During my time at realestate.com.au, I saw that the company has lots of happy customers (no snide remarks, please). But, it also has trouble convincing some agents that they should pay more over time for online real estate advertising. In this post I uncover the secret cause of that trouble and ask for your ideas on how to solve it–to everyone’s satisfaction. Read the rest of this article »
Why you think advertising costs too much, and why it doesn’t
Real estate advertising gone wrong!
In the light-hearted spirit of the holidays, I submit these real estate classifieds ads, which are apparently from the US. (Editor Note: I should have posted this earlier, but it is still pretty funny)
Talk about a motivated seller!
Hard to heat and cool?
If that’s the best you can say about it…
All of these ads are courtesy of Criggo, the blog whose tagline is, “Newspapers are going away. That’s too bad.”
(Thanks to my friend Jodi for the heads up.)
Some changes at HubOnline from realestate.com.au
My apologies for not posting in some time. Today, I do have some news to share.
Rather than make business2 readers wait until this seeps out publicly, I’m going to give you a heads up on two things that are happening at realestate.com.au today.
I’m sorry that I probably won’t be able to participate in the comment stream today. But, I didn’t want that to keep me from telling you about this.
Read the rest of this article »
Inside the mind of a road warrior, a real estate agent who replaced her office with technology
One of the comments on my recent post about virtual agents was from Teena Andrews, an agent with Coldwell Banker Property Direct in Brisbane. Teena is a Road Warrior who almost never sets foot into her agency’s actual office. In this interview, she tells us more about being an agent who has dispensed with the storefront office.
There are some fascinating things in here, so it’s well worth a read. For example, Teena feels she gets more leads than the office-based agents.Read on to find out why.
NOTE: Because Teena is a guest on this blog, I would like to ask the more aggressive commentators on business2.com.au to be gentle to Teena and grateful that she has been willing to share a bit of herself with us.
No people in real estate photos, please!
Real estate agents in Australia take a lot of flack for the quality of the listings photos they upload to portals like realestate.com.au. And it is probably true that many photos could have been in slightly better focus.
However, today, I think all Australian real estate agents should give themselves a firm pat on the back.
Why? Because I’ve never seen an Australian listing photo as bad as those on the It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It! blog–from the good ol’ US of A and written by “Sara”.
The blog is “a collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings”. I’ve pulled out a few here: Read the rest of this article »
Marketing Real Estate: How much $ is enough?
How do you know how much to spend marketing real estate?
Some interesting survey data that just became available should be of help. A video marketing company in the US surveyed 1,304 real estate agents to see how much they spent. There isn’t a lot of info here, but what there is is gold.
One thing that jumped out at me: The agents surveyed said a significant portion of their listing budget was spent on newspapers, even though only 20.4 percent said they think this medium is “effective.”
Yet, 49 percent felt that online ads were “very effective.” The reason more agents aren’t putting their money where the results are is that they feel the vendors want print advertising.
New iPhone will be powerful and fun real estate platform–see the video now
I’ve written about the iPhone on this blog before, but the thing just keeps getting better.
The new model released this week–a faster 3G model at about half the price of the original model–makes me even more clear that this device will transform real estate.
What has to happen for the iPhone to bring workable real estate onto a mobile device for the first time?
A smart developer just has to create the applications. KCPB is funding promising application developers, and all applications will be for sale or free in the “Ap(plication) Store” for instant download and installation.
Watch the Apple WWDC keynote video to see some examples of iPhone applications that were created in just a couple of weeks. Once you see the examples in the video–from companies like eBay, Loopt and Major League Baseball–I’m sure you’ll be blown away.
Despite Blackberry’s, Palm’s and Nokia’s best efforts, I don’t see them catching up any time soon. Just imagine a Blackberry product launch in which new features are greated not just with polite applause, but with outright surprise, laughter and joy. But, if they do catch up, all the better for the real estate industry.
The Rise of the Virtual Real Estate Agent
In the comments to my 30 May 2008 post on the rise of the American virtual real estate agent, there was plenty of confusion about what exactly a virtual agent is. The details of the settlement of the lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors also created lots of confusion.
A friend just pointed me to an article about how the Realtors lawsuit empowers virtual agents on MarketWatch.
Online Real Estate Agents Get Advantage
It’s the best written description of what’s going on that I’ve seen. Here’s the essence of it. For anyone wed to the traditional business model, it’s scary stuff.
“The Justice Department reached a tentative settlement with the National Association of Realtors that essentially forced traditional real estate brokers to give Internet-based agents access to home-listing information that they had previously been denied.
“Online real estate agents often charge discounted commission fees and let buyers review listings at their own pace, but for years those Internet-based brokers in many parts of the country could not access more than 800 Multiple Listing Services nationwide affiliated with the national Realtors group. An MLS is a database of regional properties for sale.
“The traditional argument against opening the MLS system to online brokers was that it would result in a significant cut in commissions for traditional real estate agents. Indeed, that’s precisely what government officials wanted.”
Victory for virtual agents in US could lead to threat to traditional agents in Australia
The settlement of a lawsuit this week threatens to have a major impact on the way agents work in the future–to the possible detriment of large numbers of people in the industry today.
The lawsuit is between the US Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
The low down is that traditional real estate agents in the US can no longer withhold their property listings from virtual agents. This gives a big opening to businesses like Redfin, which calls itself “the industry’s first online brokerage for residential real estate.”
The fact that all this is happening in the US means there won’t be an immediate impact on Australian agents. But, if a powerful new web-based agent business model emerges in the US as a result, it could be just a matter of time before Aussie agents start to see a threat from such businesses.
Glenn Roberts of Inman News wrote an excellent piece on this. (subscription required)
Read the settlement (PDF) (thanks to agentgenius.com)
Read the official line from the National Association of Realtors
An expert’s tips on real estate podcasting
I recently posted about how real estate agents can use podcasts to turn their entire town into a referral network.
But I thought some agents might still be intimidated by the idea of getting together their own real estate podcast. So, I asked journalist and podcaster Mark Jones to share some tips with Business2.com.au.
Q. Mark, you are the Australian Financial Review’s former information technology editor, you host the Scoop podcast for MIS magazine and your company Filtered Media provides editorial, social media, speaking and consulting services.
Tell me, why should real estate agents podcast?
A. Well, first let me give you some kudos for this blog. I speak with many people in the communications & PR profession and few have made the leap into the blogosphere.
Podcasts are a powerful form of media because in the first instance they appeal to our desire to listen to audio content on our own terms. Radio is great, but podcasts are better because you have access to a literal universe of ideas on your mobile device when you’re on the bus, train, or working at your computer.
The amazing opportunity for real estate agents is that podcasts appeal directly to their core skills. In my view, real estate is only partly a sales function. You are in the people business – understanding their needs and finding solutions.
Agents are a source of valuable information on everything from market trends, to demographics and local news and politics.
If you want to build trust and be known as an expert in your field, hosting a podcast and inviting clients on your database to listen is a very easy and effective way to achieve that goal. If they keep listening to your show, you will always remain top of mind – and that’s the goal, right? Read the rest of this article »
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