Online Real Estate Technology

This past week I’ve spent time in Victoria and NSW visiting real estate offices and I must make a very special mention of Bianca and Neil Brown from Century21 Wentworth Falls, I was in their office yesterday and spent what to me, was a very inspiring morning. Their desire, commitment and dedication to evolve their business on the net actually inspired me. During the morning the subject of video came up, including the use of video for an office profile, on their properties and vlogging, that’s the video version of a blog. My attempt at this just recently astounded me with the results that my little piece got from Viddler.com, Over 200 embeds and 50 views, not bad for a 4 minute piece recorded in a hotel room and then placed only on my blog.

So I thought I would go one step further with this and evolve the process and look at what a real estate agent could achieve with a weekly or daily video update. Technology has made this process so simple now that anyone can record a video and then load it to the web, and you don’t need any real skills to do this, just a camera or webcam and a computer. The idea of communicating in real time by blogging, podcasting and Vlogging is just starting to be utilised by real estate marketers here in Australia, although it is very popular with US based agents. I was chatting to Neil and Bianca about using video on a weekly basis to provide market updates and create a communication tool that could be syndicated via their own C21 web site and also tap into social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube and Itunes.

So lets look further into this and see where it could go, real estate agents could use it to provide information instantly to clients and buyers alike, provide market updates,even market their clients houses via these updates. Record your video after your weekend open homes and provide that information to your vendors or just report on the results of auctions on that weekend. You could even create your own real estate show using this method, interview local people and share information to your audience. Promote your show via your marketing on listings and traditional marketing, add it to your letter box drops etc, this all helps to create an audience for your show.

I know some of you reading this may think you have enough to do now without adding more work to your day and I agree this will not be for everybody, but just think of the niche you could create for yourself with this, being able to provide your clients with real time market information or use it to create a wider market for your business.  I’m going to put my own thoughts on this into action and start to introduce more video into my blog, I’ll add it to Itunes and Youtube as well and see how popular it becomes.

So after having this flash of creativity, I did some research on the power of video and during this research it led me to a Canadian Realtor by the name of Tom Everitt who is based in Vancouver Canada. Tom is a realtor who has created his own TV show and along with his wife Kerrie records and uploads videos to his web site daily. I’ve included one of those videos for you to see his profile after being interveiwed for the local TV news channel.

If after watching this video you would like to visit his web site and look at his videos, here’s the link for you. http://www.thinktom.com/

The concepts and ideas are limitless for this, so get your Video camera ready and start recording!!!!

It’s funny sometimes how you get motivation to write a blog post, and this morning sitting outside reading my morning paper with my first cup of coffee, I looked at the local newspapers real estate section, I personally don’t do this very often, but today it got me to thinking. How well do real estate marketers combine both their on line and press adds, well after researching this morning, my impression is not very well. There appears to be little or no cross promotion, no push to get readers to go to your internet site to get additional information or view more photos, virtual tours,video etc. At least not from what I read today.

Your listings are very one dimensional in press, with limitations on how much space you have to work with, so why haven’t most agents yet to understand how to integrate the two? Yes I know some agents do this very well, but others, not so good. A recently Google commissioned study indicated a brand or product showing up both online and in the newspaper increased buyer credibility and trial by up to 50%. An integrated, multi-channel approach amplifies your credibility factor significantly in your marketplace.

It’s critical to your marketing’s success that it needs to play to the strengths of the medium, using on line to show additional information that meets the needs of the buyer plus supplying a wealth of information that supports the property, whilst using your press advertising to promote and keep your brand prominent and featuring a strong call to action to encourage readers to visit your own branded web site.   

I noticed this morning, 90% of the property advertising in the local real estate section, did not have a call to action nor did the agents refer prospective buyers to their web site to obtain additional information.

We all know that the dominance of press and online advertising for real estate has changed, but the need to integrate all your advertising and link them all has not. Employing a marketing strategy that plays to the strength of all mediums, will enable you and your office to maximise your presence as well as your marketing dollar.  

Press advertising is expensive, so why waste the opportunity to integrate all your marketing, because that’s where the real power is to you and your brand.

This post now available as a podcast, download this here: http://www.mikeandrew.podomatic.com/

The content that consumers look for in your property listings is constantly changing and more often today is being driven by what market forces are at play. For instance in the new NAR 2008 Home Buyers survey, a very important consideration is the suburb and the properties location to the buyers workplace. This is being driven by the higher price of fuel, yet how many real estate agents reflect these social changes when writing copy for the net? 

Do you change your copy content to match the market? Well, after conducting some real estate office audits this week on the Sunshine Coast, the response to that question from me would be no! So lets look at what should be included as part of your on line copy to maximise the response from buyers to your listing. 

Suburb choice is now very important in the selection of a home, what schools are in the area, how far is the local shopping centre or local transport, what is the street appeal of the suburb and the list goes on.

I’ve just recieved the October 2008 PRD Nationwide consumer research on this and have included the results for you below:  

What are the features you would find most important when deciding to purchase a unit or apartment?

Whilst this is aimed at the unit/apartment buyer, location of schools, cafes and shops is very high on the priority list and I don’t believe this is very different from those priorities of the home buyer.  

57% of people who will click on your listing during the search process will be female, so write your listing with the demographic and gender in mind. These people are in research mode and will be researching properties and suburbs to see what information they can find about lifestyle conditions in the area, as well as practical considerations such as travel time etc. Use www.walkscore.com to help generate local area information, walkscore will tell you the distance to local amenities such as parks, shopping centres, local transport etc.  Cut and paste the images of the maps in your photo selection to indicate the local area and provide this under “your local expert” tag.

The best layout of your listing, should be as follows:

Headline – Sells the lifestyle and gets attention so make it strong

Property Information – This is the nuts & bolts of the property.

Suburb and lifestyle Expectation – This is the what’s in it for “me” section and why i should buy here, more importantly, this is the part that provides the emotion and expectation of what the area provides, so use this section wisely.      

Call To Action - This is where you market yourself, don’t leave this out, this is where you ask for the order or the lead, and way too many times agents leave this off. In the recent CAR home buyers survey, 45% of consumers said that agent contact information was a very important part of the information provided to them on Internet listings.

Real Estate agents should market themselves as the local experts in the area, but make sure you are what you say you are. 

Now one word of warning with all of this, don’t go and write War & Peace, make sure you provide succinct information that is relevant to the search and selection process. If you add too much waffle, the consumer will close you down, make it relevant information that will assist them in making the decision to go to the next step and that is to contact you. 

I’ll cover the new NAR 2008 Home Buyers Survey in more detail for you in the next few days.

Last Monday I flew Jetstar to Newcastle and I was motivated to write this post after seeing an add on TV for Jetstar last night, the TV commercial portrays them as the fun airline with smiling staff and offering great service etc, I’m sure you’ve all seen commercials like this one, with companies all pretending to be something in reality, they are not. On the way back from Newcastle, I flew VirginBlue and in the inflight magazine, there is a article from Brett Godfrey their CEO talking about their new service to LA being delayed by a strike at Boeing in Seattle, and then he goes on to to mention how we will soon be able to experience their great service on long haul flights, well, as a very frequent flyer with both VirginBlue and Jetstar, I’d have to say, “What Service”, at best most of their staff are pleasant, there is the odd one who really doesn’t want to be there, the cabin service is adequate at best, and with my company having just paid over $300 for the return fare, I still had to buy my coffee and wait an eternity for my baggage. I’veencountered Jetstar refusing to take a passenger who turned up 5 minutes late for her flight from Tasmania, because she was late checking in, and then the flight was delayed by 30 minutes, so who then compensates us for their non on time performance? Now if you flew each airline once or twice a year you probably wouldn’t notice these little niggles, but as a frequent flyer I notice, and really the fares aren’t that cheap and the service, is almost non existent, especially for what I pay for that service.

So what’s the point to this post?     

Over the years I’ve encountered real estate agents who have advertised how they use the latest technology to market properties, and work with buyers and sellers. There is in fact, one agent in the South of Brisbane, who advertises himself as Mr Technology and his marketing is all based on how he uses the latest technology to market on behalf of his vendors and respond to buyers enquires. well, I have to tell you that over the past 3 years I’ve sent him numerous emails about his properties advertised on the net, and I’ve never had a response yet from him, in fact it has become my lifes mission to get him to respond. Sadly I have to report, I’ve still been unable to get him to do so, and if you look at the number of email enquiries that still go unanswered today, about 30% of emails sent to agents go unanswered, we still have some way to go in eductating agents on how to deal with the internet consumer and their changing communication needs.

So again, “What’s the Point of this post?” It’s to raise with you the point, that if you advertise you, your agency or your service, then be true to that advertising. If you are marketing yourself as an agent who uses technology then make sure you use that technology correctly.

Have a best practice policy in place that ensures response times to emails is immediate, make sure your listings are complete and contain all the information that today’s internet consumer is looking for, and make sure your agency is what you say you are.  

This is most important when marketing on the net, because the internet consumers first experience with you will be what they see on the net. Are you using technology in your agency to it’s best potential?  Are you offering your vendors/clients all the newest technology to market properties?, are you using social media networks effectively?

If not, then rethink your strategy, be what you say you are, because when times are really tough, the consumer will look more closely at you and your service.

Don’t let them down!!!

There has been lots of discussion from real estate agents on what model they prefer when it comes to real estate portals, you’ve got pay per listing, subscription based charges, free listing models and aggregator sites. Well now in the US a new site called locallylocated.com has applied a pay per click model, where your initial listing is free and the advertiser only gets charged when a potential on line buyer clicks on your listing ton it and examine it in detail. The end result? The advertiser only has to pay for serious customers interested in looking over a specific property listing. 

Their media release states: “Locally Located.com will give the advertiser complete control over the number of clicks they want to pay for, the length of time they want the listing posted for, and the budget they want to spend. All of these parameters, of course, can be adjusted as need be, after the listing is posted. Advertisers will also be able to control how often they would like to receive account updates, which will allow the user to thoroughly test their marketing efforts.

Unlike most traditional PPC systems, however, Locally Located.com does NOT force the real estate advertiser to bid against other advertisers worldwide for the best placements. The playing field is level – and the PPC charge is equal for everyone, not driven up by big business wanting to squeeze the most money out of the small advertiser.

Another overwhelming advantage to LocallyLocated.com is that the site will post any type of real estate listing – making it a hub or “one-stop shop” for any potential property prospects, and anyone seeking information on a specific geographic area of interest to them .

LocallyLocated.com is also committed to being more than a traditional real estate search site. To attract a steady stream of traffic consisting of potential property buyers, the site will be filled with enhanced targeted real estate content – including news article’s, blogs and forums. This content will utilize the latest Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, ensuring the site high search engine result rankings, which will bring about exposure to the greatest amount of online users interested in real estate and all the supplemental information they would need to make an informed decision .

Local Search will also be an important and integral part of Locally Located.com. Local search is now a close second to email as the most utilized function of the internet. By enabling specific geographic guidelines, Locally Located.com will be able to further target buyers on the lookout for property in specific areas with the assistance of satellite and map views, and many more free tools to assist its users in making the most informed decisions.

Local Searches are growing three times as fast as other kinds of online searches, as more and more people use the internet instead of print and other traditional media to find and research information on nearby neighborhoods. Obviously, this category includes real estate – a category that Locally Located.com is strategically positioned to heavily influence with its innovative new approach to real estate marketing.
Internet marketing has come of age – and Locally Located.com is determined to bring online real estate advertising up to speed in the most cutting-edge and cost-effective way possible”.

Here’s a link to the web site for you to look at and research, I’ll monitor this site to see how successful it is with this pricing model. Wonder if any of the Australian portals would go down this line?

http://www.locallylocated.com/