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Technology for Real Estate Technology for Real Estate In the Real Estate realm there so are many technology offerings, and only a select few ever make it. At MyTechOpinion I will share my opinion on Real Estate Technology and its benefits. Please share your comments with me as well! Articles
Jott for Blackberry - The Secret To Speaking Your Emails
2008-06-08 21:02:00 In March I started using Jott for Blackberry beta, in hopes that I could save time by replying to email with my voice via my Blackberry. To my surprise this voice to email application was remarkable and accurate. Although as I’ve been talking with real estate agents I’m learning that many have not heard of this useful technology. That’s unfortunate because as a busy real estate agent you are probably sending many emails while out of the office and maybe even while you are on the road. Needless to say, emailing while driving can be dangerous. If that email needs to be sent immediately, using Jott for Blackberry you can simply attach your Bluetooth headset and speak your email while keeping both hands on the steering wheel. (We are not endorsing emailing while driving…simply sharing the technology. ) How do I get started? To start, Jott for Blackberry supports series 8800, 8300 (Curve), and 8100 (Pearl) models. If you are using one of these devices, simply v... More About: The Secret , Secret , Emails , Speaking
Add Cyberhomes To Your Real Estate Website, Blog or Single Property Site
2008-06-02 17:49:00 As a real estate agent looking to keep buyers and sellers on your website, blog or single property site, you realize the importance of providing local data that provides transparency to your market. Nevertheless finding the right data can be a daunting task. Not only does the data need to be accurate and updated often, but it needs to be presented in a way that encourages consumers to interact with it. Today I’ll be sharing the Cyberhomes Smart Frame which will allow you to search by city or zip code then retrieve a unique URL to be framed into your site without cost. Although before I do, let’s review some of Cyberhomes strengths: + Over 100 searchable properties with AVM + 575,000 records updated monthly + School scores + City boundaries + Neighborhood charts and graphs + Interactive heat maps Ok, now let’s look at the steps needed to get the Cyberhomes Smart Frame on your real estate website or blog: Go to CyberhomesPro.com and sign up for a free account. Once ... More About: Website , Estate , Real Estate , Property , Blog
22 Reasons to Use Twitter for Business and Pleasure
2008-05-30 06:21:00 Last week I was invited to take part in a top secret Twitter Mission. I received a request from JulieTweets to arrive at a red door in San Francisco by 12:30 sharp! Thanks to GPS (asking the parking attendant) I found it promptly! Anyway, once I arrived I was greeted by one cool cat and 3 hot babes with cupcakes. I was in for sure now! The hot babes (savvy production crew) proceeded to set me up for video interview. Come to find out, I wasn’t the only top secret twit invited to the red door. JulieTweets informed me that Twitter is compiling video interviews of all sorts of Twits to use in an upcoming marketing campaign. I quickly let her know that I’d be fine sharing the spotlight (not really) if she hooked me up with a Twitter shirt. Gosh, imagine what I’d do for a pair of jeans! So for those of you that are not familiar with Twitter (come out from under your rock), it’s a cross between blogging and instant messaging. Also referred to as micro-blogging. Ea... More About: Business , Reasons , Pleasure
Have You Outgrown Your Router?
2008-05-26 02:37:00 Let me guess, the oldest piece of technology in your home office is the router. Am I right? This holds true for most real estate agents. There just doesn’t appear to be a compelling reason to invest in newer technology. That is what I thought until I did a little research. Since then, I have retired my trusty 802.11g router for a new, cutting-edge model. Originally, you probably bought your router so that multiple computers could share a broadband connection. Plus, the added benefit of a wireless signal gave you the freedom to use your laptop from the couch. For these simple needs, that old router is fine. I’m here to tell you that your needs have grown beyond those simple tasks. Ask yourself these questions to identify how your home network needs have changed: Do you work primarily from home? Has your broadband connection speed increased (10 Mbps compared to 1.5 Mbps)? Do you have a network connected printer, external hard drive or maybe even a new Windows Home Server?... More About: Router
Does Your Real Estate Blog Need a Side of Widget?
2008-05-20 23:43:00 Are you looking for a value add for your real estate blog or Website? Many widgets promise the world (MORE READERS), but sadly many fall short of maximizing their intended goal. When it comes to adding valuable content and tools to your blog, try a widget that compliments your niche. Just don’t try them all. Many agents rightly focus on a niche or specific target market when it comes to blogging. So, why not add a widget that provides local content, events, and even property listings. Hyperlocal aside, even adding a news widget with a larger content scope (say, nationwide) adds value to readers who check both local and national market info. When thinking about adding a widget to your blog, you may want to ask yourself: (1) Does this widget provide helpful information? and (2) Does this widget foster interaction and build your network? Some options for you: Property Search Give consumers a home search tool they will come back for again and again. Try: Real ivent Home Se... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Widget , Blog
Windows XP Service Pack 3 May Cause More Issues Than It Fixes
2008-05-14 05:58:00 I started writing this article from the standpoint that a third service pack to the already stable Windows XP operating system could only be a positive thing. Unfortunately, my opinion changed once I installed the update on my own computer. SP3 is Microsoft’s final push to address issues with Windows XP before it is all but pulled from the market this summer. Once this happens, whether you are a Vista fan or not, that will be the only Windows choice available for purchase. Windows XP SP3 is quite a letdown in comparison to the added functionality seen with Service Pack 2. Service Pack 2 gave new life to Windows XP, making you feel that the massive download and installation was worth the effort. The reality is that no real estate agent will directly benefit from SP3’s new feature set. Issues with Service Pack 3 Installations While you may not notice any benefit from installing SP3, you might be unlucky enough to experience issues related to the installation. This past wee... More About: Windows Xp
5 Secrets to Better Search with Google
2008-05-12 05:59:00 “Google it”…that’s what we do when we need more information? Whether we’re looking for directions or real estate property; Google is often the first place we start. But are you searching effectively? I love having the power to find exactly what I need-when I need it! So I thought I would pass along a few of my favorite search tips. 1. Site Search Having a tough time finding what you are looking for on a particular site? If they don’t have a search you can use Google. Try searching for a keyword only on that domain. See example: Use this format: Phrase or Keyword site:domain Here is an example search: Paperless site:MyTechOpinion.com [Hint: If you are still having trouble finding the phase you searched on a particular site? Try using Google Cached version. It will highlight your search phrase or keyword.] 2. File Types Outside of standard web documents, Google searches many other popular file formats. To restrict your next Google search to a ... More About: Secrets
The Trick To Adding Local Search To Your Website or Blog
2008-05-05 06:12:00 Last week I talked about how mapping can help market your sales history (or any data for the matter) on your website or blog using Google Maps. This week I will use maps to showcase local attractions for home seekers on your website. As you know, many buyers care just as much about the neighborhood /community as the home itself! Why not add a page to your website or blog that facilitates buyer neighborhood research without leaving your site. Search ideas are limitless, but to start buyers could search local shopping, restaurants, parks, schools, recreation centers etc. To accomplish my goal, I will cover two different methods. The first method will be for real estate agents using WordPress, and the second method is for all other platforms or traditional Website s. For both examples you will need a Google Maps API key. If you do not already have an API Key for your domain, get started here before continuing. METHOD 1: WordPress Users - Google Maps Plugin For WordPress You are lucky... More About: Blog , Trick , Local
HomeGain Launches New Agent Blogging Network
2008-04-30 06:21:00 HomeGain launched their new agent blogging network tonight. Since Max the HomeGain Gorilla isn’t returning my Facebook messages and tweets, I had to hit up Louis Cammarosano (General Manager of HomeGain) with a few questions. Thanks for the lowdown Louis! HomeGain members can now blog directly to consumers! Each agent blog will have a distinct URL with the member’s city, name, and zip code (ex: http://blog.homegain.com/real-estate-blog /sanfrancisco/NicoleNicolay/94133). Unlike the agent to agent blog platforms, HomeGain’s blog network provides agents with a forum for helping consumers with the home buying and selling process. Agent s can reach out to consumers via their blog, as well as make, receive, and approve comments. The HomeGain Blog recently scored a page rank of 7, so agents looking for a SEO boost could potentially get one from blogging there. Louis adds, “Also since our traffic comes not just from SEO but from HomeGain.com (which is a source of traffic that far exc... More About: Blogging , Network
New Feature from MyBlogLog Builds Your Contact Manager
2008-04-25 16:46:00 So, you just discovered a rockin’ new real estate blog and want to know more about the author. What about adding the author to your contact manager? If you are a MyBlogLog member, you are in luck! MyBlogLog recently added a new feature that allows you to easily add your favorite bloggers contact information to your address book via vCard and hCard. vCards are commonly used in eSignatures or attached to business emails. They are standard electronic business card files that usually include an address, phone number, email, Website or blog URL, etc. vCards can be added to the Mac OS X Address Book, Microsoft Outlook, and other applications. Now, I hadn’t heard of the hCard so this gave me a chance to learn more. Apparently an hCard is a microformat for publishing contact information, as well as for extracting details to be used in other applications or Websites and even within mapping tools (yes, Reggie….mapping). Stan Shroeder from Mashable says, “If you&... More About: Contact , Manager , Feature , Builds
How Mapping Can Market Your Sales History
2008-04-21 05:45:00 This is the first of a series of posts I’m writing about creative ways to utilize mapping in real estate. I will show how a real estate agent can display their total history of home sales (or any other data for that matter) and showcase it on a WordPress blog using Google Maps. This unique approach to transparency may prove helpful for those agents that have a thriving sales history in a particular county, city or even neighborhood. Possibly rounding out the about me page. I will not be using Google MyMaps to accomplish this goal because it does not have an import feature. You would need to plot each sale, one by one. So those of you that have vast sales histories would have a labor intensive process. Also when done hand plotting the addresses, you would not be able to use that data again. (It’s not in a raw data file such as text delimited, csv or spreadsheet etc.) So I will have you start by compiling a complete list of your sold properties in a spreadsheet. You ... More About: History , Market , Sales , Mapping
Focus Your Social Media Marketing
2008-04-17 05:08:00 Ever find yourself in Facebook’s spine and wonder how the last 3 hours flew by and all you have to show for it are a couple of pokes and Funwall messages? It’s happened once or twice to me. Real estate professionals have a complex task when it comes to staying focused in the distracting world of social media. First and foremost, understand why you are there and develop a personalized strategy. Social Media Marketing (SSM) is taking off as a standard soft sell approach to Internet Marketing. That doesn’t mean that some marketers don’t take advantage of networks and become annoying spammers. It’s the best social media marketing gurus that can effectively target, communicate, and appeal to a desired audience. Social Media Marketing takes place at all your favorite social networking sites: Facebook, ActiveRain, RealTown, LinkedIn, MyBlogLog, Flickr, Digg, Stumbleupon, Twitter, YouTube, etc. These social media sites usually incorporate some form or mashu... More About: Focus
Save Money On Your Technology Purchases
2008-04-13 19:59:00 I am what you might call a “bargain hopper”. It gives me great pleasure in knowing that I purchased something at the lowest possible price. The slowing of the real estate market and the economy as a whole has made everyone a bit more frugal and willing to go to a bit more effort to find a great deal. Allow me to show you a few tricks to saving money while still keeping on top of the latest real estate technology. Discounts on Computers First of all, never pay full price on a computer. In fact, don’t even settle for a sale price. A simple Google search and a bit of good timing can save you so much more money. When making an online purchase, have you seen the promo code or coupon code field and wondered what that is and how to get one? Promo codes are special offers sent to select groups of people that can lead to huge savings. These codes tend to be for very specific products and expire after a short period or after a limited number of uses. Luckily, there are... More About: Technology , Money , Save Money , Save
Trulia First to Go Google Street View
2008-04-09 06:24:00 Not since the acquisition of Rudy Bachraty, has the Trulia team unleashed such “coolness” in the real estate community! As of today, Trulia is the first national real estate search Website to incorporate Google ’s Street View technology. Google’s Street View mapping is a phenomenal tool for real estate agents. With it, agents and consumers can view a property up close at street view level, walk or drive past the property and surrounding neighborhood, and even check out the yard and other attributes of the lot. For those agents specializing in relocation, this is obviously a powerful resource for learning about a new area. Rudy, Trulia’s Social Media Guru, adds, “Besides zooming in on the minute details of the exterior of the house, now you can actually take a peek at the neighborhood too. It’s the next best thing to being there.” Now buyers can arm themselves with “real living” information. A concerned parent can map... More About: Google Street View
Service Pack 1 Released For Windows Vista
2008-04-07 15:32:00 Where does the time go? It’s hard to believe that it has been over a year since the release of Windows Vista . As a sort of birthday present, Microsoft has completed Service Pack 1 for Vista. Unlike Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, you will not see much in the way of new functionality. The focus of SP1 is stability, compatibility and performance. This means that your Vista computer may seem to have more pep after the upgrade. File transfers should complete faster, and problematic peripherals just may run smoother. Reviews of SP1 are mixed. Some tests are showing speed improvements, while others don’t show much difference. One thing that reviewers from PCMag and PCWorld can agree upon is that there is no reason to not upgrade to SP1. Service Pack 1 was released to manufacturing over a month ago, so new systems are already shipping with the upgrade. Existing Vista systems will get the upgrade through Windows Update later this month. If you are impatient like me, you can downl... More About: Windows Vista , Released
FreeMobile411 – New Mobile Search Technology
2008-04-06 16:25:00 If you don’t already have a free mobile option for directory search you may enjoy a new service from Free411 called FreeMobile 411.com. This new WAP enabled technology is optimized for mobile browsers and lets you search business name, business type, & person’s name. Once you’ve located the desired result, users will see the corresponding address, phone number, map, directions and nearby places as available. You will see a few ads, but they do not seem to get in the way too much. Other useful free directory searches include Google Mobile Maps, Goog-411, and Microsoft’s Tell-Me service. Google-411 and Microsoft are both call in systems. [via CNET] More About: Technology , Search , Mobile Search
How to Redesign Your Active Rain Blog
2008-04-04 23:24:00 I love bling! And not just to wear; I love it on all my blogs and networks. In fact, I had Reggie hook up my Active Rain sidebar to match the MyTechOpinion Blog v1. So naturally, I was excited when Brad Carroll informed me I could customize my Active Rain Blog layout. With so many sites to maintain on the Web, this is a great way to brand yourself and provide consistency among all your blogs and networks. To learn how to customize your ActiveRain blog, click here. More About: Redesign
Future of Real Estate Technology Acquires MTO
2008-04-01 16:18:00 It’s true. We have been acquired. Loren over at the Future of Real Estate Technology made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. Actually, he had made several offers to us in the past in his attempt to takeover MyTechOpinion….and make it all his own. Second place on Google for the search term “Real Estate Technology” had been eating him alive! So, we finally caved after many rounds of negotiation. Loren takes over our domain starting Sunday. As for Reggie, Chad, and I, we’ve decided on a much simpler life. You can find us blogging remotely from our new home (the 85 Renault RV). You should see the curtains I picked out for this baby! Hey, we said he made us a good offer….of 89 installments!
RealBird Integrates with Street View API
2008-03-29 21:01:00 Zoltan of RealBird clued me in to Google’s release of their new Street View API Thursday. Meaning developers can now integrate street view maps with ease. You can bet this API’s popularity will surely explode in real estate websites as buyers will appreciate the convenience of previewing neighborhoods from remote locations. Realbird has already begun taking advantage. You may remember we talked about manually embedding these maps. Well not anymore, Zoltan has integrated the new API in with RealBird’s Listing Websites.
Does Your Real Estate Blog Need a Side of Widget?
0000-00-00 00:00:00 Are you looking for a value add for your real estate blog or Website? Many widgets promise the world (MORE READERS), but sadly many fall short of maximizing their intended goal. When it comes to adding valuable content and tools to your blog, try a widget that compliments your niche. ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Widget , Blog , Real
Windows XP Service Pack 3 May Cause More Issues Than It Fixes
0000-00-00 00:00:00 I started writing this article from the standpoint that a third service pack to the already stable Windows XP operating system could only be a positive thing. Unfortunately, my opinion changed once I installed the update on my own computer. SP3 is Microsoft's final push to address issues with Windows XP ... More About: Service , Issues , Windows Xp , Pack
5 Secrets to Better Search with Google
0000-00-00 00:00:00 "Google it"...that's what we do when we need more information? Whether we're looking for directions or real estate property; Google is often the first place we start. But are you searching effectively? I love having the power to find exactly what I need-when I need it! So I thought I ... More About: Search , Secrets
The Trick To Adding Local Search To Your Website or Blog
0000-00-00 00:00:00 Last week I talked about how mapping can help market your sales history (or any data for the matter) on your website or blog using Google Maps. This week I will use maps to showcase local attractions for home seekers on your website. As you know, many buyers care just ... More About: Website , Search , Blog , Trick , Local
Chicks Love MTO v.2
0000-00-00 00:00:00 No, you don’t need to adjust your monitor settings. We launched MyTechOpinion version 2 tonight. Chad made a great suggestion at our weekly offline meeting (yes, we do make it out of the office once in awhile). And before we knew, Reggie’s weekend had been spent whipping us up a ... More About: Love , Chicks
Free Flash Charts for Your Real Estate Blog or PowerPoint
0000-00-00 00:00:00 I thought that might get your attention. It's true; FusionCharts Free is now available for you to download. This free version is an amazing entry level flash charting component for your real estate website, blog or PowerPoint. Easily create high impact, visually appealing graphs on Local Market Indicators, Average Sales ... More About: Flash , Estate , Real Estate , Blog
Three KPIs for Real Estate Websites
0000-00-00 00:00:00 This article is going to be about web data analysis. If those three little words send you running in terror then now might be a good time to close the browser and slowly back away from your computer. If you're interested in seeing what you can do with some of ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Websites , Real
Adobe Photoshop Express Goes Live
0000-00-00 00:00:00 Real Estate is very much a photo-dependant business. That's why I'm excited to share the news about Adobe Systems launching their beta Adobe Photoshop Express . This new addition strengthens Adobe's online offerings by adding a photo editing tool for the "average user"-not the professional designer. Adobe is also taking advantage ... More About: Live , Adobe Photoshop
RealBird Integrates with Street View API
0000-00-00 00:00:00 Zoltan of RealBird clued me in to Google's release of their new Street View API Thursday. Meaning developers can now integrate street view maps with ease. You can bet this API's popularity will surely explode in real estate websites as buyers will appreciate the convenience of previewing neighborhoods from remote ...
Future of Real Estate Technology Acquires MTO - April Fools
0000-00-00 00:00:00 It's true. We have been acquired. Loren over at the Future of Real Estate Technology made us an offer we couldn't refuse. Actually, he had made several offers to us in the past in his attempt to takeover MyTechOpinion....and make it all his own. Second place on Google for the search ... More About: Real Estate , April
How to Redesign Your Active Rain Blog
More articles from this author:0000-00-00 00:00:00 I love bling! And not just to wear; I love it on all my blogs and networks. In fact, I had Reggie hook up my Active Rain sidebar to match the MyTechOpinion Blog v1. So naturally, I was excited when Brad Carroll informed me I could customize my Active Rain Blog ... More About: Redesign 1, 2, 3 |
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