It’s not even 9am and the sun is shining so brightly that I had to draw my curtains closed so I could see what I was reading. April has arrived and you all, I am getting on a plane with my family on Sunday and flying to Florida to visit my parents for the week! Getting Covid tested today so we can use the facilities in my parent’s community (both my husband and I have been vaccinated but haven’t reached the 14 day threshold and my kids are too young to get the vaccine), and generally feeling very optimistic about what the future looks like. Aside from that news, there’s a decent amount of news in the digital sphere that I’m serving up with a side of housing optimism today.
👀 WITH YOUR SPECIAL EYES
Google has been toiling away at making Google My Business more robust and useful to consumers and business owners alike. This week they’ve announced several improvements including updated maps interfaces, indoor live views and pick-up and delivery attributes. The part that’s got our attention from a home builder standpoint is the indoor live views part. At launch the availability only includes airports, malls, and transit stations, but I’m willing to bet that future versions will be made available to anyone who wants to add it. And wouldn’t it be so cool to have your model available to tour in maps?
For now though, map updates will show more comprehensive views of how long it takes to get to a destination and will paint a clearer picture for potential buyers of your communities location to see how that fits into their lives.
WHAT DO WE WANT? NEW HOMES! WHEN DO WE WANT THEM? NOW!
Yes interest rates are rising and yes there’s supply issues, but your shiny new homes are the apple of home buyers eye these days. 60% of people would prefer a brand new home to a resale. This is the highest it’s been since 2003 and is a 6 point increase from 2018. So while interest rates may be making sales slightly harder, and the build time is getting extended, those buyers are still chomping at the bit for your perfectly located, suburban, brand spanking new, Covid free homes. 🎉🏡🥳
UP, UP, AND AWAY IN MY BEAUTIFUL BALLOON
It’s not so much a beautiful balloon as it is an expensive piece of digital real estate but work with me here. My new dedication to witty subheads is hard you all. Anyway, yesterday I put together all of our reporting for clients to see how we performed in March and noticed that by and large, Facebook had gotten more expensive and was driving down impressions and clicks. Today, I read an article that showed me, my explanations for it were not just my gut and a hunch, but were real and proven. The world is coming alive again (see my trip above as evidence) and businesses are buying more ads so things are getting back to prepandemic pricing on Facebook. The bargain was fun while it lasted but I expect these elevated prices to stay. Good new though, even at the elevated prices, Facebook still ranks as one of the more cost effective places to advertise and generate leads.
B-I-G P-O-P-P-A
CCPA, CPDA, CPRA, GDPR, and their newest friend, SB 21-190 always make me think of that Notorius B.I.G song, Mo Money Mo Problems lyric. What is SP 21-190? It’s Colorado’s new consumer privacy law. See we told you this was going to happen; all the states want in on privacy laws. It’s not passed yet, merely up for consideration, but it’s another one to keep an eye on and be mindful of as you consider the implications for your own website.
TAXATION WITH TOO MUCH REPRESENTATION
While my home state hasn’t yet passed a consumer privacy law, they did pass a digital ad tax law to make some money off this cash cow of an industry. Well, it turns out, the law might not be so legal. Oops. A company’s eligibility to be taxed is based on their total income, but then they are only taxed on the portion incurred in Maryland. It’s that first part that’s questionable. Using all income to then tax only a portion seems to not be on the up and up.
Thus concludes my week in review. Due to said travel, next week’s Edit will not take place. Instead I shall be consuming fresh squeezed grapefruit crushes, tuna poke, and excessive amounts of sunshine whilst lounging poolside and engaging in some podcast catch up. And while I do that, Maryland (and much of the country) appears to be getting busy vaccinating large swaths of the public so here’s to brighter days and actually seeing my coworkers in real life sometime in the not too distant future!🧉🍹☀️🏝
