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Networking Sites Give New Way to Prospect

Real estate practitioners are trying out an array of social networking Web sites as a way to connect with consumers and other industry professionals.

Twitter.com, for example, allows users to send phone or computer text messages to provide personal or business updates to other users. Other sites are focused more on the real estate niche, including RealEstateVoices.com and RELiberation.com, let agents share news and other information. Point2 Technologies, which founded RELiberation, also rolled out the Point2 National Listing Service that seeks to help agents create marketing networks and generate referrals.

Meanwhile, sites such as RealTown.com and RealEstateNetworkers.com, offer discussion groups and forums.

However, Michael Jalone — who handles marketing for his real estate agent wife, Julie Jalone of Roseville, Calif.-based Lyon Real Estate — says he thinks the reaal estate industry has a while to go before such Web sites become the norm for communication and prospecting.

Hello, my name is "LetMeIn YourSite"

To attach a lead form or not to attach a lead form -- believe it or not that's still a pretty hot-button issue in the real estate industry. Not long ago pretty much every Web site with real estate listings on it required consumers to fill out a form before they could get access to the goodies. The form enables brokers, agents and lead generation companies to "get something" out of the exchange of information -- you get information, I get to spam you for the rest of your life. Or at least, that's how many have approached this.

But now the game has changed a little. Today's Web surfers are tired of having to give up information all the time and will either 1) create fake accounts (there are even services that will automatically create fake accounts for Web surfers -- see BugMeNot.com); or 2) Move on to the next real estate Web site. Also, there are a lot more sites now that do not force users to create accounts but will show listings or other real estate valuation info (Trulia, Google Base, Zillow, Broker IDX sites).

This "to lead form or not to lead form" debate heated up at a recent real estate conference where LeadQual co-founder Andrew Coleman's take was that real estate pros should get something from the visitor else they have nothing. But Point2's COO Brendan King said it's probably better not to do the lead form because even though you won't have the visitor's info right then and there the chances are pretty high you'll lose them entirely. But even if you must go the lead form route, it doesn't give you the right to spam this person, he said.

What's your take?

Point2 goes public with Web site usage information

Company provides real-time data on Web traffic, member stats

Monday, March 26, 2007

Inman News

Point2, a technology company that offers online tools for real estate professionals including a National Listing Service that allows members to manage the marketing of other property listings, has opened its user statistics to the world.

The company today announced the public availability of several company statistics, including membership, listings, incoming prospects and unique visitors at the site, and also announced a branding initiative that incorporates several products under the Point2 National Listing Service name.

As of this morning, the Point2 NLS was growing at a rate of 179 members per day and 979 listings per day, and attracted 3,906 prospects per day and 67,981 unique visitors per day, according to the new "Realtime Statistics" page at the site.

"One of the things we're trying to do is strive for transparency," said Brendan King, chief operating officer of Point2 Technologies. "We're trying to get really, really transparent about everything we do to build trust."

While members of the site already have access to reporting tools specific to their own property listings and traffic at the NLS site, King said that hopefully the statistics will encourage other real estate professionals to participate in the system.

Besides membership and visitor statistics, the company is providing such technical information as page-load time at the site and outstanding customer-service issues and resolution time, including the number of customer-service issues closed per day and the busiest category for customer-service issues.

The Point2 NLS had 15.5 million page views in the past 30 days, 2.9 million unique visitors, and 5.9 million views of detail pages for property listings. Also, the site reported 117,899 total members, 494,796 listings, and 3.2 million total photos at the site.

Licensed real estate professionals can be members of the Point2 NLS, and Point2 operates a public property-search site at Point2Homes.com.

As for the branding initiative, Point2 announced that its Point2 Broker, Point2 Agent, Point2 Builder and Point2 PropMan services will be re-branded as Point2 NLS for brokers, agents, builders and property managers, while the Point2 Homes will maintain its separate identity.

Point2 Technologies Consolidates Real Estate Brands and Re-Launches Point2NLS.com

Saskatoon, SK and Vancouver, BC – March 26, 2007 – Point2 Technologies Inc. (“Point2”) today announced that it has consolidated the branding and delivery of its real estate online marketing solutions, under the Point2 NLS (National Listing Service) flagship brand and website.

The shift was implemented to further enhance Point2 NLS member services and user experience, and is expected to generate immediate, tangible operational efficiencies for Point2, primarily in the areas of product development and marketing.

The re-branding covers Point2 Broker, Point2 Agent, Point2 Builder and Point2 PropMan. Each product will now be categorized as Point2 NLS for brokers, agents, builders and property managers, respectively. Point2’s consumer real estate search marketplace, Point2 Homes (www.Point2Homes.com) will maintain its current, separate identity.

www.Point2NLS.com has been completely re-designed and upgraded to support the initiative. Easier navigation, simplified communication and considerable new content aim to give visitors and customers significantly more comprehensive, convenient access to all the Point2 real estate online marketing solutions and related information, on the same site.

“We’re constantly seeking ways to help Point2 NLS members run their businesses more efficiently and more profitably,” said Brendan King, chief operating officer, Point2 Technologies. “The new Point2 NLS site enhances overall user experience, but also introduces a new degree of business transparency that we believe will engage our members and enable their participation in the growth and success of their Point2 NLS community like never before. We think Point2 NLS has taken Web 2.0 to a whole new level.”

Point2 NLS membership growth, business performance metrics and reporting have been added to the site. Live reports and data cover Point2 NLS membership growth, site traffic, customer support issues and backlog, average number of photos per listing, new listings and other critical information.

Membership in Point2 NLS is exclusive to licensed real estate professionals. Point2 NLS is the only national service that combines i) the ability to cooperatively market listings on a peer to peer basis, and ii) enables efficient listing syndication to third consumer property search sites, with complete control and choice over when, whom with and where the broker and their agent(s) advertise their listings. Point2 NLS does not offer a consumer facing property search facility.

"Point2 moves forward to provide real estate professionals the ability to choose their marketing partners and increase listing exposure through their national site, and syndication of content. Once again, the operative word is choice, and the power of choice remains in the hands of brokers and agetns, which is where it should be," said Saul Klein, CEO of Real Estate Electronic Publishing Company, home of RealTown.

Brokers, agents, builder and property managers worldwide can sign up for free at www.Point2NLS.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. The company is the largest provider of online marketing and lead management software for real estate professionals, with nearly 120,000 subscribing to Point2 NLS, in 85 countries. Point2 is also one of the largest providers of e-commerce solutions to the heavy equipment industry, powers Caterpillar Inc.’s global heavy equipment dealer network and owns and operates UsedIron.com, one of the largest used equipment venues online.

Founded in 1996, Point2 Technologies is privately held and employs a staff of 100 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 contact:
Roger Noujeim
Public Relations Director
Toll Free: 1-888-955-7900 Ext. 224 (U.S. and Canada)
Tel: 1-604-675-9393 Ext. 224
rnoujeim@point2.com

Training & Business Development: Follow-up Debate over a National MLS

RISMEDIA, March 21, 2007-Following Monday's lead article on RISMedia.com, by Stefan Swanepoel titled "MLS: Industry Asset or Public Utility," a debate has arisen on RealBlogging.com as to whether Trulia can or should become a national MLS. The discussion on this topic was recently fueled by Trulia's announcement that they had, in addition to their agreement with the Keller Williams Group, secured distribution agreements with the three Cendant brands to promote their listings on a national basis; Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and ERA.

Many are starting to ask "How far are we away from a national MLS?" or "How far are we away from the time when large numbers of consumers will list their homes for sale on a national Web site?"

According to Swanepoel, the process of consolidation with about 900 local MLSs will be slow, many of which are still stuck in the old paradigm. He acknowledges that significant change has already occurred but "becoming a national MLS will be very complicated and whoever attempts to carry the mantle will quickly discover that this is by no means an easy or straightforward initiative. There are many sticky issues that will need to be addressed before a national, quasi-public utility ever becomes a reality - items such as data ownership, data security, data standardization, data integration, third party participation, etc."

Jeff Tomlin from Point2 also warns that "an MLS is a lot more than a consumer facing real estate Web site. It's a system that allows for cooperative sharing of information between brokers. Many feel a National MLS must have a public facing component, but any National MLS system needs to be broker centric, or it's just a Web site."

Meanwhile the industry is looking for candidates they believe might step up to the plate. Names often listed as frontrunners include Trulia, Google, Yahoo, Zillow and Point2. Of course this can change at any time and one should never rule out Realtor.com, along with some of the existing large regional MLSs; Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, SoCal MLS, MLS of Northern Illinois, South East Florida Regional MLS and First MLS. It's possible that they could form the foundation of a regional conglomerate or even a national MLS.

"Consolidation is driven by consumer expectation but also practically by broker demand," says Stephen Roney, president of First American Residential Group.

"Technically there is no reason a national MLS would not work," says Jim Sherry, a leading industry consultant. "It's all about getting the egos of out the way first," he says.

To participate in this interesting open discussion visit www.RealBlogging.com and post your views today.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Industry experiments with social networking sites

Part 3: Social media and real estate

By Glenn Roberts Jr. Inman News

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Multiple listing services might be counted among the earliest forms of online social networks. MLSs have provided a platform for real estate professionals to communicate property details, notes about showing homes, and compensation for agents who bring a buyer into the transaction.

So perhaps it's no surprise that real estate professionals are among the early adopters of more modern forms of social networking tools.

It is no easy task to keep up with these new tools, though -- the convergence of technologies has given rise to an increasingly diverse pool of social networking sites that mix and match mapping, blogging, video and mobile technologies. The fast-evolving entrepreneurial environment that is Web 2.0 can lead some of these Web sites and tools to jump from oblivion to immense popularity, while others dim to virtual obscurity in viral fashion -- such is the fickle nature of the online audience.

Julie Jalone, a Realtor for Lyon Real Estate in Roseville, Calif., is experimenting with Twitter, a tool that allows people to send quick, short text messages to update the world on what they are up to at any given point in time, from a phone or from a computer. Of course, someone has already developed a Google Maps-based Twitter mashup, at Twittermaps.com, that maps the location of folks who sent recent messages to the Twitter site.

"Twitter is the newest thing we're giving a whirl to," said Michael Jalone, Jalone's husband and marketing manager. 'Anything we can do to create some interest in the site -- anything we can do that makes working together and working with our team more efficient." Jalone said he added a Twitter-related "widget," or mini application, to Julie's blog site. He has also tinkered with the MyBlogLog tool that is a networking tool for bloggers.

Experimenting with new technologies can be fun but it can also be time-consuming, he said. "I don't know how a standalone agent in today's environment can do everything and have a life. Some days I can spend three or four hours on our Web site doing updates. One thing leads to the next and you've got 18 windows open and four things that look kind of fun and interesting that you'd like to experiment with."

There seems to be a trend in innovations for mobile devices, he noted, adding that "anything that will help us communicate" could be a boost to the business. High-tech communications can be a double-edge sword though, he said, as some agents seem to work mostly by e-mail and fax and it can be difficult to reach them by phone.

Niki Scevak, creator of RealEstateVoices.com, a real estate news and information site that allows its users to vote on real estate content, said that online real estate communities are still in their early stages, and he expects more interaction between real estate professionals and consumers as online communication progresses.

The Web site is used mostly by bloggers who are connecting with other bloggers, and a lot of the postings that are submitted and voted upon by the site's users relate to the development of effective blogs, he said. "We're in year zero of real estate blogging. Where we are now is talking about the actual medium. It naturally progresses from there as people find their voice."

He added, "It is certainly characterized by industry (professionals) talking to others within the industry, rather than talking to homeowners." Scevak said he expects the content posted at the site to become more consumer-focused.

The site is intended, he said, to give real estate bloggers "a free forum to promote their work and to help people interested in real estate news to discover more interesting sources than they might have known about." In addition to blog content, site users can also submit news stories and industry announcements for other users to read. "The overall aim is to help undiscovered voices achieve an audience very quickly."

Point2 Technologies, a company that offers online marketing tools for real estate professionals, last month announced the launch of RELiberation.com, a networking site for real estate professionals to share insight and information.

And Brendan King, chief operating officer of Point2 Technologies, said that aspects of the company's online property marketing service, the Point2 National Listing Service, also feature social networking components as they allow agents to share information and build their own marketing networks with other agents.

A complex algorithm, the Point2 Performance Index, allows real estate professionals who register with the company to build up points based on a range of factors, such as the number of blog posts with numerous comments from other agents, the number of photos associated with property listings, and the response time to consumer inquiries, among others.

"Realtors are really social creatures and they love it," King said. Social networking can be good for business. The interactions through the Point2 users' blogs and peer-to-peer listings networks can lead to new referral business, King noted, and Point2 reported total membership at about 117,200 as of March 16, with more than 200 new members added on that day.

Another example of a real estate-focused social networking site is RealTown.com, a new Internet portal launched by Internet Crusade. RealTown features real estate-related content created by a thousands-strong community of real estate professionals.

The new site includes a consumer-facing collection of information from Internet discussion groups, industry articles and blogs. The goal, according to founders, is to empower consumers and real estate professionals alike with a centralized source of relevant real estate information

The site also features links to hundreds of multiple listing service-operated property-search Web sites, a database of properties maintained by real estate technology company Point2, and an agent-search tool.

Creating a social networking site is a minor challenge these days, as waves of new sites and tools are flooding the Web. A bigger challenge is attracting -- and maintaining -- a critical mass of users. Without sufficient users, the sites are irrelevant.

Ryan Hilario, a Century 21 real estate agent in Princeton, N.J., hopes to attract users to RealEstateNetworkers.com, a just-launched site that is a sort of MySpace for professionals working in real estate-related industries. The site is intended for a broad audience of professionals, including mortgage, title, escrow, sales agents and brokers.

Hilario said he designed the site to be easy to use, like MySpace. "It is professional, yet I made the design fun." Hilario is rolling out mapping tools for the site, and users can search for other members by ZIP code, city, state, profession and company. The site also features forums and allows users to create their own discussion groups.

"There are so many sites out there. I just really think that ... no one's really dominating it right now," he said. The site is similar in focus and design to WannaNetwork.com, a MySpace-like social networking site for professionals working in real estate and related industries.

5 business functions to automate

Technology is a great time saving tool, but only if you use it. Here are five tasks you can automate:

1. Distributing listing data. Use syndication software, such as Point2Agent’s
(http://agent.point2.com) Point2 Exposure Engine, to automatically push listing data to multiple real estate Web sites. You enter the data once, and the software does the rest.

2. Replying to e-mail. Use the auto response function on your e-mail program to send consumers an instant reply. Although most people think of this function as their “vacation response,” you can also use the message field to convey important information, such as your phone number, office location, and the time the sender can expect a personal response.

3. Forwarding important e-mail. As long as you’re tinkering with your e-mail settings, take advantage of the system’s filters to automatically forward important e-mail to your cell phone or mobile device. Create parameters for what’s sent for example, any e-mail with a subject line that contains the phrase info request and you’ll be instantly notified when a message meeting those criteria arrives.

4. Gathering news and information. An RSS (really simple syndication) reader pulls syndicated content from the Web sites you visit regularly, eliminating the need to visit and scan each site individually. You can then read the information in your RSS reader. Examples of readers include Bloglines (www.bloglines.com) and Google Reader (www.google.com/reader).

5. Backing up information. Set up your computer to automatically back up the data on your hard drive to an external drive each night.

Source: NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Technology

Realogy pushes property listings to Google, Trulia

Agreements represent more online exposure for sellers

Friday, March 02, 2007

Inman News

Real estate giant Realogy Corp. (NYSE: H), with corporate brands including Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and ERA, today announced a major play to broaden its online exposure for property listings that are represented by company-owned and franchise offices.

About 500,000 Realogy-affiliated property listings that appear at the Century21.com, ColdwellBanker.com and ERA.com Web sites will also be distributed to Google and to real estate search engine Trulia.com.

The decision follows a trend in the shift of real estate advertising and marketing efforts to the Internet as buyers are increasingly surfing the Web for property information. About 80 percent of buyers use the Internet to search for a home, according to a consumer survey released in November by the National Association of Realtors, compared with 77 percent in the previous year's survey.

Also, there is a growing number of online venues to market properties, including such sites as Oodle.com, Point2.com, LiveDeal.com, Propsmart.com, Yahoo.com and Zillow.com, among a long list.

Realogy earlier conducted a four-month pilot study in which the company provided listings from the ERA.com site to Trulia.com. Trulia reported that 15 percent of search traffic to ERA.com originated from Trulia.com during that trial period.

Meanwhile, Google has also been growing its inventory of searchable real estate information through its Google Base classified information portal, which allows agents, brokers, companies and MLSs to upload property information at no cost.

"Our brand Web sites are some of the most highly trafficked and comprehensive sites in real estate today," said Richard A. Smith, Realogy vice chairman and president, in a statement. "Our announced distributed listing strategy follows an intense study of the advantages of the broad distribution of our listing inventory. This serves as a milestone in our strategy to maximize the advantages of the Web for the benefit of our franchisees, our operating company and our customers."

According to the announcement, about 58 percent of all Internet searches on "real estate" and related terms are conducted on Google and its search partner sites, and about 375 million unique global users conduct searches on Google.com each month.

"For the buyer, viewing listings online is just part of the equation," said Alex Perriello, president and CEO of the Realogy Franchise Group, in a statement. "From the Google and Trulia Web sites, consumers will be linked to the brand sites where they can learn more about individual properties, communities and the home buying process. Home sellers will naturally benefit from the additional marketing exposure for their properties."

Sami Inkinen, COO and co-founder of Trulia, said in a statement, "We're thrilled to provide the Realogy network of real estate professionals with new ways to promote their listings and serve their clients using Trulia.com. Broker franchisees and agents can now offer their listings and contact information through Trulia for free."

Kenneth L. Jenny, a real estate consultant who has held management positions for Coldwell Banker and Prudential franchise operations, said the announcement by Realogy and similar decisions by other major industry players are sending a clear message about the inadequacy of existing industry rules for the online display and sharing of property information.

The Realogy decision and others of its kind deal a blow to data-sharing agreements among multiple listing service participants – namely Internet Data Exchange (IDX) agreements that allow MLS members to display listings represented by other MLS members at their own Web sites, he said.

"This move signifies that the industry would prefer not to have IDX as a way to display real estate properties to consumers. This is a big no-vote by the industry for IDX," Jenny said.

Data sharing and display rules are the subject of an ongoing federal antitrust lawsuit filed in 2005 against the National Association of Realtors trade group, and the federal government has charged that online listings policies pursued by the association were overly restrictive.

Sites like Trulia and Google are helping to drive Web site traffic back to the agents or brokers who are the source of the property listings information, Jenny said, rather than to another source that is not representing the seller. "The listing broker owns the listing relationship. If you're liable for that relationship you should have a choice in how it's published," he said.

This can reduce consumer confusion too, Jenny said, as consumers with questions about a property will be directed to the source of the listing information. "You don't call Mercedes to ask about BMW," he added.

Those companies that specialize in working with buyers rather than sellers can be invisible at property-search sites that attract viewers with listings content, though Jenny said that listings have always been king – buyers have traditionally been drawn to properties by listings agents' yard signs and newspaper ads, he noted, and the Internet continues this trend.

The growing popularity of third-party property-search sites shows that those search sites are bridging the gap between real estate companies and consumers, he said, adding that companies like Realogy are engaging in a thorough review and due diligence process before choosing online marketing partners.

The many sites to choose from when marketing properties online are not all created equal -- "It's like a fruit basket. It's apples and oranges and bananas and everything. They are finding models that work for the consumer and for the brokers," Jenny said.

"These models improve the consumer experience. Some clear signals are being sent here," Jenny also said. "A third-party figured it out … how to do business with the consumer and the industry and get along. It's pretty damn exciting. This is a huge green light for the way that is acceptable for the consumer and the broker to do business together."

Most of the Realogy property listings can already be viewed at Trulia.com, and the remainder "will be accessible … in the coming weeks," Trulia announced.

An estimated 320,000 real estate sales professionals belong to Realogy's franchise networks, who represent about 25 percent of the total membership in the National Association of Realtors trade group, and its affiliated agents participate in one-third of U.S. real estate transactions.

Realogy officials announced that the company will "continue to expand its listings distribution strategy by seeking out appropriate alliances and Internet channels to promote properties that appeal to particular lifestyles and niche markets." As an example, the company announced an agreement to display select properties on LandandFarm.com, a site that specializes in country properties including farms, ranches and hunting retreats.

The Trulia.com Web site has experienced 25 percent month-over-month growth for the past six months, and the company also reported that it passed the 1 million-listings mark in November 2006 and has more than 1 million unique visitors each month.

Launched in 2005, Trulia has earlier announced agreements to display property listings supplied by other major real estate industry companies such as Keller Williams Realty, Weichert Realtors, Long & Foster Real Estate and Real Living.