Agent Genius , the national real estate news magazine, launched two new features/branches this morning – AG Sphere and AG News – If you’re a consumer curious about what some of the best and brightest real estate minds have to say, or if you’re in real estate and want to learn about real estate trends, technology , mortgage news , even finding a local real estate professional and general movements within the industry, check them out. *Disclaimer: I am honored to be one of the writers at AG, but that doesn’t influence how impressed I am by what they continue to do.
Browsing Category Google
What’s outside the window?
I’ll be adding these photos to my listings soon – what’s outside the window of the house, what the street looks like, what’s to the left and right … not just because a client mentioned it to me the other day, but also because Google just released Panoramio : Have you ever looked at a photo and wondered what was beyond its edges – just what was left of that castle or what the facade of Notre Dame looks like from close up? … I only wish we could integrate this into the MLS … but we’re relatively limited in the photos we can upload and then we’d likely run into the “you can’t have your own branding!”
Do you Google people you meet?
It’s simple business intelligence. 
– If I’m in a meeting with my laptop open and my phone rings with number I do not recognize, I’ll quickly Google the number (it’s amazing how many Realtors’ cell phone numbers aren’t found via Google) – if it’s a client and it’s important, I’ll likely leave the meeting* to take the call. … *I love volunteering and working on various Realtor committees – they bring value to my business in a variety of ways – but if a client calls while I am in Strategic Planning for the Virginia Association of Realtors, my and my clients’ Strategic Plans come first.
What will MLS data standards do for the consumers?
With the recent talk of how forthcoming data standards are going to make property data sharing more efficient and thus better for consumers and Realtors, here is one of my requests – I’d love to see a (Google) Mashup (or the MLS would be even better, and I think a no-brainer) providing an overlay of school districts. … Even better, make it so that registered users could make their own pages with all their important locations to help them organize their thoughts and help their Realtor representatives better understand their thoughts and thought processes.
Google 411 gets better
1-800-GOOG-411 has saved me a few times, and if I didn’t have a GPS in my car, I would find this even more useful -Today, your GOOG-411 experience just got better: during your call to GOOG-411, just say “map it”, and you’ll get a text message with the details of your search plus a link to a map of your results right on your mobile phone.Having the information texted to my phone was mighty useful. This is even better.We may never need to implant RFID chips into our shoulders. Google will already know where we are and where we’ve been and probably predict where we’re going next (before we know ourselves).
Friday roundup
And Realtor.com’s CEO goes SpringerThe Difference between good Realtors and bad agentsBuying a new construction home? Bring your own tape!Housing Starts rebound (national) … but building permits are down (PDF)Zillow uses their prominence to discuss eminent domain. Good for them, and thank you.A Super Wal-Mart in Greene?… they expect people to consistently show up for work…. If they would just open a Super-Walmart in Greene and close down the one in Charlottesville …More home loans go sour – yet some lenders continue to loosen lending standardsYou think Google’s not benefiting from Trulia’s growth?… Pete Flint, CEO of Trulia … showing me his referer logs, and they definitely show that Google sends more traffic his way than any other search engine.
Fun with Google Trends
Local builder -vs- national builders in the Charlottesville areaMold -vs- asbestos -vs- radonNational real estate websitesBlog -vs- RSS -vs- PodcastCharlottesville -vs- AlbemarleMLS -vs- FSBO – interestingly, all of the top cities are from Canada. In essence, Google Trends gives another means by which to present one’s argument with one’s own manipulation of statistics.