I admit it - I have looked up every home I have ever lived in, homes of people I know, even home addresses of people I don’t particularly care for on Zillow.com. Even though it has proven to be sometimes very close to the the actual values that an appraiser has given me- many times it is way off. This holds especially true since we are a non-disclosure state and as such the actual home prices are not always disclosed. But regardless, I have logged way too many minutes “playing with Zillow”. Now I have a new “tool” that I can throw never to be re-gained time into - ZILPY! Now I have no idea if ZILPY stands for something but it produces HEAT MAPS and well, they’ve got me at HEAT MAPS.

Zilpy is like Zillow for rental properties, with rental price estimates, demographic data and heat maps based on median rental rates.

The new Web site, which launched last week and lists Zillow as a partner company, offers competition to Rentometer.com, another site that allows users to gauge rental prices in a selected area.

Zilpy.com is not a rental listings site. It is a rental research site that allows users to grab automated rental price estimates by address, city or ZIP code, and to refine searches based on type of rental property, a desired rental range, number of bedrooms and a range of square feet. One of the founders referred to the site as “the Trulia for the rental market.”

The heat maps show areas with higher and lower rental prices — red zones feature the highest median rental prices, while dark green shading indicates the lowest rental pricing.

So, since San Antonio is at the top of the list for places to invest in real estate properties- start plugging those addresses! Or if you just want a “general” idea of San Antonio’s rental market just input “San Antonio, TX” and check out the “Heat Map”. HEAT MAP- I love that term!!!