By Brianna Bailey
Journal Record
September 9, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY - During the 58th annual Parade of Homes next month, visitors to 13300 Canyon Lakes Dr. - a lavish 4,900-square-foot home dripping with crystal chandeliers and glass tiles - and 130 other tour stops may be able to immediately contact builders, as well as view interactive maps and photographs using a new iPhone application.
If approved, the new Parade of Homes iPhone application would be the first of its kind in the country, said homebuilder Steve Allen of Allenton Custom Homes, chairman of the 2010 Parade of Homes.
A self-confessed "iPhone junkie," Allen believes the new application would achieve several goals for the home tour.
"In the past we've had trouble with people being able to find homes on the tour, and we're also able to get more feedback to the builders from people with the app," he said.
Allen's entry into this year's Parade of Homes, 13300 Canyon Lakes Dr. in the gated Canyon Lakes community, features a custom-built tube slide that links the upstairs and downstairs, as well as a private study and spacious master bathroom featuring an opulent circular bathtub ringed with marble under an elaborate chandelier. The home will be priced in the $900,000 range once completed, Allen said. Using the new iPhone application, visitors to the Canyon Lakes house and other homes on the tour may be able to rate each property for Parade of Homes' first-ever visitors' choice awards.
The new Parade of Homes iPhone application is awaiting approval from Apple after being developed by El Reno software engineer Steve Maddox, co-founder of the advertising company Adsfactory.com.
Maddox has developed several iPhone applications over the past few years. The first he created for his teenage daughter after she got lost trying to drive to Quail Springs Mall. Maddox's resulting iPhone application allowed him to give his daughter better directions on the road by allowing him to track her location from his computer via her iPhone.
Maddox's wife and son helped him record the geographic coordinates for some of the homes on the Parade of Homes tour by visiting each site individually.
"There were a couple of challenges," Maddox said. "One of primary problems I had was that some of the addresses are in very new neighborhoods and Google and MapQuest hadn't been there yet, so nothing else would work."
This year's Parade of Homes will be open 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., Oct. 9 through Oct. 17. Admission is free. For information, visit www.paradeofhomesok.com.
