I used to be a talk radio junkie. Every single day I’d listen, on the drive in to work and on the drive home. Now, not so much. But yesterday morning I turned to the local talk radio and heard a real estate radio show that I’ve heard before. I like it, I just forget to tune in. But thankfully, this time I heard it and I wanted to pass along something I heard that I thought was a great tool for any real estate site or site geared towards home buying or renting.

The show host, Curtis Johnson, a real estate broker here in AZ spoke of a calculator on his site that helped buyers crunch the numbers and figure out the gas factor. You know…the buyers dragging their feet on buying in a particular area because they think the commute will kill their budget?? Well, you plug in the numbers and then you get a good look at what the better bet is – house A or house B, looking at loan amounts and commute miles and cost of gas. Heck, the calculator even spits out a ballpark estimate on maintenance costs for your buyer’s specific vehicle!

If I was an active agent pursuing clients, I would have that calculator on my site in a heartbeat. And the coolest thing? The calculator can be downloaded for free!