June 2006 - Posts

Point2 Technologies Launches Point2 Broker 6.5 - Industry's Most Highly Integrated Real Estate Broker Lead Management And Online Marketing Platform

Saskatoon, SK and Vancouver, BC – June 29, 2006 – Point2 Technologies Inc. (“Point2”) today announced the launch of Point2 Broker 6.5, the industry’s most highly integrated, most cost competitive real estate brokerage lead management, agent website network and online listing syndication solution.

The new platform enables small, medium and large brokerages alike to set up state of the art lead management and online exposure capabilities easily, cost effectively and at their own pace.

Unique system features include an advanced lead management and routing utility that allows brokers to assign and route sales leads to their agents along with a complete lead profile, via e-mail. Leads can also be routed via Point2’s RealAlerts™ text messaging technology, right to agent cell phones for faster response times when on the road.

The system also allows brokers to monitor progress on assigned leads, significantly improving internal communication, decision making and productivity.

“High end broker solutions have typically been expensive and difficult to implement. Point2 Broker changes industry expectations completely, and sets new benchmarks for functionality, ease of implementation and cost,” said Brendan King, chief operating officer for Point2 Technologies’ Realty Solutions. “We’ve developed and integrated the most advanced broker online marketing, lead management and conversion tools into Point2 Broker 6.5 to allow our customers, no matter what size their operation is, to optimize sales productivity, revenue and profits easily and cost effectively.”

Now featuring Agent Roster functionality, Point2 Broker is the only platform that enables brokerages to issue consistently branded, seamlessly interconnected agent websites to all their Realtors®, right from their main Point2 Broker central site, with a single push of a button – and completely free of charge. The advantage also gives brokers significant leverage in their agent recruiting efforts.

Using Point2’s Agent Handshake™ technology, brokers can also push listing content to all their Point2 Agent websites, eliminating the need for data re-entry, and maintaining listing presentation consistency online. The technology helps to maximize listing exposure on the Internet, featuring them on multiple Point2 Agent websites simultaneously.

Combined with Point2’s unparalleled listing syndication partner network, brokers can also use their Point2 Broker platform to automatically syndicate listings to all major real estate search sites across North America, at no cost to them or to their agents.

Point2 listing syndication partner sites include Google Base, Yahoo! Classifieds, Trulia, Oodle, LiveDeal, Propsmart and Edgeio, among others. Leads generated through Point2 partner sites are directed right to the broker or listing agent websites, with no intermediaries in between.

Availability and Pricing

Point2 Broker 6.5 is now available at http://broker.point2.com. The standard solution package is available free of charge. A Professional package is also available and offers unmatched functionality and value at US$ 1,099 per year.

About Point2 Technologies Inc.

Point2 Technologies provides online marketing and eBusiness software solutions for the real estate and heavy equipment industries. Leveraging Point2 proprietary and patented technology, Point2 develops and markets software solutions that enable organizations to conduct business over the Internet more easily and more profitably.

Founded in 1996, Point2 Technologies is privately held and employs a staff of 90 at its headquarters in Saskatoon, SK and its Vancouver, BC offices. More information can be obtained at www.Point2.com.

Point2® is a trademark of Point2 Technologies Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Media Relations contact:
Roger Noujeim
Public Relations Director
Toll Free: 1-888-955-7900 ext. 224 (U.S. and Canada)
Tel: 1-604-675-9393
rnoujeim@point2.com

Investor Relations:
Robert Gutek
Vice President, Finance
Toll Free: 1-866-955-7900 ext. 213 (U.S. and Canada)
Tel: 1-306-955-9736 ext. 213
rgutek@point2.com

Point2 Technologies Inc. - Prairie Programmers Find Their Niche

The Regina Leader Post

Where is the most advanced real estate software developed? Not in hot real estate markets like Calgary or Vancouver. Not in high tech hotbeds like Ottawa or Toronto. Each month, a Saskatoon-based technology company signs up thousands of new customers to its real estate software, constantly sending to new heights a monster client base that today stands at 76,000 Realtors® from 77 countries around the world. From their start in e-commerce software for the heavy equipment industry, to their current rise in the real estate market, Point2 Technologies Inc. is becoming known as a leader in technology solutions that enable buying and selling over the Internet.

Point2 started in 1996, when current CEO Wendell Willick, his brother Barry and three friends saw an opportunity. The group knew the expanding Internet was an ideal venue to enable buying and selling of used mining equipment around the world. Steady positive growth enabled the company to constantly improve its services and technology. In 2001, Point2 licensed its software to Caterpillar Inc. The agreement granted the world’s largest heavy equipment manufacturer the rights to use Point2’s technology to power its global used equipment dealer network. This partnership facilitated the development of more innovative technology, including techniques for compressing and storing data and pictures required to describe the products for sale online.

In 2001, Point2 recognized an opportunity to apply its technology in the real estate market. “People shopping for equipment online need pictures and descriptions. We saw the parallels in real estate, a huge market with substantial growth potential for our business,” explains Willick. Point2 did their homework. They learned how buyers and sellers interact, as well as the role of the broker and the agent. They tested their products in the field and incorporated their lessons before taking the product to market. The company created Point2 Agent, a product supported by leading edge technology, but is extremely simple to use — a winning combination.

Where has this led? First, what started out in spare rooms in Ottawa and Saskatoon has grown into an organization that employs over 80 people in its Saskatoon headquarters, and a regional office based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Each year, the company enables the management and sale of several billion dollars worth of used equipment, through over 300 dealerships worldwide. Point2’s real estate software empowers tens of thousands of Realtors® around the world every day with leading edge tools to effectively market their services on the Internet.

Wendell Willick is confident about the future of the company: “We’re working on new projects all the time.” Most of the financing for development and expansion has, to date, come from Point2’s existing revenue and profits. To help fund growth, Point2’s management has also taken advantage of technology development programs such as those offered by the National Research Council Canada — Industrial Research Assistance Program. Point2 involves all its staff members in its growth, with 15% of the company owned by employees. With a bright future ahead, Point2 management’s vision and investments already seem to be paying off.

Arkansas Real Estate Broker Stakes Out Online Territory

Real Estate Technology News

When EXIT Realty Northwest launched in northwest Arkansas in late 2004, it faced a number of challenges related to brand recognition, agent recruiting and online presence.

For the unknown and unproven brokerage, generating listings was a key concern. Broker/owner Mike Robinson knew more and more buyers were online and that he had to establish a strong Web presence quickly. When the cost of a custom-built solution proved prohibitive, he turned to Point2 Technologies, which provides online marketing software platforms for real estate professionals.

Robinson switched to the Point2 Agent platform several months after his company launched, using the system for online branding, marketing and sales lead capture. Realtors sign up for the free Point2 Agent Web site when they join the company. Sites are free for them, but they can upgrade to a premium site for a fee. “Most of them don’t elect to upgrade. They keep the standard site. It’s linked to our site, and they have all their listings appear on their site through the ‘handshake’ link with our main site,” Robinson said.

Point2’s handshake functionality ensures that agent Web sites are interconnected and the broker’s listings appear on every site simultaneously. One of the prime benefits of the system is lead generation and incubation. When clients on the sites view an EXIT listing, they’re asked to provide their name, phone number, e-mail address, etc. A drip e-mail campaign is then set up. Agents can also set up their own, separate e-mail campaign.

“We take those leads that come in and pull them off to the listing agent so he can follow up,” Robinson said.

EXIT has an IDX link to the local MLS (running on First American’s MLXchange), and MLS listings appear in a box on the Point2 sites. According to Robinson, the Point2 system lets agents show more detailed information, including more photos, than the MLS allows.

As Robinson and his agents are doing dual entry in both systems, he said integrated data entry would be a welcome addition to the software.

In its first year, the brokerage reported $28 million in sales and has doubled its Web traffic. EXIT Northwest now has 46 agents and is quickly adding more.

Robinson said his county was one of the fastest growing real estate markets in 2004, but in the last six months, closings have started to drop from the same period last year. He expects the Point2 system will help him ride out the market shift.

“Everything we see from NAR, the surveys they do and certainly our experiences locally is there is a huge shift where homebuyers are picking both their houses and agents away from print media and towards the Internet. … Being out there with a good-looking, interactive Web site — which shows clients all the houses we’ve shown them and the houses we’ve proposed for them to look at, and where they can send us comments — we think we’re well-positioned for continued growth. Over the past 15 months, there’s a steady upward stream of hits,” Robinson said.

How might the company extend its Web capabilities in the future? Robinson would like to start using a transaction management system (TMS), but he wants to see it done at MLS level so that everyone in the local Realtor association is using the same system. Otherwise, cooperating agents won’t be able to update each other’s files and maintain an online process.

Local Stewart title offices encourage Realtors in the area to use its TMS system, but as Robinson said, “We don’t close everything with Stewart. My agents have to have two different systems — their manual system and that one.”

“I’d like to see the whole MLS go to that,” he concluded. “I’d be very excited about that.”

Point2 Technologies Integrates Advanced Blogging System into Point2 Agent Real Estate Online Marketing Platform

Point2 RealBlogs™ Simplifies Blogging and Eliminates the Need for Third Party Blogging Systems and Services

Saskatoon, SK and Vancouver, BC – June 7, 2006 – Point2 Technologies Inc. (“Point2”) today introduced Point2 RealBlogs™, a highly advanced blogging system for real estate brokers, agents and developers.

The new system is designed to allow Point2 Agent members worldwide to start to reap the benefits of blogging, quickly and easily.

Integrated into the Point2 Agent website and online marketing platform, RealBlogs enables users to capitalize on their existing Point2 Agent websites to instantly create their own blog.

Available to all Point2 Agent subscribers at no cost, RealBlogs draws on graphics and content from a Realtor’s website, to automatically launch a world class blog while maintaining branding and message consistency between the two online venues.

Features unique to the Point2 RealBlogs system also include automatic generation of content, which gives Realtors® the flexibility to effortlessly manage and maintain their blog. Relevant content on their Point2 Agent website can be tagged to simultaneously appear on their blog, and can include neighborhood related updates, local market overviews, commentaries or new listing updates and open house notices.

“Point2 RealBlogs is another major initiative that reflects our unwavering focus on helping our members dominate their markets efficiently and cost effectively,” said Brendan King, Chief Operating Officer of Point2 Technologies Realty Solutions. “We’re investing significant resources to allow Point2 Agent members to benefit from all the exposure and advantages effective blogging can yield, without having to learn complex new systems, tax their busy schedules, deal with multiple vendors or strain their budgets.”

Used to engage target audiences on timely insight, information and opinion on relevant issues, such as market conditions, Realtors® can leverage blogs to expand and strengthen their online presence, build new relationships and generate new business. Incorporating hyperlinks and well placed keywords into their blog can also improve search engine placement, helping to attract incremental traffic back to the Realtor’s website.

Realtors® featured as Neighborhood Experts on Point2’s consumer real estate website, www.Point2Homes.com, can now also leverage the interactive nature of personal blogs to engage their local communities, to further enhance their visibility and position in their marketplace.

Point2 RealBlogs will be available to all Point2 Agent members, before the end of September 2006.

About Point2 Agent
With a rapidly growing membership of over 82,000 brokers, agents and developers, Point2 Agent is the industry’s most widely used online marketing software platform for real estate professionals. More information can be obtained at www.Point2Agent.com.

About Point2 Technologies Inc.

Point2 Technologies provides online marketing and eBusiness software solutions for the real estate and heavy equipment industries. Leveraging Point2 proprietary and patented technology, Point2 develops and markets software solutions that enable organizations to conduct business over the Internet more easily and more profitably.

Founded in 1996, Point2 Technologies is privately held and employs a staff of 90 at its headquarters in Saskatoon, SK and its Vancouver, BC offices. More information can be obtained at www.Point2.com.

Point2® is a trademark of Point2 Technologies Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Media Relations contact:
Roger Noujeim
Public Relations Director
Toll Free: 1-888-955-7900 ext. 224 (U.S. and Canada)
Tel: 1-604-675-9393
rnoujeim@point2.com

Investor Relations:
Robert Gutek
Vice President, Finance
Toll Free: 1-866-955-7900 ext. 213 (U.S. and Canada)
Tel: 1-306-955-9736 ext. 213
rgutek@point2.com

Wireless real estate system shortens lead response time

Real Estate Technology News

Point2 Technologies’ Real Alerts is designed to help Realtors contact potential homebuyers quickly. The system also eliminates the need for third-party lead incubation services and systems, the company said.

Point2 Technologies has launched Real Alerts, a prospect incubation and wireless alert system designed to help real estate professionals convert more Web site traffic into sales.

Integrated into the Point2 Agent Web site and online marketing platform, Real Alerts also eliminate the need for third-party lead incubation services and systems, Point2 said.

By incubating and delivering qualified leads from a Realtor’s Point2 Agent Web site directly to their cell phone, the new system should improve users’ ability to respond quickly to customer opportunities.

"Having virtually instant access to web site leads, no matter where I am or what I'm doing is an incredibly powerful tool," said Jay Thompson of Century 21 Aware Realty in Mesa, Ariz. "I've had several prospects comment on the speed of my response to their Web site inquiry. I can demonstrate this technology to clients considering listing with us and they quickly realize the positive impact this could have on the sale of their property."

Point2 Agent Professional package subscribers also get the prospect’s contact information, including first and last name, telephone number and e-mail address, along with the reason why the sales lead is “hot.” The alert can also include a text message from the prospect.

While “hot” leads are directly sent to the Realtor’s mobile phone, passive leads are incubated by an advanced drip e-mail system.

The new system is now available to all Point2 Agent subscribers in North America, as part of their membership package benefits.