Property Management site apmasphere have just announced the launch of aTV, property management’s first ever video channel. “aTV is dedicated to making learning on the job easier and more enjoyable – at any stage of your career.”

“aTV will provide the demonstration of key functions in the property management industry.”

The premise with aTV has been built around 100 questions the legislation and software can not teach or answer for a property manager.

Watch Video

aTV plan to keep the videos very short and intend to present a lot more insights along the way.

Membership to the apmasphere site is free & aTV is the latest in their long list of FREE resources for property managers to help them with their careers.

As a member, I’ve found that apmasphere provide an invaluable resource for Property Managers & Principals, with some of the industries best Property Managers & Property Management trainers providing guidance, thoughts and ideas on how to overcome many of the daily issues Property Management departments & Principals face.

Apmasphere has in excess of 1,000 members & provides some of the most up-to-date information available for Property Managers. Their forum acts like a brains trust for ideas on the ‘How To’ of Property Management and approaches questions on economics, structure and growth.

If you haven’t joined in as yet, you may want to head over to see what you’re missing out on. It’s a great online learning platform.

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A war has erupted and it is being fought across the newspapers of the world and also in senate hearings. It is a war that the commercial newspapers, radio and television networks have a invested a lot of time in debating. But have they got a chance of changing the dynamic of the way we read news and watch television?

I have been spending the last few weeks researching my second article on ‘newspapers and the online world‘ but will not release this until next week now, as this issue deserves an article on its own. Lets have a little look at what this is all about. Read the rest of this article »

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In a recent press release, RE/MAX boast 99.9% of the national share of voice in TV advertising in the US for the first quarter of the year, but RE/MAX & other real estate franchises should take a close look at how ineffective their marketing of these TV commercials has been over the internet.

RE/MAX claims:

“While many of the real estate industry’s biggest players are scaling back their TV buys due to economic realities, the RE/MAX share of voice for national TV advertising jumped from 50% in 2008 to 99.9% in the first quarter of 2009.”

RE/MAX have done a good job with their new straight talking  TV ads, but I can’t help but think that they could increase their audience by leveraging their video content across the internet via their huge network of agents/staff, databases of clients and via social media.

Whilst it was great to see that RE/MAX have taken the initiative & leveraged their video content by uploading the commercials onto YouTube, unfortunately that’s where their effective use of the internet for these videos seems to grind to a halt.

The collective online marketing power of a franchise like RE/MAX is enormous.

They have something like 100,000 Associates working within their company & their LeadStreet campaign successfully created a database of a Million More Leads in Six Months for US Agents, yet upon writing this post the Kick – 2009 RE/MAX Commercial is the video that appears to be their most popular out of their 2009 commercials uploaded onto YouTube so far, but it’s had less than 10,000 views over the past 4 months.

How to Promote Your Real Estate Videos Online

Here’s just a few ways that real estate franchises & independent offices could use the power of their existing network to help promote their brand, generate lots of Free traffic to their videos & enhance their online marketing presence.

• Share the videos on Facebook, MySpace, forums, etc.

• Embed the YouTube video within a short blog post.

• Include a link to the video within email marketing campaigns.

• Tweet about the video on Twitter.

Imagine the power of marketing that 100,000 RE/MAX Associates could have if they used some of these strategies to promote these professionally created TV Commercials out to their network of clients & associates via the internet.

If each Associate only got 10 people in a month to view the commercial, that would equate to approx. 1 million viewers per month for FREE.

In fact, if RE/MAX franchise really wanted to, they could get 10’s of millions of viewers to their videos each month at almost no cost. Now that’s what I’d call a powerful message.

Finally, there are over 100 alternative video sites other than YouTube. Real estate franchises should be uploading their videos/TV commercials onto some of these other sites as well to help generate even more FREE traffic & exposure of their brand.

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As I wandered around this great country on my Christmas break, I had the welcome opportunity to relax and catch up on some reading. So you might ask what did I read about after one of the most exhausting years since I began in the industry? Well I mixed my reading with some magazines and a few books of experts telling me what to do with my money and life, where to invest that money and what to steer clear of in 2009! I assume these are the same experts who had no idea of the pending financial crisis and the loss of 10’s of millions of jobs across the developed world!

So it got me thinking, what is an expert? Well to me, an expert is someone who tells you something you should already know. There are no experts that can actually predict the future accurately.

After spending a few weeks in my Hawaiian shirt and cabana shorts I decided to put some pen to paper and fax this off to Peter to type out, with some instructions on how to actually copy word for word what I write – alongside some hints from Julie Bishop on how to do this.

Here is some advice from the old man for 2009

Sportspeople flogging property developments:

You can always tell when a person who has recently retired will do almost anything for money, especially when it is flogging off ‘amazing’ investment opportunities. Glenn McGrath – the best way to muddy your name after decades building it up is to get on board for some quick cash and flog real estate, yes, this maybe a great investment, but history has shown us that these developments can be dubious at best – after all just ask Craig McDermott how well this works out in the long term Glenn and stick to the charities and flogging caravans. 

Executive Salaries:

Well we thought these guys were gurus, turns out they just heard someone else made a killing on something so they just all followed the pied piper until it all came tumbling down. At least we no longer have to listen that old chestnut – that you need to spend money to get the ‘best talent’! So my hats off to the best of the best around the globe who have made middle income earners across the worlds bail out about 10 trillion of their debt. 

Everything I have: 

Every time I hear the heart wrenching story of a person or family sinking their last dollar into a financial services company or property development my heart bleeds – for about 5 seconds –  then I think, hang on why did you put EVERYTHING you had into it? You deserve to be burnt. The only things anyone should ever put all their money into is their principal place of residence and/or your business.

George Bush:

Most of you might be happy to see George Bush go – unless you are in the richest 1% of Americans, who will miss him dearly. NY Times reports that when Georgie Boy took over from ‘The Cuban’ Clinton – the richest 1% of America only took home 9% of the weekly American income and when Gorgeous George left office it was up to 23%!. Not only that, average US wages dropped by $2000USD per annum over the 8 years George was at the helm. Ouch! History does not look too kindly on those figures George, no matter how many memos you send to the press corps :)

Savings?

The recent Foxtel campaign is amusing! I am at a loss to understand how joining Foxtel saves me money? If they take $30 per month out of my already dwindling account, how does that save me money? That’s $30 less than what I would have if I didn’t join Foxtel. 

Insurance:

As bushfires raged across Australia, we now get set for some technicalities that allow insurance companies to deny payouts. I always wonder why insurance companies can worm their way out of payouts.

I have an idea, it is quite a simple one. I think insurance companies should have to list what you are not covered for, in relation to the type of insurance you have taken out. I bet you a monthly terrorism surcharge that would be a long list!

Mortgage Stress?

When I purchased my first home in the 60’s, I owned my television (His Masters Voice) and my radio, I only called family and friends when I needed something/to go somewhere and I paid cash for my car! In fact my only monthly debts were for my house, phone, wife and electricity bills. Today the majority of Australians make payments monthly on the house, car, televisions, stereos, mobile phones, phones, Internet, cosmetic surgery and of course Foxtel. See where I am heading with this?

My Pet Hate:

About the only time I ever curse is when a politician speaks these words “Australians are smart enough” followed by their opinion on some subject. I think we should have a big wet fish come across the screen and slap any politician who utters those words. 

President Obama

: Yes, I must admit, I kinda like the guy who speaks a little funny. One thing about him though, he is probably the best speaker I have ever come across. I remember the night he won the election and he gave one of the greatest speeches I have ever heard. Now, cast your mind back to Kevin Rudd on election night, I am a swinging voter and went to a little gathering at a local farm, most of the people there were supporters of Kevin Rudd, by the end of the speech they were booing and hissing, it was just so darn boring. I hope he reealises it is not only his words but his delivery. From now on Kevin, just give us the facts as you see them and shut up. Also Kevin, don’t get your speechwriters to use swear words as we know it is just not you and you end up spending all night saying rosaries instead of fixing the economy.

Finally…..

We have the worst wage to mortgage ratio in the western world, but we have bigger problems, it is just too easy to get credit. This is the root of all of our problems. Hopefully no more!

So I am now sitting here eating breakfast and spitting my muesli all over the television as I hear our Prime Minister speak. That Barack fella spoke and had the cats ears perking, the finches shrieking and my wife going all gaga, then Kevin comes speaks and everyone has lost the will to live.

Over and out!

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We all like to predict what will happen in 2009 but I think it is easier to predict what will not happen in 2009.

1. Housing Recovery
Depending on who you want to believe determines what you will believe. There will likely be no recovery and you should be happy about this. Don’t listen to your real estate institute, they will come out with “there are very healthy signs” about 10 times this year.

The truth is there will be no housing recovery for at least 10 years. Why?  Wages!  If you look at the cost of living and wages growth over the past decade (yes Mr Howard the true indicator of how your people are living) you will notice that costs have skyrocketed whilst wages have remained steady. For a housing recovery we need real wages growth and the opposite to occur with cost of living expenses.

With the current global economy and climate change you will not see this happen for many years. So why should you be happy?  Believe me, you do not want housing prices going up, this will just mean less and less of a market to sell to.  What you want is a bottom and therefore a steady market.

2. REA Price Freeze
This will be a great test to see how much the REA understands about the current market and how many of their real estate agents are feeling the pinch. You know that they are going to put your subscription fees up, maybe they will only increase them by 5% to show you just how much they care!  I am sure there will be a positive spin somewhere.

3. First Home Buyers
Tasmania has led the way with albeit a limited scheme, but one that is a little different. The state government provides a $50,000 loan to first home buyers. This must be paid back in 15 years, this incentive is on top of the first home buyers grants.

This was of course limited to 7 million on a first come first served basis, but it showed a little bit of innovation can go a long way.  For those of us who live in NSW, don’t hold your breath – there is no chance that this government or the liberals have any idea how to run a canteen, let alone a state, it really is that bad. Embarrassing!

4. Newspaper Recovery
When some of the biggest and historically the most profitable newspapers in the world need bailouts (Chicago Tribune,  New York Times) you know that there are troubles ahead for the industry as a whole. My guess is that this will be the worst year on record for newspapers/print advertising and many will go to the wall.

5. Television Revival
So Channel 9 has a new look, looks the same to me!  In Sydney they are talking up Peter Overton as some kind of ’saviour’ and promoting him across the network as a renegade.  The interview that they promoted with Tom Cruise does not work, Peter looks petrified when Tom tells him off.

Old TV is near finished, lets see how long they try to keep it going. Oh and forget about Free TV being anything revolutionary in the short term, they count the same shows on digital and analogue as two different channels. Too funny!

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On Thursday evening I had a phone hookup with Simon Baker, former Managing Director of Realestate.com.au. We spoke about a range of issues and I will place some excerpts from the interview here. Simon recently departed from Realestate.com.au in the typical pathetic fashion that large organisations feel necessary and from his blog My CEO Life Simon explained his departure. Read the rest of this article »

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Promoting your brand in a positive way in consumers’ minds is an important aspect of growing your business and understandably can stretch your marketing budget. This is a pretty obvious opening statement but, an important one to note, especially for those principles and managers who face the relentless pile of advertising invoices – which I’m certain produce offspring at any given opportunity.

Real Estate Agents obtain business through a variety of ways. Buyers who become sellers, referrals and street smart prospecting are all a part of tapping into the consumer stream and most likely potential business has arrived from your marketing dollars. Given that the majority of (potential) consumers will view your website then it should be a priority to regularly update and manage it effectively to maximise the return to your overall marketing investment. Read the rest of this article »

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Every year since 2004 I have been adding my own dumb and dumber awards. Usually is it a hard slog getting so many out the door, but why was 2007 different? Anyway sit back and have a giggle at some of the dumbest moments in real estate and technology for 2007.

PBL & MICROSOFT
1. It was without doubt the most anticipated launch of 2007 and is without doubt the worst major real estate website in Australasian history. I still cringe when looking at it. How could two major companies, Ninemsn and Microsoft get something so drastically wrong? Agents found themselves subscribed to a site they had never subscribed to, with listings sold years earlier. Agents also found that agents who no longer worked at their agency were listed alongside listings no longer under their agencies control.

2. MyHome struck a cord with only themselves and thus will fade further into oblivion in 2008 unless someone steps in and makes some radical changes. MyHome incorrectly perceived themselves as pretty cool. The standout memory for me was Senior Management in the Applesque (Steve Jobs) photo pose splashed in newspapers across the land. Soon, after all senior management had gone, the site tried in vain to claw back some respectability.

3. What do you do when you have a website with only 30% of your competitors’ listings and exactly the same data within that small percentage? What do you do when statistical data tells you that people stay on your website for less time than it takes to boil a kettle? It seems MyHome’s idea was to spend millions of dollars just telling everyone about it. When will it run out? Well, as soon as the people paying the bills ask one very simple question “What are we getting in return for our money?”

Read the rest of this article »

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It seems advertising agencies are really in a spin as to where large companies should spend their money. For the most part advertising in Australian Media is really left to the big boys.

But has anyone actually sat back and said, ‘hang on – if so many people are spending so much more time online and are not watching as much TV and listening to as much radio, then why are the figures not telling us this?”

This is because in my opinion the whole way that these things are added up are simply wrong. As an example, I had a little get together last week and I asked a few questions to the 15 guests at a BBQ.

1. How often do you watch TV?
3 people said they never watched TV at all, but sometimes hired a DVD. 4 people rarely watched TV, 3 people told me they watched TV every night and the remaining 5 told me that their TV habits have changed so much and that they watch much less TV than they did only a few years ago.

2. How often do you listen to radio?
6 people never listen to the radio, 4 do only on the way to work (in their car) and 5 listen to a couple of shows in bed at night.

3. How often do you buy the newspapers?
3 never do, 12 always buy the Sunday Papers, 8 buy that Saturday papers as well (and all of these 8 mentioned the property guide) but only 3 purchased the midweek papers.

4. Use the Internet?
14 people use the Internet everyday. 1 uses the Internet every other day and all use the Internet for researching property. In fact 12 told me they look at property at least 4 times a week online.

Now all I can say is that I think companies should really do their own research, I have to say that of all of my friends are pretty much free thinkers and as much as I hate the term (a little left). But it does tell me that all of the research that goes into TV viewers each week is a little pathetic and hardly a true indication of who actually watches TV.

The problems everyone has is that so many companies make money out of TV, Newspapers and Radio advertising and these same companies make very little out of Internet advertising that it makes it hard for large companies habits to change. The last companies I would trust as far as spending my money on marketing would be advertising agencies or ad buyers.

It simply comes down to results and they will vary from city and region, but do not trust just what you are told, do some research yourself. There are a few Google Adword specialist companies out there and one of the bloggers on here does this kind of work.

I would suggest pulling some kind of advertising from another sector, if only for a month or a week and place a little money into marketing your won website through a Google Adwords campaign, you may be pleasantly surprised!

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Now, I am getting in way over my head. I do not really care for either party in this debate, but I clearly side with Labor that the government must build the network and then allow equal access for any carrier that wants to get involved.

Why?
Having Telstra owning the network has been a disaster for consumers, it slows down the rate of change and has hurt consumers more than any share price drop. Just take a look at some figures:

In the US for $20 USD per month you get all local and national calls, calls to Canada and calls to many European countries, yes that is $20 per month, below $30 AUD . Now we pay more for just a line rental. Now I have been renting a telephone line from my property to the street for 20 years, surely this is just a rip off. I pay $36 per month just for line rental.

256 kb downloads speeds is not broadband but an absolute joke, 512 kb downloads is the same, we will look back and laugh at these speeds in just 5 years.

I switched from Telstra for my broadband 12 months ago, why? Because I could get five times the bandwidth and 15 times the speed from iiNet for less than what it cost me from Telstra.

Telstra only introduced ADSL 2+ once it started losing clients. You can have as many spiffy ads telling us that 256k is lightning fast broadband but consumers will wise up eventually.

To me the term ‘Broadband’ is a minimum of 12 megabytes per second and ADSL 2+ can take us above 20 megabytes per second. Having Telstra build and control access to a national fibre to the node network will just mean slower speeds, weaker service and higher prices and this is why Labor’s promise to build a fibre to the node network is good for consumers.

It will allow all of the other carriers equal access and will bring down prices because that is what competition does. Now some may argue that Telstra will still own the last mile to the home. Who cares? In the next 24 months we will see WiMAX hit the streets and every new PC made with an Intel and AMD chip will have the chip built in. So there goes any need for that last mile from Telstra.

WiMAX allows for wireless broadband up to 50 kilometres from the antenna, it will also allow relaying which means it will be cheaper for rural areas and can reach speeds of up to 100 megabytes a second, although this does drain the further away you get from it, but remember, in the early days of the Internet we used to get 9kb a second, then 14kb, then 36 and now 56kb all from the lousy modem.

Telstra has made it clear it will not build a network if it has to give access to competition at regulated prices, which basically means it wants to dictate to all other providers the price they can get access for – and in turn what we must pay, yeah that will work! We only have to go back a few years and Telstra was charging competitors wholesale prices that were higher than their own retail prices. So again I do not trust them to do the right things by the consumer one little bit.

I would like to see the Liberal Party jump on board and support building our own network, because it will be a good money spinner for the government instead of trying to scare everyone concerning the Labor plan, I watched Peter Costello’s tirade in Parliament about raiding the future fund, it was pretty funny really and I think he thought he had them, unfortunately for him just about every media company in Australia agrees with Labor..

As I have said before, big business in Australia, the current market leaders – are not given a born right to rule our wallets forever, the market should dictate this by the product and services they provide – not because they have always been successful.

Yes we have monopolies everywhere, roads, banks gaming and television (to name but a few) but this is one area that the monopoly must end for the good of all Australians. Next to marketing and rent, telephone and Internet costs are the biggest many small businesses face and it is time we paid a reasonable price for a reasonable product.

Now before you think I am a member of the Labor Party I am not, in fact I don’t think I have voted Labor since Keating, but I can tell you now, I want some changes and I do not want Telstra owning a fibre network that they can dominate.

End of Rant….

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