Better Homes and Gardens Online has something to offer everybody. In addition to the real estate arm of Better Homes and Gardens (accessible through the site), you'll find a comprehensive preview of the magazine as well as the Better Homes television broadcast. The site is one of the most consumer-friendly resources on the Internet. Well-designed, colorful, and thoughtfully planned, it caters not only to home buyers and sellers, but also to those seeking home improvement and remodeling advice, a few good recipes, gardening and lawn tips, and much more.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate hasn't received quite as much publicity as companies such as Century 21 or ERA, for example. Yet it's an international network of more than 800 firms with more than 1,600 offices and more than 25,000 licensed sales associates in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Thailand. Established in 1978, the Real Estate Service is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

The site's real estate link contains company-related news and industry news, as well as links to the National Association of Home Builders and National Association of Realtors Web sites. A "Home Finder" link asks users to enter a city and state (or a city/province in Canada) and then lists local offices, their respective telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses, as well as hot home listing links. A test entry (I entered Napa Valley near San Francisco) then asked me a series of questions: What kind of car I drove, how many bedrooms and bathrooms I wanted, my desired price range, and how I wanted the results of my search displayed on screen. My search produced 20 properties. For each, I was given the opportunity to "map it" in order to get a closer look at its location; however, photos of properties were not available -- a disappointment and surprisingly inconsistent with the general high quality and comprehensiveness of the Better Homes and Gardens site.

The site redeemed itself, however, with its "Find a Neighborhood" link, which allows users to locate information about any neighborhood in the country -- including maps of neighborhoods, community facts, school information, crime rates, and climate reports. For fun, I entered the address of a relative, who lives in a neighborhood north of Dallas with which I'm familiar -- so that I could compare the site's findings to my own impressions. Granted, this summer's temperatures (as high as 108 degrees) and the site's average August temperature for Dallas (95 degrees) didn't match. But the other information was helpful and most important, up to date. I found data on the median household income within that area, its state income ranking, national income ranking, average age of residents, percentage of married households, and percentage of households with children. This is an excellent resource for relocating families looking for the best neighborhoods for their children, and who are doing their preliminary research on the Web.

"Find a Neighborhood" users also are provided with the address and phone number of the local independent school district, grade range, number of schools, number of teachers and students, and teacher-to-student ratio, as well as a state and national ranking of that school district. The link provides the median housing value within a particular neighborhood and then shows a breakdown by percentage, using a pie graph. A crime index shows state and national ranking, as well as percentage of chance that you'll be either the victim of a crime or a "bodily crime." Again, the data is up to date and is a good resource for relocating families to take into consideration. Users also may check out state facts -- including state tree, state bird, population density (how many people per square mile), state nickname, median income, and more -- as well as local maps of their prospective new neighborhoods (with options to zoom in and out).

Additional sublinks through the real estate arm of the Better Homes and Gardens site are home buying and selling advice (both for first-time buyers and experienced home owners), relocation information, and helpful success strategies for agents. The relocation sublink includes a comprehensive needs analysis, housing cost comparisons, tips for holding a successful garage sale, and advice for planning a moving calendar. Suggested strategies for getting your home sold include advice for holding a successful open house, pricing your home correctly, the "low-down" on how the marketplace works, advice for upgrading your marketing approach, and what kinds of information you should obtain about your new hometown before you move.

Once you've exhausted yourself browsing through the site's real estate link, head back to the home page and browse through the magazine, where you'll find plenty of ideas for decorating your new home or the home you plan to sell. You can even plan the vacation you're going to take when you've settled into your new home; the site contains travel information and advice. You also may search through recipe archives, subscribe to the magazine, head to the "Home Forum" for an online discussion on various home-related issues with other readers, or go on an online shopping spree for your new home. From kitchen accessories and appliances to paint to cookbooks to wall stencils, you'll find plenty of opportunities for your credit card. There's even a guide to parenting, with more than 100 articles covering every aspect of raising children.

This one-stop online resource will keep you busy for hours. Bookmark Better Homes and Gardens Online; rest assured you'll be back.

Published: August 11, 1998

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