In order to publish my listing content on Realtor.com, which is supposed to be for the benefit of both Realtors and Move.com’s shareholders (both of whom have divergent and opposed interests) – I have to agree to Move’s Terms and Conditions, which include this nifty The professional photographs which I commission, to which I own the copyright, I am forced to relinquish the rights to:8…. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, and subject to Move’s receipt of payments specified in the Order, the Product is licensed (not sold) to You by Move…. This non-exclusive license only gives You the right to use and display the units of the Product that are licensed to You hereunder in accordance with the terms hereof. You hereby agree that to the maximum extent permitted by law, You will not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise reduce the Product to a human-perceivable form, in whole or in part, and, except as provided for in this license, You will not copy, modify, network, rent, lease, sublicense, or otherwise distribute the Product in whole or in part.
Browsing Category Technology
Getting ready for another MLS PAG
Working in a vacuum sometimes has the feeling of working in an echo chamber, no matter the extremely high caliber (myself excluded) of people assembled.Selectively cutting and pasting from the comments at the GeekEstate post:Real estate brokers go to only one place to search for homes to show their buyers: their local MLS…. Now the conversation is confusing Trulia, Point, Google Base, Zillow and others with the MLS, when, in fact, the MLS isn’t technology at all but a process by which competitors have agreed to cooperate with each for the good of all involved in the transaction….Yet consumers don’t want to search many sites, they want to search one…. Arguably, MLS’ have the best historical data available, and perhaps the best current housing data – current actives as well as under contract (pending) properties – that is one of the reasons that local and national Realtor associations are called upon to give market analyses for the media.If Realtors can guide their associations and members to see the value of working together in this, we might have something…. I, for one, would love to to be confident that I, as a buyer’s agent, was searching the entire inventory.Two final choice snips from the excellent GeekEstate conversation:However, it seems as if both entities would better serve the interests of their customers – the agents – if they became more part of the conversation like the smart people at the FBS Blog.The truth of the issue is that in the near future there may not be an opportunity to have this discussion.We would do well to move forward with expediency, urgency and efficiency.
Jott gets even better
It’s a website where you call the free phone number that they give you, say whom you want to “Jott” (I use it almost exclusively for sending myself notes) and then within the next three to five minutes, there is an email in your inbox with your message transcribed…. To a person, they have been both surprised and impressed that such a service exists.For example, if I am with a client and I need to remember something to do for them (call about the radon test), I Jott myself, and immediately address the need when I return to my email…. They’ve certainly stepped it up a bit: Jott to your blog, to Twitter, get a Zestimate (which still aren’t accurate in the Charlottesville market area), and perhaps best for how I will use it, Reminders!… They also know their customers – here’s a page that shows how real estate professionals are using Jott.Why Jott?John Pollard, the chief executive of Jott, boasts that the service is three times faster than attempting to send a text message or e-mail on the keypad of a mobile deviceHow might they make money, you ask?
Blogging 101 for Charlottesville
My blog tracks the Charlottesville and Central Virginia real estate market, market statistics, real estate technology, real estate representation (for sellers and buyers), local politics, “and more.”… Google BlogsearchCvilleblogscvillenewsCvilleTomorrow is tracking the Charlottesville/Albemarle elections (interestingly, no local Republican candidates have blogs – why is that?)Charlottesville News Headlines, thanks again to cvillenews.Look at the “blogrolls” of blogs you come to know and trust (typically on the side of the page).Key parts of a blog:- Reverse Chronological Order of posts, updated frequently- Comments (some debate this, but it is a crucial component of blogging) – participation in the blogs is key. – RSS – Real Simple Syndication – a method of information distribution- Linking to other blogs and citing your sources- Transparency and accountabilityGenerally, reading blogs also necessitates reading in a different way; rather than visiting each individual webpage, the news can come to you.
…Finding the best ones takes time, but it’s worthwhile.How to get started with Google Reader.Slightly more in-depth about RSS readers.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me anytime.Regarding the guy who called in after I left, who said his blog’s goal is to “destroy Republicans running for office” – surely there are a fair amount of blogs whose goals are to publish vitriol, and there are plenty of political blogs on either side (and all sides) of the political world.
On-Demand information is a necessity
His leaving town and putting a note in one of the four bills of the year would be like me trying to show property today using one of the MLS books from when I was a kid – immediately outdated and inaccessible to most who need the information. Consumers want to have the information and they want it now (I certainly do).What he (and every business) needs is a blog, if only to say “thank you” to his customers and let them know when he’s going out of town…. I came across this post yesterday – How Many Friend and Sharing Apps Can a Soul Have?Part of being a good Realtor in today’s world is being available, being connected (on and off-line) and providing good, useful, relevant information…. Yet, I am very, very reachable.I have yet to have anybody contact me because they found me on one of the various social networks, because most of the general real estate consumer population aren’t early adopters.
47% of Americans have broadband – why does it matter to Realtors?
How do you?Using 2005 numbers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the US ranks #15 in the world in broadband penetration…. Skype, multiple photos online, visual tours, etc.This meshes well with an idea for a story from a few weeks ago -What do you think of when you see this?I was watching the classic movie Office Space recently with some friends who neither need the internet for work or personal business nor have they ever worked in an office…. We need to work to encourage broadband use and penetration, locally and not-so-locally (hint: it’ll take more than a few to make it happen). “Good enough” won’t cut it.* Inspiration for the article partly derived from the book I am currently reading, The World Is Flat, (my next read may be the counter-argument) perhaps one of the most eye-opening and terrifying books I have read in some time.
OpenHouse.com – what a waste
Give users the option to receive either an email saying there’s an open house in their area or an RSS feed?Heck, the first time I heard about OpenHouse.com (and I’m a Century 21 [Realogy] agent) was from Joel’s site.From their press release:”In a competitive market, brokerage firms need to take every measure to maximize service levels to their clients while leveraging the internet as a tool to increase business potential,” said Phillips. “Our site is a perfect complement to a high-tech, high-touch approach to providing comprehensive real estate services.”They have an odd definition of “perfect.” However if not showing all the open houses out there and not communicating to their franchises that this tool exists is perfect, they’ve nailed it.What’s needed?… Seriously, take a hint from those Google guys – they incorporate all of the information, and it seems to have worked for them.