SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Zephyr Real Estate’s award-winning website includes dozens of videos of San Francisco’s 89 distinctive neighborhoods. This valuable resource has been used by multitudes of homebuyers as well as other websites, such as www.nabewise.com, and now it’s being used in a new way in the classroom.
At the recent Victorian Home Tradeshow (an event co-chaired by Zephyr agent, Bonnie Spindler), Peter Mancillas, a Social Studies teacher from Thurgood Marshall Academic High School in San Francisco, spoke with a Zephyr agent about the neighborhood videos. He explained that he teaches in the Bayview, where many of his students rarely have an opportunity to explore the city beyond their own community. He has used the website as an assignment for his students to go exploring.
Sandra Luna, the agent with whom he spoke, was so moved that she brought his story back to Zephyr’s management team and proposed organizing a field trip for those students to tour the entire city. Luna spearheaded the effort, researching the cost of a bus tour, enlisting matching donations from Zephyr and engaging her colleagues to donate toward that end. More than enough money was raised in short order.
Zephyr and its agents sent the students and five chaperones on a field trip Wednesday, December 4, including a tour by AllCityTours.com, which customized a tour that was more neighborhood-centric than tourist-oriented. The group also toured City Hall and met with Malia Cohen, their district Supervisor, who grew up in the Bayview.
“We never dreamed that the videos we were producing could have this kind of use or this kind of impact,” said Melody Foster, Zephyr’s Director of Marketing and Web Development. “Zephyr has always supported our community, but this is particularly meaningful for us.”
About Zephyr Real Estate
Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm with $1.7 billion in gross annual sales and a current roster of more than 200 full-time agents. In 2010, Zephyr launched its new website, which has earned three web design awards, including the prestigious WebAward for Outstanding Website from the Web Marketing Association. Zephyr Real Estate is a member of the international relocation network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; the luxury real estate network, Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate; and the local luxury marketing association, the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco. Zephyr has six strategically located offices in San Francisco, a business center in Marin County, and serves a large customer base throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.zephyrsf.com.