Last week I called for future Carnival of Real Estate hosts to bring back themes to the presentation of the week’s top posts - it just makes the reading so much more fun.

Well RE Revealed delivered the goods and categorized awards based on a critically acclaimed film that was hailed by the Hollywood Reporter as “amiably clunky” and “unapologetically silly.”

It is:

Well, ok, it’s Nacho Libre.

I have to admit that I recall having more fun making fun of the film than I did appreciating it’s own humor, but after reading Lani Anglin’s recap of some scenes and characters I’m tempted to see take another look at the movie - ok not really.

Still, Lani made this week’s carnival a great read and I thank her for the entertainment. I’ll just highlight one post here that was equally entertaining:

‘3 Reasons Why Dogs Pee On Fire Hydrants And Realtors Advertise In Newspapers’ by Kevin Boer was awarded the Chancho comedy medal and with good reason.

To check out the rest of the week’s latest and greatest head on over to RE Revealed.

According to Hitwise, Trulia’s traffic has landed us a spot in the top 20 most visited U.S. real estate sites on the Internet.

Since Jan of this year, we’ve leaped up 23 places to become the 18th most visted real estate Web site in the month of September. Hitwise data is based on a sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users.

Not too shabby, especially considering that the majority of names on this list are well established brands that have been around for decades…

So why are we enthusiastic about this? Because we are working to build a dedicated community of users by bringing together information that consumers need to make the best possible real estate decisions—from home listings, comps, and statistics to local information, trends, and insider opinions on Trulia Voices.

By looking at Google Trend data, we know that most normal people shift their interest from buying/selling homes, to goblins, turkeys, snowmen, Santa Claus, etc in Q4.

Because of this, I wanted to take a look at how the the Hitwise “real estate segment” was trending versus Trulia’s traffic. In the below chart, you see that we have some ways to go, but while the industry as a whole is trending down during this time of year, Trulia’s traffic continues to grow!

You can see the press release here.

In the October edition of the Trulia Trends report (PDF), we find that the Top 10 hottest cities was relatively unchanged over the previous month. Chicago, Manhattan and Brooklyn retained their positions as the top three most searched cities; Los Angeles slipped past Philadelphia to round out the top five and San Francisco held firm at number six. Austin and Queens stayed put at numbers eight and ten, and San Jose beat out Jacksonville for the number nine spot.

In September, the “Typical American Viewed Property” was a three-bedroom, two-bathroom single-family home with 1,890 square feet, listed at $310,000.

However, many of the homes on the top 10 list of “most viewed homes” were well below that price point. In fact, none of the homes on the list were priced over $1M. Here’s what we found:

	The most expensive home to make our list was a four-bedroom, three-bathroom, two-story home listed at $940,000 in Campbell, California. This home comes with an attached two-car garage, formal living and dining rooms and a large yard.
	A log cabin in Somerville, Texas was one of the less-expensive homes to make the top 10 list. This three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is within two minutes of Lake Somerville, has a covered front and back porch and is priced at only $45,000.
	Golf afficionados will love the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home in The Villages, Florida. Situated near the Orange Blossom Hills Country Club, this home comes turn-key with a golf cart included for only $119,000!
	One of the more expensive homes to make our list was the six-bedroom, five-bath two-story home in Detroit, Michigan. This home, built in 1913, has all the original hardware, an updated kitchen and a large sunroom and is priced at $229,000.

With a World Series in its future, there’s no doubt the Mile High City is riding high, so this month we are focusing our Trulia Spotlight on Denver. Of the most popular Denver neighborhoods Lower Downtown (LoDo), recently named as one of CNN Money’s “Best Places to Retire”, did not make the list, but reportedly haunted Cheesman Park, once an Arapaho Indian burial ground before being granted to the city of Denver for use as the city cemetery, made the list at number eight.

For more info on our September findings, including price movers and shakers, check out the full report here (PDF).

We confessed before that Sami is the bionic man…so I thought we should follow up after his performance in the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii on Saturday.

In short, he kicked arse.

Sami’s stats:
- Completed in 9 hours, 25 minutes and 6 seconds (the winner came in at 8:15:34)
- 11th place in his age group (men 31-34)
- 91st over all, out of 1,700+ competitors!

About Ironman in Kona Hawaii: tens-of-thousands of triathletes try to get one of the coveted Ironman spots every year. The “lucky” participants get to endure: a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon run through tough ocean waves, and challenging lava-covered terrain.

Why this event isn’t televised is beyond me! Where I’m from (Australia) and in many other countries this event is covered like the Olympics. It is truly enthralling to watch.

We are Truli-proud of you Sami!

You plant your own garden, manage your own portfolio, and brew your own coffee. You’re a smart do-it-yourselfer, and it’s no surprise that you may have considered buying from a seller without an agent. But can you actually save money by going FSBO (For Sale By Owner)?

For anyone searching for their first home to thinking about selling their third, people are talking about FSBOs on Trulia Voices, the best source for real estate Q&A.

Q1: Can I save money buying a FSBO home?

When a homeowner sells without an agent, can buyers really expect to pay below market prices? Possibly. Check out these tips from the pros on what to watch out for when buying a FSBO home.

Q2: What are the pros and cons of selling my house FSBO vs. using a Realtor?

Will working with an agent really raise the sale price of a home? Sellers can get the scoop on do-it-yourself selling and find out if they’re covering all their bases. This is also a great resource for sellers that are still learning the FSBO ropes.

Q3: I’m selling my house on my own, how do I attract more buyers?

Hold an open house, make a website, or use an agent? The real estate pros explain whether open houses are really worth the effort and other strategies to reach more buyers.

Have a burning question about home buying, selling or FSBOs? Disagree with something you see here? Ask your questions or offer your own take on Trulia Voices. It’s free and on average, questions are answered within 20 minutes.

Sign up for our House Hunting Tips newsletter while you’re at it. More highlights to come next week on Trulia Blog!

AgentGenius hosts the 63rd Carnival of Real Estate this week.

Among the top honorees:

‘What the Cleavers Teach us about Real Estate & Rhetoric’ posted at the Asheville Mountain Real Estate Blog.

and

‘House Flipping Reality TV Shows’ by Joshua Dorkin of BiggerPockets

AgentGenius and recent past carnival hosts have done a great job picking the most entertaining and informative posts to read but I have to say that I really miss carnivals with a fun theme in mind.

I fondly remember the 52nd Carnival with a Monopoly theme hosted by the Sacramento Real Estate Voice and the 50th Carnival hosted by Sadie’s Take on Delaware Ohio presented in PGA match-style play.

Calling all future Carnival hosts to bring back the themes!

But until then, go check out this weeks other top posts at AgentGenius.

While recently pulling data for this month’s Trends Report, I suffered a bit of sticker shock when I learned that the median list price for the ‘Typical American Viewed Home’ in September was $310,000! Now, that may not seem like a lot of money when you’re in the Bay Area, but in Smalltown, USA where I come from, median list prices are about a third of that.

So I started to wonder - what can you get for $310,000?

	Well, in my hometown you can get this 3,340 square foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bath brick beauty.     Tulsa, OK 3,340 SF 4BR/3BTH $310,000
	Or, if you prefer wide-open spaces, how about a ranch home in Missoula, Montana? This house sits on more than one acre of land and has a hot tub on a back deck surrounded by trees. Talk about swimsuit-optional!     Missoula, MT 1,486 SF 4BR/2BTH $309,900
	Is big-city living more your style? You might like this studio co-op in New York, with 9.5′ ceilings and hardwood floors. You won’t have to sacrifice style for storage space because this studio comes with a 50 cubic foot storage cage.     New York, NY Studio, $310,000
	Looking for something larger? In Miami, you can use your $310,000 for a 20%-ish down payment on this 5-bedroom ‘fixer-upper’. With vaulted ceilings, french doors that overlook the pool area and separate guest quarters, can you imagine how awesome this house is in it’s prime?     Miami, FL 3,456SF 5BR/4.5BTH $1,549,000

Want to know what $310,000 will buy in your neck of the woods? Check it out!