Newsroom : Point2 Technologies News

Fort Myers Realtor association partners with Point2 Technologies - Naples News

scorbett — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:59:00 GMT

The Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Inc. a 5,000-broker and agent member organization and one of the 10 largest real estate boards in Florida, announced that it has completed the implementation of a national online listing exposure initiative in partnership with Point2 Technologies Inc. (Point2) that will significantly expand online visibility for its member listings with consumers.

The initiative widens the exposure of “For Sale” Southwest Florida property listings online by leveraging Point2’s syndication and re-syndication network of nearly 40 high traffic search engines, real estate search sites and media Web sites to maximize listing visibility with prospective buyers.

Effective Nov. 1, association members began streaming approximately 24,000 listings daily to the Point2 Exposure Engine for syndication across the company’s industry-leading network.

A simple dashboard provides participating brokers and agents with complete control and choice over syndication destinations, on a listing basis, and enables them to track traffic results generated on key Web sites.

“The partnership with Point2 will enable our brokers and their agents to maintain profitability and grow their businesses, while protecting their listing assets,” said Suzanne Sherer, association president. “We have now ensured that our members can publish their listings so they can be found more easily by an ever fragmented consumer base, while sparing them the effort of having to post individual listings manually on the various sites.”

“It’s exciting to see the real estate industry take back its future by way of organized and supervised dissemination of listing data to the Internet and beyond, with Point2 participating as a key enabler of this progress,” said Saul Klein, Chief Executive Officer, Point2 Technologies Inc. With Point2 syndication, we are enabling organized real estate to empower real estate professionals on the ground with control over when and where their listings are published online, on the most popular Web sites, while ensuring leads generated from the listings are directed to the respective listing owner.”

Agent, broker confidence slips - INMAN News

scorbett — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:31:00 GMT

September Point2 survey based on 2,493 respondents

Point2 among top employers - Star Phoenix

scorbett — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:06:00 GMT

By Jenn Sharp

Saskatoon's Point2 Technologies was founded in 1996 by five entrepreneurs who saw the power of the Internet as a useful sales and marketing tool for an industry that was struggling to sell its product in the global marketplace.

Company president Barry Willick said they decided to focus on Internet-based software that could be used by heavy equipment dealers and manufacturers for sales, marketing and inventory management. "We provided tools for dealers to advertise their equipment no matter where they were in the world."

Currently, half of Point2's 115 staff members are responsible for writing and maintaining the site www.catused.com, after Point2 established a key relationship with Caterpillar Inc. The software Point2 developed is now used by heavy equipment dealers and manufacturers all over the world. In 2002, they decided to diversify to include the real estate market and developed Point2 Agent, a full online marketing tool kit, which has been used by agents in 120 countries.

Jay Pepper-Martens, a 35-year-old sales engineer, has been with the company for nearly three years, and said he joined the Saskatoon team because he knew Point2 worked with a variety of markets, and would give him the chance to expand his skills: "I was working at a smaller company and was looking for more opportunities and chances for professional growth and development."

"They've become a very progressive company," Pepper-Martens said. "Point2 is flexible; they embrace change . . . and have switched to a modern development program. They keep me trained in ways which help me grow professionally."

Saskatchewan's Top 20 Employers are chosen annually by a Toronto firm called Mediacorp Canada Inc. After a year-long process, Saskatchewan companies are chosen from more than 2, 600 applicants to Canada's Top 100 Employers competition. Employers completed an extensive application process that included a detailed review of their operations and human resource practices. Applicants are graded on eight key areas: physical workplace; work atmosphere and social aspects; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement.

Point2, which has offices in Saskatoon and Vancouver, was recognized in five categories. Along with matching RSP contributions, offering new employees three weeks paid vacation and providing a free, on-site fitness facility, the company also manages a formal, in-house, career development program. Pepper-Martens said the program, which includes one-on-one coaching and bi-weekly progress reviews, "is at the top of my list. I was recently sent to a conference in Chicago, where I met people in my industry and had the chance to meet Americans which was something I had never done before. It was huge for my professional development."

Willick explained that those sent to conferences have a responsibility to teach the other employees what they have learned: "They have to make that commitment so we can all take advantage of outside knowledge."

Time is allotted each week for learning workshops.

"Friday afternoon is a lower productivity time for any business, so we shut down the office at 3pm and last year started to use the time between 1 and 3pm for professional development," he explained.

"We encourage staff to prepare and deliver workshops that explain new concepts . . . It's time that can be used for learning or working on projects that are important to Point2 and in areas they want to learn."

Another key area of Point2's benefits for employees is their referral program. While many companies offer bonuses for employees who refer a person who is successfully hired, not many offer $1,000 or more.

"Our culture is to promote from within where it makes sense," said Willick. "We're always looking for the best person for the job and we look inside first . . . but sometimes we need new experts who raise the game and bring in new experience."

Willick said the $1,000 incentive encourages staff to seek talent in the development community. "(Our staff) know we don't just hire anybody. They're putting out their endorsement for the quality that person reflects."

Willick said the incentive program has brought recruits from all over the world to work at Point2 and that they were "attracted to the company because of the people we already have working here."

"We take pride in our culture. It's our greatest asset and we protect that," explained Willick.

Pepper-Martens agreed and said Point2 "is a positive environment where everyone feels they're allowed to contribute. A lot of great ideas come from an open dialogue."

Saskatchewan's

Top Employers:

Airline Hotels & Resorts Ltd.

Cameco Corporation

Co-operators Life Insurance Company

Crestline Coach Ltd.

Crown Investments Corporation of Saskatchewan

Information Services Corporation of Saskatchewan (ISC)

ISM Canada

Magna Electric Corporation

Point2 Technologies Inc.

Regina Police Service

Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation

Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI)

Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST)

Saskatchewan Roughriders Football Club Inc.

Saskatoon Health Region

SaskEnergy Incorporated

SaskPower Corporation

SaskTel

University of Saskatchewan

Workers' Compensation Board of Saskatchewan

"Friday afternoon is a lower productivity time for any business, so we shut down the office at 3pm and last year started to use the time between 1 and 3pm for professional development," he explained.

"We encourage staff to prepare and deliver workshops that explain new concepts . . . It's time that can be used for learning or working on projects that are important to Point2 and in areas they want to learn."

Another key area of Point2's benefits for employees is their referral program. While many companies offer bonuses for employees who refer a person who is successfully hired, not many offer $1,000 or more.

"Our culture is to promote from within where it makes sense," said Willick. "We're always looking for the best person for the job and we look inside first . . . but sometimes we need new experts who raise the game and bring in new experience."

Willick said the $1,000 incentive encourages staff to seek talent in the development community. "(Our staff) know we don't just hire anybody. They're putting out their endorsement for the quality that person reflects."

Willick said the incentive program has brought recruits from all over the world to work at Point2 and that they were "attracted to the company because of the people we already have working here."

"We take pride in our culture. It's our greatest asset and we protect that," explained Willick.

Pepper-Martens agreed and said Point2 "is a positive environment where everyone feels they're allowed to contribute. A lot of great ideas come from an open dialogue."

Don’t Tell Anyone What I’ve Done with My Website - RIS Media

scorbett — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:12:00 GMT

By Mike Parker

RISMEDIA, — I was recently informed that one of our new online marketing services clients had experienced success ridiculously quickly. I found it hard to believe that someone could sell a home to their first lead from their website, and obtain that lead in their first month of using it, so I wrote the agent/broker and asked if what I had heard were true.

“I told my assistant that she can’t tell anyone what I have done with my website. I’ve had three great leads in two days and I’m in a small boutique market,” our client said. Well, maybe I can’t tell you who I’m talking about, but I can surely share with you what this broker did and perhaps you can use that information.

Lightning-quick success is not the norm online
The Internet is huge: about 11 billion active Web pages are out there being indexed every day. It only stands to reason that any action taken to improve your websites rankings and placement take time to accomplish. Normally, it’s 4-6 weeks (or even longer in highly completive marketplaces) before you will notice any substantial improvement in your online marketing results. However, just as success rarely happens overnight, success improves as time goes by and in time, online marketing success becomes something to be maintained, not achieved, because you’ve already achieved it in 80+% of all cases.

What our client did with her website
First she bought in to what is not always obvious in online marketing: It is not about bombing people with information they don’t need as much as it is about tantalizing them to ask you for more information that they want. Accordingly, the broker stripped her homepage to give minimal information and her online marketing services company rewrote it for her to be as powerful as possible in the eyes of Google and the other search engines. That allowed three major things to occur:

Her properly optimized homepage is on page one of Google, Yahoo and Bing for what she sells in both her market targets. This has increased her traffic considerably. In her first few weeks, 76 different people found her in this niche market on the first page of search engines. Here’s what one of them who signed in asked for: “Please send me brochures, school info, community events, a Visitor’s Guide, and maps for residential properties and condos. Any info you could e-mail would be great. Prices range from 300-500k.” This was accompanied by the Internet buyer’s name, phone and e-mail address.

Having attended the “How to follow up an Internet lead” course, our broker knew what to do: she called the prospect and sent a personalized (never an auto responder) e-mail confirming that she had received his inquiry and was complying with his request. She did this within an hour of receiving the lead.

The rest, as they say, is history!

After a year with a website, just 30 more days to succeeding online
This broker subscribed to her online marketing services on August 13, 2009. Production optimizing her site and rewriting her homepage was completed on August 21, 2009. She was selling homes online right after Labor Day. “I’ve had my website for over a year,” she told me. “It’s a very good platform (Point2) and I’m very happy with how easy it is for me to maintain. I read about another broker who also had a Point2 site and who started selling homes to Internet buyers after Compass tweaked her site, optimized it for her and gave her the training courses. After talking with that broker, I decided to take the $3,400 gamble and give CompassSearch a try. I have to tell you, I am so impressed at the results and I am very glad that I did.”

If you could see this broker’s site, you’d know her listings range from $280,000 for raw land to $5,575,000 for a top-of-the-line estate, and anywhere in between; do the math at what the commission on just one Internet sale might be. It is that return which is the basis for investing in online marketing services for Realtors: with 87% of all residential real estate sales starting online, chances are good that the cost is recovered several times over during the initial year of subscription.

Don’t tell!
It’s a common thought to keep something that gives you an unfair advantage to yourself, especially in a very small niche market. Most agents, however, are up to their ears in competition, and want to know about anything that can give them that edge. A major problem today is that “experts” of all sorts are pushing all sorts of technology for all sorts of reasons and a lot of that “must have” technology is baffling to regular folks like you and me.

So, whatever you do, don’t tell anyone that succeeding online is a simple three-step process: Enable your website to be found on the major search engines under what you sell; Convert 5-15% of all visitors to leads by signing them in and tantalizing them to ask you for more information; Follow up immediately and respond as fast as you can with what they want.

One more thing: don’t tell anyone that 87% of all residential homes sales today begin on the Internet or that 92% of Internet homebuyers find the agent they buy a home from through a search engine. NAR’s been trying to tell folks that for years, but somehow, the message is getting blocked. Just imagine what agents and brokers would do to succeed in online marketing if they knew these things. Just imagine the huge difference in your income stream if you could tap into that 87% of transactions.

While the identity and location of the broker who is the real source for this column must remain secret, the facts listed above are no secret. Success can be yours, regardless of market conditions, in the place where 87% of all residential real estate transactions occur. The question is: are you going to try to compete on your own, or are you going to seek help from professionals? Because without a doubt, you must become active online.

Whatever you decide, the time to begin is now. You can’t wait to be fed leads anymore. You need to find a way to make them for yourself and the place you can do that is online.

APPN.com - Local Briefs

scorbett — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Association forms partnership

The Monmouth County Association of Realtors, provider of the Monmouth/Ocean Multiple Listing Service, announced its partnership with Point2 Technologies, which will provide property listing distribution of the industry's largest syndication and re-syndication network of nearly 40 third party, high traffic Web sites and search engines, as well as more than 260 newspaper Web sites, on a listing-by-listing basis.

According to Kenneth Walker, chairman of the Monmouth Ocean Multiple Listing Service Committee, the association is the first in New Jersey to partner with the Point2 syndication network.

REM Online - Saskatchewan links with listing syndication service

scorbett — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:54:00 GMT

By Kathy Bevan

The Association of Saskatchewan Realtors (ASR) has joined with Point2 Technologies to establish the first national real estate listing syndication program to be set up in Canada by a regional organized real estate association.

The syndication service plans to complement CREA’s national Realtor.ca listing website, by offering Saskatchewan brokers and salespeople the option of having their listings posted at no charge on Point2’s network of third-party websites and search engines, including Google, HouseHunting.ca, The RealEstateChannel.ca, TheRealEstateBook.com, HomesZ.com, eBay, Craigslist, Oodle.com and Zoocasa.com. Any brokers or salespeople who do not want to have their listing data syndicated by Point2 can opt out of the listings feed, which will be provided to Point2 by the Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors (SRAR), where most Saskatchewan real estate listing data is hosted and processed.

SRAR led the initiative, a collaborative effort among eight Saskatchewan industry organizations, including the Prince Albert and District Association of Realtors, the Moose Jaw Real Estate Board, the Council of Battleford Realtors, the Swift Current and Region Council of Realtors, the Melfort Real Estate Council and the Southeast Saskatchewan Council of Realtors.

Some concerns have been expressed about allowing Saskatchewan listing data to be shared with large Internet sites that have been regarded as a potential threat to organized real estate, by taking the Realtor out of the equation. Harry Janzen, SRAR’s executive officer, says that, as all the data will come from the associations, boards and councils, with brokers and salespeople having the ability to opt out of the process, the integrity of the data and the Realtor’s role is not at risk.

Janzen also says that Saskatchewan has a stringent data access sharing agreement in place with Point2. “We could cut off the flow of MLS data literally by the flick of a switch, if anything was found to be in violation,” he says.

One of the province’s larger franchises, Century 21 Connexus, has decided to opt out of the new program and will not allow its listings to be syndicated through Point2. Other industry members are only too happy to have the new syndication program in place. Dale Ripplinger, broker/owner of Realty Executives Dale Ripplinger & Associates in Regina and current president of CREA, has been using Point2’s syndication service for the past six months.

“I think it’s great. As a Realtor, anything that facilitates me exposing my client’s product to the widest possible market is good for me and it’s good for my client. And having the association do it just makes it easier for me as a Realtor to get it done.”

Having authorized listing information fed directly to Point2 by the Saskatoon Association of Realtors means brokers and salespeople who already use Point2’s services will no longer have to do double entry work, or constantly update the Point2 site whenever any listing information changes. Janzen estimates that, in Saskatoon alone, this affects approximately 275 Realtors who were already using Point2’s services.

“For those who are opting into our new syndication program, it relieves them of the responsibility of managing their Point2 website,” says Janzen. “They know that, because of our feed, if the listing expires tonight, it’s coming off both the MLS system and the Point2 syndication.”

Realtors don’t need a Point2 website to opt into the new syndication service, but they can buy into additional “premium” services from Point2, including websites, if they wish.

The company, headquartered in Saskatoon, was better known for its software solutions for Realtors until about 20 months ago, when it began working directly with MLS services in the U.S., offering to syndicate their listings through wider Internet distribution. The firm now has syndication agreements in place with more than 70 MLS organizations south of the border.

Saul Klein, CEO of Point2 Technologies, acknowledges that it has been a more difficult proposition trying to persuade organized real estate in Canada about the benefits of using a third-party syndication network to broaden exposure of MLS listings.

“It’s kind of a foreign idea in Canada – or more foreign than it is in the U.S. – to widely distribute listings across the web so it’s easier for consumers to find them,” says Klein. “It’s just that the Internet continues to move forward and as the Internet moves forward, there are more opportunities to take advantage of the technology and the reach.”

Klein says, “I tell people, there’s a buyer for every property somewhere – you just have to find them. And when people go to search for real estate on the Internet, we’d like to believe they all go to one spot. But the fact is, people will search for real estate in a number of different ways.”

RISMEDIA - The MLS of the Future – A Seismic Shift, Technologically and Generationally Driven

scorbett — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:18:00 GMT

MLS Matters by Saul Klein

Once MLS 5.0 has been fully implemented, the changes that will have occurred in the real estate landscape will be equivalent to a seismic shift of catastrophic proportions, catastrophic to those who refuse to adapt. Traditional MLSs, Realtor associations, franchises, brokerages, teams and agents that embrace these scalable, visionary initiatives will provide unprecedented benefits to consumers by better positioning the Realtor at the center of the online real estate conversation. Those who fail to act early and decisively may likely lag behind, lose market share and possibly cease to be a force of any measure or consequence in the industry.

So far in this series, we’ve discussed what MLS 5.0 is and what it will look like. But, specifically, who will MLS 5.0 serve?

MLS 5.0 will serve the customer of today and be ready for the customer of tomorrow. That customer is the Realtor and their customer, the buyers and sellers of real estate. According to NAR, Gen X and Gen Y made up 78.8% of all first-time home purchases in 2007. This is a significant milestone. Within a few years, these generations will be first-time home sellers and second-time home buyers. The size of these two generations combined is greater than the Baby Boom Generation. They will have a significant economic impact on the real estate industry. MLS 5.0 must be built to fulfill the expectations of the Realtor and consumer of today, as well as the Realtor and consumer of tomorrow.

While there is a variety of information and definitions about the different generations, one thing for certain is that there are truly generational differences based on the times in which people live, the seminal events in their lives and the world conditions they experience during their lifetime.

Traditionally, MLS has always been a broker-to-broker (business-to-business) network. It was not created as a central platform to facilitate marketing efforts. As all listing information is now digitized, the first point of entry is typically the MLS. The MLS of the future must consider becoming the single point of entry to facilitate the distribution and, thus, the marketing of listings both online and eventually offline. This will actually give control back to the brokers.

So how can an MLS restructure its business model to ensure the Realtor is in the center of the real estate conversation online, communicating and speaking the language of the new consumer? We’ll visit this issue in next month’s article.

REM Online - More photos get more viewers

scorbett — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:12:00 GMT

A study by Point2 Technologies, a provider of website and listing syndication software for real estate professionals, says home buyers are more attracted to online listings that have lots of photos.

The study set out to examine the impact of photos in driving real estate transactions, as part of a broker’s or agent’s online marketing efforts. Point2 Technologies says the results strongly suggest that adding more photos generates a better response to real estate listings.

Listings that did not include any photos performed very poorly, generating little consumer response and business, says the company. The study showed that listings with zero photos attract, on average, 0.02 per cent of the detailed listing views that listings with 21 to 36 photos enjoy. Listings that featured a single photo fared significantly better.

“Once again the data indicates that online home shoppers want rich content, specifically in the form of more photos, otherwise they intend to move on to the next listing,” says Carey Tufts, director of marketing, Point2 Technologies. “Especially in today’s market, home sellers and their agents do not have to take this risk. The data sends a powerful message. With more than 80 per cent of home buyers continuing to do their research online, agents must attach more photos to their listings for them to stand out and attract more potential buyers.”

Compared to listings with only one photo, those with 21 or more photos generated more than triple the number of detailed views, more than double the amount of interest, and double the number of leads, says the study. Compared to listings with no photos, those with 21 or more photos generated more than 55 times the number of detailed views, nearly 27 times the amount of interest, and 898 times the number of leads.

“The days of putting out little information in the hopes that buyers will phone in to learn more are gone,” says Tufts.

Point2 is the largest independent provider of website and listing syndication software for real estate professionals, with nearly 200,000 brokers and agents subscribing to the Point2 Agent platform, in 100 countries. Founded in 1996, Point2 Technologies is privately held and employs a staff of 100 at its offices in Saskatoon and Vancouver.

Point2, ASR Implement Program

scorbett — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:54:00 GMT

The StarPhoenix

A local company and a provincial real estate association have teamed up to implement Canada's first national real estate listing program by a regional association.

Point2 Technologies Inc., which employs more than 120 people at its corporate office in Saskatoon, and the Association of Saskatchewan Realtors (ASR) said Wednesday the national listing syndication program is set to maximize Saskatchewan property listing exposure online and help ensure listing accuracy on real estate search sites and search engines.

The groups say the program is a result of three months of planning and development. The initiative was led by the Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors, which hosts most of the province's real estate listing data. Real estate associations from the Regina, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Battlefords, Swift Current, Melfort and southeast Saskatchewan regions also participated in the development of the program.

The program is in operation effective immediately.

The MLS of the Future – Understanding MLS 5.0

scorbett — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:58:00 GMT

MLS Matters by Saul Klein

RISMEDIA, - MLS 5.0 is constructed as a property Wiki. While traditional MLS is listing or transaction based, MLS 5.0 is parcel based. A sale or transaction is but a moment in time in the life of a property. Information about properties may be needed during periods other than a transaction period.

A wiki is a collection of Web pages, where the content is written by contributors (Wiki in plain English). Wiki software can have many uses and applications, the most well known being Wikipedia, which is an encyclopedia written by volunteer writers and editors. Companies today often use wiki software to create searchable, retrievable information about the company. A wiki begins with something referred to as a “stub,” which can be a word or a phrase, and then contributors write about the stub. Based on a concept known as the “wisdom of crowds,” the information about a stub (where a wiki subject item begins), typically becomes more comprehensive and accurate over time based on contributions from its participants.

The word “wiki” is the Hawaiian word for fast or quick. For many years, a flight into the Honolulu International Airport also meant a ride on the Wiki Wiki Shuttle.

A property wiki, then, is a wiki in which the stubs are property addresses or parcel numbers, to which information from contributors and editors can be added to create a comprehensive record.

Imagine a blank website for every property address in the U.S. To that blank website, imagine adding anything publicly known. Now imagine inviting the property owner and Realtors to add what they know about the property. While there are some concerns about accuracy, Web 2.0 concepts, self-policing, flagging and social capital will, in time, minimize the inaccuracies.

This is key to understanding MLS 5.0…that a listing is merely a moment in time in the life of a property. MLS data is a subset of a larger body of data relative to a parcel of real property. Of value to Realtors and consumers is information about a parcel before the property is listed for sale. Property history, in one convenient place, easily and quickly accessible and searchable, is an asset that grows in value as more information is accumulated over time. Pictures, video, audio, text and other formats of information relevant to a property and conveniently aggregated will provide benefits to both real estate professionals and consumers. There will also be the opportunity for local real estate professionals to demonstrate their expertise about properties and neighborhoods and build their real estate social capital in an online world.

Next month we’ll examine the beneficiaries of MLS 5.0, taking a closer look at generational differences, ever-changing expectations and the void the future MLS-MLS 5.0-will fill.

Point2 signs deal with association

mlust — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:27:00 GMT

The StarPhoenix

Point2 Technologies Inc. has signed a deal with one of the largest real-estate associations in the United States.

The Saskatoon-based company and the Southland Regional Association of Realtors have implemented a major program designed to extend advanced property listing syndication technology to the association's 10,000 real-estate brokers and agents in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, Point2 said Tuesday.

The deal allows the real-estate association's members to automatically publish listings on nearly 300 search engines and websites. Point2 says the technology will allow buyers to more easily find and research Southern California real estate on preferred real-estate websites and on more than 260 newspaper websites.

In the six months since Point2 launched its real estate MLS and association partnership initiative, more than 65 organizations representing 250,000 Realtors and 500,000 property listings have joined the program, the company said.

Companies making news

mlust — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:10:00 GMT

Detroit Free Press - Freep.com

• Ann Arbor-based SchoolPictures.com, a provider of school pictures, donated more than $2 million to Michigan schools that have used its portrait services in the four years since its founding. This milestone validates the company's mission to supplement funding for education and improve the academic environment for children while providing pictures.

Partnerships

• Grand Rapids-based Wolverine Building Group, a construction company, hired Michael J. Houseman to lead its Wolverine North America division. Houseman plans to merge his Walker-based company, Houseman Construction, with Wolverine Building Group. Houseman's company will be identified as Wolverine North America, a fourth division of Wolverine Building Group launched in 2005 in response to needs of clients to build outside west Michigan.

• The graphic artists and multimedia developers at Grand Haven-based Media 1 have expanded offerings beyond learning and performance to visual communication projects under the M1 DesignWorks banner. Design services will also include marketing/promotional animation, graphic design, photography and online video production.

• Realcomp, Michigan's largest real estate multiple-listing service headquartered in Farmington Hills, and Point2 Technologies debuted new online home marketing technology services. The new system is designed to enhance online home listings awareness and reach and will be offered free to Realcomp's 11,000 Realtor members.

• The Green Panel, a solar energy company providing turnkey solar planning, engineering and installation for Fortune 500 companies, universities, state and municipal government and nonprofits, and Feyen Zylstra, a knowledge-based electrical services firm supporting commercial, industrial and institutional clients in the Great Lakes region, have come together to provide a one-vendor solar approach called EF&I.

• Cornerstone Advisory Group Inc. and the Virtual Interactive Agency joined the Business Improvement Team, a consortium of independent consulting firms.

Trulia gets Houston listings

mlust — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:08:00 GMT

Inman News

HAR listings on Zillow, Cyberhomes, Google Base, Realtor.com

The Houston Association of Realtors has added Trulia to the list of Web sites it pushes listings to, under a partnership that will automatically feed more than 50,000 for-sale property listings to Trulia.com.

Other multiple listing services (MLSs) providing direct feeds to Trulia.com include MLSPIN, CLAW, MLSLI and NORMLS, Trulia said. Technology vendors that accept feeds from MLSs, such as Threewide Corp and Point2, provide listings from more than 200 MLSs to Trulia.

HAR has similar agreements in place with a number of other third-party real estate portals. When HAR announced in November that it would begin feeding listings to Zillow.com, it already had similar agreements in place with Cyberhomes, Google Base, Homes.com and Realtor.com (see story).

The listings HAR sends to Trulia will include full property descriptions, photos and contact information for the listing agent, the companies said. The listings will link back to HAR.com so consumers can obtain more detailed information about the property, neighborhood, listing agent and brokerage.

Agents see better market in 12-18 months

mlust — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:01:00 GMT

Inman News

Survey is basis for company's 'Real Estate Confidence Index'

Nearly two out of three estate professionals rated current market conditions on the bottom half of a 10-point scale in July, but were considerably more optimistic about the near- and long-term outlooks.

That's according to surveys of more than 3,000 agents in the U.S. and Canada who are clients of software developer Point2 Technologies Inc.

Asked to rate current market conditions in their area on a seasonally adjusted basis using a 10-point scale, 64 percent of agents rated conditions on the bottom half of the scale (from one to five). Only 36 percent said current conditions rated a score of six to 10.

But when agents were asked how optimistic or pessimistic they were about the near term -- the next three to six months -- they were more equally divided. Nearly 52 percent were optimistic, scoring the near-term outlook between six and 10, while a little more than 48 percent were on the neutral or pessimistic side of the scale (one through five).

The outlook for the next 12-18 months was even brighter, with 70 percent rating the long-term outlook as a six or better. Although 30 percent scored the long-term outlook on the neutral or pessimistic side of the scale, the percentage who were deeply pessimistic declined sharply.

Only 5 percent of agents rated the long-term outlook as a one or two, compared with nearly 10 percent who saw the near-term outlook that way and more than 13 percent who scored current conditions as a one or two.

At the other end of the scale, just 3 percent said current conditions rated a score of nine or 10. But 9 percent said the near-term outlook rated a nine or 10, and close to 21 percent saw the long-term outlook in that light.

Point2 said it will use the survey to produce a Real Estate Confidence Index to provide "a window into the market that did not exist before," with the median response across all questions representing the index measure for the month.

With two months of surveys completed, the Real Estate Confidence Index for July was 5.5, a 16.5 percent increase from the 4.7 median response in June, Point2 said.

Builder confidence rebounded in July to a level not seen since September, but far more builders still see conditions as "poor" than "good," according to a survey by an industry trade group.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose two points in July to 17 (see story). When the seasonally adjusted index is above 50, more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

Sorting out real estate data, politics

scorbett — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Inman News

Real Estate Connect Speaker Profile: Zach Scott

What new features are in the pipeline?

Obviously our focus is still very much on providing value to Realtors by aggregating their data from the MLSs. We're working hard on that and have a number of new MLS clients announced, many more in the pipeline, and more than 250,000 additional listings to syndicate. Beyond that we're looking at the mobile space, integrated IDX and MLS Connect, a single-sign-on solution to help our members access Point2 directly from their MLS site.

What lesson did you learn in the last year?

We overestimate what we can do in the short term but underestimate what we can do in the long term. It's about focus and momentum.

What would your second career choice be and why?

Founding or co-founding a new venture. I've always got too many ideas and not enough time. Creating new things that excite people is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

What is the biggest problem in the real estate market today, and how would you fix it?

Many challenges still exist around sharing data that if overcome would benefit all involved. We're working hard to bring as much of this data together as we can so the people and companies who need it can access it more easily.

What do you most enjoy about working in the real estate industry?

It's complex both in terms of data and politics, and I like dealing with complexity. I like to be challenged. I also see tremendous opportunity to bring about valuable change. I get very excited thinking about cutting through the complexity and creating simple solutions that work.

Tell us something we don't already know about you …

I like to work with my hands around the house on evenings and weekends. I've built a large play fort (some say it's an actual fort) for my two daughters, and I'm in the middle of renovating my house. I enjoy it because it gives me a chance to focus on something other than work and doesn't require the same level of thought. Sometimes that's when my best ideas come.

Hear Zach Scott speak during the Connect Tech workshop at the Real Estate Connect conference, which runs from Aug. 5-7 in San Francisco.

MLS Matters by Saul Klein

scorbett — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:20:00 GMT

RISMEDIA

While potentially at risk of becoming irrelevant in the next generation, MLS has within its power the assets needed to continue to lead the real estate industry and become an even stronger, more essential player in the future. It is important to note that no other entity or organization in our space has what we in organized real estate have in our local MLSs.

Through the creation and evolution of MLS 5.0, MLS will continue to be the most important tool for real estate practitioners. MLS 5.0 is the instrument that will give Realtors the opportunity to transcend the present and continue their success into the future…but they must be willing to leave behind some ideas and habits in the process.

Building an MLS is not the challenge; the industry has been doing it for years.

Here’s the challenge: building an MLS and property database to serve the needs of Realtors and consumers as technology changes the methods and habits of those wanting access to the information; building an MLS that reinforces a compelling argument for the use by consumers of a real estate professional in the transaction when there is an abundance of information about real estate everywhere on the Web in bits and pieces; and overcoming the political and parochial interests.

Not to be overlooked is the fact that MLS is an offer of compensation. Until buyers are ready to sign commitments to pay brokers and agents for their services-whether the buyer buys or doesn’t buy-the offer of compensation will remain an important piece of the MLS value proposition.

Evolution of MLS - What is MLS 5.0?

MLS has been transforming since its creation. The change from the way it is done today to the way of the future requires acknowledging that major changes have successfully taken place in the past, often over the objections of many well-intentioned individuals and organizations.

First Generation-Cards and then listing sheets and ringed binders with weekly updates and errata, which were used to update the inventory manually, everyday or every other day.

Second Generation-The bound MLS book. This book was printed every two weeks. The San Diego Association MLS printed a book every week. Even in a good real estate market, no one dreamed of anything close to a system where the inventory was updated daily. The idea of real time access (like one can find on websites like Craigslist), would have been discarded as eccentric.

Third Generation-Computer access to MLS data through “dumb terminals” over telephone lines…no monitors, no video display.

Fourth Generation-Web-based MLS (no more banks of phone lines and busy signals), access with a browser-only one type, Internet Explorer-and through a dial-up connection at 14,400 bps.

Fifth Generation-MLS 5.0: let your imagination run a little here. Built in the spirit of Web 2.0, MLS 5.0 is open and collaborative, incorporating all the current and future tools of Web 2.0 (and Web 3.0), from the LAMP stack to the applications, such as blogs, RSS, widgets, APIs, Wikis, taxonomies, social networks, mash-ups and more.

Part 4 of this series will delve into more specifics on what MLS 5.0 is.

What’s your opinion? Please write to thefutureofmls@point2.com.

Saul Klein is CEO of InternetCrusade and Point2 Technologies Inc.

10 Ways to Sell. Point2’s CEO Saul Klein, on social networking.

scorbett — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:04:00 GMT

Real Estate Today Radio interview with Point2’s CEO Saul Klein, on social networking.

Listen

MLS 5.0-The MLS of the Future

scorbett — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:35:00 GMT

Internet Strategies by Saul Klein, Part 1

RISMEDIA, What will be required to build on the current solid foundation of today’s MLS? Here is part of the MLS 5.0 whitepaper, a vision that attempts to answer the question and creates a basis for an industry discussion. Open and frank discussion is essential to creating the tools and organizations that will position Realtors to provide services to meet the expectations of future buyers and sellers. This paper is a vision and not a roadmap. MLS in the broad, generic sense needs to be redefined in the age of information proliferation and online participatory environments. MLS is more than an offer of compensation and cooperation, but how much more? That decision is up to you.

Concept

The real estate industry has the opportunity to “take back its future.” For a number of reasons, it has appeared over the last few years that forces, out of our control, were at work to reshape the real estate industry-from technology, to the Internet, to the U.S. Department of Justice, to new business models that are the darlings of Wall Street, to the press, to the divergence of the different generations, and to economic conditions. It is now time to fight back, and in doing so, all concerned will be winners, Realtors and consumers alike.

It is upon this theme that the concept of MLS 5.0 is introduced, as the “MLS of the Future.” It is time to look at what MLS seemingly has “always done,” and bring it into the new millennium. This will require bold initiatives. To get the most out of this paper, you may need to suspend your skepticism and step into the future. Ask yourself: “What is the value a real estate professional brings to consumers when information about everything, including real estate, is so abundant on the Web? MLS 5.0 should provide the tools to enable the real estate professional to deliver value, part of which will be to put the information available into context for the consumer.

Today, MLS is not the only way to gain exposure for listings. Yahoo!, Google, Zillow, Trulia, Craigslist, VAST, Point2Homes, Realtor.com and many more have the potential to expose listings to more potential buyers than ever before-and for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. If you were a consumer selling your home, wouldn’t you want it marketed everywhere? In the age of information, consumers and Realtors are becoming more comfortable using these new tools and new databases, and will become even more comfortable as the concepts of Web 2.0 become better appreciated and understood. MLS must reflect the new realities.

Many Realtors are not acquainted or familiar with some of these realities. It will take more than vision to bring the ideas and concepts of MLS 5.0 into reality. It will take courage and leadership, as old paradigms, territorial rights, politics, potential job loss by MLS executives and staff, and fear will undoubtedly create obstacles to successfully altering the mission of MLS. And that is what we are talking about-altering the mission-and with a new vision for MLS. Objections-real and imaginary-will be heard in abundance. Be prepared to field them.

In a follow-up article next month, we will aim to answer the big question pertaining to what the Future MLS would look like, if we were to build one from scratch today.

What’s your opinion? Please write to thefutureofmls@point2.com.

Saul Klein is CEO of InternetCrusade and Point2 Technologies Inc.

Zap negativity, tap distribution

scorbett — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:14:00 GMT

By Bernice Ross
Inman News

Need help building your online business? Check out what real estate's leading women had to share at the recent AFIRE (Awesome Females in Real Estate) conference in Savannah, Ga.

1. Distribution trumps destination
Jennifer Anderson of Point2Agent explained how "distribution trumps destination." In other words, it is more important to have your listings appear on multiple sites rather than two or three sites with high traffic. Since consumers search on multiple Web portals, it's imperative that your listings appear in as many places as possible. Point2's syndication service reaches 40 different major real estate portals and more than 200,000 agents in 100-plus countries.

Janet Case of Proxio.com explained how her company helps agents reach clients all over the world. Her service allows agents to have their listings posted in multiple languages in multiple countries. The Proxio platform can also be used in other countries where they lack a multiple listing service. For example, the Philippines just adopted the Proxio platform to run their first-ever Multiple Listing Service.

Anne St. Dennis from the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards and the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board Service shared how her boards are meeting the challenge of serving both French- and English-speaking clientele. Dennis explained how they set up their own television station and produce their own videos to reach both the public and their members with important information. For example, they interviewed Bob Hale, CEO of the Houston Association of Realtors and Inman Innovator of the Year for 2008. They tried using subtitles but found that did not appeal to their client base. Consequently, they now dub all of their video so people can listen in their native language rather than reading subtitles.

2. Have a plan and be patient
One of the questions posed to Joeann Fossland of Advantage Solutions and to technology speaker and trainer Amy Chorew, was "What kinds of behaviors work well on social media sites and what doesn't work?" Both agreed that you needed a plan for social networking and that it will probably take 12 to 18 months before it yields results. Since many social networking solutions require your time to succeed, Chorew proposed that Realtors need to address both ROI (return on investment) and ROT (return on time).

Both Chorew and Fossland also emphasized how important it is to track your results. Without tracking, you will never know what works and what doesn't work. For example, Fossland shared a story about the winner of the Inman/Active Rain blogging competition in 2007, Mary Pope-Handy. When Pope-Handy first started blogging, she was frustrated by the lack of results. Due to personal issues, Pope-Handy had to recently cut how much she was blogging. Surprisingly, her leads continued to flow due to the posts she did during 2007 and 2008. The point is to stick with whatever you're doing long enough for it to yield results.

3. What to avoid online
Keynote speaker Marilyn Naylor called the negative energy that many people encounter online "splinter energy." Responding to those who are highly negative will result only in escalating the situation. You won't be able to change the other party. Unfortunately, when you grab a stick with splinters you're the one who gets stuck.

While it's common for people to engage in online sniping, the best approach is to avoid online battles and confrontations. It's also smart to avoid flaming your boss, your clients or your company

For example, one new hire at a major technology company complained about the choice between the fat paycheck vs. the long drive and the stupid work. It took only a few minutes for the message to reach the top levels of his company. Needless to say, he was fired.

Another common mistake is to use social media to "pitch, pitch, pitch." Last century's marketing messages are no longer effective in today's social networking environment. Instead, people expect you to engage in the online conversation as a person, not as a real estate agent trying to drum up business.

4. How to handle negative posts
One of the challenges that almost everyone faces is what to do when someone posts something negative about you. Marilyn Wilson of the WAV Group and Darity Wesley of PrivacyGurus.com recommended using Google Alerts to monitor what is being posted about you or your company online.

When someone does a negative post, not engaging may be the best policy. To lessen the impact of that post, be aggressive about getting testimonials from past clients. Wilson suggested going through the Quality Service Certification as a means to control your online reputation.

There is also a new program from MyFrontSteps.com that can assist you in pushing negative comments to the back pages of a Google or Yahoo search. Wilson suggested that agents and brokers sign up for the "Step Rep" program, which allows you to monitor, manage and build your online reputation through social networking. Step Rep tracks posts on all major social networks, along with video content and photo tags. Step Rep allows you to categorize what you want posted and what you want to bury. They also provide a widget that lets you publish positive information across the Web with a single click.

When it comes to implementing new technology, take it one step at a time. The key is to discover what you will do on a regular basis. Even more importantly, be yourself, contribute to the conversation, and remember what your mother used to say, "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything."

Internet Search, Standardized Data Fields, and the Changing Role

scorbett — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:05:00 GMT

by Saul Klein
CEO, Point2 Technologies Inc.

Today, if you want to find out anything about anything, where do you go? There is a high probability that you go to Google. So ingrained in our culture is the power of Google search, that Google has become a verb. On a daily basis, many of us “google” one thing or another. As smart phone applications become more ubiquitous and as wireless hot spots continue to pop up in public places, the power of Google to change the world will grow stronger, and at an accelerated pace. Also consider that the more search that takes place on Google, the “smarter” Google becomes.

What does this have to do with MLS and REALTORS®? Simply put, Google may be the change agent that revolutionizes the real estate industry and could play a role
in the reconstruction of MLS technologies and the age old battle of data standards. This does not make Google the enemy…but Google _ what it does, how it does it, and how
it continues to creep into the daily life of people of all generations _ must be considered by those who are building MLS 5.0, the MLS of the future.

Search:
Searching the Internet today is easy. While there are techniques that can be applied to narrow search results, even the novice searcher is capable, with no training, of finding just about anything he or she may be interested in on the Internet. What does that have to do with real estate? In the future, sellers may advertise their home for sale on any number of Web sites, including maybe their own site or on a “public access” site provided by Internet providers as part of their subscription for connectivity. Homeowners will likely use plain language (and not the diverse system of abbreviations that have been devised and localized by MLSs and MLS Committees over the years) to describe their home and the features that are the “standards” (bedrooms, baths, etc.) and the features that are important to them. Properties could be described in a paragraph instead of the grid format many of us are currently using and seeing. Or a piece of software could be made available to consumers that allows the homeowner to build their own grid, adding or taking away fields at their discretion.

Standard Fields:
Standard fields has been the “holy grail” for years. In the mid 1990s, NAR (National Association of Realtors®) worked on bringing technology to the real estate industry through the REALTORS® Information Network (RIN). The problem of matching data fields from MLS to MLS to create a searchable national database was tackled and the proposed solution was something called Data Exchange Method, or DxM. DxM was described as a “data dictionary” that, if implemented, would allow not only for greater access to more listings by REALTORS®, but more software choice as real estate business solution software at the time had to be customized from one MLS to another, limiting choice and increasing costs.
Of course RIN went the way of the Brontosaurus and the standard promoted today in the industry is RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard), which is a great tool and a major improvement. With the power of search today, how important are so many different fields? Isn’t it time to consider the creation of a national standard of say 50 fields, and the rest of the characteristics of a property listed as remarks, capable of being found via advanced search technology?

As Gen X’s and Gen Y’s continue to make up a larger percentage of the homebuying and selling population (NAR statistics indicated that 78.8% of first-time homebuyers in 2007 were Gen X or Gen Y), and as this group grow to make up a larger percentage of the REALTOR® population, born and raised with Google and efficient, accurate search, standard fields may become less important while search takes on a much more important role. In addition, the ability to distribute one’s listing information to more destinations on the Internet, allowing “long tail” benefits, will be easier, and MLSs will become an ecosystem of innovation for software developers who will be able to deliver a wider choice of tools, and at lower cost.

How to Improve Your Google Ranking Using Video Virtual Tours

scorbett — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:57:00 GMT

By Bernice Ross

Several months ago a number of articles appeared on the Internet saying that Google had once again changed their algorithms (i.e., the mathematical formula that they use to determine organic web rankings.) To get "Google juice" or good ranking, the algorithm now appears to place the greatest value on videos. After that, pod casts, blogging, links, and in last place, static websites.

Consequently, one of the first steps that you can take to improve your web rankings is to include more video virtual tours of your listings. Research from Poin2Agent (the best place to syndicate your listings to over 225,000 agents in 141 countries and 30 major real estate portals) shows that increasing the number of pictures of each of your listings also helps you to have better search results. For example, the 2008 Point2 Agent study of buyer online behavior found that having 16 different pictures of your listings as compared to 15, produced 33 percent more page views. The minimum number for the best results is at least 20. An important part of how Google ranks your site is based upon how relevant is, how long people stay on your site while they are there (stickiness), and the number of page views. Using pictures and videos is a great way to improve this.

There's another new development that merits noting. Just recently, the folks at Adobe announced that they have a new product that Google has started using. This product takes the voice part of the video and converts it into a text file that the Google search engine can read. Consequently, if any of your virtual/video tours uses music in the background, it would be smart to redo the audio part of the video and change it to voice. For all new videos that you shoot, be sure to use words rather than just music on the audio portion. This is will increase your Google Juice and help you beat those competitors who don't know about this shift.

MLS Public-Facing Websites-Build or Buy?

scorbett — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:30:00 GMT

By Saul Klein

RISMEDIA, -Progressive MLSs have adopted new thinking and launched platforms designed to generate more exposure and leads for their subscribers and participants. Approximately 400 MLSs in the U.S. have now introduced consumer-facing websites to allow home buyers and sellers to research local listings as they would on sites such as Realtor.com, Yahoo!, Point2 Homes, Trulia, Zillow, Vast and other final destination Web portals. Some are better than others. Several are world class.

For many MLSs contemplating launching a public-facing site, the big question is whether to build their own or to buy an existing solution.

One of the advantages of hiring a technology team and building the solution in-house is control and choice. The ability to choose functionality and to deploy resources at will, can be very attractive, such as the ability to develop unique features that may not be part of an existing, out-of-the-box solution. A custom solution may address this issue, but always at the expense of time and money.

Counterpoints to the “build it yourself” route include:

Distraction-As an MLS, focusing on data integrity, customers and value-add services is paramount. Introducing a technology development department is a significant undertaking that will dilute management’s focus on its core mission. If the right management structure is not in place, and necessary additions are introduced, the potential negative impact cannot be overstated.

Technology Know-How-Building and maintaining a world-class portal requires serious technical knowledge and expertise. It’s also an ongoing process that necessitates constant networking and contact within the technology industry. Technologies deployed might be adequate today, but will quickly become obsolete or require constant updates to stay at the leading edge with a solution that consistently meets consumer expectations. Maintaining adequate relationships with third parties to enable functionality-such as listing syndication or traffic reporting and tools-is extremely taxing. Ongoing challenges, such as search engine optimization, will intensify over time, easily overshadowing the excitement of the first release of a “build-it-yourself” site, often within weeks or days.

High Cost-The idea of bringing on a team and releasing half or part of its members when the site is launched might be appealing. This notion is in fact flawed. If anything, the team may need to grow instead. The added cost of staffing, employee benefits, computer hardware and software will be substantial. Considering that tens of millions of investment dollars have gone into the development and upkeep of some of the popular consumer search sites on the Web today, and that many of these organizations will continue to require funding until they turn profitable, the drag on the financials of an MLS may be overwhelming.

Some MLSs have done very well with in-house teams. For the majority, however, the option to buy versus build is probably the best alternative. If you choose this route, partner with a vendor:

- Who has a proven track record
- Whose core business is technology development
- Who has staying power

These are critical considerations.

Saul Klein is CEO of InternetCrusade and Point2 Technologies Inc.

Real Estate Marketing Report Card Keeps Agents, Brokers on their Toes

scorbett — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:42:00 GMT

By Joel Burslem

International Listings, an search portal for global luxury properties, has put together a very clever marketing device they’re calling their Real Estate Marketing Report Card.

The idea is pretty simple; a seller can punch in their address and listing price and the system will quickly check a handful of real estate search destinations to make sure the home is displayed and the price is accurate.

(It’s missing Realtor.com oddly enough - but this is probably due to the FSBO element of the IL site)

It’s a great promotional tool - one that’s clearly designed to encourage people towards listing their home on the site (a $299 one-time fee).

The proliferation of consumer search portals has given rise to all kinds of syndication tools like International Listings as well as Listhub, Postlets, vFlyer, Point2 and others, that do the heavy lifting for agents and brokers to get their listings out across the web.

Savvy sellers, who in this market are going to want to see that their agent is doing all they can to move their home, are likely going to be checking the various search sites to make sure that they find their house. A tool like this one, while clearly a gimmick, helps make that possible.

What I’d really love to see is a big brokerage implement something similar on their site — it would be a fantastic way to build engagement with consumers by letting them come to your corporate site and see how their listing is doing. Keller Williams, who has their own internal listing syndication tool (KWLS), would be a natural fit for this kind of application.

Even better, find a way to white label the technology and brand it for every single one of your agents to deliver monthly to their clients; a full report of where the home is listed and activity on each of the sites.

In this market, consumers are starting to demand accountability. Best get ahead of the curve and figure out ways to support them.

The Real Estate Agent of the Future

scorbett — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:50:00 GMT

Asked what skills future realty agents will need to compete, Saul Klein--president and CEO of InternetCrusade and CEO of Point2Technologies--cites product knowledge, sales competency, access to customers, and service with integrity.

More specifically, he says an agent working in 2015 will need the ability to communicate effectively across generational spans as the different age groups move up and out.

Another key skill of the future, he says, will be the ability to negotiate successfully. To increase access to clients, the Realtor of the future will need to technology-oriented.

Prospecting and marketing will have become automated, says Klein, and client management and online transaction management software will become more important.

Additionally, as more and more business-client relationships bud online in the coming years, property agents will need to be able to communicate effectively through the written word as they log on to social networking sites to mine for prospective customers and old referrals.

Source: Inman News, Saul Klein (01/26/09)

MLS Public Facing Websites – Why, or Why Not?

scorbett — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:30:00 GMT

By: Saul Klein, CEO, Point2 Technologies Inc.

If you believe that Distribution Trumps Destination at this stage of the evolution of real estate on the WWW, that the distribution of listing information to many consumer accessible and trafficked web sites is far more important than listing information appearing on any single web site, then it is difficult to question the value of a well run public facing MLS web site.

Seekers of real estate information will emulate water, taking the path of least resistance to find what they are looking for. The easier it is to find, the greater chance that it will be found. Listing data will also emulate water, finding its way to many destinations on the web, through a number of different sources. It is already happening and will continue to happen. Can MLSs facilitate this phenomenon while building a valuable asset for the MLS, its Subscribers and Participants, as well as a valuable service for buyers and sellers? While the jury is still out, indications are that the answer is yes…absolutely.

It is in a broker’s best interest that their listings can easily be found on the web. The best way to insure that they will easily be found is to put them in as many places as possible. A public Facing MLS web site is one more place, with many obvious benefits, not the least of which is information control and consistency.

It is in the home buyer’s best interest that listing information be easily and conveniently found on the web.

And, it is in the seller’s best interest that their home be found by as many potential buyers as possible.

With the above points in mind, why not add one more place for listing information to be found on the Web, an MLS Public Facing Web Site?

Now the questions (and feel free to submit answers):
Why not also publish that information on a web site controlled by the MLS?
What is the downside?
What is the upside?
Does it truly provide brokers a competitive advantage to display their listings only on their web sites?

Some brokers insist that a Public Facing MLS Web Site competes directly with broker sites. Bob Hale, CEO of the Houston Association of REALTORS® will argue emphatically, with statistics to back up his position, that brokers and agents benefit when an MLS has a strong Public Facing Web Site, with leads being generated and provided directly to the listing agent with no intermediary. MRIS, another major MLS with a newly launched public facing web site seems to agree. As a matter of fact, at least 400 of the MLSs in the U.S. have created a public web site with listing displays for consumers. While the debate may not soon subside, the trend of MLS public facings sites will likely accelerate forward as more MLSs seek new ways to drive value to their members.

Connecting Online

scorbett — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Real Trends

Social networking is becoming a hip, new way to network with consumers and professionals. It may take time, but its low (or no) cost publicity for you and your brokerage. But, with so many options out there, which one is worth your time?

REAL Trends spoke with three real estate professionals about what they use and what they receive as a return on investment.

Scott Daniels, Broker
Florida List 4 Less Realty Inc.
Cooper City, Fla.

REAL Trends: What type of social networking do you do?

Daniels: I use everything from Active Rain to my own blog and Twitter. I have a blog on Point2Homes as well. I take advantage of the whole system. Each offers different networking opportunities. For example, Twitter is a good place to reach consumers.

Trulia and Active Rain drive people to my Web site. I use Facebook as a social network. The world is friendlier on the Internet than they are in person. I encourage my 72 sales associates to blog; however most don't take advantage of it. They rely on me to be their lead pipeline.

REAL Trends: Which is the most effective?

Daniels: Active Rain gets me leads—mostly referrals from other sales associates and brokers. They read my articles and like what I say. I do a lot of short sales and foreclosures and know that business very well, so real estate professionals are always asking me questions. I use Active Rain solely for business marketing—it's a business network.

REAL Trends: What type of response do you get from your blog and social networking?

Daniels: I get at least 15 to 20 leads generated a month, not all close. But, it's a pipeline. I use it as a recruiting tool as well. I invest my time. Every day, I spend about 1 to 2 hours writing and updating. This year alone I was able to gain nine sales through networking alone.

Kristal Kraft, Broker Associate
The Berkshire Group Realtors
Denver, Colo.

REAL Trends: What type of social networking do you do?

Kraft: I'm active with a variety of social networking groups—Active Rain and Twitter. I maintain a business blog at http://www.kristalsellsdenver.com/denverdwellings/ and post on PropertyTube.org, Flickr, Bigger Pockets (an investor blog) and Seth Godin's blog.

REAL Trends: Which is the most effective?

Kraft: That depends on what I am trying to achieve. Active Rain blogs and comments tend to be fun and very responsive, Twitter(@KrisTalk) is spontaneous and fun—it's the cocktailparty of social networking. My Denver Dwellings blog is my creative outlet for my photos and to show off my town. My business comes from my blog. Flickr is a wonderful and inspiring networking place for photographers.

REAL Trends: What type of response do you get from your blog and social networking?

Kraft: My business blog brings in consumers, oddly enough they don't leave comments—they call me. When they call, they say they read something I wrote and appreciated it. Blogging has set me up to reach people who may otherwise not find me.

Return on Investment for social networking is really hard to measure. The cost for me to maintain several blogs is minimal, it's the time that's hard to find. It's important to set goals and limitations on your time so you don't spend too much chasing after a "maybe" or Active Rain points!

Thanks to social media I have a network of influence that extends the world. Social media is important but at some point it's necessary to leave the computer behind and meet the consumer face to face. So far I haven't sold (nor do I ever intend to) sell homes without meeting the consumer. Social media should be just one aspect of the marketing mix.

Lenn Harley, Broker
Homefinders.com
Maryland and Virginia

REAL Trends: What type of social networking do you do?

Harley: I only use Active Rain. I write two types of blogs—one has opinion pieces and the other is on the agent-to-agent network. I also post about local real estate and I generate a lot of business from my local posts and my Web sites. Active Rain provides a local feed to my site.

REAL Trends: Which is the most effective?

Harley: I generate a lot of business from my local posts and from my Web site. The blogs feed my Web site.

REAL Trends: What type of response do you get from your blog and social networking?

Harley: I get comments from other agents, rarely from consumers. They either go on my Web site or call me directly. Occasionally, I'll get consumer comments. It's hard to tell how much business I gain directly but I do know that it leads people to my Web site. It's a synergy. Each marketing plan fits into the next and the social networking is the juice that keeps everything moving along.

I'm a buyers' agent, so I give referrals, I have a network of agents and brokers, mostly brokers. I generate the business and I refer buyer clients to the agents (about 15 of them) and brokers in my network and they do the actual selling. I do keep and work directly with a few buyers who are looking in my neighborhood.

But, social networking is not just about the business gained. It's the interaction with agents, brokers, lenders with major companies, mortgage brokers, title company owners, home inspectors—you name it. The insight we get into the practices of these services is invaluable.

Reshaping Real Estate

scorbett — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By Maria Patterson, Stephanie Andre, and Paige Tepping

RISMedia

The close of the year often begs a retrospective approach to the events that took place-good, bad or otherwise. The sharp edges are often dulled in hindsight, motivated by the desire to put it all behind us and move on to the fresh promise of a new year.

For those of us in the real estate business, however, the look-back at 2008 is not quite so sentimental. Faced with varying degrees of challenge and crisis, real estate professionals from all walks of life have suffered the wounds of a thorny year.

But many forged ahead and will continue to do so…some lucky few are even expecting business to pick up in ‘09. But, then again, it really has nothing to do with luck. It has to do with understanding and adopting the paradigm shifts swiftly taking root in our industry. The game has changed for good and you’d better have the new rulebook.

To close out 2008, therefore, we’re taking a look at the industry’s most significant paradigm shifts. Don’t mistake these for trends-these are long-term, if not permanent, foundational changes to the way real estate will be conducted in 2009…and well beyond. If you haven’t embraced these shifts yet, start now. They are critical to your survival and bounce-back in the real estate business.

1. Accepting Economic Reality

While maybe, deep down, we naively hoped that writing a $700-billion plus check would instantly infuse new life into our failing economy, it’s important to realize that overall economic health is far down the road. And, according to most real estate pundits, the boom years of the early 2000s will probably never be seen again.
Why? For starters, unbridled price appreciation is most likely gone for good. Blamed, in fact, for many of the ills of the housing market and, in turn, the economic mess, skyrocketing housing prices, combined with pernicious loans, led to most of the problems we are feeling today as homeowners, real estate professionals and American consumers in general.

Sure, it’s tough…but it’s not over. There is still success to be had in this business. But that success will only come with a full acceptance of the current state of the economy-a state that stands to stick around for a while-and learning how to operate within the new business model it presents.

“We’re in the fourth year of a market correction following an unprecedented decade-long run-up,” says Alex Perriello, president and CEO of Realogy Franchise Group. “So what do we do now? We have two choices: we can hope, in due time, that the market will recover…or we can roll up our sleeves and accelerate the process of this recovery.”

To stimulate sales, brokers and agents have to restore consumer confidence in the housing industry, says Perriello. Know your local numbers, he says, not just by zip code or city and state; drill the numbers down by price, property type and neighborhood, and share the numbers with sales associates on a weekly basis.

Perriello also recommends going back into client archives and mining the data on those who bought homes prior to 2003: “Mine the clients, pencil them out strategies and create interest in opportunities in the market.”

2. Waning Consumer Confidence

With all the talk about consumers “sitting on the sidelines,” unfortunately, there are many who’ve now moved from the “sidelines” to the parking lot. The economic meltdown that began in late September has left many consumers less worried about selling their homes, and more worried about keeping their jobs and paying their bills.

“We have this mindset across the U.S. that I call, ‘recession, depression, obsession’,” explains Ron Peltier, chairman and CEO, HomeServices of America. “With all of the negative media, consumer confidence is at an all-time low. In business, in general, 70 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product) is driven by consumers. We are in for an extended recession, perhaps even depression, if you talk to some people. And, if we continue to obsess over that, people will hold tight.

“Our job is to make consumers understand why real estate is still a smart investment,” he continues. “We need to take the proper initiative in each market to get to the news media and talk about the very things we know ourselves-yes, the market corrected and yes, values have dropped, but over a five-year horizon, real estate is still a great investment and very safe. If consumers embrace that, we believe that there will be buyers.”

3. The New Lending Landscape

While industry professionals continue to examine the bailout bill and its possible effects on the housing industry and America at large, many lending institutions are taking the problem into their own hands and offering programs and support systems to families across America. “We will work with families who want to save their homes but are struggling to make their payments,” says Charlie Scharf, CEO of Retail Financial Services at Chase, one company that’s being proactive in today’s uncertain market.

With the lending landscape continuously changing, institutions are modifying their practices to best suit the needs of homeowners. In fact, for the first time in 30 years, HUD revised its RESPA rules in order to restore trust in the housing market. “The new RESPA rules seek to bring more clarity and certainty to the real estate market,” says Steve Preston, HUD secretary.

In addition, the government bailout that was approved in October was recently revised. Regulators were given the power to change the plan, hoping to gain the support of all Americans. The plan, as it stands now, is to give money to financial institutions in return for stock, rather than buying the securities that no one else wants. The objective? Get the banks to start lending again.

Whatever the outcome, agents and brokers must step into the role of financial adviser to guide clients through the new lending waters. Make sure your knowledge of the latest bills, restrictions and credit guidelines is encyclopedic.

4. Creative Cost Control

When the going gets tough, budgets get slashed. It’s a basic business fact of life. But for the successful broker and agent, cost cutting is not random, but rather, a highly creative and refined process. Rashly cutting your marketing budget, for example, can diminish your presence in your respective marketplace, stem the flow of leads and give your competitors a chance to step up and reclaim market share.

Look to more creative cost-cutting ideas instead. Begin by removing underperforming, wrong-attitude personnel, but then look to those areas that will save you money without reducing your prowess and reputation. Chad Ochsner, president of RE/MAX Alliance in Denver, for example, devised a clever way for his agents to save money while also giving an important nod to the environment. This past summer, in the face of dramatically escalating gas prices, Ochsner’s agents asked clients to narrow down their home choices online in order to streamline driving time during showings. Agents then charged clients a gas surcharge for any above-and-beyond time spent driving to scope out homes.

Gino Blefari, president and founder of San Francisco-based Intero Real Estate, recently told the audience at RISMedia’s 13th Annual Power Broker Forum that he managed to cut $1 million from his budget. Among the laundry list were seemingly insignificant items, like getting rid of the “exotic coffee machines” and becoming a green operation. If you’re of the mind that the little things don’t matter, remember that every item contributed to Blefari’s $1 million savings-a savings, by the way, that’s allowing him to grow his franchise and open new offices.

5. Green For Good

Over the past months, we’ve witnessed an unheard of amount of information, deliverables and attention paid to green initiatives. Moving into 2009, expect this shift to become even more prominent and permanent as brokerages look to save both money-and the Earth.

Initiatives like NAR’s new Green Designation and the emergence of Ecobroker are quickly gaining popularity.
“It’s our job as stewards of the environment, but also as real estate agents, to educate our clients about what they can do in the homes that they’re buying and/or selling to help this cause,” explains Carson Matthews, a Realtor with Atlanta-based Harry Norman Realtors. “I really kind of preach about greener living, with the hope that others will follow suit.”

“The greening of the industry is no longer just a trend,” adds Chad Ochsner, president of RE/MAX Alliance in Denver. “It’s become an expectation.”

From paperless transaction management software to recommending more energy-conscious products for the home, brokers and agents will push for green living well through next year.

6. Seeing Real Estate Clearly

The wealth of information online is experiencing exponential growth on a daily basis, taking transparency to a whole new level. Consumers want more information-and they want it fast.

Real estate verticals such as Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia and Point2 have become mainstays by offering the ability to view millions of listings and their photos.

“The bottom line for an agent with a listing is that you want that property viewed by as many people as possible,” says Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, president of Ohio-based Real Living. “Partnering with [listing sites] is the way to do it. Listing data today is ubiquitous. The more credible places your listing appears, the better.”
Be on the lookout for even more transparency from Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions’ Cyberhomes. The company is prepping to unveil its newest offering-Neighborhood Outlook, which lays out a detailed account of market trends such as loan delinquencies, REOs and foreclosures in any given neighborhood.

Another sign of transparency: collaboration. From Realtor.com’s recent agreement to list FSBOs from forsalebyowner.com to RISMedia’s own partnership with Realtown.com, real estate’s top players realize that working together will deliver even more to consumers.

To that end, companies such as Yahoo! Real Estate, Trulia and Zillow have even adopted a new standard data format for the distribution of real estate listings online. With this standard, listing providers will be able to distribute their listings data to several of the leading real estate sites in one common format, making it easier to get critical information to consumers faster and more efficiently.

7. Differentiation That’s Actually Different

Agents have long touted their differentiation in their respective marketplaces. But the reality is, claims of offering the “best service” are prevalent…and getting old-especially in a down marketplace where consumers are seeking serious financial advice.

Truth be told, most consumers view all real estate agents as more or less the same, and for the most part, not very favorably. According to a 2006 Harris poll, in fact, real estate agents ranked last out of 23 professions in terms of prestige!

To truly stand out in today’s real estate marketplace and dispel poor perceptions, agents need to increase their professionalism by becoming an expert resource and provider of consumer-relevant information.

RISMedia’s recently launched Top 5 in Real Estate Network®, for example, offers agents a way to promote their differentiation and elevated status to consumers by providing consumers with the high-level information they crave. While we all love a good recipe, these are serious times that demand serious information.

“A greater commitment among real estate professionals to meet the increasing informational interests and demands of consumers is needed now more than ever,” explains RISMedia President and CEO John Featherston. “Regrettably, many consumers perceive that real estate agents are principally only transaction-to-transaction oriented. It is to the benefit of our entire industry that these perceptions begin to change-this can only take place by strengthening our profession’s commitment to meeting the informational needs of consumers.”

8. Bye-Bye, ‘Back to Basics’-Hello, ‘New Deal’

Disclaimer: Mastery of real estate fundamentals is, of course, very important.

That said, it’s not nearly enough to hang your hat on. Real estate professionals who wish to be around for the long-term must embrace new ways of doing business, starting with the messaging they are sending out in their local markets.

“In 25 years, I can’t recall a marketplace like this,” explains Allan Dalton, president, RISMedia’s Top 5 in Real Estate Network®. “In my travels, I hear, ‘We’ve got to get back to basics,’ but no one describes what that means. We have to be cautious before being that nostalgic. The problems we have are far more pervasive. We don’t need to get back to basics. We need a ‘New Deal.’”

According to Dalton, agents have to change the way they market themselves as an industry. “We have to change the messaging. Never before have consumers been in greater need of being persuaded and never before have so many not been persuading them,” he says. “Our job is to inspire the consumer. We have to put a tourniquet on the bleeding on where the market is going.”

9. Real Estate’s New Face

If you’re among the few who view the multicultural market as a trend, you’re missing the boat-and a wealth of real opportunity.

“Growing your business in the midst of a major economic correction is not the first thing that comes to mind for most organizations, but the customer segment that the industry has traditionally overlooked may now be our economic lifeboat,” says Oscar Gonzales, founder of the Gonzales Group. “Since 2000, we have seen a significant shift in the profile of consumers as the multicultural consumer has grown both in population size and buying power.”

In a real estate market that has us all on our toes, a comprehensive understanding of the rapidly growing multicultural market can only help. Real estate professionals can capitalize on this market segment if they take the time to learn about and understand these cultures.

“What’s been eroded in this industry is trust,” says Robb Heering, founder and CEO of Casa Latino Franchise Corp. “Multicultural consumers need to be educated on how the home-buying system works as well as on the value of credit and banking.”

9. Targeted Technology

It goes without saying that technology is an invaluable tool for today’s real estate professional.

“As we are no longer dealing with a local client, our pathway to everyone begins with technology,” says Carlina Boji, broker/owner, RE/MAX Classic, Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Today’s successful real estate companies have made it their mission to equip real estate professionals with the tools they need to reach consumers. Listing homes online isn’t enough anymore, and VuVista is one example of a technology company offering more in today’s market.

“Our new iVuZoom technology allows us to take the virtual tour concept one step further and deliver an immersive and interactive virtual tour,” says Steve Marques, president and COO, VuVista. “For the first time, you can have a 360- or 180-degree panorama, stop the picture and zoom in to see precise details.”

Also, as cell phones continuously infiltrate the real estate industry, the mobile search concept has taken off and changed the way agents and consumers share information with one another.

Not only are technology companies targeting the Internet, but BlackBerries and iPhones have become a common information-sharing avenue as well.

Zillow scores Houston listings

scorbett — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:40:00 GMT

HAR will feed data on more than 60,000 properties

By Matt Carter, Inman News

Zillow.com has reached an agreement to automatically receive more than 60,000 listings from the nation's second-largest Realtor association, the Houston Association of Realtors, the companies said today.

Launched a year ago, Zillow's listings feed program allows any broker, multiple listing service or vendor with multiple listings to push them to Zillow automatically.

The program now brings information on more than 3 million live listings to the real estate portal, formerly known primarily for its automated property valuations.

The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) is only the second multiple listing service (MLS) to agree to feed listings directly to Zillow. MLS Property Information Network, a privately owned MLS serving the New England area, agreed to begin sending information on about 60,000 listings in March (see story).

Zillow also gets listings from technology vendors that accept feeds from MLSs, such as Threewide Corp., which Zillow says provides listings from more than 120 MLSs.

Also among the hundreds of companies Zillow claims as partners in the listings feed program are industry giants like Realogy, Homes & Land, and Prudential California-Nevada-Texas Realty.

Real estate agents and homeowners who don't have a feed can upload individual listings to Zillow, and third-party listing syndicators like Point2 Technologies Inc. also feed listings to multiple sites.

Michigan's biggest multiple listing service, Realcomp, announced this summer that it would send listings to Point2 when authorized by member brokers and agents. Point2 boasts more than 30 listing syndication partners, including Zillow, Trulia, Cyberhomes, eBay, Google Base, and Homescape.

The listings HAR's 26,000 members provide to Zillow will include a property description with up to 16 photos and contact information for the listing agent. Each will link back to the HAR Web site, HAR.com, where consumers will find more information about the home, neighborhood, listing agent and brokerage.

Spencer Rascoff, Zillow's chief operating officer, said the partnership gives Zillow better coverage in the Houston area, while HAR members and sellers get additional free marketing for listings.

HAR Chairman Michael Levitin said the association is continuously looking for ways to maximize marketing exposure for members and listings, and that Zillow's Web traffic "offers a tremendous marketing opportunity for our agents and their sellers."

Zillow claims the site attracted 5.4 million unique users in September, two-thirds of whom were planning to buy or sell now or in the near future.

HAR has actively distributed its members' property listings data to a number of third-party sites, and Levitin said the association will continue to send listings to Cyberhomes, Google Base, Homes.com and Realtor.com.

HAR president and CEO Bob Hale is a longtime champion of public-facing MLS Web sites. During a July panel discussion at Inman Real Estate Connect San Francisco, Hale said HAR generates about 600,000 free leads for members a year, with agents and brokers receiving a monthly report detailing leads, click-throughs, and listing views generated

Internet 'evangelist' promotes real estate tech

scorbett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By Lai Saetern, Inman News

It all began with an advertisement in the newspaper over three decades ago.

After serving for five years in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer, Saul Klein was ready for a change. He sought a career with better pay and plenty of room for advancement.

It made sense for Klein to jump into the real estate business. His father used to buy properties and sell them, and Klein saw that real estate could be a lucrative business.

He responded to a job ad, took a test and got his real estate license in 1975 to work as a sales associate.

For two years, Klein sold condos, working at a Century 21 office in San Diego. He got his broker's license in 1977. He then teamed up with a partner and launched their own firm, using an IBM typewriter to transcribe documents.

He recalled a fateful encounter during those early days in the industry.

"It was like serendipity. I got a phone call from a lady in Mexico, telling me to meet her at the Tula Vista restaurant in Mexico at 6:30 a.m. one morning," said Klein. Being the adventurous guy that he was, Klein drove to Mexico to meet his potential client.

This woman, whose identity Klein said he did not wish to disclose, became a key partner in his first firm for 12 years. She owned a business in Guadalajara, Mexico, and introduced Klein and his partner to numerous clients from Mexico. He earned her trust and she played a significant role in his budding business.

Klein came a long way from the IBM typewriter on his path to becoming a real estate technology guru. On his mission to build larger networks among real estate professionals, he began to engage in the online real estate community chat rooms and linked up with Mike Barnett, a chat-room moderator. Barnett, who has known Klein for more than 15 years now, was initially impressed by Saul's humorous blogs and innovative ideas.

"I hosted the chat room every Tuesday night, and Saul and I would have conversations about taking (property) listings to kiosks and the Internet. Even though I came from an entertainment background, Saul taught me a lot about the real estate industry," Barnett said.

Klein and Barnett traveled together across the country to educate real estate professionals about the use of technology in the real estate business. The two, along with John Reilly, author of best-selling, "The Language of Real Estate," launched Realtown, a real estate online network for Realtors.

During the mid-1990s, Klein served as a consultant for the Realtor Information Network, a plan by the National Association of Realtors to bring property listings from Realtor associations and multiple listing services to the public. That original plan gave way to the creation of the Realtor.com Web site, which is the most visited online real estate search site.

An Internet pioneer and so-called "evangelist" for the real estate industry, Klein was selected as one of the "25 Most Influential People in the Real Estate Industry" by the National Association of Realtors and has also been recognized by Inman News among the "100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders."

"It is always a challenge working with Saul. He is like an ever-ready Energizer battery," said Reilly, who was persuaded by Klein to relocate from Hawaii to California.

Besides real estate, Reilly and Klein share another interest in long-distance running, and they have been known to trade military stories.

Last year, Klein took on a new role as CEO for Point2 Technologies Inc., a company based in Saskatoon, Canada, that offers technology tools for real estate professionals and a search site for consumers.

And he still maintains his title and role as president of Internet Crusade, the online marketing company that operates the Realtown network and offers an ePro certification course for tech-savvy real estate professionals.

Despite his busy schedule, Klein said he always provides his undivided attention to whomever he is meeting with, whether it is one person or hundreds of people.

"I have a pet peeve in the way that people treat the urgency of communication nowadays. I get annoyed when I am in a conversation with someone and they are text-messaging or checking their e-mails on the phone," said Klein.

With all of the people that he has to keep up with and his continuous travels, Klein said that he loves his job and is not sure when he will retire. When he does slow down, he said he wants to pursue his other passion -- writing -- and contribute more to his blogs.

Klein has plans to retire in Hawaii, where he tries to visit once a year with his wife. Family occupies his time when he isn't working.

Changes taking place at Point2 Technologies Inc.

scorbett — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix

Saskatoon's Point2 Technologies Inc., an employer of 113 people, is beginning to take its product in a new direction. The software development company is moving away from promoting its online real estate programs to individual agents, instead looking to regional real estate agencies for contracts.

SP reporter Cassandra Kyle recently sat down with Point2 CEO Saul Klein to learn about the company.

SP: If the average person in Saskatchewan came up to you on the street and said what's Point2, what do they do and who knows them in Saskatoon, what would you say?

SK: Primarily (we work in) the real-estate industry. We develop software for the heavy equipment industry and the real-estate industry.

SP: And what's its presence like in the city? I know most of your business is in the United States.

SK: Now that we have the sign (on top of the Eighth Street office), if they don't know they're going to wonder. I know that in the real-estate community in the city it's very good, and I know in Saskatchewan it's very good because I talk to the people who run the real-estate associations here, so they know about Point2. But I'm not stopping anybody on the street and asking them what they know about Point2. I would bet at the university in the technology fields -- because we get a lot of inquiries for employment from the university -- I would think there's a pretty good presence there.

SP: Why is Point2 better known in the United States than it is in Saskatoon?

SK: I would say No. 1, the United States marketplace is bigger for Point2 products. . . . There are more Realtors, by huge numbers, in the states then there are in Canada, that's the primary reason.

Since I got here we've started to do more to gain more presence in Canada because I know people who run the associations here because I've been a speaker at CREA (the Canadian Real Estate Association) a number of times.

SP: That kind of answers my next question, but I'm still going to ask it. Do you plan on increasing the company's profile in Saskatoon?

SK: Yes. And part of that will be through the sponsorships and relationships we have with the (real-estate) associations. We have a very good presence in Saskatoon with the agents on the street. Saskatoon is probably, and I don't know for sure, but I would say that Saskatoon is probably one of our best markets from a penetration perspective. It's home and it started here.

SP: Last December, I'm going to go back almost a year, eight of Point2's executive officers resigned from the company for personal reasons. Has Point2 recovered from that?

SK: I think dramatically. Revenues have increased, staff has increased, the organization -- its structure is different now than it was, the methods we use to develop software (have) changed dramatically. So from my perspective, and I was not an intimate part of the company prior to that, but I do know based on talking to people the morale of the company, output, productivity has never been better. That's what I'm told. I feel very good about that.
SP: One of the changes to come out of that management change was your appointment as CEO. What have your experiences been like with the company so far?

SK: It's been great. They're very open, as I mentioned they're very friendly, they take care of me. They make sure I have the tools I need to do what I need to do. There's an ownership structure and a board of directors and I have the ability here to do what I need to do to get the job done and their full trust and confidence, so it's great. Not to mention the personal stuff -- they make sure I have all the things I like to eat in my refrigerator when I come to town.

SP: We also know you're the CEO of a San Diego-based real-estate company (Internet Crusade) and you split your time between the two cities. How can you give Point2 the attention that it needs while you're away?

SK: It's very interesting that this is the age of technology. . . . Instant messaging, e-mail, cellphone, so when I turn my computer on I have instant messaging, so I talk to the people in my office in San Diego all the time, all day long. When I have a question, it's an instant message. So when I'm not here and I need to contact somebody, it's instant messaging -- or it can be a phone call or it can be an e-mail.

And then another thing people don't think about, I guess, and if they thought about it they'd realize it, but CEOs of most companies aren't there day-to-day. . . . That's why you have a president of the company, that's why you have an HR department, right? The job of the CEO is more visioning and direction and strategy. . . . For me, I have ample time to devote to Point2 everything that it needs to be successful.

SP: Will there be a time when you'll have to choose between these two companies?

SK: I don't think so. What I think is over time we'll discover more synergies and we'll see more ability for companies to work together, and my wife would probably never move to Saskatoon.

SP: Recently, Point2 has started targeting the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) agencies instead of individual Realtors. Why make that change?

SK: Quantity. You get lots of listings faster by going right to the multiple listing services. In addition to that, it's a valuable tool for a Realtor to put their listings everywhere.

SP: So what direction is the company headed in now?

SK: Up. It's in a growth mode, one we'd hopefully like to describe as a hockey-stick. All projects have phases . . . I believe that Point2 is on its way to breakthrough.

SP: Thanks for going through that with me. I have one more question for you. Is there a funny story or experience you can tell me about working in Saskatoon?

SK: I'll tell you an odd situation. Two times now my cellphone won't work here -- two times -- and this is one of them. Well, you know there's no reason to have a landline in my apartment because everybody has cellphones. This week, I can't call my wife, I'm stuck, I'm all alone, so I have to e-mail my wife. . . . Next time I come they promised me I'd have a land line in my apartment.

SP: Thanks for your time.

SK: Yeah, you bet.

Point2, GEPAR become partners

scorbett — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Canwest News Service

Point2 Technologies Inc. has entered into a partnership with the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors (GEPAR), giving the association's members access to individually branded Point2 Agent websites.

The Saskatoon-based company, which develops and markets web-based e-commerce and online marketing software for the real estate and heavy equipment industries, announced the partnership with the Texan association Monday. The deal is among a number of recent partnerships with American real-estate associations for Point2.

"The real-estate landscape continues to change and high online visibility for listings makes sense, especially in this economy," said company CEO Saul Klein. "With their own fully customizable website and Point2's massive listing syndication network, maximum exposure online is now in the grasp of every broker and agent at GEPAR."

The company says the second phase of the implementation, which is planned for the fourth quarter, is set to automate data entry into agent websites through a direct feed from the GEPAR Multiple Listing Service to Point2.

Point2 Agent Solution launched in Massachusetts

scorbett — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 08:00:00 GMT

The StarPhoenix

Real estate markets in Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and other communities in Massachusetts now have access to Saskatoon's Point2 Technologies Inc.'s Agent Solution System.

The company and Cape Cod and Islands Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Inc. jointly launched Point2 Agent Solution in Massachusetts this week.

The service is set to automate listing syndication for Cape Cod and Islands MLS and provide "critical listing exposure" for members across the industry's biggest network of consumer search sites.

The system will let real estate brokers control syndication destinations of their listings and access traffic reports.

"We're very excited to partner with Cape Cod & Islands MLS on this important initiative," stated Point2 CEO Saul Klein.

"As more real estate organizations seek value-added benefits for their members and look to create new revenue opportunities, Point2 is best positioned to lead in the syndication and website segment with unique, comprehensive, MLS-targeted solutions."

Point2 develops and markets web-based e-commerce and online marketing software solutions for the real estate and heavy equipment industries.

Point2 reaches Mass.

scorbett — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Regina Leader Post

SASKATOON -- Real estate markets in Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and other communities in Massachusetts now have access to Saskatoon's Point2 Technologies Inc.'s Agent Solution System.

The company and Cape Cod and Islands Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Inc. jointly launched Point2 Agent Solution in Massachusetts this week. The service is set to automate listing syndication for Cape Cod and Islands MLS and provide "critical listing exposure" for members across the industry's biggest network of consumer search sites.

The system will let real estate brokers control syndication destinations of their listings and access traffic reports.

Point2 develops and markets Web-based e-commerce and online marketing software solutions for the real estate and heavy equipment industries.

Real estate data in high gear

scorbett — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:31:00 GMT

By Patrick Cassidy, Cape Cod Times

HYANNIS — The real estate market on Cape Cod and the islands went "back to the future" yesterday.

Much like in the 1985 Michael J. Fox movie by the same name, officials from the Cape Cod and Islands Multiple Listing Service Inc. took a look back as they revved up for what's to come.

At a forum sponsored by the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce in the Rectrix Aerodrome Boardroom at Barnstable Municipal Airport, officials responsible for the local MLS announced a pair of online changes in the way homebuyers interact with real estate data and listings.

"MLS is so 20th century," Cape and Islands MLS and Realtors association chief executive officer Henry DiGiacomo told the audience of about 50 people. "We had to think 21st century."

First, the Cape and Islands MLS signed up for Point2 National Listing Service, a Canadian company that compiles real estate listings internationally. For example, details for homes on Cape Cod can be viewed through a Web site alongside homes from elsewhere, Jamie Regan, president of the local MLS and Realtors association said.

Multiple listing services are a group of databases that allow real estate brokers representing sellers to share information with other brokers who represent buyers.

DiGiacomo and Regan also announced the imminent launch of an update to the local MLS site, promising it would include information on sold properties for the consumer, something that until now has been reserved for real estate professionals and releases to the media.

"That sold data will actually be available to the consumer to let them know what their home is worth," DiGiacomo said. The site should be up in about a month, he said.

The change will help the industry keep up with new generations of homebuyers who are more comfortable using computers, he said, adding that real estate professionals will still be in demand to analyze the data.

The wider availability of data in the real estate industry can be partially traced to a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against the National Association of Realtors, DiGiacomo said.

In that case, the government argued that restrictions on listing information that treated online real estate brokers differently from "bricks and mortar" brokers stifled competition.

"If it's on the Internet, it's in the public domain," DiGiacomo said of the government's contention. "If it's in the public domain, it belongs to the public."

Audience members were generally positive toward the more open access.

"I'm thinking it's time for Cape Cod to be thinking in a progressive way," said Kate McHugh of Century 21 Shoreland in Hyannis. "The Internet is the way of the world now."

DiGiacomo and Regan reminded the audience of how far real estate had come since the first National Association of Realtors was formed in 1908 and explained what they saw in the recent market.

In 1926, the first Cape and Islands association of Realtors was started, Regan said.

The first MLS was literally a meeting of real estate professionals who exchanged information on slips of paper, he said.

Computers soon became part of doing business and, in 2001, the real estate market was really "propelled into the Internet phase," he said.

Now, with the wider availability of listing information real estate professionals have "left being the guardians and gatekeepers of the information," Regan said.

Looking forward to new generations, such as so-called "Generation Y," born between 1981 and 1994, DiGiacomo said he saw a "tsunami tidal wave that people are oblivious to."

On the Cape, both men said there were deals to be had as home prices have dropped in recent years. But the bottom was close, they said. Not everyone in the audience agreed with such a rosy assessment.

The "extreme momentum" prior to the bottom of the market in previous downturns had not yet arrived, said Carl Persson of Cape Cod Capital Management, LLC.

But DiGiacomo and others countered this time around things were different with protections for consumers, median housing prices already up in areas and a strong local banking industry.

Point2 to syndicate Realcomp listings

scorbett — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:20:00 GMT

Inamn News

Michigan's biggest multiple listing service, Realcomp, will send listings to syndicator Point2 Technologies Inc. when authorized by member brokers and agents, the companies said today.

Realcomp members will be able to send their listings to any or all of Point2's more than 30 listing syndication partners, including Cyberhomes, eBay, Google Base, Homescape, Point2 Homes, Trulia and Zillow.com.

Realcomp is the first MLS in Michigan to partner with Point2, which claims nearly 200,000 broker and agent subscribers. Under an agreement between the two companies, Realcomp will enable Point2's automated listing syndication for members, who will also have the option to use the Point2 Agent platform's predictive marketing technology.

What Is MLS 5.0?

scorbett — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:25:00 GMT

RISMEDIA

Time is of the essence. The real estate industry has the opportunity to “take back its future.” In order to do so, it must begin the process of socializing and implementing MLS 5.0.

While many in the real estate industry have heard of Web 2.0, with all the press it has received, few understand or can define it. Understanding Web 2.0 and what it entails is essential to the understanding of MLS 5.0, as MLS 5.0 incorporates Web 2.0 concepts, principles, core characteristics, technology building blocks, applications and uses.

To understand MLS 5.0, consider the evolution of the MLS:

• First Generation: Listing sheets and ringed binders with weekly updates and errata
• Second Generation: The bound MLS book
• Third Generation: Computer access to MLS data through “dumb terminals” over telephone lines
• Fourth Generation: Web-based MLS (no more banks of phone lines and busy signals)
• Fifth Generation: MLS 5.0

MLS 5.0 is parcel based and not listing based. It includes all parcels of real property in the region/state/U.S.-not just the inventory of properties available for sale at any given point in time. It leverages property information to bring consumers and real estate professionals together on the Web to participate in an ongoing conversation with real estate at its center.

MLS 5.0 has a public facing side for consumers to interact with real estate professionals and a private side (business network) for the use of real estate professionals.

An army of real estate professionals have the local knowledge to create a force that can compete with any companies currently working to harness the power of property information as the center of their online business model. Consumers frequent different destinations on the Internet for different reasons.

MLS 5.0 will be the authoritative and trusted source of all real property information, not just property “for sale.” MLS 5.0 is the resource that will give real estate professionals the opportunity to transcend the present and continue their success into the future. Along the way it will be required to leave some ideas and habits behind. Knowing that old habits die hard, it will require nothing less than a “Crusade” to socialize and then transition real estate professionals to this new tool.

MLS 5.0 is built in the spirit of Web 2.0-open and collaborative. It is no longer sufficient to advocate that real estate professionals be at the “center of the transaction,” as was promoted in the 1990s. To be at the center of the transaction, the real estate professional must now be at the “center of the conversation” about real property, and this is essential to the mission of MLS 5.0.

In addition, through the use of Open APIs that provide access to listing data, applications can be built cost-effectively, leading to a richer ecosystem of features and software that will benefit real estate professionals and ultimately consumers, encouraging user designed experiences.

MLS 5.0 provides a single point of entry for listing data. Based upon the election of brokers or their agents, it will distribute that information to web portals, newspapers, and even radio and television, and track and return information about prospects to the broker. Why pay for Internet leads generated from your listings? With MLS 5.0, you benefit from inquiries about your listings.

MLS 5.0 incorporates “Single Sign On” in a range of ways.

MLS 5.0 is a property wiki and a social networking site.

To access the complete White Paper “MLS 5.0,” click here.

Saul Klein is CEO of InternetCrusade(R) and CEO of Point2 Technologies, Inc.

A proposal for 'MLS 5.0'

scorbett — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:30:00 GMT

Industry veteran envisions marriage of MLS, Web 2.0

Inman News

Multiple listing services are not dead or irrelevant, real estate technology industry guru Saul Klein says in a paper released this week, though they must evolve to embrace Web 2.0 ideals and expand beyond for-sale listing information to encompass parcel-based information.

It's not an entirely new concept for the real estate industry. Third-party sites such as Zillow and Cyberhomes, among others, already provide a range of information on tens of millions of U.S. homes at free public Web sites.

And leaders of the National Association of Realtors trade group have announced a plan to create a national property database that will compile information for industry professionals about all types of property across the country. As proposed, this database would not replace MLSs, and MLSs could be participants in sharing data with the database and channeling database information to their members. While there had been discussions early on about offering limited public access to this database, more recent discussions have focused on a password-protected database that is not accessible by consumers.

But Klein's concept, which he dubs "MLS 5.0," does introduce a new way of thinking for MLSs.

The paper, "MLS Today and MLS Tomorrow," attempts to answer, "What will be required to build on the current solid foundation of today's MLS?"

Klein, a licensed broker since 1977 who serves as CEO for real estate technology companies InternetCrusade and Point2 Technologies, proposes that a key element to this futuristic MLS is that it includes all parcels of real property and leverages information from a variety of sources over time "to bring consumers and real estate professionals together on the Web to participate in an ongoing conversation with real estate at its center."

He envisions that this next-generation MLS will have a public-facing side for consumers to interact with real estate professionals, and a private side accessible only by real estate professionals.

The MLS should feature online communities for real estate professionals and consumers alike, should have multilingual capabilities, agent-rating and referral systems, agent profiles, and updated neighborhood information that accepts user-generated content, as examples.

The MLS should encourage innovation and allow for a variety of front-end software to access the data. "Openness should allow for more applications and solutions and lower prices for Realtors," the paper states.

Why call it 5.0? Klein explains in the paper that he considers the first generation of the MLS to be the three-ring binders with printed weekly updates and daily errata that were commonplace in the days before the Web. The second generation was the bound MLS book, and computer access to real estate data through simple terminals is defined as the third generation.

The fourth generation, according to the paper, was the Web-based MLS, and the fifth generation incorporates components of Web 2.0.

Klein proposes that MLS 5.0 is "open, collaborative, self-organizing and self-policed," and it serves as a property "wiki" that allows users to enter and update information, a social networking site, and incorporates "single sign-on" technology that allows users to log in once to gain access to multiple systems, among other attributes.

While industry discussions have traditionally centered on keeping real estate professionals at the center of the home-sale transaction, Klein suggests that real estate professionals "must now be at the 'center of the conversation' about real property, and this is essential to the mission of MLS 5.0."

His proposed mission statement for MLS 5.0: "Keep the Realtor in the center of the real estate conversation, realizing that conversation extends from far in advance of a purchase and continues after a purchase of real property. Real estate is a lifetime conversation."

There are many ways to generate exposure for property listings information these days, the paper states. In addition to placing property listings information in MLSs, real estate professionals and individual sellers can post information on sites ranging from Yahoo and Google to Craigslist, Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow, among others.

The MLS "must reflect the new realities," Klein states.

In addition to for-sale information, the MLS should carry historic sold data, public data, and consumer-generated content from "online communities, groups, blogs and other Web 2.0 technologies and applications," Klein proposes.

While MLS systems have traditionally served as broker-to-broker networks, the MLS can take on more of a role in marketing, the paper states.

"MLS needs to redefine itself from a purely business-to-business network tool to a marketing facilitator for its participants and subscribers. It needs to take advantage of its assets and shift its paradigm from information about what is for sale to information on all property whether for sale or not."

While Klein acknowledges it will take time for MLS systems to get on board with such changes, he notes that rapid and sweeping changes are common in this era of technological innovation.

"How many people knew of Google five years ago and how many know of it today? In a short span of time, unknown Web sites have become household words.

"The world of MLS as we know it is approaching a cliff, and many riding the MLS train do not see the cliff as it gets closer with each passing day."

Taking Your Technology Back to Basics

scorbett — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:45:00 GMT

Internet Strategies by Saul Klein

RISMEDIA

Most Realtors have access to cost-effective technology that they can use to build their business. Often, however, the technology is applied ineffectively, and outside of the context of a plan. Take websites, for example, which, for the most part, are “billboards on the middle of nowhere” and a waste of money for most agents today. Agents often complain that not enough business comes from their website. They “hope” for the magic SEO (search engine optimization) formula, and many agents resort to expensive website design and SEO services.

The reality is, the problem lies not in the technology, but in the lack of an effective, comprehensive marketing plan. Donald Trump once stated that if you cannot pinpoint your target market, your business will fail.

Michael Bondi, ABR, ePRO, (www.lvrealty4sale.com) is part of the Executive Realty Services team in Las Vegas. Less than two years ago, his business started to slow down and in Bondi’s words, many agents resorted to working in casinos or restaurants to earn a living.

For Bondi, it was time to take the Internet more seriously. Some 18 months earlier, his broker, Enrique Moreno, had provided him and his colleagues with Point2 Agent websites. That weekend, Bondi went to work on his site.

The first order of business was to add all of the brokerage’s listings to the site and syndicate/publish them on as many third-party consumer search sites as possible. He also began to Handshake^TM with peers in his marketplace, accelerating exposure for his listings. While he was happy with his template site, Bondi dug deeper. He used some basic html to customize his site, and also launched a Point2 blog and started to write about topics of interest to prospective buyers and sellers.

A critical catalyst to Bondi’s success today was his decision to differentiate himself from his competitors. As Seth Godin says, “Be different or charge less.”

Bondi’s interest in helping residents to avoid foreclosures turned into his passion. He began to focus on that segment of the market. Before long, he became, along with his partner, Joannie Williams (without whom he tells us he is unable to handle all the business he receives today), an expert in handling this type of situational sale.

Use the tools available to you and market to your target audience. The Internet-effectively utilized-can resuscitate your career.

Saul Klein is CEO of Point2 Technologies Inc.

MLS stakeholders take on syndication, public sites

scorbett — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:18:00 GMT

Discussions focus on 'The Future of MLS'

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Inman News

SAN FRANCISCO -- Cameron Paine, CEO for Connecticut Multiple Listing Service Inc., a broker-controlled statewide multiple listing service that launched in February 2007, said smaller MLSs are in danger of becoming irrelevant.

And what many MLSs don't seem to understand -- and vendors do understand -- is that "it's all about the data," Paine said. It would be easy for a "very light, snap-on MLS model" to bring together the top brokers in a given market and form a low-cost MLS that could quickly grab market share.

"It's just a matter of time. If you're in a fractured market, it will happen. The larger or statewide (MLSs) have enough of a buffer that they are now providing for the data needs of their brokers, especially their largest brokers," he said, which provides them with some immunity from potential MLS competitors.

Paine, speaking during a "Change or Die: Does the MLS Risk Becoming Irrelevant?" panel at the Real Estate Connect conference last week, also joined in a discussion about the value of public-facing MLS Web sites and data-sharing versus MLS consolidation.

The session was part of a series of panels focusing on the future of MLSs -- a hot topic as the California Association of Realtors is pursuing a statewide MLS data-sharing initiative that could lead to a statewide consolidated MLS, and separate collaborative efforts are forging ties between MLSs up and down the state.

Also, the National Association of Realtors trade group is pursuing a comprehensive nationwide property database that MLSs and their participants could tap into. There are about 70 MLSs in California and 900 nationwide -- most of them are affiliated with local Realtor associations.

Other topics during the sessions included the potential impacts to MLSs of a pending U.S. Department of Justice settlement of an antitrust lawsuit against NAR, and MLSs' adoption of Web 2.0 technologies.

"Data sharing is a step, and it's a good one," Paine said, "but data sharing does not remove the underlying problems" of multiple MLS organizations, staffs and related costs. Brokers have cited multiple sets of membership costs, rules, data fields and enforcement mechanisms as incentive to consolidate MLSs or forge cooperative ventures among separate MLSs.

Paine noted that Connecticut, despite the efforts to consolidate all MLSs in the state, is still home to a county with five competing MLSs, and charged that a market with several local MLSs is not the most cost-effective system for real estate professionals.

David Charron, president and CEO for Washington, D.C.-area Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. (MRIS), the nation's largest MLS with about 60,000 members, said that the MLS is investing in its public-facing MLS site in an effort to provide more traffic to its member brokers' sites.

The ineffectiveness of existing media was a driver for MRIS in revamping its search site, Charron said. "The MLS is the one entity you can manage and control much easier than a third party," he said, adding that "brokers and agents are going to syndicate listings over hell's half-acre."

But creating powerful public-facing MLS search sites can be costly, said Steve Schultz, senior director of product and business development for Yahoo Real Estate. "Do you employ designers, product managers, servers and operations people? There's a lot of cost associated with (public sites), mostly around people and marketing."

Third-party sites can have common goals with brokers, said Sean Black, vice president of sales for Trulia, a real estate search and marketing site. "At the end of the day we all service one person: the seller or buyer of a home. We all have a part to play."

Paine said that public MLS Web sites can benefit both the small and large brokers in a given market by leveling the playing field for all market participants, and he recommends that the sites "should not be a profit model for the MLS" and should be free of advertising.

Bob Hale, president and CEO for the Houston Association of Realtors and a panelist during a "Public-Facing MLS Web Sites" session, has long championed the benefits of public-facing MLS Web sites.

While there is still resistance by some MLSs in building up their public-facing MLS sites -- as some brokers worry that such sites could draw traffic away from their own sites -- Hale said that the stats for public MLS sites tend to speak for themselves. "I think the main thing to do is quit having opinions. Look at the facts," he said.

HAR's public search site, at HAR.com, is "not a destination -- we're a pass-through," he said, noting that the brokers in HAR's market support the Web site. "We generate about 600,000 leads a year (for members) that they don't pay a penny for. We send every single agent and every single broker a monthly report on how many leads they got, how many click-throughs to their Web site, and how many times their listing was viewed.

HAR has also actively distributed its participants' property listings data to a range of third-party sites.

Ben Phillips, vice president of new products and research and managing director for Realogy Franchise Group, the largest real estate franchise company in the nation, said that the value of third-party sites quickly became evident during a presentation by Google officials. "We were seeing 70 percent of traffic to these national (brokerage) sites already coming from Google -- they're already there -- so why shouldn't I put my listings there?"

He added, "I think that it's a benefit to the industry and to those customers that there are sites like Trulia" for consumers to evaluate properties and brokers, and Realogy has completed several data distribution agreements with major property-search sites in the past year.

Charron said that Hale "led the charge in this many years ago (for public MLS sites), and so many of us now are literally throwing 'Hail Marys' " to catch up.

As MLS public Web sites develop, there is the potential for the "consumer side and professional side of the site to meld and merge," and that could have "interesting implications" for MLSs, he said.

Saul Klein, president and CEO for Internet Crusade, an online marketing and support company, and CEO for Point2, which offers online real estate marketing tools, said he believes that MLSs will ultimately integrate Web 2.0 technologies.

"The MLS should be a 'property wiki,' " he said, with information on properties culled from a variety of sources."Over time (the information) can get better and better and better. Some MLSs are starting to get the idea," he said, and that is "a parcel-based idea as opposed to a transaction-based idea."

Real estate professionals, he said, must create a compelling argument for the services they offer, as their role is not simply to be an information provider "because that information is everywhere." Rather, real estate professionals can put information into the context of a consumer's life, he said so that they become "more valuable as that trusted, authoritative source and adviser."

Beverly Faull, general manager and senior vice president for Fidelity National Information Services, said that brokers have increasingly gained control over data aggregated by MLSs. "Twenty years ago the MLSs were very protective of the data and were inflexible in the ways brokers could manage the data. Over time we've seen that change -- the brokers, they own that data. They should be allowed to do with that listing as they choose."

Brokers are taking the reins in making their own decisions about advertising property listings, she noted.

As for the impact of a pending settlement in a federal lawsuit against NAR over the trade group's previously passed restrictions on the sharing and distribution of online property information, Klein said, "I don't think that the proposed settlement, even when finalized, will have any major or even minor impact" on MLSs.

And Paine said, "There are MLSs who are already providing most of the information that the DOJ is (proposing) we need to provide." Connecticut MLS already provides recent sold data to the public, he said. "We have it on our public-facing Web site. I think MLSs that have gone out of their way to protect that kind of data -- they're going to have to figure out a way to get it into the marketplace."

He added that there don't appear to be any negative impacts for MLSs that share this type of data with the public. "We haven't seen any negative effects on the agents or the brokers in our marketplace. It makes us think it's OK to get that data out there."

Senate Approved Housing Rescue Package, Real Estate Industry Reacts

scorbett — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:45:00 GMT

RIS Media

The Senate cleared a massive housing bill on Saturday designed to prop up the struggling U.S. housing market and put in place a U.S. backstop for giant mortgage-buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Senate lawmakers approved the bill, which contains billions of dollars in loan guarantees, a tax break for first-time home buyers and many other provisions, by a vote of 72-13.

The bill now will go to President Bush, who has indicated he will sign it despite objections about a provision directing $4 billion in emergency aid to local communities to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes.

The measure, approved during a weekend session in the Senate, allows homeowners who cannot afford their monthly payments to refinance into government-backed loans. The bill also offers temporary financial help to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The bill won approval in the House on Wednesday by a vote of 272-152, overcoming Republican objections about extending an unlimited line of credit to the two government-sponsored mortgage-finance titans.

The bill gained momentum as worries about the health of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spread. Some House and Senate Republicans were skeptical of a plan unveiled by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on July 13 that extends a line of credit to the two and allows the government to buy their stock if necessary.

Paulson’s plan is included in the bill passed by the House and the Senate, and he praised its passage Saturday.

“I want to commend the Senate for moving swiftly to pass important GSE legislation that will provide temporary authorities to give confidence to markets and will create a strong, independent regulator better able to address the risks these enterprises pose,” Paulson said in a statement.

“As the President has said, we are disappointed that the legislation includes extraneous provisions that can hinder our efforts to get through the housing correction quickly,” he said. “But it is of the utmost importance to our market and economic stability that the GSE portions of this bill become law. These components are orders of magnitude more important to turning the corner on the housing correction.”

Reactions within the industry have been mostly positive as well.

“The mortgage mess is so big, with some many culprits and so many victims, there is no perfect solution, but, by all accounts, this seems like a step in the right direction,” stated Saul Klein, president/CEO, InternetCrusade and CEO of Point2 Technologies.

After the bill passed the House last Wednesday, NAR president *** Gaylord praised the effort, urging that it be finalized and passed into law immediately.

“Realtors® are in the business of building communities, and our 1.2 million members understand that this legislation will go a long way in helping people buy and keep their homes,” says NAR President *** Gaylord. “We look forward to prompt Senate action to finalize this bill, helping ensure that every American who can afford to own a home and wants to do so will have the opportunity and that everyone who responsibly owns a home is able to keep it. This bill must get to the president quickly, and we urge him to act immediately to sign it into law.”

David Charron, president and CEO of Maryland-based MRIS, the largest MLS in the nation, noted that the bill gives Realtors an opportunity to reach out to homeowners.

“First of all, this action bodes well for the consumer,” Charron said. “Realtors may ultimately see benefits but only after the consumer understands what these benefits are. This decision is a perfect opportunity to for the real estate professional to establish a meaningful and valuable conversation with homeowners.”

Added Mike Parker, a principle at the Blackwater Consulting Group, which specializes in online marketing for real estate professionals: “The housing bill is a very good thing for our industry for three primary reasons: It sends an unmistakable message to the American people that the government is not going to allow chaos to proceed; it contains a significant tax credit for first time buyers that will spur home buying by that segment and it removed the need to foreclose on many homeowners; many will now be saved. In a macro sense, there were better solutions, but we got this one. I see the glass as half full.”

With home prices down 16 percent from their 2006 peak and foreclosures at a record high, lawmakers have been working on the housing bill for months in an effort to help homeowners and the overall market.

The bill contains a tax break of as much as $7,500 for first-time home buyers, creates a new regulator to oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and allows the government to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced mortgages.

Shares of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have seesawed in recent weeks as they faced concerns about their capital levels.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said the overall bill deals with a housing crisis brought about by “bad decisions and inaction and malfeasance from years before.”

The rescue plan would extend an unlimited line of credit to the two mortgage-finance giants for 18 months and give the Treasury the authority - also for 18 months - to buy Fannie and Freddie shares if the Treasury deems the companies’ capital to be inadequate.

Some lawmakers have been skittish about the administration’s plan for the GSEs, calling it a “blank check” that potentially puts U.S. taxpayers on the hook.

But opponents of the bill acknowledged that they didn’t have enough allies to block the backstop for the government-sponsored enterprises.

A Freddie Mac spokesman recently praised the bill in a statement.

“Passage of this bill sends a helpful signal of confidence to housing markets and investors. Freddie Mac will continue doing its part to help the economy by raising private capital, helping put families into homes through sound underwriting, and helping troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure,” Doug Duvall said.

Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd said “the legislation should reinforce confidence that the GSEs will be able to serve the housing finance system now and in the future.”

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office said the plan could cost the government up to $25 billion. However, the same report said chances are better than 50 percent that the government wouldn’t need to help the companies out.

Picture this: More online photos means more interest in home

scorbett — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:37:00 GMT

by: Amy Hoak, Market Watch

To sell a home with an Internet listing, it pays to provide pictures -- and lots of them, according to a recent study from an e-commerce and online marketing firm that serves the real-estate industry.

Compared with listings that had only one photo, those that had 21 or more photos received double the number of responses to the listing broker or agent, according to Point2 Technologies. Listings that included no photos generated significantly less response than those that had one, the firm said.

"The days of putting out little information in the hopes that buyers will phone in to learn more are gone," said Carey Tufts, director of marketing for Point2, in a news release.

But buyers' thirst for information about a home doesn't stop online. Read today's story about a new tactic some home sellers are trying to allow buyers to gather tons of information about a home and its surrounding neighborhood -- a sleep over.

Plus, read a Capitol Report about the housing package that is getting closer to completion in Washington and how effective it may be.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In today's real-estate market, sellers should be prepared to spend thousands and thousands of words to attract someone who will buy their home.

Too much exposure can be a bad thing

scorbett — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:44:00 GMT

How many photos are overkill for a listing?

by: Bernice Ross, Inman News

Are you marketing your listings with just one picture or are you marketing with 20 or more? Is it possible that too many pictures online is preventing buyers from looking at your property?

The research is clear that having only a single photo of your listings online causes Web visitors to search elsewhere. The challenge is how much is enough and how much is too much? A new study from Point2 Agent suggests that the more pictures you have the better it is. Jeff Turner, the CEO of RealEstateShows.com, argues that based upon attention-span research, five to nine pictures is about all the brain can handle in 30 to 60 seconds.

Point2Agent has just released a new study that measures the impact of photos in terms of marketing listings online. This study replicates the results of a study the company conducted in 2007. The current study examined three variables and plotted them against the number of pictures on each site:

1. Detailed views

2. Interest in terms of interaction with the listing on a Web site (i.e. how many times visitors viewed a virtual tour, viewed the listing on a partner site, completed a mortgage calculation for the property, etc.)

3. Leads generated

The study evaluated all Point2 listings entered into their system during the first quarter of 2008. The sample consisted of more than 100,000 listings and included listings from all 50 states, every Canadian province, plus other countries worldwide. All price ranges were represented.

Results

1. Listings that lacked photos performed poorly in the study, generating little consumer response and business. Those that had one picture performed better, but not nearly as well as the sites that had 21 to 36 photos. In fact, those listings that had no picture generated 0.02 percent of the number of listing views as compared to those with 21 or more photos.

2. Compared to listings with only one photo, those with 21 or more photos generated more than triple the number of Detailed Views, more than double the amount of interest, and double the number of Leads.

3. Compared to listings with no photos, those with 21 or more photos generated more than 55 times the number of Detailed Views and nearly 27 times the amount of Interest.

4. Comparable results were obtained when plotting these three key variables against varying numbers of photographs per listing.

5. Views, Interest and Leads jumped 20 percent or more as the number of photos increased from 15 to 16.

The study seems to confirm that having additional photos on an agent or broker Web site affects the stickiness of the site, which leads to substantially higher lead conversion.

RealEstateShows.com's Turner makes a fascinating counterargument. According to Turner, "We've spent a lot of time researching how the brain works when viewing property online. A key point to consider is attention span. There's a reason that television commercials are 30 or 60 seconds. Rather than doing a three- or four-minute movie or virtual tour, we have found that that the brain can absorb about five photos in 30 seconds or nine photos in 60 seconds. If you create a video that is longer than 30 to 60 seconds and that is packed full of pictures, you will exceed the amount that the brain can absorb."

Turner uses himself as an example. When he and his wife were looking for house, his agent showed several properties they did not like. Even though they were adamant about purchasing a single-family residence, the agent encouraged them to look at a duplex. After continued requests, they looked at the duplex and fell in love with it.

Turner goes on to say, "This sale would never have happened if my wife and I had been looking online. We would have never looked at the property because we would have ruled it out when we set up our search criteria. This is exactly the problem with giving Web visitors more and more information. The more information you give them, the easier you are making it for them to exclude your listing from the ones they want to see. Your role in Web marketing is to get them to come out and see the house -- not to give them so much information that they decide not to look at your listing."

The Point2 study clearly indicates that having multiple pictures is a smart idea. Increasing them from 15 to 16 generates 20 percent more leads. On the other hand, we have no way of knowing how many buyers ruled out a specific property because they viewed it online.

What should you do? You can track your page views using Point2's system, Google Analytics or one of the many other tracking tools on the Web. Change the number of pictures and watch your results to determine what works best in your market.

Point2, Local Matters team up on Facebook app

scorbett — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:12:00 GMT

Companies seek to capitalize on popular social network

Inman News

Point2 Technologies Inc., which offers online tools for real estate professionals, and media technology company Local Matters Inc. on Wednesday announced an agreement in operating Point2's Facebook Neighborhoods application.

The application for Facebook, a social networking site with about 70 million active users, draws from Point2's database of international neighborhoods. About 800,000 Facebook users have installed the application, to date. The application allows Facebook users to view who lives in their area and post or view information about local events or issues of interest. Real estate brokers and agents who use Point2 Agent Web site and property listing syndication tools can post property listings information for free on Facebook or choose to purchase enhanced property ads at the site.

Facebook is the sixth most-trafficked Web site on the planet, according to metrics company comScore, and over 20,000 applications have been built for the Facebook platform.

Point2's neighborhoods database forms the foundation for the company's real estate search portal, at Point2Homes.com.

"The deal incorporates a perpetual, revenue share and cooperation structure that enables both companies to capitalize on the application's future growth," according to the announcement, and Point2 will continue to syndicate property listings information and enable advertising bookings by its members into Facebook Neighborhoods under the terms of the deal. Local Matters will handle ongoing development and marketing efforts for the application, the announcement states.

"We view this as a long term strategic partnership that leverages the synergies of two complementary organizations," said Perry Evans, founder and CEO for Local Matters, in a statement. "We're excited to partner with Point2 to capitalize on a very unique opportunity to connect one of the world's largest social networks to a range of community centered local content and services."

And Saul Klein, Point2 Technologies CEO, said in a statement, "With social networks redefining marketing, Local Matters' deep knowledge and focus in local publishing and advertising will enable both our organizations to fully expand and capitalize on the application's unique position on Facebook."

U.S. firm acquires Point2 application

scorbett — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:59:00 GMT

The StarPhoenix

A Facebook application developed by a Saskatoon company has been acquired by a U.S. online media publisher.

The deal involving Point2 Technologies Inc.'s Facebook Neighborhoods application will allow the company to maintain and develop the application's database while Local Matters Inc. will assume marketing and development efforts for the program.

The application draws on Point2's database that forms the basis for the Point2 Homes real estate search portal.

"We cannot think of a more strategically viable partnership and path to continue to develop Neighborhoods for Facebook, optimize its benefits for our members and tap its revenue potential than with Local Matters," said Saul Klein, Point 2's CEO, in a company release.

Given the rising popularity of marketing through social networks, Klein believes the partnership will allow both groups to capitalize on the application's position on Facebook.

The strengths of the two companies complement each other, said Perry Evans, CEO of Denver, Colo.-based Local Matters. In the release, Evans said his company, which offers consumers a means to search for local content both online and through voice-based directory assistance, is excited to connect to one of the world's largest social networks.

"Events that occur in your neighbourhood are extremely important to consumers, which makes Neighborhoods one of the most substantial and useful applications on Facebook, even in its early stages of adoption," he said.

No financial details of the acquisition were released.

Point2 launched the application in July 2007. More than 800,000 Facebook users have installed the application.

Facebook "Neighborhoods" app sold

scorbett — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:14:00 GMT

I didn't realize that Saskatoon was a hotbed of software development, but that's where a Facebook real estate application was developed by Point2 Technologies.

Point2, a 100-person company that also has offices in Vancouver, B.C., is a big player in the real estate software industry, producing software for syndicating listings.

That platform was the basis for "Neighborhoods," an application that lets users learn about nearby users and learn about and share information about community events. (Sounds a little like Zillow's community tools; I wonder if the folks there are going to widgetize their stuff for social networks?)

Today Point2 announced that it's selling the "Neighborhood" application to Denver-based media publishing company Local Matters.

The unusual deal is actually more of a partnership, since Point2 will continue to power the application for Local Matters, which will handle the marketing. Financial details weren't disclosed.

Online Home Listings Provider Local Matters Buys Point2’s Facebook App

scorbett — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:29:00 GMT

By David Kaplan

Local search marketer Local Matters has acquired online real estate listings syndicator Point2 Technologies’ Facebook app. Financial terms were not released. Point2 had been hoping to get attention for its “Neighborhoods for Facebook” app, which it released last summer. Point2 claims that 800,000 Facebook users have downloaded the app, which is aimed at prospective apartment renters and home buyers. Local Matters plans to build more services around the Facebook app and will continue to develop it.

Point2 and RealtyTrac Enter Marketing Partnership

scorbett — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:14:00 GMT

RISMEDIA

Point2 Technologies Inc. (”Point2″), one of the industry’s largest independent providers of website and listing syndication software for real estate professionals, and RealtyTrac Inc., a leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, announced a marketing partnership agreement that aims to extend both organizations’ market reach and exposure while establishing new revenue streams at the same time.

According to the two companies, Under the deal, Point2 will integrate access to RealtyTrac foreclosure listings, on www.Point2Homes.com. The integration will enable the site’s growing community of nearly 1.2 million unique monthly visitors to access and research the latest foreclosure and bank-owned properties in the United States, as well as related market data, through a simple subscription process.

“With interest in foreclosures unabated, our partnership with the industry’s leading provider of pre-foreclosure and bank-owned properties makes the consumer experience on Point2 Homes that much more valuable and comprehensive and it creates a new lead generation channel we can potentially leverage to drive more business to Point2 members,” said Saul Klein, Point2 Technologies chief executive officer.

“We’re extremely excited to partner with Point2 to integrate RealtyTrac foreclosure properties on Point2 Homes,” said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at RealtyTrac. “Point2 Homes has and continues to grow at a solid pace, mainly due to the appeal of its unique, rich and detailed listings online consumers seek today. This partnership will enable RealtyTrac to provide foreclosure data to Point2’s growing audience and thereby help us continue to carry out our mission of making foreclosure data more conveniently accessible to more people.”

Each month, says the company, 1.2 million unique visitors research real estate on Point2 Homes, which is reflected in 11 million page views, and 1,500 new listings are posted to the site daily by brokers and agents, augmented with up to 36 photos, property details, neighborhood information and virtual tours.

With U.S. foreclosure activity up 112% in the first quarter of 2008, foreclosure properties are becoming a more sizeable segment of the overall real estate market, generating more interest from buyers, investors and real estate professionals who want to tap into this previously hidden market.

The companies say that this announcement reflects part of a larger plan for cooperation between Point2 and RealtyTrac.

Syndication & Your Business

scorbett — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:02:00 GMT

RISMEDIA

Today, the word “syndication” is used in the real estate industry to express the distribution of listing information to various websites and/or Web portals.

While it was once thought that exposing a listing in one spot on the Internet and driving consumers to that spot (the early theory for Realtor.com) was the best way to market a listing on the Internet, in today’s Internet environment, this no longer makes any sense. Why? Because a real estate listing is a marketing asset owned by the listing broker, and, in addition to the direct economic benefit of having a listing, it provides other, less tangible benefits, including increased brand awareness and the ability to attract new buyers and sellers.

On the Internet today, distribution trumps destination as content moves to where users go, and users go to many different sites-Yahoo!, Google and Craigslist, for example.

Remember, a listing is a marketing asset. It is important to note that not all listings sell and, consequently, commission dollars are not earned on every listing. However, costs are incurred for every listing. Part of the value proposition in the taking of a listing, and the advertising and marketing of that listing, is the marketing and brand benefit the brokerage derives. Multiple sites result in maximum exposure.

Having to enter listing data at multiple Internet locations is time consuming, and more companies today are providing a “single point of entry” and then distributing the content to various websites for brokers. One of these syndication companies is Point2 Technologies (http://Point2.com), which currently syndicates to 29 partners.

The various websites to which Point2 customers can syndicate their listings not only gives the broker (and agents) greater branding and exposure, but it also generates leads. These leads are then seamlessly passed back to the members.

Additionally, when a listing broker advertises their listing or listings on syndication partner websites, the listing exposure is tracked. As a result, the listing broker can see which syndication partners provide advertising and marketing value to the listing broker. The listing broker can use this information in a variety of ways, including providing feedback to sellers as to the traffic the listing generated.

Saul Klein is a Realtor and nationally recognized speaker and consultant. He is CEO of InternetCrusade as well as Point2 Technologies.

Rapid Growth of Mexican MLS Contributes to Open Market

scorbett — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:11:00 GMT

Buyers, Sellers, and Brokers Benefit from Internet Technology

By Brian Flock: Mexidata.info guest columnist

The rapid growth in use of a new Internet technology over the past two years by Mexico real estate brokers has resulted in a de facto Mexican multiple listing service (MLS). The new system better serves buyers and sellers of real estate throughout coastal and other regions of interest to foreign buyers. This progress helps solve the key challenge of sharing and marketing listings between agents, a historical challenge in Mexico as it was in the early days of US real estate. Buyers and sellers would do well to make sure that their agent is part of this growing MLS in order to ensure that they are receiving the proper real estate service, particularly in regions of interest to foreign buyers.

A common misconception amongst real estate buyers and sellers is that there is such a thing as the “one and only” multiple listing service. This is erroneous because there are literally hundreds of multiple listing services in the US and Canada, and the term is morphing to become a descriptor of any quasi-public repository of real estate listings (except in Canada where the term is a registered trademark for real estate). Anyone may create a multiple listing service with the value of the system being a function of how widely and how responsibly the system is used. Each market determines the MLS system that best meets the need – with the occasional disruption such as the lawsuit by the US Department of Justice with the National Association of Realtors®.

Mexican real estate has a history of agents withholding listings from each other with the intent to get the commission from both the selling and buying sides of the transaction (i.e. “pocket listings”), similar to the situation in the US and Canada before the various regional MLSs were created. This made it difficult for a potential buyer to know if they were seeing the best properties or getting a fair deal, and for sellers to know if their agent would give proper exposure to their property. (The appearance of organized MLSs in the US in the early 1970s was a vast improvement over this inefficient system.)

The good news for consumers is that booming Mexico markets of interest to foreigners plus the ubiquity of the Internet have driven the demand for more open methods of sharing listings to the benefit of buyers and sellers. No longer does the market have to submit to anachronistic sales methods in the Internet age.

One particular multiple listing service has grown organically to gain a leading spot for Mexico’s real estate inventory: Point2 NLS by Point2 Technologies. Mexican agents from Tijuana to Rocky Point [Puerto Peñasco] to Puerto Vallarta to the Mayan Riviera have discovered that this commercial platform is an effective way of sharing and marketing nearly 7,000 Mexico property listings amongst over 1,000 fellow agents throughout Mexico. Quite simply, it is the largest database of Mexico real estate listings shared between agents in the world – and it is growing daily.

“Point2 is a vehicle to provide, in Mexico, the technology that a full-blown MLS provides,” commented Saul Klein, CEO of Point2 Technologies in an interview. “Organizations of real estate professionals can add value around the platform. The key function of sharing and marketing listings between agents is intrinsic to Point2. Individual agents control their business relationships in a way that best serves their clients.” Klein noted that Mexico real estate agents are Point2 Technologies’ third largest group of Point2 adopters in the 85 countries that the company services, preceded only by the USA and Canada.

Why should real estate buyers and sellers in Mexico care about an Internet technology?

The answer is that if their agent uses Point2, that client’s agent has access to the most prolific MLS throughout Mexican regions of interest to foreigners. Buyers and sellers would be wise to ensure that their agent is using Point2. Sellers will want to seek out listing agents that generously share the properties with other agents’ Web sites in order to maximize exposure of those listings. Buyers in turn will want to understand how their preferred agent filters listing results that appear on their agent’s website.

Until an improved sharing and marketing solution is offered nationally to Mexico, the Point2 system is leading the way towards addressing buyer and seller requirements for an MLS in the United Mexican States, one real estate listing and one real estate agent at a time.

Syndication Standard - NAR and Industry Partners Agree

scorbett — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:17:00 GMT

RISMEDIA, April 15, 2008

The National Association of Realtors® and other industry members of the Real Estate Standards Organization have unanimously approved a draft standardized data format for distributing real estate listing information.

Real Estate Transaction Standard, an industry effort initiated by NAR and maintained by RESO, simplifies the process of sending real estate information by allowing brokers and MLSs to send their listing data to multiple real estate advertising websites without dealing with different data formats.

The standard was drafted and unanimously approved by a RESO working group composed of NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Technology and many of the real estate industry’s leading publishers and consumers of real estate listing data. They include MLS Assistant, MLS Listings Inc., MLSPIN, New Jersey MLS, TREND MLS, Move Inc. (operator of Realtor.com®), Bridge Interactive, Bainbridge, Cevado Technologies, CLRsearch, eNeighborhoods, eShowings, FBS Data Systems, Google, Homescape, Marketlinx, Oodle, Point2, PropBot, Prudential Preferred CRE, RealEstate.com, Realtracs, ThreeWide, Trulia, Vast, Yahoo! and Zillow.

The partnership of MLSs, vendors and real estate brokers came together to develop the standardized data format because they understand the business and technology needs of Realtors today and their desire to get property information to home buyers faster and more efficiently.

“Realtors are industry innovators and understand that more consumers than ever are seeking real estate information online,” said Mark Lesswing, NAR chief technology officer and senior vice president. “By collaborating with our RESO partners to standardize the data formats, we are making it easier for Realtors to feed their clients’ property listings to multiple real estate sites in one format, saving them time and money.”

The draft standard will be implemented immediately by several of the partner organizations. Following their feedback, a final draft will be presented and voted on during a meeting of the partners in August.

NAR’s CRT was established to provide technology leadership, guidance and assistance for its members. CRT makes available informed industry insight, research and open-source applications through its mission of implementation, advocacy and information.

Agent Increases Income $200K Harnessing the Internet

scorbett — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:43:00 GMT

REALTOR Fine Tunes Web Marketing Strategy with Dramatic Results

by: Mike Parker

Priscilla Allen is a RE/MAX broker in San Antonio, TX. In 2006, she and her husband, along with a long time associate, were the 25th ranked team in San Antonio; in 2007, they were the 10th. RE/MAX singled this little team out as the # 2 commissioned team in San Antonio in (www.allenrealtygroup.com). (If by some chance you haven’t noticed, 2007 was a year when many good agents and brokers suffered huge losses in business and income. How did she manage to increase both when other good people were hurting?)

Priscilla has long been Internet-oriented: she sold eight clients from the Internet in 1998(!), and she has been emphasizing online marketing ever since. If it is Internet oriented, chances are Priscilla has tried it. She embraced virtual tours and sold one of the first homes sold from one. She has had her own web site since1999 and she has been a REALTOR® since1974 but didn’t really start working full time as one until 1996, after having run her Dad’s business in the health area for years.

When we called her to pick her brain about Internet marketing, Priscilla was quick to offer details on how she has succeeded as an Internet REALTOR® and was eager to help others succeed in this hugely promising area of real estate.

“I do not do newspaper ads. I do not do open houses,” she began our conversation. “Referrals and the Internet provide almost all of my buyers.” In the 29th largest market in the nation, that is an amazing statistic. Who would think that a successful agent or broker could make it in such a place without newspaper advertising? “Our group sold $16,000,000 worth of property in 2006, “Priscilla told me, “and we sold $26,000,000 in property in 2007 —a bad year by most anyone’s measure. It is the Internet that has enabled us to do this, and it is our CompassSearch subscription that has brought us much of that $10 million increase!”

“We regularly field inquiries from service people stationed in Iraq,” she explained. “As their tour ends, or if they are to receive major medical attention, many of them are routed to San Antonio. Before they get here, they have shopped online and dreamed online of coming home. With the military facilities in and around Bexar (pronounced “Bear”) County, we are fortunate to do business with many service people. I have an appointment next week with the Head of Pediatrics for the U.S. Naval Hospital in Naples, Italy, who is transferring to University Hospital here starting July. She and her husband called me on February 2 and we talked. They were concerned about the best schools for their children, but they could not afford the $8,000 to fly the four of them home to look around for a home. My local knowledge enabled me to set her fears at rest and to help her select a comfortable and safe neighborhood near the place she will be working, all online. The Doctor is flying here to meet with me and to buy a $300-400,000 home mid-April. We’ll be looking at the field of available properties we narrowed down to three and she will choose one of those. I have them pre-qualified and I am looking forward to meeting her after all this e-mailing and excitement!”

Priscilla Allen’s 8 Relocation Questions

“One of the things I do to make people I meet online comfortable with me is to ask them a list of questions about their needs. I’ve done this so often that I know people are very comfortable sharing this information and I believe it helps bond them with me as their real estate professional. I explain some of the questions in advance, like why I ask about children, for example. I also explain to them (should they send me a house they found online) if I think they should not buy that house, and why.” Here are Priscilla’s questions:

   1. Approximate time of relocation
   2. One or two story preferred?
   3. One or two living and dining areas?
   4. Age preference in the home?
   5. Job location?
   6. School age children?
   7. Square footage preference?
   8. Price range?

I noticed that price came last, and asked why. “People aren’t offended if you spend time with them and seek to answer their questions, then try to narrow down their price range, but I have found that opening with that line can offend people and send the wrong message that I am only interested in a sale. You see, I am really interested in my client, and I feel every one of them is a part of my extended family.” From delivering some personal items to a spouse, or helping a friend get home from the airport, Priscilla makes it her business to make her business with her clients more personal. “I don’t want to sell them a home that I wouldn’t want back to sell again,” she explained. If I wouldn’t be proud to list the home, I surely don’t want one of my clients buying it! If you haven’t been able to tell yet, I am very motherly. I treat these kids as my own and anyone under 50 is a kid to me!”

How Priscilla Succeeds Online

“In recent months, most of my leads come from my web site. We added two new associates at the end of 2007 to help handle the leads (We’re up to five selling agents and one administrator, now!). We are closing about 90% of these leads (defined as where the prospect contacts Priscilla through her web site). We also use the WebReporterTool to show listing prospects our Internet savvy and success; they are extremely impressed when I show them how much we sell through the Internet, and what people online do to find their listing on my site. When I show them the data, often they are just floored by what a difference a strong web presence makes. I also spent the money to have a professional virtual assistant work with my site and make it more consumer friendly (Kathleen Allardyce www.buildrealestateresults.com) . With Kathleen handling the consumer-friendly part, and CompassSearch handling the REAL SEO-friendly part, I feel confident that my success will continue. My CompassSearch subscription put another $200,000 in my personal take home pay last year; not a bad return on $240 dollars a month cost! It’s pretty black and white as to where that increase came from!”

What about RE/MAX Web Site?

“It is not very effective. I get 4 to 6 “leads” (that’s what they call them, anyway) every day. I do not have ONE sale from a RE/MAX lead. Most “leads” from the RE/MAX site are just some poor soul who wanted to browse that site for homes in private and suddenly they are stuck with a REALTOR® calling them. I don’t call that a lead.”

Advice to Agents Wanting to Succeed Online

“Join Point2 agent, call Kathleen to help them do their web site, and hook up with CompassSearch. That’s all it took me and I cannot tell you how happy I am with the results. I like learning something new every day, talking to people from all over the world, giving house tours online, understanding what makes my site work and being number one on the major search engines when people come looking in San Antonio. I have the confidence that we will do even better this year and so far, we already have! I can tell you that no kind of lead is as good as the ones I get from my own web site except a personal referral. I strongly advise everyone to cut back on newspapers, spend a part of that money on your web site, and be free from the doom and gloom that pervades the media about housing today. People are still buying and selling homes. It’s just that they are doing it online, now. You need to be found online by Internet buyers!”

Thanks to Priscilla Allen for being so forthcoming. If you have a client relocating to San Antonio, you will find Priscilla a pleasure to work with and a real asset for your client.

(Mike Parker is a principal at the Blackwater Consulting Group, Inc., and specializes in online marketing for real estate professionals. You can reach him by e-mail at mparker@theblackwatercg.com. To ask for a free copy of his booklet "SEO Secrets for Real Estate Professionals" by writing to realestate@theblackwatercg.com. It will be sent to you free and no one will call you. To request a free review of your web site to determine if it can be found by Internet buyers and if it is search engine friendly, click here and it will be evaluated free.)

Facebook seminar offered by firm

scorbett — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:27:00 GMT

by: Mallory Vough, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader

Establishment business people – at least those above the age of 30 – might think Facebook is a publication filled with photographs of people showing off their finest toothy grins. But in fact Facebook is one of the most popular Web sites on the Internet, with a claimed 70 million active users who range from teenagers to corporate executives.

That adds up to a compelling audience, but one that can be difficult to reach. A seminar scheduled for later this month may help individuals and businesses cut through the confusion.

Scranton-based software development company Meezik will host the Facebook Developer Garage on April 26, NEPA at Pepperjam, in the Innovation Center @ Wilkes-Barre.

The four-hour session will introduce software developers and businesses to the new Facebook Developer Platform, said Daehee Park, marketing and sales manager at Meezik. “It’s for developers, marketers and entrepreneurs. We want to show them how to create applications for Facebook so they can develop and monetize those applications.”

The Facebook Developer Platform was launched late last year, and similar events are being held across the United States and the world so that individuals and companies can share ideas with local developers, look for partners on projects, get technical support or simply network and socialize with other developers interested in the Facebook platform.With a total of 21,024 applications on Facebook and the number increasing every day, Park said he feels companies can link people together through these applications in unique and fun ways.

“It’s another channel for marketing their product. The possibilities are limitless,” Park said.

A few applications include “Movies” by Flixster, which allows people to share reviews, discover new movies and test knowledge with the Never-Ending Movie Quiz; “iLike” by iLike, Inc., which lets users add music to their profiles and find their favorite concerts; Neighborhoods by Point2 Technologies, Inc., which shows Facebook users who live near them, what these people are up to and what is happening in their neighborhood; and PortfolioJoe by Interactive Design Associates LLC, which makes it possible to send out professional company or personal portfolios to potential clients or employers.

The intended audience for the seminar is local students, according to Park. “Our main target is students at local colleges who are majoring in information technology, marketing, business or computer science,” he said.

“We also want this to be a networking type thing. If you’re not particularly strong at programming, you can meet someone with strong skills in programming and hopefully work together.”

Presented by Facebook, Pepperjam, AppleCart, SpinDVD and Bawls, the event will feature local and national speakers including Kris Jones, CEO of Pepperjam; Ron Frisbie, co-founder of Ringside Networks; Jason Gaylord, president of .NET Valley; Caitlin O’Farrell, Platform Product Marketing for Facebook; Jay Signorello, software engineer, Heavy.com, and Jason Hoffman, CTO and founder, Joyent.

Possible discussion topics include anatomy of a Facebook application, FBML and FQL overviews and viral marketing optimization.

The event is free, but interested attendees must reserve at http://rsvp.meezik.com.
IF YOU GO
inside

What: Facebook Developer Garage NEPA

When: Saturday, April 26, 1-4 p.m.

Where: Pepperjam, 7 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre

Cost: Free

Reserve: at http://rsvp.meezik.com

Info: Daehee Park at (646) 867-0847 or at daehee@meezik.com

Clicking With Buyers

scorbett — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:43:00 GMT

By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 12, 2008; Page F01

Cindy Lawson won't venture from her sofa for anything less than a two-bedroom condominium with a parking space and washer and dryer.

In the meantime, she continues her year-long search by scanning the list of Arlington homes in her price range that is sent to her automatically from her agent's Web site. When she sees something interesting, her agent, Brian Block, sends her the full listing. Rarely do they speak on the phone.

"It's nice to be able to stay here and do that," said Lawson, 56, a legal secretary. "Especially something like buying a house that can be really tedious."

Online real estate search engines have become an established part of the home-buying process over the past decade, but such sites are evolving to offer a wider variety of services, in some cases changing the relationships among buyers, sellers and real estate agents.

For example, Trulia allows users to check out a home's surroundings through a street-level view of its 2.5 million real estate listings and discover unadvertised neighbors -- a park or a cemetery, for example. On BestHomeSearchEver.com, buyers can limit their searches to homes that have been on the market for more than three months and may be vulnerable to price reduction; then they can watch a YouTube video about how to submit a lowball offer.

This part of the online real estate market is still in its early stages but is likely to evolve as a younger generation of buyers and sellers look for ways to trade more information about property, said Saul Klein, a consultant to the National Association of Realtors when it developed its Web site, Realtor.com, in the mid-1990s. "In time, it may become commonplace," he said.

On another site, FranklyMLS, real estate agents are encouraged to leave comments about homes they have taken their clients to visit. On the listing for one four-bedroom house in Woodbridge, an agent said: "Nice place. Water issue in bathrooms????" On a three-bedroom Alexandria home, another agent wrote: "Where's the fridge? Maybe the cockroaches carried it away."

Even negative information about a home can help the sales process if it assures that the buyer knows all of the potential pitfalls in a property, said Frank Borges Llosa, who runs FranklyMLS. "The more information someone has, the more likely they are to make a purchase," said Llosa, who doesn't vouch for the accuracy of comments on the site. "Learning negatives about the house removes the uncertainty factor, which is more of a hindrance than having the information."

Unlike some of its larger competitors, FranklyMLS is a sparse site that relies on keyword searches. It also lacks some of the ease of larger sites that allow users to narrow their search by a number of bedrooms, for example, but it allows real estate agents who have visited a property to add photos to those provided by the seller's agent.

"I don't trust listing agents' photos. They represent only the best side and make it look amazing. It is not necessarily what they look like when you get there," Llosa said.

Real estate agents have fought to control how the listings of their clients' homes are used on the Internet, including in an ongoing lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice. But the National Association of Realtors said that sellers' and agents' growing acceptance of the Internet may have made the point moot. "The policy that we were fighting was adopted five years ago. Things have changed," said Laurie Janik, the trade group's chief counsel.

The group's Web site, http://www.Realtor.com, is still the most-visited real estate page on the Web, according to the market research firm Hitwise. But even it is changing: Recently the site added a feature allowing users to narrow their searches by a neighborhood's "hip factor," based on several criteria, including how close it is to four-year universities, the age of residents and how long people tend to live there.

But the Realtors' site is facing ever-increasing competition from smaller sites, such as Roost, which says it has come up with a more intuitive and faster search engine. Since launching earlier this year, Roost.com has added information about listings from more than a dozen markets, including the Washington area, but still doesn't cover the entire nation. HomesDatabase, which is run by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, focuses on real estate listings in the Washington area. Other Web sites, such as Owners.com and ForSaleByOwner.com, target homes being sold directly by their owners.

Jim Duncan, an agent for Century 21 Manley in Charlottesville, said he resents that some real estate search engines make agents buy information about users who have expressed an interest in a home they are selling. "They're not adding any value to the transaction," he said. "As a Realtor, they charge me a fee to get that buyer back when they haven't done anything. I have an issue with that."

But even as agents seek to control how their listings are used, the information available online has changed the way buyers, sellers and their agents interact.

After placing a home on the market, sellers can grow anxious wondering how home shoppers perceive their place. Another new real estate Web site, HomeFeedback.com, offers to send e-mails to agents who have visited the property, soliciting their opinions.

Tony Hain, a real estate agent who has been using that service for about a year, said that after reviewing the comments, one client decided that his basement unit was overpriced. "You can't change the fact that it is in the basement, but you can adjust the price," said Hain, who works out of Long & Foster's Woodley Park office in the District.

Block, Lawson's agent and an associate broker with Re/Max Allegiance in Alexandria, said he attracts up to 80 percent of his clients through his Web site, which includes a searchable database of Washington area real estate listings. Some clients do much of the work of narrowing down potential homes themselves and then call him when they want to tour a particular property or want to submit a bid on a home, Block said. "These days, our job as a Realtor is to help negotiate the deal, instead of just finding the house for them," he said.

Sharon Kimball and her husband, Bob, interviewed several real estate agents referred by friends after moving to Washington from New Mexico six months ago. While researching an Arlington condo they had visited, the Kimballs came across a blog by Jay Seville, an agent in Re/Max Allegiance's Arlington office, predicting that prices in the area would be dragged down by the opening of another condo building this year.

That insight persuaded them to sign up for Seville's e-mail service, JustNewListings.com, which automatically alerts them when two-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in their area come on the market. They say they have spent 10 hours a week on their online searches, looking at listings, mapping their distance to the Metro, and researching builders and management companies.

"I have looked at hundreds of properties and pictures," said Sharon Kimball, 54, a federal prosecutor. "You can do it all in the middle of the night when you can't sleep."

They are now in the final stages of negotiating the purchase of a two-bedroom condo in Alexandria that they found through Seville's service and hope to move in within the next couple of months.

"It saved us weeks, no doubt, of work in terms of being able to look at pictures and get descriptions and map locations, just sitting right there in your own den," Kimball said. "It helps you narrow the search and weed out the places that you're not interested in."

The Successful Combination of Photography and Real Estate

scorbett — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:29:00 GMT

Commentary by Gar Benedick

RISMEDIA, - Pictures that are poor or less-than-flattering can turn buyers off, leading to fewer leads and offers. In real estate, good pictures–the right pictures–are worth more than a thousand words-they can be worth thousands of dollars.

According to a survey of buyers and sellers by the National Association of Realtors, 80% of the people across the country who purchased a new home last year used the Internet while researching their purchase. These buyers rated photographs as the single most useful tool in their search. Agents say the photos buyers see online are often the first, and sometimes the only, chance they may get to make a good impression.

The photograph is almost always the first element in any ad that connects with the buyer. It is the handshake, the first impression, the thing that cuts through the visual clutter to capture the buyer’s attention. Everything in the marketing campaign to sell your home relies on the quantity and quality of the photographs of your home. Photographs are needed for the MLS listing on the Web and in print, a website, brochures, flyers, photoboards, newspaper ads, possible magazine articles, real estate preview guides, blogs, etc. Many times, buyers will decide if they will visit a home, and agents will decide if they will show a property based on the strength (or weaknesses) of the photos accompanying a listing. Quality photos can and do make a difference, a big difference.

The California Association of Realtors findings show that “Multiple photographs/Slideshows” continue to be the online feature with the highest rating among all online features, followed by “Map/Directions.” Because of the nature of the Internet, more photos can be posted with your MLS Web listing and on a home website than in any other medium and for a fraction of the cost.

Point2 (point2.com) conducted a study monitoring listings over a 30-day period which clearly showed that properties which feature just one photo generated approximately five views and 1.37 leads, while listings displaying 21 or more images received over 77 views and close to 11 leads. Clearly, the listings that added 20+ photos generated nearly 10 times the number of leads and over 15 times the number of views.

Another study relating to the number of photos a listing posts compares photos to the number of Days on Market (DOM). The findings show that listings with more photos sold faster. This is the shake down on the photos to Days on Market (average) analysis.

- 1 photo = 70 DOM
- 6 photos = 40 DOM
- 16-19 photos = 36 DOM
- 20 photos max - 32 DOM

And listings with fewer photos sold for less. The Closed NET Price as a percentage of the Original Price also showed a direct correlation. (These findings are based on 2006 numbers and are again estimates.)

- 1 Photo = 91.2% of Original Price
- 6 or more = 95% of Original Price

According to these findings, a $600,000 home, sporting only one photo, could sell for as much as 3.8% LESS or a loss of over $22,000, just because there was only one photo accompanying the listing. More amazing is the fact that only 12% of agents posted the maximum 20 photos.

I received this in a recent e-mail from the Wav Group regarding the use of photos in listings. “As I am sure you know, the more photos, the better. Many MLSs are not allowing listings to be posted to the MLS without photos. In Houston Association of Realtors, you cannot add a listing without eight photos.” Other Associations will not allow a listing without at least one photo and more Associations are moving in the direction of mandatory photos.

Keep in mind that none of these reports/findings mention the quality of the photographs. If photos are the most important factor, it would follow that by having great, high quality photographs, you can be even further ahead of the game. In many cases, it is the agents themselves who are snapping the pictures and posting them on the agency website. Because of this, it is important that sellers choose an agent who will take professional looking photos or pay for a professional photographer.

Good quality real estate photographs are difficult to achieve and it should be clear that a real estate agent can’t be expected to have professional photographic skills. Agents should, however be able to recognize the difference between good and poor photos and refrain from posting poor photos where perspective buyers will see them. With that in mind, it is amazing to find all the substandard photos, which agents and sellers seem to be willing to accept when it comes to posting photos of your property to the MLS listings and into some of the advertising.

“Location, location, location” is the common catch phrase when buying a house. “Photography, photography, photography” will soon be the new advise when selling. When you look at the difference between photos taken by a professional and ones taken by brokers/agents with digital cameras, it’s not hard to see that you get what you pay for. Professional photographers use professional equipment, have the skills set to use it and they have a trained eye for making your home look its best. This is their job, they’re professionals. And paying to have professional real estate photographs, in comparison, is not really expensive when you consider the benefits.

It stands to reason then, that it is very important to have photos that are professionally presented. Some agents use only pictures taken by professional photographers, because, as one agent put it, “if the photos look shoddy or unprofessional, not only are buyers going to find your property unappealing, they’re going to associate you with being shoddy and unprofessional.”

If you’re thinking of selling your home, here are a few of things to keep in mind when it comes to photography:

- Ask prospective agents to show you samples of their photographic work or that of their professional photographer
- Request to review the photos before they are posted to the MLS, the Internet, etc.
- And, insist on the maximum number of photos or at least the maximum number of photos to properly represent your home

What does all this mean? The Internet is the most powerful tool you can use when buying and/or selling your home. According to results, photography does sell real estate. And when you choose to have high quality professional images for your marketing tools, you stand to gain by:

- Generating more interest
- Attracting more viewers/leads
- Entertaining higher offers/selling price
- Enjoying a faster sale of your home

This all translates into less stress and a smoother transition to your new home.

Your home is one of your largest and most important investments. You hire a professional real estate agent to sell your home. Are you willing to let the job of photographing your home to anyone other then a professional?

Gar Benedick is the principal of Studio Beach photography.

NAR may call Realogy, RE/MAX officials as witnesses in DOJ case

scorbett — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Court document reveals preliminary list of possible witnesses
By Inman News, Thursday, March 27, 2008.

The National Association of Realtors has plans to call nine witnesses to testify in court if an antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department proceeds to trial, and may call upon an additional list of 14 witnesses.

A preliminary live trial witness list, produced by the National Association of Realtors in a Feb. 14 court document, includes a list of "will call" witnesses and a separate category of "may call" witnesses.

The trial is expected to begin in June or July, NAR has reported, unless the case settles before trial. Justice Department officials have charged in the lawsuit that policies approved by the National Association of Realtors placed illegal restrictions on the dissemination and sharing of online property listings.

NAR officials have argued that its policies are not anticompetitive and that the association has withdrawn some of the policies in question.

The trade group's preliminary "will call" list of witnesses includes: Ann Bailey, co-founder of real estate consulting company Pranix; Patricia Bybee, president and CEO at Metrolist Inc., a Colorado multiple listing service; Carl DeMusz, CEO for the Northern Ohio Regional MLS; Frederick Flyer, an economics expert; and Robert "Bob" Hale, president and CEO for the Houston Association of Realtors.

Other listed "will call" witnesses include: Laurie Janik, general counsel for NAR; Mark Lesswing, NAR chief technology officer; Robert Most, vice chairman of the Metrolist MLS board of directors; and Ron Phipps, who served as chairman of NAR's President's Advisory Group for the Virtual Office Web sites work group and chairman of the NAR MLS Policies Committee.

And among the list of potential witnesses: Dave Liniger, co-founder of the RE/MAX international franchise network; Richard Smith, president and CEO for brokerage and franchise company Realogy; Alex Perriello, president and CEO for the Realogy Franchise Group; Point2's marketing director Carey Tufts; Stephen H. Murray, editor for research and publishing company REAL Trends; and Ralph Holmen, associate general counsel for the National Association of Realtors.

That list also includes Gar Anderson, NAR vice president of association executive and leadership development; and Stephen Byrd, Chris Eigel, Harold Fogel, Clifford Niersbach, Brad Tertell and John Veneris.

The Justice Department earlier disclosed some of the potential witnesses that it planned to call as trial witnesses, including: Gary Beasley, former ZipRealty president; Russell Capper, former president and CEO of eRealty; Steve Polston, CEO for Home Buyers Marketing II, and NAR's Janik.

Point2 makes Belize deal

scorbett — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:20:00 GMT

The StarPhoenix
Published: Thursday, February 28, 2008

Realtors in Belize have embraced made-in-Saskatoon technology to create and launch the South American country's online real estate listing system.

The Belize National Association of Realtors (BNAR) chose to work with Point2 Technologies Inc. to create its multiple listing service (MLS) system based on the Saskatoon company's national listing service (NLS) platform. BNAR launched its new system Tuesday.

According to the companies, the Realtors' association chose Point2 for its functionality and program technology. The features include Handshake, which allows brokers and agents to share listing data (including listings on NLS-based peer websites), and Exposure Engine, which enables users to distribute listings for free to high-traffic real estate search sites such as Google, Point2 Homes and Craigslist.

Point2's CEO Saul Klein said from a cost and ease of implementation point of view, it makes sense that BNAR went with the Saskatoon company to create the MLS system.

"With the application of Point2 NLS, not only has BNAR accomplished an important, relatively complex initiative quickly and easily, but they have also demonstrated solid understanding of the critical value that wide distribution of listings on the Internet brings to Realtors today," Klein stated.

Agents: Stop dripping and start predicting

scorbett — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:36:00 GMT

Tech innovations to jump-start real estate biz

Friday, February 08, 2008

By Bernice Ross
Inman News

Are you ready to jump-start your business? Upgrading your technology is one of the fastest ways to do it. If you need some help, here are some important innovations to consider.

1. Stop dripping and start predicting

Instead of using drip e-mail, a process in which e-mails are automatically sent to contacts or prospects on a scheduled basis, a better approach would be to use predictive marketing. In addition to syndicating listings to more than 30 different sites at no charge as well as creating a neighborhood application on Facebook, Point2NLS now offers a predictive marketing tool with its premium sites. When buyers sign up to be notified of new listings, the system monitors their browsing patterns and then places homes that fit their preference at the top of what the buyer sees. For example, if a buyer always looks at the kitchen first, the system displays the houses with the best kitchens first. This system is much more effective than drip e-mail because it automatically responds to each Web visitors' unique Web browsing patterns.

2. Immediacy

Today's buyers and sellers expect an immediate response to their Web inquiries. Rather than relying on voicemail, e-mail or autoresponders, there are several great options available to meet this need. You can hire a virtual assistant, use push-to-talk technology (RealPing.com), or install your own instant messaging system on your Web site with plugoo.com or meebo.com.

Another alternative is to create you own live call center using a company such as LeadQual or LivePerson. LeadQual charges on a per-lead basis. When a Web visitor fills out a form asking for more information, the LeadQual fast-response team calls the person and determines whether the lead should be passed on to an agent. If so, the system automatically connects the agent into a conference call with the lead. This entire process takes only a few minutes. The lead receives instantaneous service, and the agent doesn't waste time with unqualified Web leads.

3. Tracking

One of the biggest mistakes that both agents and companies make is failing to trace their Web statistics. Where do leads originate? Which sites generate the most traffic for your listings? What pages on your site cause your visitors to go elsewhere? You can't answer these questions unless you are using tracking. Point2 provides an analysis tool at no charge as part of its Web site package. For your other Web sites, you can track analytics using Google Analytics, Clicky, CrazyEgg, clickdensity or VisiStat. A number of Web reviews recommended Clicky as the preferred resource for this. What's especially interesting about the Clicky application is that you can actually monitor the live activity on your site.

4. Upgrade from brochure marketing to video marketing

Market your fliers on your Web site, your blog, in print, and on cell phones with vFlyer. Better yet, if a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a video is worth 10,000. While it may not be practical financially to shoot a video for every listing, it's an important option on more expensive listings.

An excellent way to use video is to shoot a tour of your local community. Rather than promoting yourself, give a guided tour of your market area that demonstrates what makes your area unique. Use the video to introduce future residents to unusual things to do or the best-kept secrets that even locals may not know. To be really innovative, shoot the video in HD, or high definition. You can post it on your Web site or blog, and copy it to an inexpensive portable drive to give to clients who visit your open houses or who are relocating into the area.

5. Video syndication

While putting a video tour of your listings on YouTube is a great idea, an even better idea is to place them on TubeMogul, which syndicates (sends) your video to six different video sites including YouTube, Google Video and Yahoo Video. Best of all, there's no charge.

6. Cool cell-phone tips

A study from the U.K. recently found that computer use was falling among teens and young adults. On the other hand, cell-phone use was skyrocketing. Instead of using a video camera, you can now track what your friends and others are doing on Twitter. You can also use Twitter to notify your friends and clients about hot new listings, a great sale at a local store, or anything else your clients may find of value. To improve communication, upgrade your headset to a Bluetooth-enabled Jawbone that blocks all background noise. You can also join Jaxtr, a site that allows you to call anywhere for your normal cell-phone rates.

When it comes to making changes in your business, please remember that small steps taken consistently over time produce sustainable change. Trying to add too much too quickly can undermine your success.

(Special thanks to Brian Boero of 1000Watt Consulting for compiling many of the items in today's column).

How to tell if a listing is overpriced

scorbett — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:00:00 GMT

New technology creates data that are tough to refute

Friday, February 01, 2008

By Bernice Ross
Inman News

Persuading sellers to be realistic is a consistent challenge for any real estate agent, especially in a slowing or a declining market. Recent technological innovations make this much easier than ever before.

In previous columns, I have discussed how to use rate-of-absorption numbers to help sellers be more realistic about the probability of selling their home. For example, if there are eight months of inventory on the market, the probability that a seller will sell in any given month is 12.5 percent. The probability that the seller will not sell is 87.5 percent. Consequently, sellers who want to place their properties under contract must position their property in the marketplace where they will be in the best 12.5 percent in terms of value, which is a combination of condition and price. If not, their listing will sit on the market until it expires or until they lower their price sufficiently to motivate a buyer to purchase it.

One of the tried and true strategies from the past was created by the late Lee Coats who wrote much of the training for Coldwell Banker. Lee invented the "pricing line." If you haven't worked with this approach, it's extremely effective. The system is fairly simple. Imagine a page with three different charts that resemble rulers marked in 1/4-inch segments. The top chart has the "recently sold" properties. Record each property that has sold on this pricing line. On the second chart, record the properties that are currently for sale. Finally, on the third chart you record the properties that did not sell. The sellers can quickly see the range of the most recent sales, what the current competition is, as well as how much higher priced the expired listings were as compared to those listings that sold. When you show the seller the listings that are currently available, the closing question is, "Where do you want to be in line?" When properties have comparable amenities, it's easy to demonstrate that the lower-priced listings usually sell more quickly.

A company called ScatterGramPricing.com has now automated the pricing-line process. Agents simply enter the sales data and the computer generates the charts. The company also offers a true scattergram (a graph that allows you to plot the relationship between two different variables as a straight line.) While there are a number of statistical programs that do this, this particular program is designed specifically for the real estate industry. Agents enter the data and the computer does the rest. The most relevant chart to plot is the relationship between square footage and price. This is another way to help sellers be more realistic about pricing because you can visually demonstrate where their property falls as compared to the competition. Typically, the lower the price per square foot that a property is, the more quickly it will sell.

A third approach in helping sellers to be more realistic works best after you have taken the listing. This approach involves tracking how many visitors or hits that you are receiving from various Web sites where your listing appears. Until recently these data were expensive and hard to obtain. Now Point2Agent provides this as part of its suite of Web site products at no charge. Agents fill out a brief form and the Point2 software generates a template Web site. Once agents create the site, they can upload their listings. From there, they have the option of syndicating their listings to more than 30 different sites, including GoogleBase, Yahoo Classifieds, Trulia, craigslist and a host of others. The great news is that this system then tracks the number of visitors that each listing receives from each of the sites where the listing is syndicated.

When sellers are being unrealistic about their price, it's extremely powerful to print out the charts that show exactly how much traffic has come from each site. It's common for a listing to be viewed hundreds if not thousands of times from exposure on so many sites.

Whether or not you elect to use Point2, placing your listing on craigslist.com may be the most important marketing step that you can take to reach today's Web consumer. Anecdotal reports from numerous blogs indicate that consumers are finding and purchasing homes that are posted on craigslist. The traffic reports from Point2 (their tool tracks how many hits their Web sites receive from craigslist.com) and from RealEstateShows.com confirm these anecdotal reports. The traffic from craigslist dwarfs the amount of traffic coming from other sites.

If you want to realistically price your listings, the rate of absorption, pricing line and scattergrams are excellent visual aids. If you're are in need of a price reduction, posting your listing on Point2 and then monitoring the traffic provides you with a strong piece of data that the seller will have a hard time refuting. When a listing has been viewed more than 1,000 times on the Web and there have been no offers, it's a pretty safe bet that the price needs to be reduced.

Bernice Ross, national speaker and CEO of Realestatecoach.com, is the author of "Waging War on Real Estate's Discounters" and "Who's the Best Person to Sell My House?" Both are available online. She can be reached at bernice@realestatecoach.com or visit her blog at www.LuxuryClues.com.

Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo! pioneer listings data standard

scorbett — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Brokers can send same feed to many Web sites

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Inman News

Nearly a dozen Web sites that aggregate for-sale real estate listings -- including Trulia, Zillow and Yahoo! Real Estate -- have agreed to adopt common data standards that will make it possible for brokers to send a single listings feed to multiple Web sites.

The companies partnering to develop the new data standard, which will be based on the XML format and launched later this year, are working with the Real Estate Standards Organization to make sure it is compatible with the existing Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS). The standardized data format will include price, square feet, bedrooms, bathrooms and additional descriptions of each listing.

Homes.com, Homescape, Oodle, Point2 Technologies, Realestate.com, Vast.com and vFlyer are also adopting the standardized feed format, which is open to "anybody else who wants to join us," Zillow spokeswoman Amanda Hoffman said. "It's a statement to the community -- we want to make it easier for you to get your listings in front of as many people as possible."

A spokesman for Realogy Franchise Group said its Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby's International Realty brands plan to adopt the new standardized format.

"The opportunity for such wide distribution of our listings is an important facet of our marketing strategy," said Realogy spokesman Craig Cuyar in a press release. "It's clear these partners are attentive to the needs of our industry."

Zillow -- once known primarily for its "Zestimate" home valuations, had nearly 400,000 for-sale listings on the site Wednesday, and more than 100,000 potential sellers seeking "make me move" offers from buyers.

In a separate announcement, Zillow said it had revamped its Zestimate algorithm and expanded its database, giving it the capability to provide valuation estimates for 67 million homes -- about three out of four U.S. homes -- up 68 percent from the site's 2006 launch.

The new Zestimate algorithm uses 20 times as many statistical models to take into account variables specific to local markets and individual homes, and integrates facts entered by homeowners, such as the number of bedrooms or square footage.

Zillow claims the new algorithm has improved the accuracy of its estimates by 12 percent nationwide, with even greater improvements in local markets like San Francisco (18 percent), Miami (21 percent), Los Angeles (22 percent), and Atlanta (28 percent).

In other news, Trulia said it has launched a publisher platform that allows Web sites to integrate the company's search function and online tools like heat maps into their own sites, free of charge.

Signing onto the co-branding campaign were Kiplinger.com, Village Voice Media and AmericanTowns, with Trulia expecting more online newspapers, national media Web sites, blogs and search engines to launch in the near future.

NAR: Settlement talks likely to continue in DOJ antitrust case

scorbett — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:46:00 GMT

Realtor group says both sides are open to discussion

Thursday, January 03, 2008

By Glenn Roberts Jr.
Inman News

Representatives for the National Association of Realtors have engaged in talks with U.S. Justice Department officials in an effort to resolve a 2-year-old antitrust lawsuit, and both parties are open to continuing the dialogue, according to a spokesman for the Realtor trade group.

"There have been negotiations up to this point," said Lucien Salvant, a NAR spokesman, in late December. He said that "talks will continue," as both parties are open to the discussions. DOJ officials offered no comment about the talks.

Laurie Janik, general counsel for the Realtor group, announced during the group's annual conference in Las Vegas in November that the group would consider settlement talks with the federal agency, which filed a lawsuit in September 2005 charging that the Realtor group approved illegally restrictive policies related to the online sharing and display of property information.

"If we're unsuccessful in reaching any type of a satisfactory resolution, the case looks like it will go to trial in about June or July of next year," Janik told an audience of multiple listing service officials at that meeting.

Also in November, a new judge was appointed to preside over the lawsuit brought against the Realtor group, as U.S. District Court Judge Mark R. Filip of Chicago is a nominee for the Justice Department's number two post of deputy attorney general.

The new judge for the antitrust case is U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly. U.S. Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow is also handling aspects of the case. A status hearing before Kennelly is scheduled for Jan. 16, and a hearing with the magistrate judge has been set for Feb. 12.

According to a court document filed last month by the Realtor group, the Justice Department has identified 36 geographic market areas from which it intends to draw evidence to demonstrate the alleged anticompetitive effects of NAR-approved policies.

The Realtor group sought through a subpoena to obtain local market information from data provider comScore Inc. relevant to the lawsuit, though the group's motion to compel compliance with this subpoena has been withdrawn, according to a Dec. 20 court filing.

"In this lawsuit, the Department of Justice challenges certain policies adopted by NAR that regulate the display of residential real estate listing information by brokers on certain types of Web sites known as 'virtual office Web sites' or VOWs," according to a Dec. 14 court filing on behalf of NAR.

"Because there are numerous kinds of Web sites other than VOWs that display residential real estate listings, one of the important issues in analyzing the competitive consequences of the challenged NAR policies is the extent to which consumers searching for information about homes for sale perceive VOWs to offer features and benefits that are not provided by other types of Web sites showing real estate listing information." ComScore offers statistical reports that detail the popularity of Web sites.

In another court document, filed Dec. 13, lawyers for the Justice Department noted that Home Services Inc. turned over a large number of documents to the government in response to a Jan. 12, 2007, subpoena, and "it is possible that a deposition will be required after the documents are reviewed."

The document also noted that Brendan King, a real estate technologist who resigned from the Canadian tech company Point2 in December along with a group of other company officials, may agree to appear as a witness for the Realtor group if the case goes to trial. If King will appear in court, the Justice Department noted in the filing that it planned to seek a deposition from King and may also request documents prior to the deposition.

"Because Mr. King recently announced his resignation, his employer told the parties today that it is unsure whether it will provide a witness and that it will revisit the issue in January," the court document states.

King told Inman News on Wednesday that NAR attorneys have been in touch with him personally, and both sides have indicated that they want his deposition as a subject matter expert.

And Roger Noujeim, a spokesman for Point2, said Wednesday that the company plans to appoint someone to serve as a witness in the lawsuit within the next day or two.

The court document also referred to a survey prepared for NAR by Aon Consulting that the Justice Department stated "may be relevant to the litigation," though it does not name the survey. Last year, the Realtor group and Aon Consulting produced a profile of state Realtor associations and a separate profile of local Realtor associations based on survey results that included information about compensation and benefits.

What's hot in real estate technology?

scorbett — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:45:00 GMT

Video, lead systems and radio commercial services stand out

Friday, December 28, 2007

By Bernice Ross
Inman News

The biggest surprise at the National Association of Realtors' tradeshow this year was the lack of new technology. Nevertheless, there were a number of new products that could help you build your business in 2008.

If you've been feeling overwhelmed by the steady onslaught of new technology, it appears that current innovations are more about refining existing applications rather than the invention of entirely new technologies. The NAR tradeshow was packed with vendors, but there was little new in the technology field. What appears to be happening is the consolidation of services among vendors. For example, Point2Agent.com announced that their syndication service now covers 30 different Web sites including Zillow and CyberHomes (which is the feed for AOL.com).

Here's a look at some of what's new for 2008.

1. Stazzle: The most interesting new technology comes from a company called Stazzle. The company's system allows agents to generate "hundreds of leads" from just a few referrals, according to its Web site. The system looks like a genealogy tree that traces where each of your referrals originates. Stazzle allows you to track birthdays, anniversaries, favorite ball teams, and favorite restaurants. More importantly, it allows you to track who referred clients to you and then allows you to mail or deliver your choice of cards, flowers, chocolates, gift baskets, etc for every holiday. The simple layout of Stazzle makes it easy to see who is sending you referrals while simultaneously giving you a strategy for tracking and generating new referrals.

2. New mashup from RealBird: RealBird has a solution for one of the challenges faced by single-property Web sites (i.e., www.333ElmStreet.com). Normally, if the listing has sold, Web visitors surf to another site. The RealBird offering allows your Web site visitor to view other current MLS listings on a map, provided you have an IDX link on your site. According to CEO Gabe Gross, this new tool allows the user to share not only the single-property Web site, but the related search of other listings as well. Gross encourages agents to keep these Web sites active, even after the property has sold.

Single-property Web sites can be "emailed to friends, shared via social book-marking, or posted on Facebook," he said. More importantly, the links created through use of this strategy increase the agent's standing on Google. "Over time, as more and more properties are sold and kept, there will be a significant cumulative effect on the agent's search engine standings deriving from the presence of all these Web sites."

3. One-stop shopping for television, radio and messages on hold: For agents who would like to add television, Internet radio, or XM radio to their services in 2008, Rainmakers International offers a number of packages by which you can produce your commercial and distribute it using their media-buying packages. The fee for a typical radio commercial runs in the neighborhood of $400. They will also assist you with the placement as well. This company also provides a number of options for people who would like to have an advertising message on hold rather than music on hold.

4. Video and bandwidth: One of the challenges with using video e-mail or posting a number of video virtual tours to your Web site is bandwidth (i.e., storage and how quickly you can access the video.) A company called CoVideo Systems charges $95 per month to host your videos on its site. Your site can crash under insufficient bandwidth when you use video extensively and have high traffic. The CoVideo system aims to help avoid that disaster. They also notify you when your videos have been viewed, and provide tools for tracking visitors.

5. New low-tech products: In terms of low-tech ideas, the KWNashgroup.com will lease or sell you a moving truck with backlit sides. This really stands out from conventional vehicles that rely on a painted message or decal to advertise your business. The backlighting on the ad makes the truck look as if it has a television screen on its side. It's definitely eye-catching.

Two other fun products are designed to minimize the dirt buyers may bring into your listings. One product was a door mat that had a picture of the property and/or the agent. No matter who walked into the property, it was clear which agent had the listing. My personal favorite from the conference, however, was from the Bootie Butler. For less than $100, you can avoid having visitors track up those new hardwood floors or those recently cleaned carpets. All they have to do is to put their foot into the Bootie Butler, and it automatically wraps their foot in a protective covering. That's a lot cheaper than having the carpets cleaned a second time.

Is a National MLS the Way to Go?

scorbett — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:52:00 GMT

By Stefan Swanepoel

RISMEDIA, June 1, 2007-Many think that the notion of a national MLS is a good one. According to Jim Sherry, technically there is no reason a national MLS would not work. He says it's more about getting the egos out of the way first.

The consolidation of MLSs into super-regional ones or even one national MLS has already taken its first steps with the consolidation of MLS service providers over the past six years. Today three major players, MarketLinx, a division of First American, Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions and Rapattoni Corporation collectively manage 1,200,000 MLS desktops; approximately 90% of the market. So that is the quickest and easiest way to go, right?

Many say probably not.

Some think the solution will come from one of the industry's aggregators. The logical player is of course Realtor.com, but media favorite Zillow is often mentioned. Point2 says they already are one. Others such as Oodle, Edgeio, Propsmart, BackPage or Live Deal say they could easily be one.

Many say probably not.

Some think one should go directly to the brokers instead, like vertical search engine Trulia. Having already signed contracts with powerhouses Realogy, RE/MAX, HomeServices and numerous other large brokers they could already be well on their way.

Many say probably not.

If vertical searching is the winning strategy then no one will beat the deep base searching power of Google. Who could beat the powerful Google search ability to sort through millions of listings and find the right answer in a split second? Walt Baczkowski, MCAR CEO, says Google may very well replace the MLS as we now know it today.

Many say probably not.

Google is an online marketing avenue, it's not an MLS. There is a huge difference between a search engine, a consumer site and a broker MLS. Realtors don't understand the value of the MLS says Mike Long, CEO of Move.com, the managers of Realtor.com. Giving the listing information away to others will result in a de facto MLS … with no MLS rules.

Many say probably not.

Some like Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin feel that MLS rules are like a thousand tiny shackles on Internet business, which limit the free flow of information to the consumer.

And so the debate continues. It is not clear exactly where we are heading. What does appear certain at this stage is that that consolidation into larger MLSs is inevitable. As a matter of fact it is already happening on a regular basis. Larger MLSs will inevitably lead to increased standardization, which in turn will fuel further consolidation and open the door for the creation of one national MLS.

The drive toward one national MLS seems to be born out of frustration by regional brokers but it is being fueled by consumer demand for more real estate information with listing data. MRIS CEO, David Charron says a national MLS is a great idea, but the creation thereof is complex as it will have to take into consideration local licensing laws, nomenclature, customs, governance and compliance management. Whoever decides to carry the torch will quickly discover that this is by no means an easy or straightforward initiative. There are also many other sticky issues that will need to be addressed before a national, quasi-public utility becomes a reality - items such as data ownership, data security, data standardization, data integration, third party participation, and so on.

So while the industry grapples with its parochial issues - both practical and legal - existing MLS systems will have to re-engineer themselves into standardized mega regional systems or a national system. Whichever direction is taken they will have to be relevant and meaningful for brokers, agents and consumers alike, or face the consequences of competition and possible obsolescence.

MLS, Web 2.0 and new business models are discussed in detail by Stefan Swanepoel in his new 159-page 2007 Swanepoel Trends Report.

Critics Take On "60 Minutes" – With The Help Of YouTube

scorbett — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:53:00 GMT

Posted by Brian Montopoli

Earlier this month, "60 Minutes" aired a mostly flattering piece on Redfin, an online real estate company that charges sellers a flat fee of $3,000 instead of a percentage-based commission. You can watch it by clicking on the video box.

The segment, headlined "Chipping Away At Realtors' Six Percent," infuriated many realtors. The National Association of Realtors posted a letter alleging that "60 Minutes" "made several important errors of fact" and complaining that the segment neglected to include NAR voices. "60 Minutes" then posted an Editor's Note in response to the letter, which now appears at the top of the Web version of the story. (Things get a lot more complicated from there; for more check out NAR's links to the back-and-forth between their representatives and "60 Minutes" producer Richard Bonin.)

And that, ladies and gentleman, is just for starters. As John Cook noted, NAR President Pat Combs called the segment "a shoddy news report" – and then really took the gloves off:

"Believe it or not there is still a Flat Earth Society whose members still argue that the Earth is not round. And there are those who will believe what they saw on '60 Minutes.' That is the bad news. The good news is that expectations based on false information eventually unravel, especially in a world where you can access information so easily."

That's not even the most notable response to the piece, however. That distinction belongs to Point2 Technologies, which Cook notes is "a Saskatoon, Canada company that sells online sales and marketing tools to real estate agents." The company produced a parody of the "60 Minutes" piece called "16 Minutes," and then, naturally, posted it on YouTube.

Featuring "Lesley Stool" in the form of a man in a blond wig, it presents Redfin customers as moronic and suggests that "60 Minutes" portrayed the company in a positive light despite facts suggesting otherwise. You can click on over to YouTube to watch Point2's effort. It's amateurish, unfunny, and not particularly convincing, but, if only as an example of our brave new world of media criticism, it's still something to see.

Real Estate website compliance, Social Capital and the Impact of RE Blogging - Final Segment of the Jeff Tomlin interview

scorbett — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:55:00 GMT

In this final segment, the third of three, Jeff Tomlin, Manager of Channel Relations for Point2 and I talk about how the Point2 solution aids in compliance and quality control for a broker. Jeff goes into how the Point2 Handshake helps build social capital both inside the profession and to the consumer. At the end of the segment Jeff suggests how the use of a blog can dramatically impact the visibility of a real estate professionals website and how you can add one to your Point2 site.

It has been a real treat interviewing Jeff Tomlin and producing these segments for you, let me know your thoughts if you enjoyed this series and share your feedback. Let's see who else we might get on the program.

Play the recording now using the player control below or download Segment 3 here (click on the link) for your MP3 player. It's about 7:20 minutes long.

Search Engines Take Center Stage at NAR Internet Marketing Summit

scorbett — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:39:00 GMT

NAR, Zillow, Trulia, Point2 NLS and Real Estate Brokers Find Common Ground

Written by: Frances Flynn Thorsen, e-PRO, SRS

May 25th, 2007 - 10:39 am

The National Assn. of REALTORS Midyear Meetings marked an historic meeting at an NAR event -- a forum that saw search engine giants, the Point2 NLS provider, and leading real estate brokers sharing the spotlight on the same platform. Zillow, Trulia, Point2 NLS, RealTown, and leaders from the ranks of REALTOR associations and brokers met and discussed shared vision and goals.

The “Business Technology & Information Systems Forum: Appreciate Your Assets” dispelled long-held myths and beliefs about consumer web platforms usurping the role of the real estate professional in the real estate transaction. There was unanimous accord among the group that Internet marketing platforms offer REALTORS opportunities to leverage their listing assets in a variety of paid and no-cost venues that direct consumer traffic back to the agents’ own web sites for follow-up and lead management.

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(The panel is shown left to right: Saul Klein, CEO of Real Estate Electronic Publishing Co., home of RealTown; Mark Lesswing, senior vice president of NAR; Bob Hale, CEO, Houston Assn. of REALTORS; Sami Inkinen, founder and COO, Trulia, Inc.; Tony Floyd, Senior Vice president, Prudential Georgia Realty; Michael Koval, chief technology officer, Long and Foster Real Estate; Brendan King, COO, Point2 Agent; and Jeff Somers, director of partner relations, Zillow)

The real estate industry is at a crossroads of communication between consumer-centric web platforms and real estate professionals. There is a retinue of naysayers who are preaching a tired gospel of fire and brimstone with dire warnings that Web 2.0 community building platforms are designed to put REALTORS out of business. Panelists at the NAR meeting offered a more educated view of the Web media arena and set aside misguided fears with a focus on increased marketing and advertising opportunities for real estate professionals.

Execs at Zillow, Trulia, and Point2 NLS all affirmed REALTOR-friendly business models without an eye to competition in the real estate sales arena.

“Trulia is a media company,” said Sami Inkinen, Trulia founder. “We do not compete with real estate professionals for a slice of the commission. We compete with Zillow and Google and other web sites for advertising dollars.”

Trulia is one of the fastest growing real estate media companies on the Internet, with more than one million unique visitors each month. The site features broker-loaded listings and community building tools for user interaction.

Inkinen says that Trulia offers REALTORS a “safe environment” to promote their listings and that all leads are delivered to the listing agent for follow-up. The company follows an advertising based business model that does not rely on lead generation fees.

Inkinen drives home the point that Trulia is a marketing venue for real estate with a business model that is driven by advertising, not lead generation. All prospects are driven back to listing agents’ web sites without referral or lead generation fees.

Jeff Somers of Zillow agreed with Inkinen. Zillow has come under fire in some quarters of the real estate industry for developing an online valuation tool, the Zestimate, that is far from accurate in many market areas. Zillow execs’ previous foray into Internet marketing at Expedia revolutionized the travel industry with a Web-based buying platform that enables consumers to make travel arrangements independent of travel agents. Many real estate professionals are wary of similar disintermediation in the real estate industry and leading REALTOR advocates have publicly voiced concerns that Zillow and its counterparts are engaged in a conspiracy to put REALTORS out of business.

Nothing could be further from the truth, according to Somers.””Buying a home is not like buying an airline ticket,” he said. “REALTORS will always have an important role in the real estate transaction. “We have adopted an advertising business model, not a lead generation model. We are not dipping into the commission side of the transaction.

Zillow sees about four million customers each month, with web pages built for about 50 million properties in the United States and a target of 70 million pages, according to Somers.

The Zillow exec echoed Inkinen’s description of the firm as a media company, and said that its competition is other media companies. He told REALTORS, “Your competition is other REALTORS, not us.”

Point2 NLS Offers Web Solutions, REALTOR Advertising

The Point2 NLS offers REALTORS web solutions and a comprehensive suite of real estate advertising options, including 22 syndication options at real estate search engines and online newspapers and magazines.

The Point2 NLS system is available to licensed real estate brokers and agents only, said Brendan King, P2A COO. “Point2 Agent is a software development company and a marketing company. It is not a multiple listing service. It is a means for real estate professionals to market their listing assets and offers a wide range of choices in that regard.”

The Point2 NLS system is built with an impressive array of predictive marketing software functions that track a web visitor’s browsing habits and respond to their needs based upon the types of properties searched, the characteristics of the neighborhoods, etc. King says that these tools are the newest wave of technological tools that help REALTORS meet consumer needs.

Bob Hale of the Houston Association of REALTORS led the first major multiple listing service foray into Googlebase last year. Hale dismissed fears about disintermediation years ago. His instincts have paid off in Houston with the most highly trafficked local REALTOR web site in the country, delivering more than half a million leads to its agents last year.

“The user is the content and the medium is the message” – Marshall Mcluhan

Mark Lesswing, NAR’s tech chief, shared his vision of a drastically changing Internet. He said that NAR is sharing computer research to develop predictive marketing functionality throughout the industry. Lesswing made four observations:

1. It is more than bombardment of information and data.

2. The Web has gestures.

3. Gestures can signal intent.

4. Intent can be cultivated.

He urged REALTORS, “Expand your mind.” He shared his secret about innovation: “Don’t look for ‘additive technology.’ Instead, look for ‘disruptive technology.’ Find new applications for technology and implement them. “

Real estate tech panel: Consumers want 'cool stuff'

scorbett — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:13:00 GMT

NAR technologist describes mouse-motion research

Monday, May 21, 2007

By Glenn Roberts Jr.
Inman News

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Houston Association of Realtors plays an active role in marketing members' property listings. The association sends property information from its multiple listing service into an association-operated public Web site that also features a home-valuation tool and agent profiles.

The association aggressively advertises the search site on billboards, though it took more than property listings and advertising to build a strong online presence, explained Bob Hale, president and CEO for the Realtor association.

"You've got to give the consumer lots of cool stuff or they're not going to come back," said Hale, who was a panelist in a Realtor technology presentation Thursday at the National Association of Realtors' annual legislative meetings in the nation's capital.

The panel, titled, "Appreciate Your Assets," also featured representatives for real estate marketing sites Zillow.com, Trulia.com and Point2NLS.com, real estate brokerage companies Long & Foster and Prudential Preferred Georgia, and NAR's chief technology officer.

"Everyone in this room is trying to do the same thing. (We) are trying to get the eyeballs of the consumer who is looking for real estate," said Hale.

Most MLSs in the country do not have a public property-search Web site, and some MLSs that maintain listings search sites do not actively promote them. There is a big myth, said Hale, that these MLS-operated sites steal viewers from broker and agent Web sites, he said, though the Houston association's site has sent millions of visitors to members' Web sites.

But the reality is that many consumers seeking real estate information are visiting Web sites that are not operated by brokerage companies or agents, he said, regardless off whether the MLS maintains a property-search site.

An analysis of Internet user statistics tracked by comScore, a Web metrics company, found that most of the online audience for Chicago real estate information uses sites like Realtor.com, Yahoo Real Estate, HomeGain and Zillow, as an example, Hale said. The Chicago market lacks a public MLS search site.

Meanwhile, the Houston Association of Realtors captures about 38 percent of the online real estate audience for searches related to Houston real estate.

Mark Lesswing, chief technology officer and a senior vice president for the National Association of Realtors, said real estate professionals should "look for disruptive technologies" to boost business and draw a bigger online audience. He said that "additive" technologies, which simply use an existing technology with perhaps a slight enhancement, may not be the answer.

"Don't let other people dictate the playing field for you," he said.

Lesswing described a promising new online marketing technology that could be applied to real estate Web sites. The technology tracks the mouse motions -- including screen cursor location and pauses -- to provide insights into consumers' behavior at a particular Web site, even if they never click on their mouse.

Such technology could be useful in customizing site design and content to cater to users' search preferences, Lesswing said.

Consumers and especially younger consumers are increasingly tech-savvy, and real estate professionals must constantly train and evolve to keep up.

"We still have a massive training gap between the agents and the consumers," he said, and adapting to the rapid technological changes is vital, or else "this gap will continue to grow and grow."

Agents' use of new technologies, he said, could help stave off the much-talked-about "disintermediation" of real estate agents.

Because of the rapid pace of innovation, "Realtors who really endorse technology will become exponentially more productive and successful than those who don't," said Sami Inkinen, co-founder of Trulia, a real estate search site.

Inkinen, Zillow's Jeff Somers and Point2's Brendan King sought to cast away misunderstandings about what their business models are and are not -- they all said that they are working with agents and brokers to provide a marketing venue that will help them to advertise their properties and generate leads.

Tony Floyd, senior vice president for Prudential Georgia Realty, said, "I don't view Internet marketing companies as competition, I view them as enablers. Some are better, some are worse than others," he said.

Point2 NLS, 1 Touch Publishing and Pricing- Segment 2 of the Jeff Tomlin interview

scorbett — Mon, 21 May 2007 14:50:00 GMT

Point2 gives away their websites, publishes syndication data to over 23 consumer real estate sites and offer a 1 touch publishing solution. Jeff Tomlin, Manager of Channel Relations (and an avid blogger at Real Estate Alchemy) tells us more about how they do in this second segment of the interview.

It also allow some to step up the production values of the podcast as I use audio more in the site. I've added an intro piece and a closing piece, called 'bookends' in the recorded audio world.

Play the recording now using the player control below or download it here (click on the link) for your MP3 player. It's about 7:15 minutes long.

Cyberhomes, Zillow seek for-sale data from brokers

scorbett — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:13:00 GMT

Fidelity announces agreement with Keller Williams

Friday, May 18, 2007

By Glenn Roberts Jr.
Inman News

Cyberhomes.com, an automated home-valuation site operated by Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, is now open to for-sale property listings information, Fidelity officials announced Thursday.

The field of property-search Web sites has grown rapidly in the past few years, with newcomer sites such as Cyberhomes,Google Base, HomePages.com, Point2NLS.com, PropertyShark.com, Propsmart.com, Trulia.com and Zillow, posting for-sale property information. Many of the sites allow companies to advertise listings at no cost.

Cyberhomes is following in the path of Zillow.com, a similar valuation site that began accepting for-sale property listings information supplied by agents, homeowners and other users in December.

Also on Thursday, Zillow's Jeff Somers announced at a Realtor conference in Washington, D.C., that Zillow is "moving forward with discussions about accepting broker feeds" of for-sale property information at the site, though he did not name any companies or disclose whether there are any formal agreements.

According to a Thursday count at Zillow's Web site, that site has about 123,300 for-sale property listings, and an additional 46,100 properties at the site carry a "Make Me Move" price set by owners. Value estimates, dubbed "Zestimates," are available for about 70 million properties.

Cyberhomes will post information for properties listed for sale by Keller Williams Realty's affiliated agents, according to the Fidelity announcement, and Fidelity officials said the company has other deals with brokers that will bring about 500,000 searchable property listings to the site.

Also, Fidelity officials are pursuing data-sharing agreements with MLSs. The site's valuations are based on a database of about 100 million property records.

Keller Williams, among the largest real estate franchise companies, has about 600 affiliated offices and 74,000 real estate agents in North America. David Therrien, chief technology officer for Keller Williams Realty Inc., said in a statement, "We believe that our associates should control how and where their listing data appears online, and directly receive the resulting leads and, with Cyberhomes, they'll be able to do just that. It's a win-win for everyone."

Fidelity will keep property listings content fresh at the Cyberhomes site by updating brokers' data directly from MLSs, said Marty Frame, senior vice president and chief information office for Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, a division of Fidelity National Financial Inc.

The effort will not be a massive undertaking because Fidelity already manages millions of property listings data for the real estate industry, he said. Fidelity is not currently seeking for-sale data-sharing agreements with individual agents for the Cyberhomes site.

In addition to past sales and for-sale home information, Cyberhomes also offers "heat maps" that allow consumers to visualize data on a map that is color-coded for home values, changes in value and property density at the neighborhood level. Zillow, Trulia and PropertyShark are among the other real estate sites that offer a variety of heat maps.

Frame said a not-yet-released tool that is in the works will Cyberhomes users to get a copy of property documents for their own homes online, and that will hopefully drive more traffic to the site.

While Fidelity hadn't initially planned to seek agreements with MLSs to post property information at the Cyberhomes site, Frame said, "We're having more interest at that level than we thought." But Fidelity has not announced any formal agreements with MLSs.

Point2 NLS Expands Real Estate Listing Syndication Network

scorbett — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:24:00 GMT

RISMEDIA, May 17, 2007-Point2 Technologies Inc. has announced that it has expanded its Point2 NLS listing syndication network, adding 10 new consumer-facing advertising destinations for members' listings.

The most recent sites to start drawing live Point2 NLS listing data feeds include HotPads.com, Vast.com and CityCribs.com. Newcomers also include Propbot.com, House.com, VideoHomes.com and TheHousingPages.com. In early March, Point2 also added simplified, quick manual ad posting support for Craigslist, Backpage.com and eBay to accelerate the task of advertising listings on the high traffic sites.

The new additions increase the size of the Point2 NLS syndication partner network to a total of 22 destinations and increase listing exposure on third-party sites by nearly 300%.

"Point2's listing syndication network and strategy have brought massive online exposure to our members. Adding more high-traffic destinations takes that advantage to a completely new dimension, especially considering that the benefits can be drawn without much effort or any financial investment on the side of the listing agent or broker," said Brendan King, Chief Operating Officer, Point2 Technologies Inc.

Listing syndication from a Point2 NLS account is free and at the complete control and discretion of the broker and his or her agents. All leads generated are directed back to the listing agent's built-in Point2 NLS lead management system, with no intermediaries.

"While syndicating listings to popular real estate search sites is highly effective, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of combining it with an automated agent-to-agent Web site syndication plan," added King. "Incremental exposure generated by Point2 NLS members who use the Point2 peer-to-peer syndication technology, Agent HandshakeTM, confirms that results can increase exponentially when a complete syndication strategy is applied."

After entering once into the Point2 NLS online marketing and lead management platform, listing data can be re-used and re-purposed for key marketing tasks including automatic syndication to Point2 NLS peer Web sites or to any other Web site, irrespective of the site vendor or host. According to the company, users can also launch a Point2 Web site and Point2 Blog, automatically populated with their listing data, and can syndicate listings to any or all of Point2's third-party consumer search sites, with just a few clicks. Listing information updates on syndicate sites is also automated, saving the agent, the brokerage and administration staff significant time and effort.

A built-in advanced lead routing, lead management and incubation system can also be activated in conjunction with any of the above features or as a standalone function, to help optimize conversion and productivity.

While a live feed from Point2 automates the syndication process to all integrated feed partner sites in the network, premium syndication ad placement is also offered for the New York Times site, NYTimes.com and for Point2Homes.com. An interface that automates Google Adword campaign bookings provides users with another important time to market and productivity advantage.

In addition to the ten new sites announced, the Point2 NLS syndication and advertising network includes Google Base, Yahoo! Classifieds, NYTimes.com, Point2 Homes, Trulia, Oodle, PropSmart, Edgeio, RealEstateAdvisor.com, US Condo Exchange, LiveDeal.com and LiveDeal.ca.

Membership in Point2 NLS is exclusive to licensed real estate professionals. According to Point2, the platform combines the critical, advanced technology tools real estate professionals require today to effectively market, manage and sell real estate listings, in a single, easy-to-use package.

Point2 expands real estate listings syndication

scorbett — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:23:00 GMT

Brokers can choose 10 more Web sites to market listings

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Inman News

As more consumers go online for real estate information, brokers are being offered an array of choices by which to market their listings to a wider audience.

Some companies, including Point2 Technologies, are trying to simplify a complicated process of syndicating listings to a variety of different sites by offering a one-stop service for syndication to multiple sites.

Point2 Technologies today announced it has expanded its listings syndication network, adding 10 new advertising destinations for its members' listings. The company now offers a total of 22 sites for listings syndication.

The most recently added sites include HotPads.com, Vast.com and CityCribs.com, Propbot.com, House.com, VideoHomes.com and TheHousingPages.com. In early March, Point2 added manual ad posting support for Craigslist, Backpage.com and eBay to accelerate the task of advertising listings on those sites.

In addition to the 10 new sites, the Point2 NLS syndication and advertising network includes Google Base, Yahoo! Classifieds, NYTimes.com, Point2 Homes, Trulia, Oodle, PropSmart, Edgeio, RealEstateAdvisor.com, US Condo Exchange, LiveDeal.com and LiveDeal.ca.

Point2's listing syndication is free for broker and agent members, who decide whether they want listings to show up at these sites. Point2 says the leads generated are directed back to the listing agent's lead management system.

The company also offers premium syndication ad placement for the New York Times site, NYTimes.com and for Point2Homes.com.

"Point2's listing syndication network and strategy have brought massive online exposure to our members. Adding more high-traffic destinations takes that advantage to a completely new dimension, especially considering that the benefits can be drawn without much effort or any financial investment on the side of the listing agent or broker," Brendan King, Point2's chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Point2's National Listing Service, or NLS, has about 127,000 users, according to the company, which also offers real estate marketing and software technology to industry professionals.

A 'Great Conspiracy' or a Demand for More Visible Value

scorbett — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:04:00 GMT

By Mike Parker

RISMEDIA, March 22, 2007-In a dynamic and stimulating presentation given at the Association Executives Institute Conference February 19 in San Diego, Blanche Evans, editor of Realty Times, woke up many in the audience with her call to action. Evans presentation, titled: "The Conspiracy to Put You Out of Business and How You Can Help Your Agents & Brokers Win The Commission Game" pointed out the daunting list of challenges facing NAR and the real estate business.

Evans also successfully communicated her view that the real estate business is in the throes of change, and she presented her action plan for the industry. She also pointed out that the public perception of real estate professionals is disheartening, and urged a proactive effort by every broker and agent to educate the public about the benefits of using a professional and tech savvy agent.

I started thinking about it all: how the Internet has been a major agent of change; how third parties perceive openings for leaner and more feature-laden competitors; how the public misperception is that all Realtors make gazillions (while being ignorant of the average Realtor income of $48,000), and how the only true reality in life is that change is constant.

The question for each of us is: Are we going to sit here and quiver in fear while change happens, or are we going to be an agent of positive change and take the best that third parties have to offer and use our superior knowledge of the business to make us stronger and more successful?

Can an online home-valuing service ever be as accurate as a local on-the-ground agent who knows the town, market and the property? No. Can an online brokerage ever replace a professional real estate agent? No. Is the growth of social networking (My Space, YouTube, Zillow, Trulia, Craig's list, Point2 NLS) a bad thing? No. Why? Because all these things present opportunities for agents and brokers who are committed to adapting. Nothing has changed at its core, only the methods of delivery of services and of managing information have changed.

No matter how good the run was, it is time to get with the 21st Century and change business models. No longer can the fees to run a huge bureaucracy simply accrue without competition; no longer can exclusionary policies be relied upon to protect our business. It's about information and in this age, anyone and everyone has it. Now it's about taking back your intellectual property: your listings, your connections, your knowledge and using it and technology to out-perform your competitors.

For a long time, any reasonably competent person could make money in real estate, and almost any one with a license could sell real estate.

Those days are over. The market is still subject to further challenges. There is about 30+% of our population for whom homeownership is becoming out of reach.

The reality is that with technology and fabulous tools that challenge how it has been done for the past 60 years, agents and brokers are now better equipped and qualified to profit and prosper. Some business models and conventions are going to need to change. But they will change and those who change with them will still be on top regardless of how the business model changes.

"Some people skate to where the puck is. I skate to where the puck will be", Wayne Gretzky famously said. Learn from the past but focus on how to win the future.

Mike Parker can be reached at mparker@TheBlackwaterCG.com.

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

Niche Web Sites: A Success Story

scorbett — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:39:00 GMT

BY MICHAEL RUSSER
Broker Agent News
It’s advice you often hear in the real estate business: To be successful, you must find a profitable niche and gear your marketing to that specific audience. However, when it comes to online marketing, few practitioners take that advice to heart.

Here, I hope to show you why it’s worth it to transform your Web site into a tool that actively serves the needs of your niche customers. I’ll make my case by highlighting a practitioner’s newly remodeled site that’s going way beyond generating business to help her build a more fulfilling career.

An Extreme Makeover Begins

Linda Jefferson, broker-owner of Jefferson Bentley Real Estate in Lawton, Okla., is at the center of the story. Several months ago, Jefferson realized she needed to bolster her Web marketing efforts to better serve her niche: Military families living near Fort Sill, about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

But her first attempt at redesigning the site didn’t go so well; the proposed site redesign was disorganized, hard to read, and didn’t come close to reflecting her passion for her niche market. In her words: “It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” She realized that a fresh approach was necessary.

Seeing a well of untapped potential, I put Jefferson in touch with two Internet marketing specialists who were looking for a makeover subject. Cherie Young, of Internet Marketing Strategies, and Web designer Suzanne Stephens wanted to demonstrate how they could turn a simple template site into a customized, targeted site. The best part — they would do it for free. Their cost for Web design overhaul usually ranges from $5,000 to $7,500.

A Military Passion

Jefferson’s dedication to her niche made her an ideal Web makeover subject. Not only are her neighbors in the military, but her son is currently serving in Iraq and her daughter-in-law just returned from there. “I feel personally connected,” she says.

Last fall, after her son was deployed for Iraq, she began volunteering for the Adopt a Soldier Now program. Jefferson ended up launching a local chapter of the organization, which provides care packages, letters, and other support to U.S. soldiers abroad.

With her passion brewing, she decided to gear her real estate business to the newfound niche. “Before, I was trying to be everything to everyone,” she says. “I didn’t want to risk losing business by targeting a niche.”

Over the next couple of months, Jefferson worked in concert with the design team to launch a drastically improved Web site, www.GoArmyHomes.com (pictured on right). The site went live on Feb. 1.

Ingredients for a Successful Site

Here’s what went into Jefferson’s new site:

User-centered content. Prove just how well you know your target audience. Create an outline of useful and relevant content for your prospects that will convince them to return to your site often. Among Jefferson’s great ideas: online forums, one for military wives (MilitaryWivesClub.org), and another for military kids (MilitaryBratsClub.org), that help families keep in touch with friends they met while living near different bases locations.
A catchy domain name/brand. GoArmyHomes.com is easy to remember and speaks directly to Jefferson’s niche. It’s more than just a Web address; it’s a brand. Because GoArmyHomes.com is focused on the niche rather than on the practitioner, Jefferson could license the brand in other markets, and sell the brand with her business when she retires.
Powerful marketing tagline. Jefferson came up with a Unique Positioning Statement, or UPS, that spoke to her niche audience — “When you’re ready to move, we’re proud to serve.”
MLS listings. With an information feed from Jefferson’s local MLS, her Web site visitors can easily access home listings from around the metro area. Remember, real estate is the reason why most people will visit your site, so make it easy so conduct a comprehensive home search. If you want to step it up a notch, you can use software such as IDX Broker Pro, which Jefferson is using, to display listings and manage lead generation.
Flexible template. Don’t think that just because you have a template Web site, it has to look just like every other site out there. Personalization is the key to your success. Jefferson’s Web site, created with a Point2Agent Premium template, goes well beyond any run-of-the-mill real estate site. You may have to hire a Web designer to help you, but a highly targeted end result is well worth it.
Ties to the community. Jefferson has natural ties to the military, but she took it a step further by founding a local chapter of Adopt a Soldier Now. On her Web site, she also includes links to Operation C.A.R.E. (an acronym for Continued Appreciation, Respect, and Encouragement) and to stories about military families in the community.

How Do You Measure Success?

Although the revamped Web site has been live for only about a month, Jefferson says she’s getting about twice as many calls and high-quality Internet leads from prospects. “I’m capturing more of my target market because they see we have a similar passion.”

But the real sign that Jefferson picked the right niche happened when she recently received a call from the director of the Adopt a Soldier Now program. Jefferson learned that ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” was considering building a new home for a military family in her community.

Jefferson used her ties to her niche market to participate in a campaign to send ABC more than 27,000 letters and e-mails in support of the Westbrook family getting a new, wheelchair accessible home for the family of Gene Westbrook, who was injured in Iraq, and his son James, who was recently paralyzed in car accident. (You can read more about the Westbrook family on Jefferson's Web site.)

“ABC was very much on the fence between us and another community,” Jefferson says. “We really made a difference.”

The team from “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” arrived in Lawton on Feb. 15 to begin work on the new home. “By targeting my market I’ve been able to do the things I love the most, which is helping those people that I feel the closest to,” Jefferson says. “I now enjoy my career so much more and feel truly fulfilled in my business. I’m proud of what I am doing.”

Note: Mr. Internet, Russer Communications, and its staff and officers receive no compensation from any third-party vendors and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before purchase.

How the Internet is Reshaping Real Estate

scorbett — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:52:00 GMT

By Stefan Swanepoel

RISMEDIA, April 27, 2007-Last month, we highlighted some of the trends affecting today's home buying and selling consumer as reported in the recently released Swanepoel TRENDS Report. This month, we explore author Stefan Swanepoel's views on the impact of the Internet on our industry. Here, Swanepoel details how technology is changing the real estate business for the long haul.

Uncontrolled Explosion
In 1995 there were 23,500 Web sites of which 4,000 (17%) were real estate related.
According to the Netcraft Web Server Survey in February 2007 there were 108 million distinct Web sites. Academics estimate that approximately 6% of these Web sites are real estate related; approximately 6.5 million. It's no surprise that Google lists real estate as its top search category. So, with a ballpark growth of 80% per year, every year for the last 12 years, it comes as no surprise that real estate is big on the Internet.

The first generation of the Internet is widely accepted to be 1995 - 2004-Web 1.0. Web 1.0 was like going to the library just to get information. In that era the Internet was basically mimicking the traditional business model, merely trying to do it online.

Then in 2005, things changed. The entry of Web 2.0 gave us not only the ability to gain information instantaneously but also the ability to interact with anyone, anywhere at anytime via instant voice, video or messaging. Web 2.0 is all about sharing and collaboration-not just striving to inform but working to "get something done."

The Dynamic Web 2.0
Because of ubiquitous broadband, cheap hardware and open-source software, Web 2.0 has created an entirely new playing field. It provides a wider and much more robust platform for development than its predecessor. It makes access to and the sorting of vast amounts of information much faster and easier.

Yes, the real estate industry as a whole has "accepted" the Internet with most leading and large brokers embracing it to enhance their services. But, it isn't just a one-time concept to accept and embrace. Unfortunately competition in the world of technology doesn't stand still for even a moment; it is constantly moving ahead to the next big thing. Therefore, real estate professionals who are still 1.0 are "so yesterday." They need to seriously upgrade their mindset to 2.0.

Real estate is an information-based service industry. It used to be that real estate brokers and agents were the holders of information and consumers were dependent on them for it. But that has all changed with Web 2.0. Now it's all about the sharing of information and collaboration with others.

Web 2.0 has brought us a deluge of new concepts than could be passing fads, but most likely are not. Many have already been adopted into new real estate business models such as Trulia, Zillow, PropSmart, LiveDeal, Point2 and Oodle. Other large non-industry specific players such as Yahoo!, Craigslist and of course Google are ever present and only time will tell to what extent they will reshape the real estate industry.

The World According to Google
Google is an exceptional company in many respects and it has become the principal of Web 2.0. With every search, Google learns more about the world and what's out there. With every ad click on one of its 150,000 servers, Google adds more revenue to their $10 billion stockpile.

In March 2006 an article in Business Week stated that the Internet, with Google as its leader, is mutating into a radically different beast. It is being driven by ubiquitous broadband, cheap hardware and open-source software.

For example, Google Base is no longer just a search site; it's more like a destination site. The difference is quite significant and the results are remarkable. Search engines are designed to quickly move consumers through to someone else's destination site. Destination sites are designed to keep consumers captive as long as possible, hence more sales time and/or advertising revenue. With its powerful search capability it has been suggested that Google Base may automatically develop into a destination site for every major industry category.

Google Earth exploded into the mainstream during 2006 on Web sites, PDAs and cell-phones. Based on "Keyhole" technology, Google Earth enables users to fly from space to street level views to find geographic information and explore places around the world. It has found itself becoming the foundation for "mashups" all across the Internet.

Mashup
Mashup is a Web site or application that seamlessly combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience. Thus through the combination of different features, previously not commonly found together, new companies are overlaying content from one onto another to create a higher value derivative solution. Examples in real estate would include Trulia that blends mapping with listing data and Zillow, which blends home property evaluations, maps and listing data.

RSS
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is software that enables Web sites to come to you instead of you going to them. Visit a Web site and subscribe to its "RSS Feed" and as new content is added to that site you get it automatically. This can be helpful when building repeat "organic traffic" by automatically providing people you know with fresh content about your site.

Real-Time Collaboration
There is no question that e-mail did indeed become the "killer app" of the Internet. Early 2006 estimates by the Radicati Group placed the number of e-mails sent per day to be around 171 billion worldwide. However, the fast rise of unwanted spam is increasing the popularity of IM (Instant Messenger), SMS (Short Messaging Systems) and texting.

GPS
In the very near future, every cell phone will know where it is utilizing the GPS. This will provide customers and agents the ability to pull up in front of a house for sale and call up the appropriate data for display on their cell phone. As smart phones continue to emerge as standard equipment, in the very near future new rich media and more voice actuated features will be ideally suited for real estate.

Speech Recognition
Expect significant impact in the advancement of speech recognition in both audio and video. Podzinger is one company that is looking at the ubiquity of the iPod and the rapidly changing uses of the product. It has already developed a process that performs Internet searches of audio and video keywords using speech recognition. For the real estate agent this provides yet another avenue to reach the customer.

Online Valuations
Domania's Home Price Check became the first Web site to offer online valuations in 2000 but it was Zillow's launch in February 2006 that grabbed the media's attention with its free house valuations called "Zestimates." In December 2006, Zillow announced it would be permitting brokers, agents and consumers to directly list their homes on the site, a clear step towards changing the paradigm.

Vertical Search
Born out of the frustration resulting from the fact that general search engines don't often provide enough detailed information, a new type of real estate specific search emerged-the real estate vertical. Trulia is a residential real estate specific search engine that helps consumers find homes for sale, trends, neighborhood insights and other information directly from hundreds of thousands of real estate broker Web sites.

Point2 Technologies & InternetCrusade implement Single Sign On

scorbett — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:07:00 GMT

Point2 Technologies Inc. and InternetCrusade's RealTown have introduced Single Sign On (SSO), a Web authentication initiative that will enable members of Point2 NLS (Point2 National Listing Service) and RealTown.com to access or sign up to either system directly from their respective Online Office, using their existing credentials, identity and pass codes.

"There are many situations in the real estate industry where Single Sign On will be of benefit to real estate professionals," said Saul Klein, president of InternetCrusade's RealTown.com Internet portal. "Effective immediately, Point2 and RealTown customers will have the advantage of experiencing the benefits of SSO, with ease, providing convenience and speed to their daily online tasks. Imagine being able to access all your online options and applications from a single point of entry. RealTown members have now, for example, gained the ability to create free world-class Web sites as well as access to upload listings for syndication and advertising, through Point2 NLS, using the same online ID," Klein said. "This will be even more of a benefit for those using wireless technology as they can make changes while in the field through a single interface."

VFlyer launches wireless tools

scorbett — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:06:00 GMT

Users can send, view ads using mobile devices

Inman News

VFlyer, a company that builds marketing tools for real estate professionals to distribute and showcase property listings, today announced that it has entered the mobile realm with the rollout of wireless Internet and text-messaging tools.

With this latest innovation, vFlyer users can send or view property ads on mobile devices, view statistics on the traffic the ads are receiving, and manage their accounts.

The company launched last year as a platform to create property advertisements and automatically distribute these ads to a variety of Web sites, such as Google Base, Oodle, Trulia, Vast and Edgeio, among others. Postlets.com and Point2.com are among other Web sites that offer distribution tools for property ads.

VFlyer also allows users to distribute Web-based or Adobe Acrobat electronic versions of property fliers to customers via e-mail, or to print out hard copies of the fliers. Last month the company launched embeddable Web widgets that allow users to post a scrolling display of their active vFlyer property ads at a blog or Web site.

"We feel that when you put a listing into our service you should never have to put it anywhere else again," said Oliver Muoto, co-founder and vice president of business development for vFlyer. The development of mobile applications is "another point in the overall path," he said. "It's definitely about saving people time, and it's saving them money."

VFlyer offers a free basic subscription that supports up to five active and 10 total property ads, and paid subscriptions enable more ads and enhanced features. The mobile tools are free for vFlyer subscribers.

Users of the vFlyer mobile ads can view photos, maps and driving directions for selected properties. Muoto said that the company is already working on a new version of the mobile tools that will allow subscribers to create property ads using a mobile device.

Is a National MLS the Way To Go?

scorbett — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:57:00 GMT

By Stefan Swanepoel

RISMEDIA, April 13, 2007-Many think that the notion of a national MLS is a good one. According to Jim Sherry, technically there is no reason a national MLS would not work. He says it's more about getting the egos out of the way first.

Many say probably not.

Some like Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin feel that MLS rules are like a thousand tiny shackles on Internet business, which limit the free flow of information to the consumer.

Online Marketing: Is There a Conspiracy or Is It Evolution?

scorbett — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:20:00 GMT

by Michael E. Parker

In a dynamic and stimulating presentation given at the Association Executives Institute Conference February 19 in San Diego , Blanche Evans, Editor of Realty Times, woke up many in the audience with her call to action. Ms. Evans presentation, entitled: The Conspiracy to Put You Out of Business and How You Can Help Your Agents & Brokers Win The Commission Game pointed out the daunting list of challenges facing NAR® and the real estate business.

Ms. Evans also successfully communicated her view that the real estate business is in the throes of change, and she presented her action plan for the industry. She also pointed out that the public perception of real estate professionals is disheartening, and urged a proactive effort by every broker and agent to educate the public about the benefits of using a professional and tech savvy agent. No arguments on any of that from me.

I started thinking about it all: about how the Internet has been a major agent of change, about how third parties perceive openings for leaner and more feature-laden competitors,

about how the public misperception is that all realtors make gazillions (while being ignorant of the average realtor income; $48,000), and how the only true reality in life is that change is constant. I then lit a joss stick and began chanting. (Just kidding!)

Can an online home-valuing service ever be as accurate as a local on-the-ground agent who knows the town, the market, and the property? No. Can an online brokerage ever replace a professional real estate agent? No. Is the growth of social networking (My Space, YouTube, Zillow, Trulia, Craig's list, Point2 NLS) a bad thing? No. Why? Because all these things present opportunities for agents and brokers committed to adapt. Isn't that the very essence of the promise that brought our families to North America in the first place? Hasn't the North American business model always been about efficiency and merit (vs. the European model of connections and blood line)? Nothing has changed at its core, only the methods of delivery of services and of managing information have changed.

One of the points Ms. Evans stressed was governmental action against MLS and the business as a whole. This doesn't look to be going away for the simple reason that someone in government has decided that the model should change, probably prompted by lobbyists for certain companies who would benefit from that. There is no doubt that—as our President might say—"mistakes have been made" when it comes to trying to keep out �discount brokers" "Online brokerages" or combinations of the two. The DOJ is all over the NAR®/MLS because the industry has tried to cling to an ancient exclusionary model as a way of dong business and plenty of people complained. Refusing to show properties listed by a discounter is probably one of the single biggest things that got government to even look at this industry. Trying to exclude anyone from the marketplace by improper conduct will always cause government scrutiny, when it is as widespread and in a industry that is so universal to all consumers.

The banks want in because of the MONEY. As banks have lost one formerly safe portion of their business after another, they seek new sources of reliable revenue. The last time this was tried, the S & L crisis destroyed a good portion of the thrift industry. Back then, Savings and Loans, Commercial Banks and Savings Banks couldn't wait to develop property in partnership with others. There was too much money chasing too few solid opportunities and a glut ensued that kept the country in the tank for years. The government agency charged with fixing that problem then compounded it by closing institutions and putting vast amounts of property on the market all at once. This is what happens when government enters a business: nothing good results. Open and fair competition is the way to deter government intrusion, not by excluding or demeaning competitors.

Third party providers are chipping away because they perceive that they can better help the individual agent and broker market themselves and their property, and in many cases, they are right! Every business evolves and that includes the business of selling real estate. As information management continues to open broad opportunities for every business, so too it opens opportunities to creative minds and businesses. That is natural business evolution and we all know it is inevitable. Trying to protect our position through rules and policies will never be as effective as protecting our positions because we are the best purveyor of services. No matter how good the run was, it is time to get with the 21 st Century and change business models. No longer can the fees to run a huge bureaucracy simply accrue without competition; no longer can exclusionary policies be relied upon to protect our business. It's about information, folks, and in this age, anyone and everyone has it. Now it's about taking back your intellectual property: your listings, your connections, your knowledge and using it and technology to out perform your competitors.

The more I considered Ms. Evans call to action, the more I wondered if any of these developments (save government intervention) were as scary as they might first appear. Not being a lawyer or a banker, I did not inquire of them what their view was. Not being a member or a Board of Realtors, I didn't go there, either. Because I am somewhat knowledgeable about online marketing, I decided to inquire as to what the third party marketing movers and shakers thought. After some thinking, I called Point2 Technologies, one of the third party providers developments cited in Ms. Evans presentation and one of the largest purveyors of marketing platforms and websites to real estate professionals, with over 110,000 customers. I asked a lot of questions and I learned about their NLS system,. Were they a competitor to be feared, or an ally to be embraced?

After talking to many people in the management chain, it was Brendan King, COO of Point2 Technologies Real Estate business, who put the company's philosophy into the following bullet points for me:

"Point2 NLS is for real estate professionals only;
We created it to promote and enhance the value of 'organized real estate'
We designed NLS as a device that gives back to agents and brokers 'complete control and choice' of their most important marketing asset (the listing) by the assets owners (Broker/Agent). Choice with respect to whom with, when, and where they advertise these assets;
NLS is strictly an advertising and marketing platform. It is not designed to compete with the MLS, but to provide complementary services;
Through NLS, we can also offer services to a large set of MLS that cannot afford them while working along side the MLS that can afford to provide them; and,
Point2 NLS is not consumer-facing; it allows professionals to efficiently advertise their listings on other member sites of their choice, and to syndicate their listings to 15 popular third party consumer search sites, also if they choose to, with no intermediaries, and to receive all leads directly from those postings. Consumers cannot search directly in Point2 NLS, only licensed real estate professionals can."

I must admit that after researching these points and carefully thinking about them, I see no threat, only a great opportunity for agents and brokers. That perception was reinforced when I learned Point2's mission statement: � �We create innovative technologies that empower our customers to lead their field.� . Hmmm. I found nothing scary or undefeatable in that or in any cited third parties arsenals, either. I think it's s simple case of the cheese being moved. Whenever the cheese is moved or when the �game� changes, we all go through the cognitive dissonance that comes with adaptation, but we all manage to adapt, somehow, and that is true now, too..

For a long time, any reasonably competent person could make money in real estate, and almost any one with a license could sell real estate. I personally think that's one reason we have too many agents: this is a business with too many part-timers who are either inactive or maintain very little activity, yet compete with full time professionals for listings and sales—usually with family or friends. I once wrote a column about a California county with 5500 homes sales last year and 5500 realtors licensed. Currently, there is one licensed realtor for every 125 Americans. Do we really need that many realtors? I personally think some kind of performance standard should be a condition of maintaining a license, but that is another column, entirely

The market is still subject to further bad things. Where is it written that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates artificially low indefinitely? Where is it written that we won't have a repeat of the 1970's oil crisis? Heaven knows the Mideast is not the most stable place in the world—isn't another mess likely there3? What effect will that have on home prices? The collapse of the sub-prime mortgage business was faster than its rise. It's going to be a lot harder to sell homes with 80-20 financing and no money down. Whenever a segment of the financing business takes a hit, it is customary to see a rise in costs to earn the hit back. From all accounts, this is one heck of a hit. Where is it written that just as prices are undergoing a correction, financing won't also? There are about 30+% of our population for whom home ownership is becoming out of reach. When do we get worried? When that percentage hits 50%?

All business is dynamic; that is, constantly in a state of flux and changing. Real estate is no exception. In boom times, the needle sways toward large profits, huge incomes and more buyers than homes for sale. Reality is different The Law of Supply and Demand is as valid today as when Adam Smith first coined the phrase. When it comes to buyers, there's more demand than supply; when it comes to realtors, there's more supply than demand. Correction is inevitable and it is also permanent: craziness is always supplanted by reality; just think of your college days!

You can either fruitlessly look for NAR® to protect the status quo or you can stop being in denial and face reality: with technology and fabulous tools that challenge the way that the real estate business has been done for the past 60 years. Agents and brokers are now better equipped and qualified to profit and prosper. Some business models and conventions are going to need to change. But they will change and those who change with them will still be on top regardless of how the business model changes.

There are all kinds of profound statements that have been made concerning the need to adapt or die. One doesn't need a Ph. D. to know what the situation is today. In trying to cope with it, I always fall back on this statement by professional Hockey's greatest scorer: "Some people skate to where the puck is. I skate to where the puck will be", Wayne Gretzky famously said. Learn from the past but focus on how to win the future.

Go to where the business is going to be.

Online Buying and Selling Via the Internet Attracts Users of Construction Equipment and Heavy Trucks

scorbett — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:41:00 GMT

Online opportunities abound in today's market for buying and selling construction equipment — but old-fashioned due diligence is still required

April 1, 2007

By Walt Moore, Senior Editor

Eight years ago, René Bates, owner of René Bates Auctioneers in McKinney, Texas, casually wondered if he could use the Internet to dispose of vehicles left over from a live auction. To test the idea, he developed an easy-to-use online bidding system. It worked. Last year he conducted 475 online auctions for municipalities, utility companies and governmental agencies that were disposing of used equipment. Early this year, Bates handled an online auction for Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, and at the time, he told us that visits (lookers and bidders) to the auction website were averaging an amazing 900,000 per day.

No denying that the phenomenon of online buying — and selling — via the Internet is attracting more and more attention. For some individuals and businesses, buying and selling online is a practice as natural as breathing. Others, however, are somewhat skeptical of the process — distrustful, perhaps, of the electronics involved or the unseen humans at the other end of the electronics.

No matter which camp you might be in as a buyer of construction equipment and heavy trucks, you have ample online opportunities these days — if you choose to use them — for investigating and purchasing everything from welders, air compressors and light towers, to skid-steers, pavers and gooseneck trailers. And increasingly, it seems, potential buyers are using these online sources.

For example, according to Nakkia Gray, general manager of EquipmentTraderOnline.com, a website used by both dealers and private sellers to advertise equipment, the site averages 200,000 visitors per month, and these potential buyers conduct some 760,000 product searches among the more than 40,000 items typically available. Because the sale of equipment advertised on the website is handled privately between buyers and sellers, no actual sales figures are available, but the number of traceable e-mail and phone inquiries from potential buyers to dealers is significant, says Gray.

In some instances, though, sales of equipment from online sources can be tracked, and the numbers are impressive. For instance, according to Rob Alleger, chief executive officer of IronPlanet, an online auction company specializing in construction equipment and heavy trucks, sales range from 600 to 1,200 units per month (depending on the time of year), and dollar volume on those sales may range from $12 to $20 million.

Contractors increasingly are using the Internet to research and purchase equipment, says Chester Hagen, vice president of sales for Point2 Technologies, which created on "online marketplace" (UsedIron.com) in 1996. Much of the research is done in the evenings or on weekends, says Hagen, either directly on dealer websites or via listing-aggregation sites, which collect listings from multiple websites. UsedIron.com, says Hagen, each day generates around 10,000 detailed views, each representing a potential buyer who has viewed information for a specific machine.

"Contractors are demanding rich content in the form of more photos, descriptions, conditions and details," says Hagen. "And sellers who provide this content can expect to receive more inquiries than those who use fewer photos and less information. The ease of use, speed and accessibility [of online research and buying] have changed this business forever."

So, if you're interested in buying (or just investigating) construction equipment and heavy trucks online, you can go at it in a number of ways. We contacted a selection of online buying resources (some responded, others didn't) and assembled a sample of available services. The list is not intended to be all-inclusive, nor does mention of a particular service indicate endorsement by CE.

And we'll take the liberty up front of passing on a bit of advice offered by nearly everyone we contacted: Use good judgment when buying and selling machines online. Perhaps Point2 Technologies' Hagen says it best: "Buying equipment online should be done with the same due diligence as buying offline."

BuyerZone.com

If you want to do comparison-shopping and, at the same time, potentially encourage competition among possible suppliers, you might try BuyerZone.com. Owned by Construction Equipment's parent company, Reed Business Information, BuyerZone.com is a free service designed to connect the buyer with a number of qualified suppliers.

For example, by clicking the Industrial heading on BuyerZone's home page, and then on Backhoe-Loaders, you bring up a short questionnaire that helps detail the machine you're considering — for example, New or Used? Application? Dig Depth? Financing Preferences?

When you submit the questionnaire, you create a Request For Quote (RFQ) in the Buyer-Zone system, which immediately matches your information with as many as six backhoe-loader suppliers within a practical distance of your zip-code area. Since these suppliers are paying BuyerZone to receive your RFQ, and since they know they're competing with other suppliers, they typically respond quickly by phone or e-mail. From that point on, you evaluate what you hear and do business with your chosen supplier.

eBay

On the other hand, if you like the prospect of landing a deal at an auction, plenty of online action is available.

For example, Tony Quarrick, president of Quarrick Equipment & Auctioneers in Uniontown, Penn., conducts live auctions for his clients, many of whom are construction-equipment dealers. But for selling his own inventory, he relies increasingly on an electronic auction service, eBay. During the past five years, Quarrick has sold nearly 500 pieces on eBay, and he now has one employee whose full-time job is to answer questions from prospective online buyers, arrange for buyers to inspect equipment, and assist with shipping.

Quarrick sets no reserve on the items he places on eBay, that is, he doesn't require that a minimum price be met before he sells, agreeing instead to sell to the highest bidder. In fact, he sets ridiculously low opening bids, for example, $99 for a recently offered Toro Dingomini-skid loader. Low initial bids and the lack of a reserve, he says, stimulate aggressive bidding.

"I won't deny that we've lost money on a few deals," he says, "but the bottom line is that we make money."

IronPlanet

But, if you're hesitant to buy from an auction website that sells everything from tubas to trenchers, other online auctions specialize in equipment.

IronPlanet, for example, is an online auction service that conducts "featured auctions" every other Thursday. Machines in featured auctions are offered on an unreserved basis (Iron Planet does, however, set the opening bid) and are typically "on the block" for five to 10 minutes. You're advised of the auction date and time when you preview an item. If buyers can't be online at the time of the auction, they can submit an online PriorityBid, which allows IronPlanet to bid on their behalf.

IronPlanet has achieved a measure of distinction in the online marketplace with its inspection reports, which detail the condition of machines for sale. The reports, available well in advance of the auction date, are compiled, says the company, by a team of more than 350 experienced inspectors who use standard evaluation forms to assess machine condition at the seller's location.

If buyers find machine condition to be other than represented in the inspection report, the company's IronClad Assurance program provides recourse. IronPlanet also handles the transfer of funds and machine title between buyer and seller.

Ritchie Bros.

While some online auctions are electronic only, those conducted by Ritchie Bros. are adjuncts to selected live auctions, meaning that online bidders are competing with bidders at the live auction. Items are offered on an unreserved basis ("as is, where is, on sale day"), and all potential buyers are welcome to inspect items at the live-auction site prior to sale day.

The company's rbauctionBid-Live system allows online participants "to see an image of the machine on the block, to hear the auctioneer call out bids and to place bids." When online bidders have activated the "Bid" button on their computer screen, the dollar amount displayed is the current asking price for the selected item, and clicking the button submits the bid. If the bid is the first to reach the central servers, it is forwarded to the auctioneer. By submitting an online "proxy bid" prior to the auction, buyers allow Ritchie Bros. to bid on their behalf. Winning bidders must abide by the company's terms and conditions regarding payment.

AssetLine.com

Although we couldn't find a North American contact for AssetLine.com, an online auction service, we include the company here, because it seems to have a significant international presence. If you're a contractor needing to secure and place equipment in various parts of the world, this website and its online bidding system might be worth investigating. Registered bidders have access to detailed machine-condition reports.

UsedIron.com

Among the listing-aggregation websites, which bring buyers and sellers together to transact business on their own, is Point2 Technologies' UsedIron.com. According to vice president of sales, Chester Hagen, machine listings on UsedIron.com originate from a number of sources, including dealers using the company's Point2 MANAGER inventory-management system; contractors (who may advertise up to five machines free of charge on the site); and syndication partners, such as online auction services and other listing-aggregation sites looking for additional exposure.

"UsedIron employs a proprietary monitoring system for all Free UsedIron Premium Ads [those placed by end-users] to eliminate fraudulent sellers," says Hagen, "and to keep data accurate and reputable for buyers on the site."

MachineMart

MachineMart presents an inventory of used machines available in the inventories of North American equipment dealers who are members of the Associated Equipment Dealers (AED). The website's home page presents a list of the top 10 machine categories (by frequency of search), and clicking on a category brings up a complete list of machines available, noting make, model, price, year of manufacture and state location. Subsequently clicking on Details presents a general description of the machine's condition (often with photos) and contact information.

Or, the site visitor can browse by manufacturer and, again, the home page presents a list of the top 10 manufacturers by frequency of search. Statistics recently presented on the site advertised that 97 AED distributors, doing business in 350 locations, were offering nearly 8,300 machines for sale.

EquipmentTraderOnline.com

EquipmentTraderOnline.com lists items in such categories as earthmoving, lifting, concrete, attachments and trailers. Visitors to the site can search by machine type, manufacturer, state or zip code/specified distance criteria, and an advanced-search feature narrows selections by such categories as specific model and price range. Once the potential buyer pulls up the listing for a specific machine, complete seller contact information is available.

According to general manager, Nakkia Gray, the company uses an advertisement-verification process to help protect both buyers and sellers from fraudulent activity, plus it maintains a security center (www.traderonlinesecurity.com) to address potential seller (and buyer) scams.

CatUsed.com

The inventory on the CatUsed.com website is primarily used equipment, parts and attachments available from Caterpillar dealers. The prospective buyer can search generally by product type or manufacturer, but can potentially narrow the search by specifying exact models and geographical locations, as well as selecting a range for year of manufacture, hour-meter reading and price.

The listing provides a summary that details the unit's features and notes its price, general location, hour-meter reading, and a rating of its overall condition. If potential buyers want to further investigate a machine, they are encouraged to first select a Caterpillar dealer close to their location. Cat's logic is apparently to help the buyer establish a relationship with a nearby dealer, who can work with the machine-owning dealer to arrange the sale and who can provide product support after the sale. Caterpillar promotes the integrity of the Cat Used.com system by saying it is based on the stellar reputation of Cat Dealers.

MachineryTrader.com

According to MachineryTrader.com, its website features a continuously updated database of equipment, parts and attachments for sale directly from dealer inventories. The site also allows investigating rental sources and auction results. Machine listings typically include serial number, hour-meter reading, price, name and location of the selling dealer and a general description of the machine and its condition.

MachineryTrader.com is international in scope, but according to the company's Chuck Lewis, North America is its core market. The company's website listings are extensive, having, for example, more than 40,000 units in just seven major earthmoving categories. Activity on the site continues to increase, says Lewis, but he cautions (as do most online services bringing buyers and sellers together) that buyers must do their homework, including, if the situation warrants, traveling to inspect the machine.

Crane Network

Crane Network was created in 1998 and specializes in online crane sales, in which buyers deal directly with sellers. The number of units listed typically is around 2,000, ranging from small truck-mounted units to rough terrains to towers. According to the company, the site has an estimated 30,000 visitors per month. Listings typically include photos, basic machine information, and seller contact information.

Networking Sites Give New Way to Prospect

scorbett — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:06:00 GMT

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"

scorbett — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:15:00 GMT

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

scorbett — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:52:00 GMT

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.

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

scorbett — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:02:00 GMT

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

scorbett — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:58:00 GMT

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

scorbett — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:53:00 GMT

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

scorbett — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 15:47:00 GMT

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.

Ditch the paper and the suburbs

scorbett — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:34:00 GMT

Part 6: New business trends in '07

Friday, February 23, 2007

By Bernice Ross
Inman News

(This is Part 6 of a six-part series. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.)

Our last five articles have examined the demographic, digital, economic and Web trends will influence your business in 2007. Today's article examines six more trends that will affect your business now.

#16: Transparency

Perhaps the most profound change in the industry is the shift from the brokers to the clients having control of the transaction. Our privacy has virtually disappeared. If you want to determine the past history of a doctor, a worker in your home or just about anyone else, visit ChoicePoint and check out the services they provide. The one that is most relevant to real estate transactions is the CLUE database. CLUE provides a listing of insurance claims on every property in the United States. Buyers have the option of making their sale contingent upon the CLUE report, but it's important to note that only the owner of the property can obtain the report. This is a powerful tool for helping buyers to avoid problem properties. PropertyShark.com provides permit and other recorded information about properties on its Web site. A document from the Internal Revenue Service Web site, www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/prodserv.pdf, provides a wealth of statistics regarding income for different areas. Of special interest is the "IRS Migrations Report" that provides statistics on the number of people at each income level in various locations as well as their ethnicity.

Opportunity: Transparency is here to stay. Capitalize on it by using these sites to investigate your listings before taking them as well as to investigate properties before your buyers make an offer.

#17: Increased consolidation

Consolidation is happening on multiple fronts. Multiple Listing Services are merging. Many of the larger firms are acquiring smaller firms in their market areas. The most interesting consolidation, however, is the one taking place in terms of technology. For a number of years, agents have complained that, "I'm being $29.95ed to death." In 2007 expect to see the stronger technology companies either build their own solutions or acquire companies to fill in the gaps for their existing service. For example, Point2Agent has a free Web site product, free blog, free national listing service, as well as free syndication to numerous Web sites plus to other agents. Their enhanced services include multiple automated marketing campaigns, some search-engine optimization assistance, a listing notification program like that provided by Coldwell Banker's Personal Retriever program, as well as free utility transfers.

Opportunity: Divert most or all of your newspaper advertising budget and spend it online. If you are not tech-savvy, hire a virtual assistant to handle this for you and use the money you save on print advertising to pay for it.

#18: Is Zillow the death knell for Realtor.com and the local MLS system?

Zillow visitors receive a free evaluation of their property's value. Their current plans are to create a Web page for every home in the United States. Owners can contribute their own content about their property. Zillow also has a new tool that will allow visitors to post a price that, in essence, says, "Make me sell." Zillow is now inviting agents and brokers to post their listings online at no charge. What's particularly interesting is that while Zillow's traffic continues to climb, traffic at Realtor.com is decreasing. In fact, rather than visiting Realtor.com, buyers and sellers are now more likely to visit a brokerage or an individual agent's site (Real Trends 2006).

Opportunity: When you take a listing, you must make a business decision about whether you want to place it on Zillow. Your seller may want to "claim their house" and post their asking price as the "Make me sell price" on Zillow. No one knows what effect Zillow will have in the long run on broker Web traffic. The real question here is whether this "free" exposure will put other providers of listing content out of business.

#19: Ditch the paper and go paperless

While the trend to go "paperless" started several years ago, look for more agents and brokerages to make the move. There are a number of excellent tablet computers on the market. The VREO Red Tablet software creates an integrated solution that provides agents with solid systems that will cut their costs and increase their efficiency.

Opportunity: If you want to increase the number of transactions that you close, going paperless with the Red Tablet software will save you substantial amounts of time and money. Also, if you're not a systems person, this software creates the systems you need for you. The result: better communication, higher client retention and improved risk management.

#20: Close the same day

According to Anne Randolph of Lore Magazine, in the near future, efficiencies in technology will allow us to close transactions on the same day. Currently, most companies have their mortgage, title and sales services separated into "silos." Look for our fragmented processes to become integrated into a single process in the future. The consumer wants one-stop shopping and will drive the industry to deliver it.

Opportunity: A quick close means that you will receive your commission check the same day. On the other hand, quick closing may also mean that you do less work and hence, are compensated less.

#21: In-town -- not the 'Burbs

Many people have grown weary of long commutes. The trend is to sell your big house in the suburbs and to move back into the central city. As a result, we are seeing a resurgence in "pedestrian communities," including lofts and mixed-use properties that combine urban living with local business. In terms of getting away from the hustle and bustle, hot new trends include vacation-home clubs at places such as the Four Seasons and the Ritz Carlton. Other hot trends include fractional ownerships in ultra-high-end properties or condominium cruise ships.

Opportunity: Each of these trends represents a new niche you can create for your business. Given how new these are, there is probably very little competition in terms of other brokers.

The rapidly changing real estate landscape offers a tremendous opportunity to those who are willing to innovate. Remember, however, that all you need is one or two key differentiators to eliminate virtually all of your competition and to make your business soar.

Bernice Ross, national speaker and CEO of Realestatecoach.com, is the author of "Waging War on Real Estate's Discounters" and "Who's the Best Person to Sell My House?" Both are available online. She can be reached at bernice@realestatecoach.com or visit her blog at www.LuxuryClues.com.

Tech tools create lead-conversion opportunity

scorbett — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:04:00 GMT

Part 5: New business trends in '07

Friday, February 16, 2007

By Bernice Ross
Inman News

(This is Part 5 of a six-part series. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.)

If you're not up-to-date on today's technology, your business may be gradually eroding away. To avoid going the way of the dinosaurs, it's imperative that you update your technology tools now.

Our last four articles examined how demographic, digital, economic and Web trends will influence your business in 2007. Today we look at the technology tools designed specifically for the real estate industry.

#13: New tools for lead conversion, not just lead generation

Currently, almost 50 percent of online consumer inquiries go unanswered. Until recently, agents and companies had to figure out ways to incubate Web leads using drip e-mail campaigns or auto-responders. Sorting through the leads and qualifying them was a time-consuming process. Today's new technologies provide a variety options to automate the lead follow-up and lead-conversion process. For example, companies such as Point2Agent.com, Sharper Agent and Top Producer provide multiple campaigns that make lead incubation virtually painless. The latest innovation in this area is that some of these systems will text or call you when a "hot prospect" returns to your site for a second time.

Opportunity: Most Web site visitors do business with the first agent who contacts them live. Staying in touch electronically with an invitation to visit your blog, enter a drawing or provide some other item of value will allow you to stay top of mind until the lead is ready to become a serious client.

#14: Scrubbed Leads

Many Web visitors are tire kickers. Spending money or time on them is a waste. For teams and companies, LeadQual.com charges about $15 per lead to qualify (scrub) the lead. People making inquiries online are connected to a live person on the LeadQual fast-response team. The fast-response person qualifies the lead and if it's viable, then sends the caller's information to the agent(s) designated to receive leads. If the agent agrees to take the lead, the call is handed off to the agent. The process takes two to five minutes. Today's consumer demands immediacy; this is one of the most effective ways to meet that demand with a minimal cost.

Opportunity: Using systems like LeadQual can dramatically improve lead conversion. They also can hold costs down since you follow up only with pre-qualified leads.

#15: Push-to-talk technology

For individual agents who prefer to receive leads on their own schedule, another great alternative is "push-to-talk" technology. The branded version of this for the real estate industry is www.RealPing.com. When a Web visitor wants to speak to you, he/she clicks the RealPing button on your Web site. The system then notifies you with a text message or phone call that there is a live visitor on your site who wishes to reach you. Using the numbers on your cell phone, you can actually show the Web visitor MLS listings as well as any other relevant information on your site. The new version of RealPing that will launch later this month allows you to conduct an actual Web conference using this technology. The system "photographs" whatever Web pages you are visiting and converts them into flash. The net result is that you can now set up the equivalent of a Webinar just by pushing a few keys on your cell phone. There's no need to download a five-megabyte application that requires a password to access the system.

Opportunity: Combined with their MyHomeManagementClub.com product that offers what may be the best consumer newsletter in real estate, the RealPing product gives you the capability to respond immediately to Web inquiries as well as track and stay in touch with consumers who are not interested in doing business right now.

#16: Analyze analytics

Very few agents track where their leads originate. Even fewer track where their Web leads originate and how many they convert. While this may seem like a pretty geeky activity, working with Web analytics can help you spot where to invest your money as well as to identify what is not working on your Web site. Since Google still produces the most real estate Web searches, the Google analytics program is probably your best choice, especially since it's free. Point2Agent also has an interesting analytics program that lets you track how many page views a specific listing has had as well as where those page views originated.

Opportunity: Analytics can be a very powerful tool when working with sellers. For example, if your listing appears on 12 different Web sites and has generated 2,400 page views, there's only one logical conclusion about the property -- it's overpriced. The statistics objectively demonstrate that you have created plenty of exposure for the property. This is a powerful tool for obtaining price reductions.

What other trends will influence your business in 2007? See next week's article to learn more.

Real estate's role in the new Web

scorbett — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 21:33:00 GMT

Part 4: New business trends in '07

(This is Part 3 of a six-part series. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.)

What will Web 3.0 look like and how will it influence your business in 2007? No matter what happens, the rate of change is only increasing rather than slowing down.

Over the last three weeks, we have examined how demographic, digital and economic trends will influence your business in 2007. Today's column examines some of the changes that may result as "Web 3.0" becomes a reality.

#9: Syndication -- the latest way to market your listings

Many agents don't realize that their listings are "syndicated" from one Web site to other Web sites. For example, when you post your listings to Realtor.com, they syndicate (send their database of listings) to AOL.com and to WallStreetJournal.com. Agents who place their listings on Point2Agent.com can have their listings syndicated to multiple Web sites, including GoogleBase.com, YahooAds.com, Trulia.com, Oodle.com, PropertySmart.com, plus many others. They also syndicate to their National Listing Service. What's interesting is that the Point2Agent product does this at no charge.

Opportunity: During your listing presentations, explain to your sellers how you post their properties on at least 20 different Web sites. If the sellers are interviewing other agents, ask the sellers to compare your marketing plan to the plan provided by your competition.

#10: RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

A major benefit of Microsoft's new Vista program is the ability to receive an "RSS" feed that looks very much like Outlook. RSS allows you to determine the type of information you would like to receive. For example, if you are a buyer who is searching for a Victorian home in San Francisco, the RSS feature can notify you when a new Victorian home comes on the market as well as about articles on restoring older properties or places to find authentic hardware. RSS weeds out unwanted information allowing users to focus on the types of information they want to receive. (Caveat: Early adopters of Vista are reporting problems with their peripherals as well as difficulty connecting to their local MLS. It may be smart to hold off on your upgrade until these problems are resolved.)

Opportunity: If you don't have a blog already, now is a great time to start one. Blogs work hand-in-hand with RSS. They also help you to achieve better search-engine placement. If you are an expert in a given area or serve a market niche such as relocation, blog about the area or the niche you serve. Creating useful content attracts more business to your site, earns the trust of your readers, and, as a result, generates more qualified buyers and sellers for your business.

#11: Wikis and online communities, not just blogs

Last week, Inman News launched www.InmanWiki.com. Wikipedia.org, the original "wiki," was the first online, user-generated encyclopedia. It currently has more than 600,000 articles in English (as well as numerous articles in other languages.) Using a similar model, InmanWiki.com launched with more than 5,000 real estate articles. Wikis rely on their users to generate content and to control the accuracy of what appears. Last week also saw the launch of a new real estate online community, www.RealTown.com, which plans to serve both real estate professionals and consumers. According to its Web site, Realtown will be the "home of the most valuable community-generated content in the real estate industry … Over the years, real estate professionals have made nearly 1 million posts to the RealTalk Listserv and other associated listservs hosted by InternetCrusade." Whether it's an online community or a wiki, the important point to remember is, "No one is as smart as everyone."

Opportunity: Web 3.0 will be rich in user-generated content, whether it's online videos on YouTube.com, wikis or community sites. You can take advantage of this trend in two different ways. First, become active in these sites. Read posts you find to be relevant and chime in with your own comments. Second, create an online community where you and others post relevant information about the lifestyle in your market area. Your goal is to be the source for "all things real estate" for your market area. When you become the "go-to" person for real estate online, chances are buyers and sellers will go to you when they're ready to list or purchase.

#12: Smarter and friendlier search

Web 3.0 will be much more customized to users' needs. For example, when you visit Amazon.com, the site recommends books based upon your past purchases. We see a similar trend in real estate Web sites as well. For example, you may be sitting in Hawaii, but if you search for listings, many search engines will show you listings based on your current residence. Also, the new vertical search engines such as Trulia.com and Oodle.com provide searches based upon how the user locates property, usually by street rather than by a specific address.

Opportunity: Capitalize on these improvements by focusing on niche marketing. Today's Web users are much more sophisticated and employ multiple search terms in the same search. This gives them a more targeted result. Thus, the deeper and more comprehensive your niche is, the more highly qualified clients you will attract for that niche.

What are the other technology trends that will affect your business in 2007? See next week's article to learn more.

Brokers get 'liberated' at new community site

scorbett — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 20:24:00 GMT

Point2 Technologies unveils REliberation.com

Inman News

Point2 Technologies has unveiled a new broker community site, REliberation.com, for its broker and agent customers to collaborate, promote and drive future successes and advance key industry issues through discussion, debate and opinion sharing.

The beta site made its debut on Jan. 26, and has attracted hundreds of authors and contributors discussing key issues such as the role of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), lead-generation services and disintermediation, technology overload, blogging and market conditions.

"We're empowering the fast-growing base of National Listing Service members with one more tool they can leverage to take back the future of real estate. Many want to gain back complete control and choice over whom they choose to do business, and where their listings get advertised," said Brendan King, chief operating officer of Point2 Technologies. "REliberation is where discussions focus on building the value of the real estate professional and organized real estate marketing, for the benefit of both consumers and the industry alike."

The launch of REliberation.com follows a trend in tools and venues being offered to real estate professionals that enable online conversations, collaboration and networking.

InternetCrusade last week unveiled RealTown.com, a new Internet portal containing a depth of real estate-related content created by a community of real estate professionals. Site visitors can read blogs about real estate and browse discussions about common issues faced by brokers and agents.

ActiveRain also is a large site where real estate professionals can network with each other.

Real estate's role in the new Web

scorbett — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 20:23:00 GMT

Part 4: New business trends in '07

By Bernice Ross
Inman News

(This is Part 4 of a six-part series. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.)

What will Web 3.0 look like and how will it influence your business in 2007? No matter what happens, the rate of change is only increasing rather than slowing down.

#9: Distribution -- the latest way to market your listings

Many agents don't realize that their listings are distributed from one Web site to other Web sites. For example, when you post your listings to Realtor.com, they send their database of listings to AOL.com and to WallStreetJournal.com under co-branded distribution agreements. Agents who place their listings on Point2Agent.com can have their listings sent to multiple Web sites, including GoogleBase.com, YahooAds.com, Trulia.com, Oodle.com, PropertySmart.com, plus many others. They also distribute to their National Listing Service. What's interesting is that the Point2Agent product does this at no charge.

#10: RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

#11: Wikis and online communities, not just blogs

#12: Smarter and friendlier search

What are the other technology trends that will affect your business in 2007? See next week's article to learn more.

Correction
Property listings distributed under Realtor.com co-branded agreements

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Inman News

A Feb. 9 Inman News story, "Real estate's role in the new Web," stated that Realtor.com syndicates listings to AOL.com and WallStreetJournal.com. In fact, the listings from Realtor.com are distributed under co-branded distribution agreements, not syndicated as the article previously stated. Inman News regrets the error.

Just What Exactly Is Web 2.0?

scorbett — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:46:00 GMT

By Michael J. Russer
Realty Times

In this day and age of hyper-change a lot of new terminology gets bantered about. "Web 2.0" is the latest that has created a considerable amount of buzz, yet no one seems to have a clear idea as to exactly what it means. Well, here's my 2-cents on 2.0.

As the name implies, Web 2.0 represents "version 2" of the Web. And this new version reflects substantial changes in both the way people use the Web and the underlying technology that enables this enhanced user experience. For the purposes of this particular article we will focus on how these changes affect the way you and your clients / prospects use the Web.

First let's look at what Web 2.0 isn't. Perhaps one of the biggest confusions about Web 2.0 is that it is often equated with using the Web for enhanced "social networking." Examples of this include YouTube.com, Myspace.com, Facebook.com and so on. These sites allows its users to post information about themselves as a way of networking and interacting with other individuals that they otherwise would not have access to. While these services have proved to be extremely popular (Google recently purchased YouTube for over $1.7 billion just to gain access to its user base, and ostensibly, additional advertising revenues), they represent only a slice of what Web 2.0 is all about.

From a user perspective, a Web 2.0 site blurs the distinction between content providers and content users. That is, content users / visitors are allowed to actively create the content found on the site. This represents a huge interactive change from the old model where site owners were the source and distributor of information, while users were passive recipients. This makes for a much more dynamic and rapidly changing user experience.

Digg.com is a prime example of what Web 2.0 is all about. The way Digg works is deceptively simple. Any member of Digg (which costs nothing to join) can post a link and their comments to any story they feel is relevant (if only to them). Other members who see the post either "digg it," "bury it" or simply ignore it. The more a posting is "dugg" the more it bubbles to the top of Digg.com's popularity list, which is constantly changing. The essence of the inherent popularity of Digg (and other similar Web 2.0 sites) is that it gives the opportunity to otherwise obscure masses of people to achieve their 15 clicks of fame, and benefit from the "social proof" of knowing what's hot, and what's not.

This means that Web 2.0 gives the average "Jane" or "Joe" the ability to affect what millions of other users see (and think what is important) on the Web. It is a form of personal empowerment that simply did not exist before and goes way beyond having your own website. That's because, simply having your own site doesn't mean millions of people are going to find it or take the time to see what you have to say. But on Web 2.0 sites, these millions are already there and depending on what you have to share, they may very well be interested.

So how does this all affect you and your real estate career? Are you now going to have to get your own site upgraded to Web 2.0 standards? Well, not so fast. Web 2.0's ability to enhance online business (other than advertising revenues) is still very much an open question. So let's take a look at how Web 2.0 principles are currently being applied in the real estate industry:

RealestateVoices – this is the real estate version of Digg.com. Members post articles that are rated by other members. So far it appears to be sparsely populated and seems to serve no other purpose than to inform.
Zillow – this free home valuation service now allows homeowners to modify their property's listing with additional information that may affect their "Zestimate" (Zillow's estimate of value). And just recently, Zillow has enabled property owners to post their Make Me MoveTM price. This allows people who are not currently selling their home to think seriously about it, and becomes a source of leads for enterprising agents who continually check to see which properties in their area recently posted these prices.
Point2Agent – this real estate template website company has recently added a feature where other agents, and more importantly, consumers can post their comments and/or questions about any of your listings on your site. This is a powerful and anonymous way for visitors to a) interact with you, and b) modify the content that makes up part of your listing information. NOTE: the staff at Point2 monitor these postings to make sure nothing inappropriate shows up in these comments. To see an example of this, click here.

These are just some examples of how Web 2.0 is beginning to creep into the online real estate space. As time goes on, there will undoubtedly be additional manifestations as well. As to how all this is going to affect your ability to increase the amount and quality of business you do online is still uncertain. What is certain however, is that the more you give your visitors the ability to modify the content of a site, the less control you have over what shows up. I'm not sure that business is quite ready for this kind of structured anarchy just yet. For example, Burger King thought they would take advantage of the popularity of YouTube by producing a video with a rap star and then posting it on the site. Well, they got publicity all right, but apparently not the kind they were hoping for! Word of "digital" mouth can be destructive as it is helpful, and you never know for sure which way those winds will blow.

For now, the best thing you can do is just keep your eyes and ears open to these new user-centric experiences. And, don't spend your hard earned dollars on the "latest and greatest" Web 2.0 "solution" until it has well proved itself. In the next installment of this series of articles on Web 2.0, we will explore the how the underlying technology is making the Web act and seem much more like a desktop application -- which is good news for everyone!

NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. NOTE: Author does have a financial interest in WebAssess. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

Where and how brokers partner online

scorbett — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 17:46:00 GMT

Part 2: New age of online marketing and ROI

By Glenn Roberts Jr.
Inman News

Editor’s note: Online marketing in real estate is quickly moving forward as brokers test new methods for reaching consumers on the Internet. Marketing choices have grown more complicated with a larger selection of Web sites to promote property listings and a growing list of lead generation and management technologies to choose from. In this three-part series, we take a look at new broker strategies and where new partnerships are cropping up.

It's becoming increasingly clear. Brokers want control of property listings information, and they aren't waiting.

"Multiple listing services and brokers have come around to understand that brokers need control of their data. I believe there is a fundamental shift going on at the MLS level to begin giving brokers access to their data," said Luke Glass, chief financial officer and chief operating officer for real estate technology and data company Threewide Corp.

While brokers have traditionally supplied property listings information to MLSs for display at Realtor.com, public MLS Web sites and MLS-member Web sites through data-exchange agreements, their attention is turning to their own online marketing.

The challenge for brokers is in deciding how to use their newfound control to market properties -- or not to market properties -- on a growing list of consumer-facing property-search Web sites. "Brokers are really leaning toward controlling their own marketing decisions," Glass said. And agents, too, are seeking the best online venues to market properties to the massive Internet audience of prospective home buyers.

These are not easy decisions -- some brokers and agents say they want to offer maximum exposure for properties while others say they worry that some Web sites may get in the way of real estate professionals' direct interaction with consumers. There is no single solution that suits every real estate professional in every market. Brokers and agents are working to build their own unique brand on the Internet and the operators of property-search Web sites are working to build a brand, too.

"The broker obviously feels that the number one place to attract customers is his Web site," Glass said. And many third-party Web sites, while seeking to become a search destination, also direct Internet traffic back to the agent's or broker's Web site when consumers at those sites seek more detailed property information.

In response to the demand for broker control of listings information, Threewide has launched a data distribution product called ListHub that allows brokers to interact with MLSs in receiving broker-specific property listings information and in controlling where to send that information. The product also allows brokers to monitor Web traffic generated by their property listings information at those third-party sites, and to eliminate the need for re-entering data numerous times at the various sites.

Other companies, too, are offering variations on this theme: Web-based tools that allow real estate professionals to automate the process in sending property listings information for display on a number of Web sites. Point2, Postlets, SubmitYourListings and vFlyer are among the companies in this category. Such companies can simplify the process of sending bulk data feeds or individual property information to multiple property-search sites simultaneously, and in updating the information displayed on those sites.

And the list of online marketing sites for properties is a mouthful: Craigslist, eBay, Edgeio, Google Base, LiveDeal, Oodle, Point2NLS, Propsmart, Trulia, Vast, Yahoo and Zillow, among others.

While agents are also making decisions about how to market properties, Glass said that the ListHub product gives brokers ultimate authority in deciding where to redirect traffic from the other property-search sites. "They have to agree to where the traffic goes," he said. Brokers within 13 MLSs are using the ListHub product, and these MLSs represent about 100,000 agents across the country, he said.

Online marketing should drive consumers to a physical storefront or online storefront, Glass said. "I think the Web site itself is becoming an online storefront. Don't let others intermediate the traffic. Your online storefront is for your listings -- where you should feature your listings. It's all about the data," he said.

MLSs are generally moving away from making online marketing decisions for brokers, though there are exceptions, he said. The Houston Association of Realtors, as an example, has formed an agreement with its brokers to send property listings information to the Google Base classified listings site, while it is typically brokers or agents who are submitting this information to the site. "For the most part MLSs don't want to be involved with marketing decisions."

Some MLSs maintain their own public property-search Web sites, though many of these MLSs don't actively market the sites, Glass noted.

Mike Montsko, president of the Weichert Lead Network, a technology division that manages online leads for the Weichert, Realtors brokerage company, said it is definitely difficult for real estate companies to decide where to distribute property listings information.

"This one keeps me up at night. There are lots of sites ... that are willing to drive free traffic to your site," he said. "With one caveat: You have to provide them with your listings. For now these sites are happy to give you the free traffic because they need the content. Without the listings they would have no product."

He added, "I know a lot of brokers feel that by working with these sites we may be raising an 800-pound gorilla. As these sites become more popular consumers will demand that their homes be displayed on them. Once this happens we could be facing the same problem we have today with newspapers: large spends with little return."

So why do companies decide to post property listings information at these third-party Web sites? "Our job is to help our associates sell homes and to ensure that our customers are getting the best service available," Montsko said. "Putting the listings up on these sites gets those homes more exposure, which is good for the associate and the customer."

Joe Ballarino, president and founder of Amerivest Realty, a Naples, Fla., real estate company, said that online marketing decisions are complicated by the rising number of third-party property information sites. "We now have to evaluate each and every site to determine whether our listings should be placed on those sites. We have to balance our sellers' needs with general business goals when making those decisions.

"We look at many variables when deciding which to be placed on ... the traffic at that site, are our competitors' listings appearing, and does the site compete with us and if so, how? We will only look at sites where we can automate a bulk export. With over 300 agents and 1,00 listings a manual process is just not sensible," he said.

Obtaining optimal exposure for a property does not mean pushing property information out to every possible source on the Internet, said John Chang, vice president of marketing and eBusiness at John L. Scott Real Estate. Chang said the company's marketing efforts target prospects who are most likely to purchase a home.

"This targeted promotion does not rely on broadcasting listings to every conceivable would-be portal in cyberspace, but rather it focuses on the best medium through which we can manage the promotion of homes to the best prospects," he said. "At the forefront of this marketing plan is JohnLScott.com, where we can ensure that properties listed by (our) agents are optimally showcased."

Chang also noted that the company has not established a "one-size-fits-all" policy for its brokers, and individual brokers can make their own marketing decisions in promoting properties online.

At Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston, a brokerage in Raleigh, N.C., the decision to market properties is based on a number of factors: "We evaluate the quality of the site, what consumer marketing and promotion they are doing for the site, what they have to offer the consumer in an online experience, what their business plan is, and are they going to work with us or against us," said Sean Nally, chief information officer for the company.

"We guide our agents to utilize the sites we have determined to be our best online marketing partners and then encourage them to get Web exposure for all their listings in order to increase their marketing reach and, of course, listings and sales," Nally added. He said the company has embraced sites like Realtor.com and Trulia.com. "Trulia has some fantastic tools," he said, such as "Heat Maps" that offer a color-coded map indicating market trends.

Brendan King, chief operating officer for Point2 Technologies, a company that offers online marketing services, said during the Real Estate Connect NYC conference earlier this month that real estate professionals should experiment in sharing property listings information with various Web sites and measure what works best. "Don't be scared to set the data free," he said. "There is a value proposition for the Realtor. Don't be scared of Google or Yahoo or any of these search places -- put it out there with your branding, with your contact information, and then measure these leads that come back to you."

And Charlie Young, senior vice president of marketing for Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., said during that conference that the job of brokers is to "put properties in front of consumers," though there is "no right answer" in deciding where to market properties. "Every market is going to be different. I would look at traffic. I think you need to look within the marketplace. What are the objectives that (a Web site) has? Are they contradictory? Put your listings where consumers get the most value."

RealTown brings industry content to consumers

scorbett — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:45:00 GMT

By Glenn Roberts Jr.
Inman News

A new Internet portal launches today with a depth of real estate-related content created by a thousands-strong community of real estate professionals.

The site, RealTown.com, 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.

Saul Klein, president and CEO for Real Estate Electronic Publishing Company Inc., the company that is launching RealTown.com, said, "It has always been in our vision to do this -- to create a place where content form the people of the community has a lot of value. We had this idea 12 years ago."

RealTown.com joins other sites, such as ActiveRain.com, that offer user-generated content and an online forum for real estate professionals and consumers.

InternetCrusade, as the publishing company is better known, has fostered the creation and maintenance of online communities through simple Internet discussion groups, and now counts about 40,000 members of its various real estate-related communities. There are about 25,000 members, for example, in the RealTalk community, which features daily discussions of industry issues among real estate professionals. Members seek advice and share ideas through the RealTalk network. Internet Crusade's communities also include separate discussion groups for MLS professionals and for Realtor association executives, for example, and a network of bloggers.

InternetCrusade also manages the e-Pro Technology Certification Program through which Realtors receive technology training. The agent-search tool is currently limited to e-Pro members though Klein said there are plans to expand that to a broader group of licensed real estate agents who sign up at the RealTown.com site.

Real estate information, said Klein, "happens to be the driving force in everybody's life right now." Some discussion content is private for members of specific groups, while other information is open to the public. The site does not require registration, though registration is required for those who post content at the site.

Planned enhancements at the site include a system to rate the performance of real estate agents, Klein said, and to package content for publication in other sources. "The whole idea of 'citizen journalism' -- allowing content to flow from the masses -- is a universal idea," he said.

And the new Web site will evolve through community recommendations, he added, "Whatever you want we're going to give it to you. It's a community where we take very seriously the input from people."

While the site can be used to link consumers with real estate professionals, Klein said there is no charge for the online leads generated through the site. There are plans to allow advertising at the site and to offer some paid services, he said.

Klein said the InternetCrusade community has relied on grassroots growth that began with a simple e-mail network. There are an estimated 2,600 bloggers who participated in the RealTown Blogroll, and Klein said InternetCrusade offers free blogging tools for those interested in becoming active bloggers.

Other InternetCrusade managers assisting the creation of the new portal are John Reilly, chief information officer and author of "The Language of Real Estate," and Mike Barnett, chief technology officer and a developer for the RealTown community software.

According to a company announcement, "RealTown.com integrates citizen journalism and professional journalism, giving equal editorial weight to articles from both camps, tapping the great resource of undiscovered talent and knowledge and making it available to everyone."

Confessions Of A Reformed Real Estate Webmistress

scorbett — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:44:00 GMT

Abandoning a Do-It-Yourself Web Strategy

By Frances Flynn Thorsen

My year-end technology audit was full of FrontPage updates, new software, and a host of add-ons for my real estate web site. Each aspect of web authoring technology has a learning curve that involves time and labor. Each year the time and labor associated with a do-it-yourself web site grows.

The new millennium spawned a generation of do-it-yourself real estate webmasters. Unhappy with cookie-cutter template web choices, real estate agents and brokers and a battery of self-proclaimed "web site designers" loaded their computers with FrontPage and Dreamweaver software, bought domain names by the dozen, and created their own web sites. The advent of IDX brought local search functionality right to an agent’s home page. Automatic e-mail notification about new listings from the multiple listing service made contact with the prospect a no brainer.

The web sites worked. They delivered leads to agents with elegant and highly refined sites, and they delivered leads to agents with sites that violated every rule governing web design and typography. The web sites thar are the "front end" of the technology deliver results.

There is one problem with the leads – most of them do not translate to sales.

History shows that agents need more "back end" functionality to keep up with those leads. The National Assn. of REALTORS’ most recent survey of homebuyers found that most consumers expect an immediate response to a web inquiry; they expect to hear from an agent in less than half an hour. Almost half the buyers polled said they received NO response to their inquiries. Clearly, agents who develop effective lead follow-up and management strategies will reap the harvest of Internet consumer business.

A real estate web marketing platform developed in Canada has emerged as the pre-eminent leader in web technology. Point2 Agent offers a sensible alternative to committed webmasters and novices alike. A large selection of templates makes it easy for a first-time web entrant to establish a web presence. Graduated levels of service offer increased flexibility in design and use. Advanced users and web designers can bypass the look of existing templates and incorporate scripts for expandable menu options, and exclusive banners and graphics.

Here are some reasons that are leading many real estate professionals to retire their FrontPage and Dreamweaver programs and embrace the Point2 Agent web marketing solution:

Maintaining Listing Inventory on a Web Site Is Time Intensive

Agents who update their sites regularly with new listing content and other information find that webmastering can be a full-time job. Outsourcing is expensive. When the webmaster’s “day job” is real estate sales, geek duties can be a serious distraction to dollar productive activities. Entering listings and photos on Point2 Agent web sites is easier than MLS entry in many cases. The Point2 Agent handshake offers users a bounty of listings from other agents in their market area.

Webmasters Must Constantly Update Their Software

Agent/webmasters must update their web publishing software regularly and consider a raft of back-end plug-ins and add-ons to capture and manage their leads, and blogging platforms to maximize their SEO. Many of those programs work independently; separate platforms do not often interface. Point2 Agent is a constantly "evolving" product. It started at the product gate neck in neck with other template providers, but added features that expanded functionality exponentially over several years, leaving its competitors eating dust.

Blogs Are Built In, Existing Blogs Have A Place To Shine

Blogging is the buzzword for 2007. Real estate blogging communities count their members in the tens of thousands. Multiple author blogs and multiple blog community platforms have found a niche in the real estate web. Point2 Agent has two blog solutions.

First is the ability to run RSS feeds or external links from any blog to any page in the agent web, as a source of primary or secondary content. Second is a built-in blog that can be set to autopilot to post new listings as blog entries. Price reductions and changes to listings can appear automatically on the agent web in a professional format, complete with interactive comments and permanent link features.

The blog is fully customizable with an at-a-glance DIGG-like view of the number of views and comments for each post. Agents looking for ways to appeal to Generation "Y" buyers will optimize their use of the built-in blog on the Point2 Agent site

Search Engine Optimization Benefits

Every component in the design of a Point2 Agent web site spells "FOOD" for hungry search engine spiders. Each page and each content component is fully customizable, from text and graphics to the meta tags and headlines and descriptions that appear in the browser window and on search results pages. Blogs add another large measure of attraction for the spiders.

Design Customization Unparalleled

There’s already a cottage industry of web designers working with the Point2 Agent platform for agents who do not want to get involved in this aspect of web development. More savvy agents with experience on FrontPage and Dreamweaver will find the system user friendly. Tech support is quick to respond and savvy to the most advanced queries.

Predictive Marketing Tools Enhance Lead Management

Prospects surfing the pages of a Point2 Agent web site have numerous opportunities to nibble at lead bait – registration forms, listing notifiers, financial calculator results, reports, and more, give the prospect an opportunity to make his presence known to his real estate web host.

Another set of analytical tools give that host a chance to study the patterns of the prospect’s surfing habits, how often he visits, pages he views, listings he studies, route of travel, time spent, etc.

The real estate agent can assign the prospect to a drip campaign in the Point2 Agent lead management module for additional customized follow-up. There are numerous drip campaigns built into the program. Existing campaigns can be edited and new campaigns can be added at the user’s discretion.

Ongoing Training, Mentoring, Coaching

Online tutorials and teleconference webinars offer a level of support that is setting a new standard for web marketing products across the board. There are seven to eight hours of teleconference and webinar training for Professional and Premium Point2 Agent users. Classes cover design and back end functionality.

There is toll-free support during business hours and a roster of guest coaches from the real estate industry who address more general real estate marketing and training. That roster includes the likes of Michael Russer, Bernice Ross, and Joeann Fossland, all highly respected real estate industry notables.

There are agent and broker editions of the Point2 Agent solution. We’re phasing out our FrontPage site and moving its 150 MB content into a new Point2 Agent platform. The more we work with it, the more we like it! My seven-year affair with FrontPage is drawing to a close. 2007 should be a great year for real estate on the web!

Point2 launches 'NLS' for real estate professionals

scorbett — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:43:00 GMT

Free system puts agents in charge of Web marketing

By Glenn Roberts Jr.
Inman News

A real estate technology company today launched a free international service to assist real estate professionals with marketing properties online, establishing agreements with other professionals and tracking Web statistics.

Point2 Technologies Inc. officials say that their creation, called the Point2 NLS (for National Listing Service), is a marketing vehicle that is not intended to compete with traditional multiple listing services.

It is the latest in a series of free Web-based tools designed to increase the online exposure of property listings -- officials at automated home-valuation site Zillow.com, for example, announced a new service last month to allow agents to advertise for-sale property listings.

The new Point2 system builds upon the company's existing technologies and customer base. At launch the company already has about 104,000 members in 85 countries. In November, the company announced that 78 percent of its members were in the United States and 14 percent were in Canada, followed by Australia, India and the Philippines. The company offers a consumer-facing property-search Web site at Point2Homes.com.

"Our NLS gives complete control to the broker so that he can choose who his marketers are on a peer-to-peer basis," said Brendan King, chief operating officer for Point2 Technologies. "There are no regional boundaries. Searching on the NLS, both for real estate professionals and consumers, won't be bound necessarily by geography."

Also, creators say the service is intended to thwart antitrust actions by allowing real estate professionals to make individual decisions about how to market property information on other Web sites. For example, agents participating in the system can select which agents they choose to share listings information with -- and which agents not to share listings information with.

This peer-to-peer system of "Agent Handshake" agreements also allows agents to state specific reasons why they choose not to share listings information with specific real estate professionals, and calculates a performance index score for agents based on a variety of factors such as speed in replying to prospects and number of virtual tours and total Web site pages.

King said that the NLS system "now is outside the realm of the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice because (real estate professionals) are making individual business decisions."

The Justice Department is locked in antitrust litigation with the National Association of Realtors, for example, over the Realtor group's approval of policies for the online sharing and display of property listings information, and the Federal Trade Commission announced several actions last year to combat MLS policies that it deemed anti-competitive.

There are several national Web services that offer real estate professionals a place to share information about for-sale properties at no charge, such as Edgeio, Google Base, LiveDeal, Oodle, Propsmart, Trulia, and Yahoo! Classifieds, among others, and the Point2 service gives real estate professionals the option to share property information with these sites.

This so-called "Exposure Engine" also allows agents to choose paid advertising for property listings on sites such as NYTimes.com.

The system offers detailed statistics on consumer traffic to property-search Web sites that can assist real estate professionals in determining which marketing venues are most successful.

While basic services for the Point2 NLS are free, the company does charge for advanced features, such as "predictive marketing" analysis that assists real estate professionals in tracking the online behavior and real estate interests of specific users.

Also, there are other lead-prospecting and text-messaging tools available for a fee. The company has made a name in the industry by building real estate Web sites and offering selling tools to assist with online marketing and lead management.

While several of the free online property-marketing services allow homeowners to list their own properties for sale, Point2 is focused on properties represented by real estate professionals. Most of the participants in the system are agents, and King said that agents are required to get broker permission to market listings in the system.

"It's really the brokers who are in control of the listing content," he said.

The traditional MLS system, which features hundreds of local, regional and statewide MLSs across the country, are not integrated and employ a wide array of business rules, membership fees and data standards.

Many MLSs are operated by Realtor trade groups, and in some cases membership in the Realtor trade group is tied to membership in the trade group's MLS. The Point2 NLS system does not require Realtor or MLS membership, though many of the nation's real estate licensees are also Realtors and members of at least one MLS.

Jay Thompson, a real estate agent in Mesa, Ariz., and a Point2 user since August 2005, said he has separate sections on his own Web site for posting shared property information derived from local MLS members and a separate section for posting properties from the Point2 network.

"My MLS lets me put (up to) six pictures in a listing. Point2 lets you put 36 -- I get a lot more views on my Point2 listings," he said. "I put a lot more pictures, so people tend to naturally gravitate toward the listings that have more information."

Thompson, who works for Century 21 Aware, likens the Point2 capabilities to that of Google Base, Trulia or Zillow -- "It's just another Web venue for me to advertise listings on. It's not going to replace the MLS; that's not its intent." He said he has established agreements through the Point2 network with about 1,100 real estate professionals in the area where he works, and he explains this to prospective clients during listing presentations.

Some industry participants may not embrace the concept of the Point2 NLS at first, Thompson said. But after they realize "that it's not an attempt to take over their world then they should be OK with it," he added.

Saul D. Klein, a real estate industry speaker and consultant and creator of the e-PRO real estate technology certification program, said that the concept for the Point2 NLS "is a great one," though the company is "going to have challenges."

"The ability for people to choose their own marketing partners is, to me, where the industry needs to go," said Klein, who is also president of Internet Crusade, an Internet marketing company and an online community of real estate professionals.

While there has been industry controversy over how information is shared among real estate professionals, Klein said that Point2 seems to have the right idea with its "Handshake" agreements. "You should have the right to choose who you share your listings information with," he said. "I think that's a good thing, and I encourage that kind of participation. It's up to the Realtor ... and not the Department of Justice."

Klein said there is potential for MLSs to misinterpret the intent of the Point2 NLS system, and that could be an obstacle for the system. "I'm intimately aware of the politics of MLSs, and I think if they understand it it won't be a problem. But if they don't understand it it will be a nightmare -- people will react out of fear and not out of fact."

He added, "I believe that if the MLSs take a hard look at this they will see that it's not competition -- there is more competition from major search portals."

The cat is already out of the bag when it comes to the distribution of property listings information, Klein said, noting that real estate professionals now have many online venues to market properties.

"To be able to compete now -- to defend yourself -- you have to let it go to a number of places, otherwise one place does become more powerful," he said. "The days where we put it on Realtor.com or only put it in two or three places, I think we've outgrown that."

Brokers, too, may have a negative reaction to the NLS system, Klein said, and the company must show the industry "that they are not there to take anything away from them," but rather to enhance the industry and provide more choice. "We know that there always is resistance," he said.

Realtor.com, a National Association of Realtors-affiliated site operated by Move Inc., remains a dominant player for online property searches, Klein also said, though systems such as the Point2 NLS may push the industry toward "fuller, richer content on the Internet."

With so many sites competing for Internet eyeballs, it remains to be seen whether Point2 NLS will gather significant participation to change the industry, Klein said. "A lot of companies spend a lot of money getting products to market. I think if it gets the right traction it can be an industry-changing thing. Getting the right traction is tough."