Finding company in a window

Students with an urge to find out about real-estate in the Princeton area the middle of the night will be pleased by Prudential's twenty-four hour real estate information window on Nassau Street available at all hours of the day and night.

"I'm not actively looking for a house," said a well-dressed woman, who asked not to be named as she pushed buttons on the window. "It's just amusing to hear the funny voice tell me about these gorgeous houses. I listen to a few each day on my way to work."

Anne Kearns, vice president and manager of the Fox and Roach Realtors Prudential office said the talking real estate window was put into place a year and a half ago to attract window shoppers and pedestrians.

The talking window, which Prudential has exclusive rights to on Nassau Street, provides the name of the listing agent and a brief two or three sentence summary about each of the houses being sold by the office.

Ratna Agharkar, an associate in the rival New Jersey Properties Prudential office located one block away, dismissed the talking window. "I'd say it's more of a gimmick than anything else."

Kearns disagreed, "We give them just enough to get them interested enough to come inside."

"There's been an exponential increase in the number of walk-ins we get each day since we built the window. People find it entertaining, and it draws them in," she said.