By Mariwyn Evans

I’m in San Francisco this week to soak in all the information I can from Inman’s Real Estate Connect conference. Here’s a little taste of what you’re missing.

Video and Web Marketing. In packed sessions, I’m hearing great tips on how to use multimedia to expose the world to your listings. One of my favorite ideas: Do an unbranded version of home tours so other salespeople will post them on their sites.

Look into the future. I sat in on an impressive presentation by New York Times futurist Michael Rogers, who spoke about the future of interactive video—a very cool blend of TV and the information-packed Internet. You play the video, but can also click key points and drill down to get more info on something discussed briefly in the video. Maybe five years away, but amazing nonetheless.

No escaping foreclosures. There’s an unfortunate abundance of sessions and vendors (Including RealtyTrac, Foreclosure.com, Forclusres.com, and ForeclosurePoint) focusing on how to find and buy foreclosure properties. Plus, lots of talk about the trillions—yes, t—of subprime loans that are resetting in 2008 and concerns about resets of the Alt-A loans next year.

So long for now. I'm off to the next session!

Posted on July 25 at 10:13 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

By Stacey Moncrieff

Joe Sullivan, information architect for our parent Web site, REALTOR.org, keeps the rest of us up-to-date on social networking trends. This story he sent from Business Week took me by surprise.

Continue reading "Targeting Women? Better Be Networking Online" »

Posted on July 2 at 12:32 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

By John N. Frank

Craig was at Real Estate Connect --- yes, that Craig --- Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist.org.

If you don’t know what Craigslist is, find out. It can be an important tool for displaying property listings (see REALTOR® magazine’s March cover story on Real Estate 2.0 for some examples of people using Craigslist for their listings).

Craig mentioned that his site only charges for job ads and for rental listings in New York City. He then chided some New York real estate pros for trying to avoid the $10-per-apartment listing fee by posting in the apartments for rent by owner section, which carries no fee.

Everyone works the angles in New York, Craig; welcome to the Big Apple.

Video Everywhere (Sigh)
People with video cameras were everywhere at Connect, including at least one who was using her camera on fellow panelists and the audience at her session.

I also was interviewing one techie who took a still photo of me and quickly put it on his Web site to show me how easy to use his company’s Web site technology is.

I’m not sure if I like everyone being able to instantly become a member of the paparazzi like that. Let’s hope some sort of video etiquette evolves to maintain some level of privacy for all of us. I like fleeting fame as much as the next person but there has to be some limits.

Posted on January 18 at 09:23 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

BY JOHN N. FRANK

One message that came across in numerous sessions during last week’s Real Estate Connect conference, sponsored by Inman News, was that video has captured the “next hot trend” mantle for real estate Web sites and individual real estate professionals’ blogs.

Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president, digital operations, for The New York Times Company, spoke about how the Times was about to roll out video for its real estate ads.

Charlie Young, chief operating officer with Coldwell Banker Real Estate, said that his company plans to do more with video on its Web site and elsewhere.

And even conference host and organizer Brad Inman was telling attendees to buy one of the new line of small video cameras that can plug directly into a computer’s USB port to instantly transfer property videos for use online.

A Generational Thing?

I have no doubt that buyers would be interested in seeing video of houses they might want to buy, but the discussions about video also reminded me of a basic difference between my generation (Baby Boomers) and all the Gen Y folks out there, including my grown children, who are either now or will soon be entering the housing market.

When I was looking for a house in late 2006, I got in my car daily and drove around the neighborhood where I wanted to buy looking for “For Sale” signs. My wife and I spent numerous weekends going to open houses, both to check out the market and to find a real estate pro with whom we wanted to work with in buying a new place and selling my old duplex.

I can’t imagine my children or anyone in their generational cohort doing that. They prefer to go online and do all their searching there. They believe so much in the integrity of the online experience that seeing a video of a house is just like being at the house for them, I suspect. It’s the same attitude they take to instant messaging a friend – they consider that the same as talking face-to-face.

That’s bound to have an impact on how you work with Gen Y clients. Something to think about.

Posted on January 18 at 06:46 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

BY JOHN N. FRANK

One of the more interesting sessions during Real Estate Connect in New York this past week started out sounding like some type of "gee-whiz techie fest." However, it ended up producing some very down-to-earth advice for real estate professionals, no matter their level of techie sophistication.

The session, “Technology Opportunities or Tomorrow,” was the last of the three-day Inman News conference on Friday. Instead of talking about flashy new tech toys, the panel told the faithful few who had waited for the session that the secret to effectively using technology in real estate is to find tech tools you’re comfortable with and reflect who you want to be as a real estate pro.

“Don’t do it all at once,” said Wendy Forsythe, vice president of broker services & product development with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. Other panelists quickly agreed.

Sure, people are looking to Web sites for real estate information, but they also want to find professionals they can work with comfortably and effectively. So whatever you put on your Web site has to tell them who you are.

Here are some other ideas for your Web site:

• Fast response. If you’re someone who wants to be available 24/7, put instant messaging on your site so they can reach you anywhere, anytime.

• Add some flash. If you enjoy playing with cameras, video is the hot trend for real estate sites these days. Create videos of your properties or give small vide cameras to your sellers and let them do their own video tours.

Grow Your Network

The great power of the Internet is its reach. More people can find you there than might ever meet you at the weekly Chamber of Commerce meeting.

But whether they find you online or in the real world, they need to get to know you and the level of service you can provide before they decide whether to work with you.

That won’t change no matter how much technology comes along.

Posted on January 11 at 04:26 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (2)