north of Richmond.
"It's now the most heavily trafficked area on our site," said Wendy Barnes, Internet sales director for fredericksburg.com. Updated every two hours, the section lists between 1,400 and 1,600 homes for sale at any given time.
A recent check of the new-listings page (homes added in the last 48 hours) showed 29 new entries, ranging from a three-bedroom/two-bathroom/split-foyer home listed at $105,000 in Caroline, Va., to a four-bedroom colonial house in Loudon, Va., listed at $724,463.
The Web site draws on information in the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors' (FAAR) Multiple Listing Service database.
"We have had a partnership with
The Free Lance-Star for a number of years, not only with the Internet site they created for us but with a print magazine," said Pat Breme, FAAR's executive vice president.
Listings are free, but the site hopes to profit from Realtors buying "e-card" advertisements, with contact information, Web site links, and photos.
"The refreshed site is fairly new, so their outreach for specialized advertising is still in the beginning stages," Breme said. "But those who have advertised with them are very happy."
The site offers everything from mortgage calculators and rates to relocation information.
"We also partnered with them because we thought that when people look for a new place to live, they go to a community's newspaper to get a sense of the community," Breme said.
The site's patent-pending "killer app" is the ability to deliver multiple listings to Web-enabled phones, so if you're going for a drive on Sunday in Spotsylvania, you can access the listings and get the street address, directions, and other info for the home of your dreams.
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