With Myhome soon leaving the local landscape soon I came to thinking of what would make the ultimate portal. I know Peter has posted on something similar before but I thought I would throw my hat in the ring and mockup what I believe would be the perfect portal from my perspective as an agent.

Technology
Keep a familiar navigational style similar to current portals however utilise the latest web 2 technology to improve functionality without sacrificing usability. Don’t try and reinvent the wheel, just make it better and go faster.

Bandwidth and storage is cheap these days so the site would feature high resolution photos and full screen slideshows. (more…)

Even though podcasts sometimes seem like yesterday’s news, new podcast user data shows that real estate agents should seriously consider offering these portable audio and video shows on their real estate websites.

In Australia, 40% of internet users download podcasts, up from 22% a year ago.

When I was looking for my last home, it seemed natural to me to subscribe to and download some relevant podcasts. On my commutes I would listen to them and learn.

Podcasts are ideal for tightly defined niches. Residential real estate is such a niche. Single family houses in Mosman is a more tightly focused niche.
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Well it seems the the 2007 BRW Rich list are now all going to hell (wherever that is) . Maybe ABC Learning’s Eddie Groves saw this coming and decided to dwindle his shares the good old fashioned way.

But what are the 7 deadly sins when publishing your vendors listings? Please note, I can update this at my discretion at any time in the future.
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In the new movie Jumper, the hero is an otherwise normal guy who just happens to be able to jump forward in time–at will. For the real estate industry, the future never arrives so quickly. Instead it comes in dribs and drabs, day by day.

Still, the future always arrives.

From Peter Williams’ entire presentation the other day, there is one line that I can still quote from memory.

He said that, because of the web, in the future, “Traditional agents will not be replaced by technology…they will be replaced by agents with technology.” (more…)

There have been a few whispers circulating that MyHome and Homehound are about to merge or are at least in talks of a merger. I don’t know how much weight I can lend to these whispers but it would be interesting on a number of issues.

I hope they do to be honest and I hope MyHome use the Homehound developers, who I must say have done a pretty nifty job of their website. Homehound is now more popular than MyHome (ouch) in terms of users, but it is their website I like the most. It really is a nice little site.

The only downside of all of this is the ownership issue. I just cannot see any portal working that is owned in full or in part by real estate agencies (franchises or not) unless everyone has a fair and equal share. If these two companies do merge, I hope (fingers crossed) they use the Homehound website and systems, as it still hurts for me to look at MyHome (although it has improved a little).

Other news:
My associate writer on business2.com.au, Dave Platter, has just welcomed a new child into his family, so congratulations to Dave and his lovely wife. Lets just hope the child and mother never hear the words “he looks just like his father”.