Location-based lifestyle decisions have been powering the real estate industry for the last two years. The move from the cities to smaller, open spaces and rural affordability kept agents and lenders busier than they’ve been in years.
Helping buyers better understand where to land is the ever-maturing supply of rich community data, troves of ones and zeros that translate into actionable information. Companies like Local Logic are part of a growing sector of property intelligence resources that can be leveraged by the single family or an institutional real estate developer.
To further enhance its services, Local Logic is now connecting via API, or application programming interface, a data bridge, with CrimeoMeter, a national provider of crime information.
The partnership will overlay CrimeoMeter’s connections to official crime reports from police departments and other crime data sources with Local Logic users’ existing feature set.
“Over the years, the request for crime data has become a frequent inquiry from users,” said Vincent-Charles Hodder, CEO and co-founder at Local Logic, in a statement. “With CrimeoMeter, we are supporting our real estate investor clients, as well as user base, to determine how a location is quantified, and ultimately allowing us to deliver a continuously comprehensive look into location.”
Local Logic was reviewed by Inman in 2017, meaning it’s now working with almost five more years of information to help its clients make an array of real estate decisions, from investment locations to empowering a listing presentation.
In 2020, it rolled out a data plugin to enhance listing information on broker and agent websites, Inman reported. Whereas before it shared surface-level information about restaurants and parks, now it unearths volumes of usable bits on transportation trends, noise levels, and zoning, among other factors that help people choose where to live and build.
In 2021, it connected with environmental information and reporting solution, ClimateCheck.
Local Logic’s tools churn data from social, public, private and a host of other sources into usable metrics like walkability and wellness. With CrimeoMeter’s infusion, “the company will provide critical information on safety and its potential effect on revenue and operating costs for real estate investors,” the release said.
Revaluate and TopHap are companies similar to Local Logic, each manipulating what’s behind the scenes to show everyone what’s actually right in front of them. Whereas the former creates likely-to-sell profiles from its algorithms, TopHap offers a nationwide data visualization software through a dynamic mapping experience.
Crime data became a hot issue in 2021, as leaders behind Redfin and Realtor.com called for portals to cease providing it, and did so themselves.
Inman reported on a blog post written by Realtor.com CEO David Doctorow, in which he wrote that “earlier this month, we removed the crime map layer from all search results on Realtor.com to rethink the safety information we share on Realtor.com and how we can best integrate it as part of a consumer’s home search experience.”
At the heart of the debate are fair housing laws. Crime numbers don’t always tell the whole story about a community’s relationship with crime. It can lead to stereotyping and unfair assumptions.
“We believe that Redfin — and all real estate sites — should not show neighborhood crime data,” said Chief Growth Officer Christian Taubman, in a similar [blog post] at the time, entitled, “Neighborhood Crime data doesn’t belong on real estate sites.”
Safety information, not crime stats, are what Taubman believes consumers want.
Nadim Curi, CEO and co-founder CrimeoMeter, said that it’s critical that people have access to information about the crime happening around them, especially when considering new communities.
“Crime is invisible and results in a significant impact on people’s lives, so it’s very important for people to have easy access to up-to-date crime data and public safety information to make informed and better decisions,” he said in the release. “We’re incredibly excited to partner with Local Logic.”
Real estate agents’ ability to directly share crime data can be vague, and how much they can say varies by state.
A traditional tactic is to be “the source of the source.” In other words, telling a client where to look for crime data.
In response to the dust-up over crime figures, Inman contributor Christy Murdock offered ideas on how to communicate with buyers about safety.
“Talk to people in the neighborhood, get involved there, and see if it feels like a fit,” she said. “The reality is that your clients are more likely to ensure their safety by being careful of the company they keep within their home and by setting personal boundaries on inappropriate behavior by their own family and friends. Without that, all the numbers in the world can’t keep them safe.”
