Redfin Becoming What They Hate… Traditional

Redfin today announced that they are taking yet another step toward becoming that one thing that they so desperately are trying to position themselves as NOT being… a traditional brokerage.

They began as an online-only brokerage, touting themselves as the first online brokerage and making a lot of noise about their unique value proposition. Buyers found the home they wanted to buy, made the offer on redfin’s website, and got a cut of the commission check.

Then…

Redfin began offering property tours for a fee.

Then…

They began offering more tours.

Now…

They’re offering tours through homes the way traditional agents do, with no set amount of homes or fees (other than they’ll only take you twice per week) and you get less of a cut of the commission.

They already ditched their industry-best map and search capability and replaced it with Microsoft’s api, replaced their logo with a worse one, and have given the metaphorical finger to traditional agents every chance they get, shouting how “different” they are, being an online broker. 

Making bad decisions, playing catch-up to others in the industry, spin-selling… sounds like they are more traditional than they think.

Next…

They will probably offer traditional agent services in a menu-driven model, where buyers can choose which level of service they want (full service, some service, no service). Just like everyone else, Redfin is adjusting to the industry, not the other way around. They are learning something I learned quite a while ago (I’m a faster learner), having a kick-ass website only gets you the introduction- you still gotta earn the business. And when people invest $700,000 on anything, they want an expert who knows their stuff and who can give the very best advice and share their knowledge, not just someone to fax your documents and schedule your inspection for you.

There is a difference between information and knowledge. Redfin is learning this, albeit very slowly…

 

What Real Estate Consumers REALLY Want

 

Every week there is new set of charts and graphs that come out. They analyze every minutia of data and all the information imaginable. New killer-apps are being released at such a rapid pace it’s tough to keep up with them all. And why?

Well, according to the techno-listing sites, the third-party aggregation websites, like Redfin, Zillow and Trulia, apparently what people really want is…. yep, more data. That’s right- more and more data. Every conceivable number and metric they can think up.

It’s like a race now. Who can churn out the most data, and cram it onto their website, the fastest. Who cares if it’s relevant or if anybody will actually use it- it’s DATA! It’s cool color charts and graphs that can show you everything you never thought possible. Come and see how many times people in this neighborhood walk their dogs on Tuesday mornings or find out the ratio of homes that sold for 1/25th of their initial listing price, during the first 118 hours being on the market, after being sold 2-3 years earlier, that have a redwood deck, and were listed with a Realtor named Sally- all in a cool pie chart.

So, this is where all the investment capital is going with all these techno-listing sites- more data? Millions of dollars are being pumped into these companies by investors who are counting on profits from all this data, yet none of these companies have made any profit. Think about how ridiculous this is. Redfin gets $20Million and it’s whole model is based around the idea that if they give more data and info, people will just buy homes online. The whole Redfin company, with all of their PR, news coverage, and dozens of full time employees and agents, only sold about 1000 homes last year.  For a comparison, I sold 114 homes last year. And these investors keep pumping money into this sinking ship.

Zillow just got another $30Million and Trulia has now received almost $18Million. And the business models of these companies is to get advertising (more stuff to put on the websites). I guess they figure at a certain point people will just become so buried with all the data on their websites that they’ll just have to fall over and surrender to them. When these companies run out of money (like they all keep doing), they simply come up with some new graphs and heat maps and show the suckers investors how this new data will finally get them some of that “profit” they keep hearing so much about, but alas… it does not come.

I receive a lot of advice on what I should add to my website. I have had no less than twenty companies approach me to sell me some cool new data field or information feed.  And I like data, and using it to give people good information, but enough is enough.

 People don’t want more data- they want a great experience.

I don’t want to climb over piles of charts and graphs to find what I’m looking for. If I’m thirsty I don’t really care if the glass has twirling lights and does my taxes- I just want the water that’s in the glass. The next cool drinking glass that has dancing girls and live-streaming music might be hot for a little while (like these tech-sites), but in the long run I believe that people will always use simple, easy to use water glasses. Because when they are thirsty they want the water, not the glass.

My point is- don’t cram your website with as much stuff as you can find. Instead, use good data and information, and present it in a way that offers a good, fun experience for your consumers. Give them a presentation that is visually appealing, as well as powerful and technologically advanced. Don’t forget that people make decisions based on emotion, and we always will.

Give me a great experience and I will give you my business.

Companies That Need to Be Founded

 

I’m in the middle of launching my own new company, but if I had the time and the know-how here are some companies I would love to start. And maybe someone out there will someday…

A social network that is much better. A place that has more features than Linked-In (which has none), and is much easier to use than Facebook (Can they make it any more difficult to simply send a message?), but that is more grown-up than MySpace. I’m talking about a social network where I could go to and keep up with people, chat, share photos, etc. And it needs to be simple and easy to use and understand. Make it simple!!! And without all the stoopidness of MySpace, you know the blaring hip-hop and porn on people’s pages. Why not a calendar that I can share with my network that we can all share events and birthdays, an easy way to rate and recommend local bars and restaurants, and a clean, simple design that is intuitive and fun to use.

A Twitter that was much better. This wouldn’t be difficult to build, either and if I had time I would probably just do it myself. Take the basic idea of twitter, but make it so I don’t have to read all the responses to messages I can’t see and make it so I can choose channels or areas to be in. So maybe I can be in a business section where I’m not reading about people feeding their dog or whatever, but actual business ideas and messages. And why not let people drag-and-drop photos, videos, music and other stuff? Also 140 characters could easily be expanded to 500 so I could finish a thought… that would be nice.

A search engine that utilizes human judgement- at least for the top commercial website ranks. Keywords and meta-tags ruin the results on existing search engines. SEO kills good design, making website creators (and their clients) to choose between a good website design that they need to pay for all the traffic to, or a wordy manifest with keywords repeated ad nausea and no design appeal in order to rank high in organic search results. For the top commercial website results, at least, human judgement should be used to ensure relevance, but also, that the best websites rank the highest.

Just because something new comes along, doesn’t mean it’s been done right. Instead of just doing more of the same or only looking for the next, new big idea, we need to take existing ideas and make them better. Remember, when a company becomes big, it becomes slow and less willing to take chances and make improvements. There are a lot of opportunities out there for people who are willing to take the chance and put in the work. People don’t want to be sold anymore, they want to be inspired.

BlueRoof360- Industry Best Realtor Websites, Lead and Client Management

In 2007 we closed 114 homes because of our website. While the majority of real estate agents were seeing their businesses slow down significantly and the overall market lose energy, our business has stayed very consistent. You may, or may not, want to be a top-producing agent, but I’m sure you wouldn’t mind an extra sale or two each month.  Technology does not take the place of personality and personal contact but, when utilized correctly, it can help us connect with our clients and also bring us business.

Understand, I am not a technology guy getting into real estate. I am a Realtor (over 14 years) who uses technology very well. As a real estate agent, if you want to get business from the internet and offer real value to your clients what are your current choices? You can use Point2, Advanced Access, Homes.com or myriad other template websites, you can (even worse) use a page on your broker’s website, or you can spend a lot of money building a custom website and hope the people building it know anything about real estate and design.

Now, finally, there will be another choice that brings the power and design of a custom website, innovative technology, simple and intuitive design and a price that makes sense.

Enter BlueRoof360

BlueRoof360 will cost $200/month and will be a complete online solution for real estate agents. Get business, offer better service for your clients, give value to the consumer, and grow your team and your bottom line.

I have been the managing broker for several large (100+ agent) real estate offices. I have become a student, learning what consumers like and want. By meeting them from my website and working with them I have been able to learn a lot about how to use the internet for real estate over the last five years. And because I am a real estate agent and I have managed, recruited, trained and hired hundreds of Realtors, I understand what real estate agents need and what they like and want.

It is fascinating to me how so many people think that spending nothing for nothing is a better bargain over investing something for an actual profit. If you spend $400/year and get one sale from it and $5000 commission (like most P2 or AA users do) that is good. But spending $60,000 and getting $800,000 in return (as I did last year) is better. One sale gets you some money and one person referring business to you. One hundred fourteen sales gets you much more money and 114 people referring business to you.

As Greg says, “If 10,000 people exhibit a casual interest in your product, you will have earned nothing, whereas if one person actually buys, you will have earned a huge pay-check.”

Consumers want a better overall experience including value, service, interaction and information. They want to feel as though they are being taken care of but that they have good information and still run the show. Agents want simple tools that enable them to focus on the relationship and they want business that comes to them without referral fees.

To offer real value to the consumer and get real business from the internet you need to have a few very important pieces that all work together. It all begins with a destination website. Not a form-filled, template website, but a website that is designed well, has cutting-edge technology, is fun and easy to use, and has great information for the consumer.

Next you need to know how to drive traffic to your website. How to make it seen and how to make it a place that people will want to come back to again and again, and tell other people about.

When someone asks for help or requests a showing on a property you need to respond very quickly- 15 minutes or less (under one minute is ideal). You need to have a near-immediate connection. People do not want to wait and they won’twait. They’ll usually work with the first agent to get back to them.

You need to be able to stay in touch with your leads, clients, past-clients, family, associates and friends. You need to give the consumer (your current and potential clients) excellent service. You need to WOW them.

And you need to continue to grow and learn from others who are doing it. But it has to be easy. It has to be simple to do. Real estate agents do not like complicated, difficult programs and hours of learning how to use stuff. We like fun, easy and simple.

BlueRoof360 will allow you to create your own custom website. Not a template website, but a custom website. A template gives you pre-defined spaces that you can change text and images in. We give you a very easy-to-use creation wizard to create your own layout, and then change it around to meet your personality. You’ll have some coaching on how to design it and what works well (colors, fonts, text, etc). You can use suggested themes or colors, or go off in your own direction.

We’ll show you how easy it is to use and what has worked well. And we’ll show you what people like. But you get to decide if your website has a bunch of text or if it has map-based search or games or an instant chat or video or your own blog or whatever you want.

You’ll also have a complete, but very simple to use, lead management and client management system. When someone requests to see a property you’ll be notified immediately by text message and email and that person’e information is instantly entered into your lead management system. To schedule the appointment, you simply drag and drop the person’s name on to your calendar. Assign an email keep-in-touch campaign with three clicks. You can use pre-designed campaigns or edit them or make your own. We have tried “Top Producer” client management system twice, but both times our team would not even use it because it was so complicated. We paid over $149/month and it just sat there. We’ve designed ours to be simple to use.

When you sell that person a home they are now a client. You click the button to move them to a client and their info is now entered as a client and you enter all the contract deadlines and information (as much or as little as you choose). If you only want to use three deadlines or you want to use twenty for each file- that’s up to you and very easy to do. You can choose to be alerted (via text message) before every appointment you have or not at all. Maybe you just want to be notified the day before the inspection deadline- no problem, it’s simple (two clicks and it’s done).

You can allow your clients to log in to their own account and see their file. A listing client can see everything you have done on their file and when. They can see when the magazine ad went out and when the sign was ordered and every showing. They can see all the feedback from their showings and your own personal notes. This doesn’t take the place of your personal communication, but it helps you to stay in touch with them even when you are busy and it helps them stay connected to the transaction in a new and interactive way.

When the file closes you can place that person as a past-client and set them up to receive monthly emails from you. Use pre-created ones, edit them, or make your own. Every time you take a new listing it’s sent to all of your past-clients, friends, family and associates. Or not- it’s up to you (one click makes it happen or not happen).

And you’ll have a community area where you can see everyone who is online and see their websites or send them a message. You can take part in the ongoing real-time chat discussion between everyone online. Throw out a question or just say hello. Read the internal blog, learn from the forums areas (and vote for the posts that helped you), read the community calendar or schedule an event in your area. It is important to have support from other agents who are succeeding and gain ideas from them and share your ideas. Networking can bring you referrals and can be a fun way to stay in touch with other agents around the country.

You’ll get coaching on how to convert leads, how to grow your team when you’re ready, how to drive traffic to your website, and how to create a great website. BlueRoof360 is a simple, powerful, well-designed online solution for real estate agents and brokers.

Keep doing what you are doing now and just use this to add some extra deals every month. Or go full-out and close hundreds of deals this year from your website. Either way, a long-term online presence will grow your business and give you tools to give better service and value to your clients.

As Jeff, TheXBroker, says…

“So where is the middle ground of killer technology and rePro listing penetration? I think BlueRoof is headed down the right path. Technology (Solvent) + rePro (Solute) = A Solution…one that both consumers and professionals can benefit from.”

The internet is a simple, powerful way to connect with people and grow your business and now BlueRoof360 will give you a simple and powerful way to do it.

Point2 Agent Shaken Up- Good For Consumers and Agents

 

I don’t know as much about Point2 Agent  as a company as many agents do, but I am a member and have used the system. It seems to me to be an entry-level type service with a template website given and then you pay for add-ons and additional services. One thing I do know is that the company, as far the real estate piece of what they do, is centered around template websites. I think it’s important for our industry to evolve and maybe it’s time to begin to step-up to a higher level of website than templates offer.

There are better options than templates.

For most agents, a template website is their only on-line presence- either a template or an “agent page” on their broker’s website. So consumer’s see all these template sites and it affirms to them that agents don’t know much about technology. Often the consumer ends up going to the better websites (clean user-interface, enjoyable search experience, etc) that they can find, and in most areas Zillow, Realtor.com and Trulia are the best they can find.

Problem with Trulia, Realtor.com and Zillow is they are not real estate companies- they are technology companies. They take agent information (listings) for the purpose of selling ads and leads to agents. Their purpose is not to help consumers find homes, it’s to sell ads or leads. Obviously that’s not the best business model for the consumers (or agents)?

Now Point2 Agent is getting all shaken up and people are talking about it. I don’t wish bad on them at all, in fact for many agents they have been the only a good solution, but I think this shake-up may a good thing in at least one way- maybe it will open some discussion about different and even better online solutions for agents.

Instead of creating well-designed websites that offer real value to the consumer, agents usually either get a cheap  template just to have a website or they pay a technology company (Trulia/Realtor.com/Zillow) for leads. I understand why- it’s a lot easier and much less expensive than it is to build a custom site. Custom websites can cost a lot. I spent well over six figures on BlueRoof.com, and it’s tough to pay that kind of money, especially if you have no experience converting online leads and have no idea what sort of return (if any) on your investment you’ll get. But help is on the way.

Point2 and other template sites serve their purpose, to be sure, but I think many agents who have a Point2 websites would like to have something better.

In February there will something much better.

See it here:

http://blueroof.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/blueroof360-industry-best-realtor-websites-lead-and-client-management/

Microsoft Announces new Surface Computer

Microsoft announced their new surface computer  today (actually yesterday- it’s after midnight) at the D: All Things Digital  conference in San Diego. Be interesting to see what sort of applications can be made to utilize this new technology.

Using Video to Sell Homes

Video may have killed the radio star, but it’s having a tough time doing anything to the virtual tour. Videos show movement, sound and can express dimension much better than still, or even panoramic photography. So why don’t more Realtors use video to sell property?

Videos can be very tastefully done when produced well, but here are the challenges I see to videos becoming mainstream;

They’re more expensive. The video equipment (camera, tripod, lighting equipment) is expensive and it can be much more expensive to have a professional movie created. Many agents and homeowners don’t want to spend any more money than they already are.

They can be very time consuming. It takes a while to plan the video, set up, shoot the video, edit it and post it online.

Embedding the video in their current website framework is difficult at best and impossible for most. Most agents use template sites that don’t allow video, and custom sites need to be re-coded specifically to allow for video.

Lack of creativity. Photos tell the story simply by existing, but video means you need to be a bit more interesting. Do you use music or sound? Do you speak while you show the property? Do you have a voice-over? Do you walk-through or do you spin around in each room, and how fast do you move? There’s more thought that goes into video, and that can be intimidating.

But the main reason that I haven’t used video to sell homes is that it is very difficult to produce a high-quality video and it’s important to me and my clients that we represent their properties in the very best way. The videos I have seen are almost always shaky and the lighting is not good. Sometimes it is difficult to pay attention to the home because I’m so focused on the video’s quality or what the person is saying, or the music they selected.

And with video you are stuck for that amount of time watching, where with photos and panoramic shots if the home doesn’t look good- I can see that and move on in seconds without needing to sit through a five-minute presentation waiting to see if the master bedroom is big enough.

Videos may be the newest gadget in selling homes, but it until a low-cost/high quality service becomes available (like with virtual tours) it may be tough for them to gain traction in the home selling process.

Homes of the Future

  

Home designs, architectural styles, and how we use different rooms has all changed. Since 1973 the average size home has grown from 1660 to 2459 sqaure feet, backyards have become an extension of the living space, and the kitchen/family room, or great room, has become the main room in the home. Ceilings have become vaulted, closets have become walkable, master bedrooms have morphed into suites, and garages have become monsterous.

Home owners have come to want and expect different things from their homes and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) tries to stay on top of these changing trends by conducting surveys and doing studies.

So where are the trends going now? Reported in Digital Home Online, Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president for research for the National Association of Home Builders, said the home of the future will be two stories, with a one-story entry foyer, and either no living room, or one that will end up serving more as a library or parlor. Consumers buying upscale homes will want two master bedroom suites and an outside kitchen stocked with all the latest amenities — all standard. Ahluwalia also projects the size of an average home will decrease to 2,330 square feet by 2015.

        

Respondents to an (NAHB) survey said they will want more of these amenities:

76% said more counter space

74% said more cabinet space

72% want double sinks

70% said larger table areas to eat in their kitchens

66% want outdoor kitchens

64% expect bathrooms to have double vanities

For buyers of upscale homes, the expectations increase to include high-quality appliances (96%) and they want more cabinet and counter space. 94% say they want walk-in pantries, 62% say they want two master suites in their home and 66% want an outdoor kitchen. And 80% of these future home owners want upgraded electronic features including multi-zone controlled HVAC, multi-room audio systems, whole-house automation systems, monitored burglar alarms, and programmable thermostats.

  

Steam showers, portable aromatherapy spas and natural sinks made with granite, stone and darker woods are also hot for the near future. Kohler’s new bath, complete with rushing rapids, and many companies’ automatic sinks are also expected to be popular.

Christopher Sanderson, of The Future Laboratory and Richard Brindley, of the Royal Institute of British Architects, look deeper into the future with a project  looking into the movements of future living and say one of the main factors affecting future homes will be the continually changing climate. Colder winters and hotter summers will demand better insulation and blinds, canopies and air conditioners.

Mr Brindley says that as major cities grow, space will be at a premium and homes will have to be adaptable, with the same rooms used for many purposes. He says that technology already exists to build houses with movable walls, which could run on tracks to enable the same space to be arranged in different ways for different functions.

    

One great example of this would be Jade Jagger (Mick’s daughter) is a co-owner of 16 West 19th  in New York, which uses pods for kitchens and baths. The website describes these as, “jewel-like lacquered boxes that seem to float in each residence. Enclosed within this single cube are your meticulously laid-out kitchen and bathroom. When opened, the pod reveals a glamorous interplay of sparkling tiles, vivid colors and textures.”

Glass technology is also changing, and future homes may utilize “smart glass”, or chromogenics, which is clear but turns opaque when you run an electrical current through it, making it useful for closing off areas.

Small homes will need more adaptable furniture, such as convertible sofa-beds and furniture which can be neatly stacked away when not in use, and entertainment at home may change to accommodate our changing lifestyles.

Mr Brindley says: “A flat screen on your wall could double up as your front door intercom, your computer and be used to watch films. He continued, “You will also be able to do things like switch machinery in the home on and off from on holiday and that sort of thing.”

      

Refrigerators may begin using Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID), which is widely used in supermarket check-outs to identify when home owners are low on items. These fridges could even suggest recipes based on items on the shelves and suggest complimentary items for your shopping trips.

The two also believe sound-wave technology will be used to assist water in cleaning. This technology already exists on the market for cleaning contact lenses and it is being explored for uses with dishwashers and washing machines.

And then, of course, there are the robots. Mr Brindley thinks that we will begin to see micro robots to perform functions such as cleaning toilets and opening your blinds for you.

Futurist Joseph Coates, author of “2025″ (Oakhill Press), sees the day when homes are totally automated, with furniture that adjusts to your body’s shape at the mention of your name, robotic chefs and diagnostics that call for necessary repairs. Coates predicts homes will have rooms that know who enter and will automatically change the temperature to suit their preferences. He also sees sensors that will monitor indoor air pollution and health conditions, and systems that allow home owners to review and change their energy-use patterns for greater efficiency.

Microsoft has developed technology  for interactive wallpaper that can display artwork, websites, and photos.

     

Whirlpool tubs are being replaced with deep, comfortable soaking tubs and those may be replaced soon with infinity tubs, or Sök’s. These tubs have an infinity overflow that lets the water drain slowly over the tub edge into a catch basin, where it is reheated and effervesced (bubble massage) and recirculated into the tub. As featured in this photo, they can also have the water enter from out of the ceiling for greater effect. There’s also remote-controlled “chroma-therapy,” which alters the color of built-in LED lights in the tub to fit — or set — your mood.

Paint colors may turn to so called “chameleon colors”, or colors that change with different lighting and from different angles.

Kitchen  floors today are cherry, oak and walnut. Soon we may see much more anegre, bamboo, teak and even cork, according to Dan Myerson, of Bacon Veneer, one of the leading wood veneer suppliers for high-end office and residential applications.

Counter-top trends may move more toward concrete, glass and metals such as copper and zinc. Diane Bryant, sales director for Philadelphia condo development, the Ritz-Carlton, predicts that granite will not lose much popularity but other stones – limestone and sandstone for example – will gain.

The maximizing of space and the ever-changing face of our individual environments will continually intrigue us and inspire us, but most importantly, these spaces will continue to give us access to the most important place we know, home.

Top Ten Gadgets for Realtors

 

 I see the reviews of new stuff coming out all the time and I’ve read Realtor Magazine’s new gadgets for real estate, but I just see a bunch of new phones and computers. So here is my list of the…

Top Ten Gadgets for Realtors

 

 10- Advertising from your car 

Realtors are famous for their ubiquitous vanity plates, window clings, and automobile advertising paint jobs, so why stop there? Having a scrolling message would bring attention and give you an adjustable ad everywhere you go.

9- GPS systems with traffic updates (Also see voice-activated and 3-D)

GPS systems are all over the place now and they’re getting cooler and easier, but getting traffic updates in real-time along with the navigation is awesome. Every agent who works with buyers knows the frustration of setting appointments in a sequence and then needing to call to push back appointments because you are running late. Voice Activated makes it easier to keep your eye on the road, and 3-D is just cool.

8- Color printers for your mobile phone

No more running to the office to print out some new flyers for your listing- just plug in your mobile phone and print them up- and how impressed will your clients be?

7- GPS on your mobile phone

Call in for directions or get GPS on your phone without the cumbersome extra equipment- you have your phone with you everywhere you go, and this way you can have GPS everywhere as well.

6-Reading your voice mail

Need to know when to pick up your kid but can’t stand hearing your ex’s voice? Get your voice mails as text messages on your mobile phone. Also good for scrolling through to get to the important messages when you’re busy.

5- Viral Marketing

Think of a television commercial that will run for years, reach a large audience, and does not cost you anything. Is that something you would consider doing?

4-Client motivation detectors 

Ever put your ear up to the window after buyers leave your open house, trying to hear what they are saying about the house?

Here’s your spy gear to finally get the 411 *

3- One-Shot Virtual Tours

Create a virtual tour without being a photo-shop expert. Just one click captures a full virtual tour, ready to go. Save time, frustration, and the cost of the photographer.

2- Searchable Conversations

Ever heard the saying, “The longest memory isn’t as good as the shortest pencil”? Well, even better than a pencil is this little device that will record all of your conversations and let you search them. Remember all the details your client told you, laugh at the other agent with your co-workers after they have left the office, and improve your language skills.

1- Cup holders that do more

When you’re in real estate you live in your car, doing everything mobile. We are the most dangerous drivers on the road. Talking on our mobile phones while eating a cheeseburger and making a U-turn as we look for an address.

This is why when we shop for a new vehicle we don’t ask how fast it goes or care about the luggage space- we want to know three things- gas mileage, turning radius (for our U-turns, and how many cup holders does it have.

And these cup holders will turn your real office into a more efficient place, and probably save lives.

*This is only a joke- I don’t promote spying. And even if I did I would not suggest breaking out a big ole’ listening device and stick it out the window at people as they leave an open house.

Blogging Stats, Facts, and Growth

 

Millions of people have registered blogs, almost 800,000 on WordPress alone, but there are 300 million people in America and billions around the world.

How many blog? What are the trends? What are the numbers?

C|Net says

30% of People Blog

52% Believe bloggers should have the same rights as jounalists

80% Do not believe that bloggers should be allowed to publish home addresses and other personal information about private citizens

72% Favor censorship of personal information about celebrities

68% Favor censorship of personal information about elected or appointed government officials

39% Say blogs are less credible than newspaper articles

According to PEW/Internet

By the end of 2004- 8 Million people had created a blog

27% of internet users read blogs

5% said they used RSS

12% had left comments on blogs

62% didn’t know what a blog was

Technoarti says that they are currently tracking 55 Million Blogs and in 2006 the blogosphere was 60 times larger than 3 years earlier.

Technorati also says that a new blog is created about every second and of those, 55% of new bloggers are still posting after three months.

And, in 2006, there were approximately 1.2 Million new posts/day or about 50,000/hour.

Prudential apparently doesn’t even allow their employees to post blogs. From the company Feb/March issue of PrudentialLeader magazine, “Prudential policy prohibits creating or posting to blogs, no matter the content.” Not that it makes much difference, according to the magazine, only 5% of their employees read blogs daily.

And we know Apple doesn’t blog from fear of someone letting out company secrets, and the company uses secrecy to generate interest and garner publicity when it will help sales. Is corporate blogging an American thing?

In contrast, Microsoft has long used published plans of future products to generate publicity. Microsoft encourages it’s employees to blog. As do many other companies. If you are thinking about starting a company blog, here are some do’s and don’t’s for you to consider.

Blogging can bring traffic to a website but that’s not the point of it. The objective of good blogs is to be a resource of information and frank discussion.

Can Trulia Become a National MLS?

 

Trulia has grown very fast and now is in position to become the closest thing there is to a national MLS now that they have signed agreements with Keller Williams and Reaology, which includes the Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and ERA brands.

So, what might a national MLS replacement mean to brokers, agents, and consumers?

It depends. It depends on Trulia and how they use the listing information and it depends on the brokers and how they allow their listings to be handled, and whether the relationship grows or not. And it depends on the consumer and their web-searching habits and preferences.

One of the things that can come from Trulia taking over for the MLS, especially in Utah (where we have probably the most absurd, controlling MLS’s in the country), is there would most certainly be far less restrictions with the data and how it is used- and for sites that want be offer the consumer a good experience instead of a template, like BlueRoof- it means a lot less money because the MLS charges tens of thousands of dollars per year for me to display listings the way I do. I am one of only a couple companies that are willing to pay this outrageous fee, but with the MLS becoming less relevant I may decide to not use their data anymore and instead work with Trulia and their data.

And the consumer may be allowed to see much more than our facist rulers  MLS representatives currently allow.

The MLS was formed to serve its members, but has become just another for-profit company that looks out for its coffers, many times at the expense of the members- and that is something I will be glad to see dissapear.

If Trulia keeps the agents and brokers in their court they should continue to grow, but VC funding and a tech-guy perspective might start to erode their “friendly” model once they attract enough traffic that agents begin to rely on them. That’s the new way of making money for many tech companies- give it for free and be everyone’s friend, generate a lot of traffic/users, then charge for everything to make profit.

It’s always scary when brokers and agents rely too heavily on tech people. Trulia has demonstrated huge success thus far, we’ll see what they do with it…

Measuring Distances with your Camera

iPhotoMEASURE is a software tool that enables you to measure anything in a photo taken with your digital camera.

From their site: iPhotoMEASURE delivers an innovative dimension to accurate and efficient measurement. By simply taking a picture with your camera, you collect all the measurements you need. There is no need for a helper to hold the other end of the measuring tape or take risks on a ladder measuring out of reach areas.  Bring measurements to your computer in a picture.  iPhotoMEASURE software enables you to measure everything you need for quoting, evaluation and appraisal – plus – the measurements are permanently archived for reference. Above and beyond accuracy and convenience is the power of Remote Measurement provided by iPhotoMEASURE. Simply have your customers or associates e-mail you photos of the project, and save critical time and money by not having to go on-site yourself.

 

See a video tour of the product HERE. This is a great way to send info to prospective buyers who are out of town and want to know more about the dimensions of certain rooms. (H/T Appraisal Scoop)

Real Estate Revolution Not For Sellers

     

Taking a look at the Real Estate industry from the perspective of an involved real estate blogger who does a lot of reading, research and speculating about the industry, I can tell you that at times I have been excited, optimistic, frustrated, and hopeful about the “Revolution” happening in the business. But when I look at the reality of it all, without judgement, I’m mostly amazed and here’s why;

Everything is still the same

At least when it comes to listings. Sure, there are a few more companies and some new models, but when you look at the market share of these new models- they seem to be taking their business from other new models and smaller shops, not from the large brokerages. In my area the large brokerages are growing and although there are tons of small companies popping up every day, the don’t become relevant and they aren’t taking away market share from the established companies.

There is a pool of consumers (25%) that are going to use alternative models, go the FSBO route, and use the lowest-bidding agent they can find and that’s just the way they are. They would rather “save” on commission then make more money with a higher sales price.

And that pool of people are selecting between those smaller brokerages and new models, but the majority (75%) of consumers are just not buying into it. They are going to use a large full-service brokerage no matter what is going on in the industry and no matter what “special deals” there are. They don’t care so much about “saving” money- they care about the job that gets done.

So newer models and smaller shops are all competing over 25% of the market and the major brokerages are all competing over 75% of the market. There are some cross-overs here and there, but this is the same ratio we’ve probably had for the last ten or fifteen years and it doesn’t seem to be changing much.

I like the new innovation. In fact I happen to think I have the best real estate search on the planet  (BlueRoof.com). I feel this way because I’ve been told this by a lot of people and my clients feel this way, but mostly because it’s just my own opinion. I’m building it to be what I want in a real estate search. Of course there are tons of things I am still adding to it and improving on it- that’s how websites are. But as much as I like the new innovation and the new sites popping up- the consumers are still listing with big brokerages.

Seattle seems to be a hot-bed right now of real estate tech, with Zillow and Redfin and about ten other new models, but isn’t JohnLScott  and Coldwell Banker still the biggest and growing?

Buyers are finding agents on the internet, but sellers aren’t finding their agents that way- the RE 2.0 market is a buyers market- not a seller’s.

Used to be that you had to “List to Last”- meaning that to last in the business you had to get listings. Not so anymore- now you can have buyers come to you by using other people’s listings on your website. But the listings aren’t coming so much from internet.

At BlueRoof we’ve taken a lot of listings (about one every 2-3 days average) and we’ve had quite a few of the clients contact us from the website after reading about us or hearing about us or just finding us. But the amount of buyers we get compared to sellers is huge. My other website is even more so.

What thisall means to me is the consumer is enjoying the internet search and innovation when they look to buy a home, but when it comes to selling, the new “revolution” is pretty much the same as it has been.

The Internet Makes Giants of Us All

           

Every Saturday morning millions of kids all across the country lay on the floor watching cartoons. Usually they are so glued to the TV programming that they don’t even realize they are also seeing hundreds of commercials for toys, hamburgers, other TV programs and whatever else can be pushed at them.

Once in a while they remember the ads because they feature a character or person they recognize or the ad is funny or cool or something. And these ads work. They sell a ton of product and services. And all day long people are watching TV programs and seeing powerful ads that are funny or interesting, and once in a while a 30-second ad is so powerful that it can actually make people cry.

So why doesn’t everybody run TV spots for their product?

Because it’s really expensive, that’s why. For the most part, television is out of reach for most companies. Even using Spotrunner you have to pay for the airtime and anything on network is going to run you over $1000 per spot.

So how can someone reach the public, as though they were on tv, but without the budget of television?

Print advertising is more expensive than ever, even with its value plummeting, and with direct mail you have to catch attention and do it multiple times before it matters. Billboards are mostly for long term branding and radio has a higher cost-per-thousand than anything.

        

But the Internet…

The Internet makes us all equals. We all have the same amount of space on these monitors to get our message across. It’s what we do with that space that matters.

Some websites (YouTube, Google, eBay) have programming that make them great, but even those began with little money. Craigslist began with almost nothing but it filled a niche and is now one of the most-visited sites on the net.

With a free account on wordpress a blogger can go from nobody to having thousands of daily visitors within a few months. Some of the top watched people on YouTube don’t spend any money on their videos but get thousands of people subscribing to them daily.

Teenagers with no money can battle industry giants- and win!

Many sites that rank high on the search engines are actually really crappy sites with very bad user-interfaces because Google and other search engines can’t tell good ones (with good content and design that is visually appealing and fun) from bad ones. Instead they look at meta-tagging, links and keywords and other technical things to decide which sites are the best. So you have these template sites and link-farms that are the same as thousands of others ranking at the top of many search terms simply because they used that same amount of moniter space differently than other people did.

Some bloggers who are otherwise just regular people getting no real attention become quasi-celebrities in months. Some people are looked at as authorities because of their blogs. And usually we actually judge people/companies by the look and feel of their website.

We have worked with dozens of clients who decided to work with us before they ever met us because they liked our website best. Hopefully they got some value from the site and learned about us enough to make that decision, but it goes to show the power of utilizing that same amount of monitor space. One of my websites cost me a few thousand dollars to build (have built- I’m no programmer) and with some on-line marketing has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for our team of agents. Of course we need to do the work and earn the business, but we got the leads from the site.

And I’m the same- when I’m looking for a product or service I go to the internet and I look around for a site that looks like it represents people or a company that I want to work with. A company or person’s website tells me a lot about them and the image they are projecting. If a website offers me no value, but just wants to collect my information I usually go elsewhere and have a bad impression of that company or person. But if a company site gives me a lot of information and I enjoy being on their website I feel better about that company and want to work with them.

My first website was built in 2000 and cost me under $1000. Within a few months it had climbed to the #1 position on Yahoo (the dominant search engine at the time) for its relevant keywords and I sold it for many times my investment. I utilized that space better than others had. Today it is (sadly) almost the exact same site that I built and sold six years ago and still ranks in the top 5 organic results on Yahoo for many of its keywords.  

With a few hundred dollars anybody can create a website and do minimal promotion which can result in a phenomenal ROI. Millions of people have websites and the ones that get the most traffic are not always the ones that cost the most or represent the biggest companies. NO other medium will allow someone to get the exposure of the Internet with a couple hundred bucks, or sometimes without any money.

The Internet is the great equalizer in marketing, promotion, and communication. Utilizing it properly can mean the difference between being a leader in your field and struggling to make an impact.

Could Google’s Success Be Its Undoing?

 

Google became successful very fast because it offered a simple solution to a problem we all had, namely finding results on the internet. It gave us the best results and it was extremely simple to use. And these reasons for success could also be ways for someone else to take that business.

Today there are many search engines that do the same job, and some arguably give better results than Google. And they are all just as easy to use and offer a similar UI.

This is why Google is investing in so many auxillary programs such as spreadsheets and money managers, and offer them for free- so people will continue to go to Google for their needs.

Dharmesh Shah has a post about this topic which is very interesting. It really would be easy to switch from using Google to another search engine for most consumers. Dharmesh brings up some good points about why it would be so easy to switch;

Low Training Investment:

Low Customization Investment: 

Easy Experimentation:

Better Results Are Obvious:

Obviously other search engines have been trying to woo people away from Google, but they’re offering a similar product. What if MSN or Yahoo or Ask or another search engine actually developed a better user experience with better results and promoted it- would it be difficult to move away from Google?

Outdoor Smoking Ban Passes in Salt Lake City

 

The Salt Lake City Council voted unanimously last night to pass an ordinance banning smoking in outdoor public places. This means that it will be against ordinance to smoke in Library Square, on trails, public parks and baseball diamonds, golf courses, soccer fields, city cemetery, and within 25 feet of bus stops and 50 feet of public gatherings of 100 or more people on city property.

Councilwoman Jill Remington Love says, “What we’re really after is a cultural change. We’re really trying to create safe, healthy places with our parks.” 

The initial proposed fine for breaking the ordinance was around $300, but was lowered and passed at $25. Enforcement will be nominal.

Before the ordinance can take effect, it must be signed by the mayor and published in major newspapers, which should take another week or two.

According to the Surgeon General nine other cities in Utah already prohibit smoking in parks;  Clinton, Hyde Park, Logan, Midvale, Riverton, Sandy, South Jordan, Spanish Fork, and West Jordan.

There are close to 600 cities across the country that have outdoor smoking ordinances.

BlueRoof Real Estate Search Engine

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(Credit Search Engine Watch )  

Realtor.com to Lose More Listings?

            

Realtor.com has a lot of listings- millions of them, from all over the country. But, contrary to popular belief, they do not, and never have, had them all.

Some companies have refused to allow the website, which is sponsored by the National Association of Realtors, to have access to their listing information. Many Realtors and brokers don’t like that they have to pay if they want information about their listings to show on the site, and many consumers go to the website thinking they will see every listing and get good information, only to be disappointed by the lack of information and overwhelming array of advertisements.

                     

Realtor.com is not a good tool for finding a home-

Go to Realtor.com and search for homes and what you’ll get is a bunch of listings without addresses, virtual tours or agent contact info. A few listings have these things, but only the ones that the agent has specifically paid for the upgrades.

And now Marlow Harris at 360Digest reports that Realtor.com is about to completely lose its MLS feed from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service because the region’s MLS states, “a majority of the Board of Directors felt that it was inappropriate for the NWMLS to provide a service to a for-profit organization that is outside of their sphere.”

Realtor.com has been lame from the beginning because it has never been about the consumer, it has been about profiting from agents- taking their data and then selling them advertising and the leads that come from the site.

Allen Dalton, president of Realtor.com recently criticized Rich Lloyd of Zillow.com, likening “the site’s trademark Zestimates of home values to a carnival weight and age guesser.” Dalton also stated, “The whole notion of suggesting to people that they can find out what their home is worth without a Realtor offends me.”

Which is funny, because right in the middle of the homepage of Realtor.com they have a Home Valuation function that asks, “What’s Your Home Worth” and says, “Immediately review recent home sales in your area” - so people can try to assess their home’s value based on recently sold homes in the area online, without the help of a Realtor.

Only difference is that on Zillow you don’t have most of the results page taken up with a paid advertisement from a Realtor. Zillow is more organic than that, and although some agents don’t like Zillow, at least they are honest about what they are as opposed to Realtor.com acting like a public resource, and the Internet face of NAR, and hiding the fact that they are actually one of the biggest pimps in the industry, selling every piece of the site they can.

Sure, it makes it easier to swallow if you can get a piece of the disintermediation pie that’s in your flavor, but it’s still taking leads from Realtors by using those Realtor’s listing information and selling the leads back to them- exactly the same way those other crappy lead-gen sites do.

Zillow is completely innaccurate, but Zillow is just an entertaining site that allows people to get a range of value on a property and charges for ads. It’s a private company trying to make money- Realtor.com is not just another private company- it’s the offical website for the National Association of Realtors (NAR) which means that it inherently has an advantage over every other website because it gets access to most of the listings simply because of that relationship.

What’s the difference between Zillow giving a value range and a Realtor selling a home with value-range pricing? Does it mean that the Realtor doesn’t know the value of the home? Does it mean that the agent is bad for the industry and we should all call for an end to them? No- it’s simply a way to sell a house, just like Zillow is a fun tool for people to snoop around on homes and get a range of what their home might be worth before calling their agent.

Realro.com shoul dhave all addresses and tours and contact information for all the agents because the consumer deserves it and the members of NAR deserve it. Make your money from ads like all the other top sites do.

I’ll take Zillow or BlueRoof.com over Realtor.com anyday…

Downtown Salt Lake City Gets Major Face-Lift in new City Creek Center

(Photo: Salt Lake Tribune)

Downtown Salt Lake City is in for a major face-lift to be completed in 2011. The project named City Creek Center will encompass 20 acres right in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City between 100 East and West Temple and 100 South and South Temple.

Planned for the project is 2 Million square feet of leasable office space, 928,000 square feet of retail space, 5600 underground parking stalls, over 400 high-rise condos (not including additional future residential development), a sky-walk over State Street and more than 6 full acres of open-air pedestrian walkways and paths, including a glass-roof arcade, gardens and fountains. Water will flow throughout the green space, descending more than 47 feet from one end to the other.

The LDS church owns most of the land and, along with its development partners Michigan-based Taubman Centers Inc (which will develop the retail space), Utah-based Cowboy Partners (which will develop the housing), and Property Reserve Inc. (building the office space), will develop the property. And with the church financing the more than $1.5 Billion project, no public money will be used. The malls will be closed on Sundays, but some restaurants, many with liquor permits, will remain open seven days/week. And because the land is privately owned, public demonstrations are out.

The developers say they want the open space to have the “same ambiance we have on Temple Square”. Taubman Centers Inc owns and operates 23 malls in 11 states, including California, Colorado and Arizona. The publicly-traded company is “very choosy about the communities they go into,” says Bob Cannon, supervisor of Clinton Township, Michigan, where Taubman is building a 640,000 square foot mall. Typically the company builds in affluent, growing communities. Cannon adds, “You’ve won the lottery.” Mayor Rocky Anderson, once a critic of the proposed downtown renovation, is now a huge supporter, saying “It’s the most positive thing for our downtown that’s happened in my lifetime. The project will help revitalize our downtown area like nothing else could.”

The church will gather public comments this month via a website, www.downtownrising.com , and with open houses throughout the city.

Take Our Poll

Zillow Opens Up

               

Zillow announced today (I’m writing this late) that it will now allow homeowners to update the information about their homes and save the new estimate either privately or publicly. You can add remodeling, edit the basic home info, and add value for other remodeling you have done.

First you’ll need to confirm that you are the owner, either by credit card verification or by mailing in the proof to Zillow. It doesn’t take long and it’s a very easy process.

HouseAmerica vs Zillow - - The Battle for Home Values

    

HouseAmerica hopes to be a Zillow-like site that will give you the value of your home, anywhere in America. Of course both sites don’t yet have every home, but they have a ton of them.

One major difference between the two sites is that Zillow will give you an estimated value (Zestimate) of your home, while HouseAmerica will give you a value range.

Another is the membership HouseAmerica offers. They want people to pay a $4.95/month or $49.95/year subscription fee to “monitor up to three properties” and get a monthly statement.

In the searching I have done Zillow tends to be more accurate, and more visually appealing.

Zillow definately has the “buzz” advantage over HouseAmerica, and pretty much every other real estae website in the world. Everyone talks, jokes, analyses, discusses, and blogs about Zillow- including me. 

HouseAmerica also seems to be positioning itself to add mortgage to its site- their tagline says, “Changing the way people buy, sell, and finance real estate” and their homepage is basically a copy/paste of Zillow.

Of course, both of these sites are only a starting point of getting an accurate assessment of a home’s value and entertainment. Neither should be used as the sole method of determining a home’s value. Use a good Realtor for that.

I learned out about HouseAmerica from Future of Real Estate blog- thanks Joel.

Viewr set to launch this month

 

Viewr, a yet-to-be-launched real estate website, which is calling itself “A Global View on Real Estate”, is currently making an effort to sign up agents and brokers to have some participation for their launch later this month.

 

They’re using AJAX and the pieces they are showing look clean and user-friendly. Questions remain as to how the experience will feel when using the site and more importantly, can a real estate website be global?

Real estate is so local, and getting agents and brokers to adopt could prove challenging unless there is value for them. They won’t be getting data from MLS system’s, which is probably smart because it would cost a fortune to get that many license agreements. Instead they are relying on having agents and consumers submit their information directly.

Increasing Your Value Propositon is NOT About Good Service

                        

What is value-proposition? It’s what you do that’s different/better than your competitors. So how is giving good service going to make your value any better than your competitors? It’s interesting how much marketing in the real estate business is devoted to saying what nobody cares about wants to hear.

“Top-notch Service”

“We put YOU first”

“FREE! Market Analysis”

“First-Class Service”

“Two Realtors for the Price of One”

“I Sell More Homes in (Add your city name here) Than Anyone”

“Top 1% Internationally”

Any of this originality sound familiar? They should- they’re plastered on bus benches and shopping carts in every city across the country. And, a side note- those 1980’s glamour shots make you look ridiculous (public service announcement).

                           

Conduct a poll of 1000 home buyers and sellers and ask them how many of them chose to work with that particular agent because their marketing said that they offer “First-Class Service” or were in the TOP 1% Internationally and you’ll probably have agents lining up to throw rocks at your results because they won’t believe them.

“What do you mean NOBODY listed with me because of my “Selling Homes One Yard at a Time” marketing? Of course they did!

Agents won’t believe this because we all want to think that other people care about how creative and clever our slogan’s are or about how successful we are. “If they know that I’m a top agent they’ll know they can trust and respect my service”- or maybe they’ll think you’re too busy for them. Or maybe they’ll think that you have a slew of twenty assistants doing all the actual work in the office and they’ll never hear from you again after the contract is signed.

Increasing value proposition is not about good service or being an agent who knows what you’re doing. It’s not about being one of the best in your field at negotiating or about how amazing your CMA looks. These things don’t matter because they are all expected.

If you’re looking for a landscaper would you be impressed with someone because they advertise, “We plant trees” or “Number one in sod- laying for the last five years”, or if they had a slogan that said, “The Grass is Always Greener on our Side of the Fence” ? Or would be more impressed by seeing a list of past clients and referrals who loved that their jobs were done in less time, and on time, and for thousands less than other quotes you’d gotten?

Increasing value proposition is about giving people choices that will make/save them time/money/frustration. It’s about surprising and delighting the consumer so that they are compelled to say, WOW! So they actually say, out loud, “Wow!”. That’s an increased value proposition.

Maybe it’s an amazing website that allows them to find what they want more efficiently and increases their experience so much that it’s actually really FUN searching for hours on-line for homes. Maybe it’s a price point that surprises them and delights them so much that they say it. Or maybe it is the act of your service and the incredible attention you give them so that at the end of the transaction the culmination of your efforts draws out that validation of “Wow!”

                               

Whichever way you do it- increasing your value proposition will be relevant in the RE 2.0 realm and it won’t happen by giving the client what they would expect from anyone else.

Time’s 50 Coolest Websites

Time just released it’s list of the 50 coolest websites, which includes Zillow in real estate, along with other sites such as Digg, MySpace and YouTube. And some less-known sites made the list, such as Yahoo’s The 9 and Accoona, which uses A.I. to understand the meaning of your search to help give you better results.

Time also published it’s list of “25 sites We Can’t Live Without” which includes obvious picks like Google, Amazon and eBay, and some less known sites such as FactCheck, which picks apart speeches to check the facts stated within and Television Without Pity, which picks funny clips on TV to show for your viewing pleasure.

BlueRoof didn’t make either list, probably because we’re so new (ahem), but as soon as we add arcade games and TV clips we’ll be golden.