• Facebook : Become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/pages/MN-Foreclosure-Maps/133581423328503
• Twitter : Follow us at http://twitter.com/mnforeclosedmap
• RSS Subscriptions : There’s a button on every page depending on the feed that you want to subscribe to.

Each one of these sources will be updated as frequently as the website itself.

FREEING THE DATA

We understand that there might be some folks who want to use the foreclosure data for their own purposes, we think that’s great and our first step in helping you do that that is enabling Excel downloads for every page on the site! Just look for a button that says “Get the Excel file” in the top right corner of any page.

Need to download an excel file for last week’s foreclosures?, download it here, or maybe you need to put together a report for last month’s foreclosures?, easy. Also as a bonus, you get latitude and longitude coordinates with each foreclosed property! This could be extremely useful if you plan on integrating the data into your own mapping application.

We hope you enjoy these new features, we have plans to do some more exciting things with the data in the near future.

We are excited to announce a site that we’ve been working on for awhile now. Based on data that we’ve been extracting from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s foreclosure site, we’ve developed a system that automatically visualizes the foreclosure data and aggregates them into an easy to use website. You can currently do the following things on the site:

• View foreclosure data week by week
• Search on foreclosure data by dates, city, or any other search term that you can think of!
• Get basic statistics on averages and city breakdowns
• Drill all the way down into the Sheriff’s report if you ‘d like

Foreclosure has, and continues to have a profound social and economic affect on homeowners and the larger community. It is not easy to visualize the challenges that foreclosure presents. Folwell Neighborhood Association’s 4th Precinct CARE Task Force has worked in realm of community for many years and began observing and reporting on foreclosure in December of 2005.

We did not expect that foreclosure and the resulting need for housing and neighborhood stabilization would become our primary focus, but, it has become so. One of the things we struggled with was the need for current information that we could interpret easily to act on the risk of vacant and at risk housing for the neighborhoods we serve. The foreclosure application, 4thprecintcare.org is one step in the process.

We do not expect that the foreclosure of homes will end anytime soon. So, we are publishing this application for public use to encourage responsible home owner and investor participation to help stabilize communities.

Visit the site now at : http://foreclosures.4thprecinctcare.org/

Ever feel like you can’t get enough WCNO news? Have an Iphone, Android phone, or Palm Pre phone? Well starting today you can visit site.webbercamden.org on your mobile device and you will get an optimized version that’s just as easy to use as all the other apps on your phone! Take WCNO news where ever you go! Enjoy!

Got a twitter account?, and did you also pick up a sign? Well, now you can post your story via twitter! Here’s how it works:

1. Sign into your twitter account or twitter client.
2. Write in your story (as your status update) and then add in #wewatchwecall to the end  of your update and it will be posted immediately to the We watch, We call site.

Enjoy!

• http://picasaweb.google.com/folwellcenter/WEWATCHWECALL

They will also be updated on the We Watch, We Call website at : http://wewatchwecall.com/ . If you would like to contribute photos to We Watch, We Call, you can do one of two things:

1. Send an email to vann.ek@folwell.org with the subject line as “We Watch, We Call photos” and we will add you to the album to start contributing pictures.
2. If you have a story to accompany your picture, you can upload it directly on the website.