brain/ticker

Pay yourself first

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:42:00 -0700

“I budget time every morning to read and blog. I do that before I check my personal email or work email. I believe you have to pay yourself first. When you open your email you pay someone else, because it’s usually people reaching out to ask you for something. Taking the time to read blogs, synthesize and add value, that builds your community. That’s paying yourself first.” — Jeremiah Oywang

“The Luxury Home Next Door” - Forbes

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:51:34 -0700

“The Luxury Home Next Door” - Forbes

"Atherton home values falling, Menlo Park looking good"

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:50:00 -0700

“Atherton home values falling, Menlo Park looking good”

- Forbes 500 Luxury Real Estate Markets (via feedly)

Fastest-growing social networkers are 35-54 year olds

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:46:00 -0700

These are people who buy and sell homes, folks!

Photo

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:33:20 -0700

outside.in -- is it worth adding to the listings detail page?

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:06:00 -0700

Outside.in launched “Outside.in for publishers,” which allows website owners (e.g., a real estate brokerage, agent, or listings site) to integrate neighborhood level news, blog posts and tweets with their own content. This is a compelling addition to a listings detail page for a couple reasons: It’s fresh (indeed, in some cases, real time) and provides the user with a sense for the ambient noise of a place, the stuff charts and graphs can’t render.

— 1000watt blog post

Determine your customer's frame of reference

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:01:18 -0700

Consumers typically do not socialize with real estate companies. Instead, their frame of reference is centered around searching and finding homes — not friending and RSS (really simple syndication) subscription.

Repositioning a brand first requires the brand to thoroughly nail the basics of what its consumers expect from them as opposed to abandoning those critical elements in wake of introducing gimmicky new ones.

As it pertains to real estate, as long as your IDX feeds, response times, service promises and Web sites remain second rate, and as long as you continue to not offer market data, local insight or tools to help users make better decisions, your efforts to reposition will fail. Tweeting sure is fun, but your customers don’t need you to be their Twitter follower. They need you to be their adviser and they need your site to be as amazing as you say you are.

— 1000 watt blog post

who's using Google Maps

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:47:09 -0700

Over the last few years many of the major real estate search sites have moved over to Google Maps from Microsoft’s Virtual Earth as their mapping API of choice (Redfin being the most recent notable defector). HomeGain, Trulia, Homefinder, Estately and others all use Google Maps. But, interestingly, both the #1 and #2 sites; Realtor.com and Zillow, are still Microsoft clients.

http://www.futureofrealestatemarketing.com/photosynth-could-spark-virtual-earth-comeback

If You Could See Google Street View In Video, It Would Look Like YellowBird

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:43:47 -0700

If You Could See Google Street View In Video, It Would Look Like YellowBird:

Wwhat about Google Street View feature in Google Maps as part of the stream?

"Jamie from Trulia here, nice pic on the BlackJack. We have spent some time thinking about mobile..."

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:25:01 -0700

“

Jamie from Trulia here, nice pic on the BlackJack. We have spent some time thinking about mobile here at Trulia and I did as well when I was at Yahoo Real Estate. I think there are a few factors limiting rapid development in real estate mobile applications:
1. devices and networks have not really been able to handle web browsing to really enable a good experience, however now with devices like the BlackJack and iPhone coming out I think this will change;
2. consumer adoption in the US has been quite slow w/ advanced mobile functionality so it’s kind of the chicken and egg problem, there are no users so no one is building apps in the space

With this said, I think mobile is quite exciting especially as there are more GPS enabled phones where a user can just open their browser on their phone go to Trulia and view all homes for sale around their current location, driving directions, recent home sales and local information. The next 18 months will be exciting times for mobile real estate.

”

- blog comment from Jamie

House Hunting On The Go | Future of Real Estate Marketing

Looking for Hyperlocal Content? | Future of Real Estate Marketing

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:17:29 -0700

Looking for Hyperlocal Content? | Future of Real Estate Marketing:

for the lifestream?

Apture Lets You Create Rich Information Widgets | Future of Real Estate Marketing

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:14:29 -0700

Apture Lets You Create Rich Information Widgets | Future of Real Estate Marketing

Add Multimedia to Your Website with One Click – Apture.com

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:10:26 -0700

Add Multimedia to Your Website with One Click – Apture.com:

check them out

what people want on site

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:01:40 -0700

@Eric You’re right that people want these things while on site and interested. People are also more passive these days, for better or for worse, and would like to get as much information as possible without having to get pitched by the REALTOR®. We’ve put all this together. The customer gets a text (standard info)with a link to a mobile-optimized site, complete with pictures and information that can’t fit into the constraints of SMS. They can also call the agent if interested, but the agent is notified of their inquiry and can follow up with the prospect should they choose to. [Ian is a mobile vendor]

blog comment by Ian S. Greenleigh

while sitting outside the home...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:59:13 -0700

@Eric “People want pictures, virtual tours, all the info they can find from their home computer, but they want it while sitting outside the home.”

blog comment by Kori Covrigaru ‘s

the website is a dinosaur

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:57:08 -0700

The industry is moving away from 500-page, brokerage sites, filled with unnecessary agent bios, busy graphics, and messy navigation. Eventually, the brokerage will need only a “landing page” with simple mapping, easy navigation to blogs/social networks and the access to mobile applications. The consumer wants hand-held property search and neighborhood info. And what the consumer wants……..

John’s blog comment

clients drive around with info on a phone app

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:53:56 -0700

I would much rather have my clients able to drive around town with all of the information on an app on their phone. Likewise, I myself would love to be able to pull out my iPhone and answer questions using the latest information available. I should be able to get a lead off of my website while out of town, and from my phone send them a message and setup the listings via email subscription for them.

Portland Real Estate ‘s blog comment

Virtual tour/media companies coming to the small screen

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:50:55 -0700

“potential buyers need, deserve and demand more than just 12 Kodak pics. Video, professional photography, property websites, floor plans, etc. Yes, all these extras to help expose the home should be mobile friendly, and believe me, they will be VERY soon. Virtual tour/media companies will adapt to the small screen. We already have a mobile iPhone version of our interactive floor plan viewer. It kicks ass and I guarantee many virtual media companies will follow suit, if not already in development.

blog comment by Kori Covrigaru

mobile real estate marketing

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:48:35 -0700

“Texting a short code to get info on one home is so 2005. People want pictures, virtual tours, all the info they can find from their home computer, but they want it while sitting outside the home. “Is it worth going into?” “should we call the agent”? Now they can check. Mobile also offers agents that don’t necessarily have a big listing presence to gain market share. By offering a branded application that buyers can use their potential clients can find any home for sale even if they are sitting in front of a competing brokers listing. The brokers that have the “wow” products will be the winners in the future.” [Note: author sells mobile solutions]

Eric Stegemann’s blog comment

Interactive real estate broker sites

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:40:00 -0700

I am a big fan of text messaging services as a modern replacement of the flyers and brochures. It’s a good informational service… but it’s not that interactive.

For a more interactive service, a couple of agent & broker sites I’ve worked and I think have done it well are http://www.mcmoniglegroup.com and http://www.winkrealty.com. Both have automatically detectable mobile internet sites that allow users to see their featured listings on-the-go and search additional listings in the area. The sites are optimized for different handsets giving users a “customized experience” based on their phone (e.g. iPhone is more graphics intensive).

In my opinion, this is very useful when a user is driving by a listing and sees the name of the realtor but doesn’t have time to write down the text ID & shortcode. All the user has to do is load up the realtors URL on their phone (or do a google search on their name) and instantly they have access to all the listings. They can search by home address, street name, or city.

It’s a fun time in the mobile market right now!

blog comment by Devesh Khare