Google Maps adds real estate option

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Google has added real estate search to Google Maps in Australia and New Zealand. Properties for sale or rent can be viewed on the existing maps with additional photos and details available with a click of the mouse.

Private users’ listings are added via sites such as homehound and myhome and there are also estate-agent based listings available as well.

House-hunters input the area they are interested in and advance options such as type of properties, price range, floor area range, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and parking spaces.

The system was developed by workers at Google’s Sydney office and it is expected that the service will be expanded to the US first and then the rest of the globe.

With many individuals already using Google Map’s streetview to look around areas and particular streets that they are interested in, the move to include real-estate listings is a logical one.

(via The Age)

See how much your parking space or garage is worth with Park Let

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Here’s one for the financially-motivated amongst you. Park Let is a website that lets you find out exactly how much that parking space outside your house that’s just housing a skip, or garage full of old lego, could be rented out for.

It’s free to use, and gives you a range of prices from low to high in your local area, based on data from the company (which makes its money from letting out those spaces). It’ll probably drive down prices a little bit, but at the same time, it’ll also likely bring them a whole bunch of new customers.

Whether or not you want to rent out your garage or parking space, it’s interesting to see how much it would go for. One outside my house in North London goes for £112 in the medium/all category. How much is yours worth? Play Parking Space Top Trumps in the comments.

(via CrunchGear)

Microsoft Equipt launching in UK next Monday: rent Office software

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Microsoft has announced that it will be launching its Equipt software subscription service in the UK next week. We announced the service in July, when it became available to US customers for $70 per year.

The service offers Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Windows Live OneCare, and Windows Live tools for an annual subscription of £59.99 (the exchange rate rip-off is at work again). It will initially be sold through PC World.