Google Maps Real Estate Data Adds Pressure to Zillow

Google maps added new features with things like brand new high-resolution Street View imagery or detailed map data. Google made it easier to find real estate listings. Now, you can simply select “Real Estate” from the ‘More’ button on the top right of any Google Map to discover listings. From there, it’s a simple matter to refine your search using the left hand panel – price, bedrooms, bathrooms, and so on.

Find more information about new real estate features on Google’s Blog.

Find more information about new real estate features on Google’s Blog.

Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® Taps Listing Syndication Trend with Point2 Technologies Solution

Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® (MCAR), provider of the Monmouth/Ocean Multiple Listing Service (MOMLS) announced its partnership with Point2 Technologies which will provide property listing distribution to the industry’s largest syndication and re-syndication network of nearly 40 third party, high traffic websites and search engines, as well as over 260 newspaper websites, on a listing by listing basis.

The new, free program successfully rolled out today to over 930 offices and 9,500 members of MOMLS. The service includes access to online traffic reports, to enable better marketing and online advertising expenditure decisions.

Advanced traffic reporting and lead conversion software tools are also seamlessly available as part of an optional, subscription based service to all MOMLS members, offered within the Point2 Agent software suite.

“We are tapping a critical service in partnership with a leader in the industry, to better serve and deliver on our commitment of world class service to our members,” said Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® President, Glenn Mills. “Listing syndication has become extremely important and it is key that buyers everywhere gain access to all available inventory.”

According to Kenneth “Kip” Walker, Chairman of the Monmouth/Ocean Multiple Listing Service Committee, “We are extremely pleased to be first in New Jersey to bring the benefits of the Point2 syndication network to our members as well as to consumers across the U.S., buyers and sellers alike.” “Our partnership with Point2 is a great milestone as it allows us to deliver very valuable services at no cost to our members, while saving them significant time in their online marketing efforts.”

“Adoption of listing syndication as a means to automate the distribution of property listings online has accelerated significantly over recent months, thanks to leadership and collaborative efforts between technology providers, listing aggregators and search engines, as well as forward looking industry Associations such as MCAR,” said Saul Klein, Chief Executive Officer, Point2 Technologies. “The ultimate beneficiaries of all these efforts will be the consumer, and the economy, as inventory gains better, more accurate and more timely exposure on the Net. Point2 is proud to partner with MCAR on this initiative and to play a leading role in the evolution of real estate marketing on the Web.”

Key service benefits to MOMLS members also include single point of data entry, which eliminates the need to re-enter data on the various sites including their own website or their Point2 Agent site, to help maintain data accuracy and consistency for the user’s listing online.

Point2 boasts the industry’s largest listing syndication network. Since launching its real estate MLS and Association solution just over a year ago, over 90 organizations have joined the Point2 program.

Commercial Real Estate Developers and Brokers Thrive Online During Tough Economic Times

The economy may not offer ideal conditions for sellers in the real estate market at the moment, but a bright spot does exist. Firms like inMotion Real Estate Media (www.inMotionRealEstate.com) are helping commercial developers and real estate brokers make more sales by taking advantage of the efficiency and affordability of Internet marketing.

Few industries have been hit as hard as the real estate market by recent economic troubles. Yet developers are finding new hope in attracting buyers using the Internet. Real estate media and marketing firms such as Boston-area inMotion Real Estate Media are introducing developers and real estate brokers to Internet marketing and new media tactics enabling them to reach more targeted buyers with tighter advertising budgets. In fact, the California Association of REALTORS discovered in their 2008 Use of Technology survey that REALTORS attributed 48% of their 2008 business to the Web — an increase of 4% over the previous year.

Real estate marketing is still very traditional in a lot of ways
When a developer is seeking buyers for new a property, they may launch a direct mail campaign, purchase pricey newspaper or magazine advertisements, or put up large print signage. Internet marketing gives developers a targeted and cost effective approach to attracting willing buyers. It works by connecting people to properties they’re interested in and already searching for.

A professional Web presence and effective marketing strategy on the Web give real estate developers a competitive edge
“Real estate marketing is still very traditional in a lot of ways,” says inMotion Real Estate Media Founder Bob Samii. “When a developer is seeking buyers for new a property, they may launch a direct mail campaign, purchase pricey newspaper or magazine advertisements, or put up large print signage. Internet marketing gives developers a targeted and cost effective approach to attracting willing buyers. It works by connecting people to properties they’re interested in and already searching for.”

inMotion Real Estate Media helps commercial real estate developers find people or companies interested in leasing their properties without relying on costly advertising and print promotions. With expertise in building comprehensive online real estate marketing solutions, inMotion is able to directly connect developers with interested buyers who are actually searching on the Internet for properties like the ones they have available.

They help companies put a professional and interactive face on their development projects by building new Web sites or improving outdated ones to offer a better user experience. After building or improving their Web presence, developers can better attract interested buyers through targeted search engine optimization (SEO), making it more likely that people will find their Web site ranked well in the search engines while searching for properties. Once on the site, potential buyers can be offered property tours or promotional videos, floor plans, and other features to convert more visitors into viable leads.

inMotion Real Estate Media offers real estate Web development to commercial developers, including an increasing number of the nation’s top development firms, guiding them in interactive and online real estate marketing strategies to stay ahead of the competition.

“A professional Web presence and effective marketing strategy on the Web give real estate developers a competitive edge,” says Samii. “Many of their competitors in the real estate market don’t have Web sites, have outdated sites, or haven’t fully embraced digital promotion yet. If they have, they may be facing unnecessary costs of having a designer or developer make all of their Web site updates for them, at an additional cost. At inMotion, we help developers keep their costs down while giving them an online presence that appeals to today’s buyers. Sites are built on our user-friendly content management system (CMS), so clients can make changes to their information online whenever they want, with no complicated software to learn.”

Foreclosure.com Traffic Grows Along with Homebuyer Interest in Once in a Lifetime Real Estate Deals

Foreclosure.com announced that its Web site traffic has increased more than 30 percent since this same time period last year because of the increased interest among prospective buyers in distressed real estate, including pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, short sale and other amazing deals.

Historically low home prices, as well as interest rates, and the recently-signed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act from the new administration on Capitol Hill that offers first-time homeowners a no-strings-attached $8,000 tax credit to put toward their principal residences, are all key factors in the recent surge in interest on the Web, according to Foreclosure.com Vice President, James Houston.

“Our servers are getting crushed around the clock,” said Houston. “We have noticed a significant increase in traffic over the last few months, which we attribute to several factors that have created a ‘perfect storm’-like situation.”

Foreclosure.com — already America’s largest and most trusted source for distressed real estate information — is among the top 20 online real estate destinations on the Web, placing twelfth for visits on a recent report from HitWise.com — the leading online competitive intelligence service – for the week ending on Feb. 28.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that the National Association of Realtors® issued a report just last month, revealing that foreclosure-related purchases comprised more than 40 percent of real estate sales nationwide.

Foreclosure.com features nearly two million foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy, FSBO, tax lien and sheriff sale listings from throughout the United States on its Web site. Visitors are allowed to search the complete database totally free for seven days without obligation. If a potential homebuyer or investor needs more time, the company charges a competitive low monthly subscription fee to continue using the service.

But, according to Houston, curious buyers can typically find great deals in their areas in literally just a few hours.

“There is just so much inventory to choose from right now,” he said. “The odds are favorable that anyone who visits our Web site today will likely find several great deals quickly for pennies on the dollar.”

Foreclosure.com visitors benefit from detailed listing information, which includes photos, maps, community statistics, complete address, contact information and so much more. In addition, Foreclosure.com features a Community Expert Program and Broker Network that matches up interested buyers with the best local real estate agents and brokers to assist them through the purchase process.

It’s among the several benefits that Houston says is what differentiates Foreclosure.com from the other distressed real estate sites on the Internet.

“Our traffic and retention figures speak for themselves,” he said. “Buyers want to maximize their time and find the homes that are right for them as fast as possible at reduced prices. That’s what we offer – it’s our bread and butter. Not only is our database the most accurate and comprehensive in the business, but we also provide all the help and assistance anyone could ask for throughout the process that ensures smiling faces at the closing table. That’s the Foreclosure.com difference.”

Feel free to visit Foreclosure.com at www.foreclosure.com today and search for homes in your area at no cost.

Coldwell Banker Launches Real Estate Application for Microsoft Surface

Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC today announced the launch of their customized real estate application developed for Microsoft Surface™, unveiled at the Coldwell Banker® International Business Conference being held this week in San Antonio, Texas. It’s new Microsoft Surface home search application allows users to interact with home listings, mapping and other www.coldwellbanker.com features in a way that is familiar, by using simple hand gestures. Similar to the intuitive technology featured in the futuristic film, “Minority Report,” this exploration on the use of Microsoft Surface represents yet another way in which Coldwell Banker is working to harness innovative technologies to benefit home buyers and sellers.

The first commercially available surface computing platform from Microsoft, Microsoft Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, interactive surface. Its 30-inch diagonal, table-like display provides effortless access to digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects placed on the display.

Coldwell Banker leveraged the unique interface and capabilities of Microsoft Surface to develop a home search application that will provide a new interactive and intuitive way to explore real estate listings and neighborhoods. Over the course of the roll-out, the following features are scheduled to be released:

Explore. Home listings can be viewed via area maps, specific search criteria such as city, state and price, and by standard number of bedrooms and bathrooms. With a simple touch of the screen, users expand or contract the search area and locate listings, Coldwell Banker offices and area amenities including restaurants, hospitals, schools – gauging the distance between them.

Learn. Details of a particular property listing are displayed and arranged by screen touches. Images of the home are easily accessed, enlarged and moved by hand movements.

Interact. File listings by “grabbing” content with their hands from the display and “dropping” it into the appropriate folder, thus creating an itinerary that they can email to a sales associate.

Coldwell Banker unveiled its home search application by conducting demonstrations of Microsoft Surface during this week’s International Business Conference. More than 1,700 attendees were provided with specially tagged badges that, when placed on the Microsoft Surface, unveiled that individual’s profile and contact information.

Coldwell Banker plans to continue rollout of this technology at brand events and at offices across the country this year.

“As a leader in the real estate industry with a strong heritage of innovation, we recognized that the Microsoft Surface technology has some very interesting potential to change the future of the real estate search,” said Michael Fischer, senior vice president of marketing for Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “Microsoft Surface allows us to showcase listings in a very unique way that offers users a different experience with the entire real estate search process literally at their fingertips. We believe the technology can increase consumer engagement to an entirely new level.”

Last year Coldwell Banker became the first national real estate brand to put its listings on in-car GPS devices through an exclusive feed to Dash Navigation launch and launch a customized online platform for iPhoneTM and BlackBerry users.

Jott For Realtors – Capture Your Voice, Turn it Into Text

Jott makes sure you stay on top of everything. With a simple phone call to 866-JOTT-123, you can capture notes, set reminders and calendar appointments, stay in touch with friends and family, and interact with your favorite web sites and services – all with your voice! Jott can even transcribe your voicemail.

Simply call Jott and tell them where you want your message to go. They capture your voice, turn it into text, and send it to the destination you chose.

Ideas for Using Jott for Real Estate

• Record notes about a home’s features for clients
• Listen to real estate news feeds on your phone
• Take notes during your weekly home tours/previews
• Create To-Do lists for client files
• Create email and text reminders for real estate showings
• Use group messaging feature to send updates to your real estate team

Introductory Video About Jott

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tszK2zmAQHU[/youtube]

Jott Apps

Jott Apps helps you stay organized the way that works best for you. Whether you want the simplicity of a desktop list application in Jott Express, you are obsessed with your BlackBerry or iPhone, or you live in Outlook or iGoogle all day, Jott has an application that works the stuff you can’t live without.

Jott iPhone App

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3iUBS81Z3s[/youtube]

How Much Does Jott Cost?

Jott
$3.95 / month
With a 1-week Free Trial!
our best value
15 second recording time
Unlimited voice to text
Apps for Outlook, and iPhone*

Jott Pro
$12.95 / month
With a 1-week Free Trial!
for the road warrior
30 second recording time
Unlimited voice to text
Apps for BlackBerry, Outlook, and iPhone*

Jott PayGo
$6.95 / 5 mins. (~30 msgs.)
Try it today!
pay per minute
60 second recording time
5 minutes voice to text
Apps for BlackBerry, Outlook, and iPhone*

Bring the Blog – Writes Your Daily Blog Content For You

Bring the Blog is a new service allowing real estate agents to purchase websites which are automatically updated every day with relevant real estate content. Considering how busy most of us are, having someone automatically post real estate articles on our behalf sounds ideal, right?

We’re like the Associated Press for blogs. Just like the New York Times uses wire services to complement their home-grown articles, we give you outside content to make your blog better and more effective.

Bring the Blog Product Features $57/month

• 15-Day Risk-Free Trial
• Maximum Number of Blog Posts Allowed Unlimited
• Maximum Number of Page Views Allowed Unlimited
• Maximum Number of ‘Links’ Allowed Unlimited
• Customizable Biography
• New Blog Content Added Daily
• Real-Time Real Estate Data on your Blog
• Statistics and Page View Counters
• Optional Commenting Feature
• Comment Spam Protection
• Custom Blog Appearance
• Protection From Email Harvesting
• RSS Feeds
• Direct FeedBurner Integration
• Weekly Blog Updates For Your Readers

Click Here for 15-Day Trial >

ALERT: In an effort to provide more varied results to their users, search engines do filter websites that appear too similar to each other: except for the most relevant results, similar results are excluded.

Identical content is posted on every real estate blog with Bring the Blog. This does not sound like a big deal until you consider the search engine optimization implications.

Check out this comparison by http://www.duplicatecontent.net/ of two Bring the Blog websites. Google no likey duplicate content!

Here’s what Google has to say about duplicate content: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66359

That is why it is important to have content that is as unique and original as possible. The web sites that risk the most are those that provide third-party content, and the online shops that use the manufacturer’s description for the products they sell: if you run such a web site, you should try to avoid using 100% copied-and-pasted content. If that is not possible, then it would be useful to at least add a few lines of original content to the pasted text, such as a comment or discussion.

Actually, there is another type of duplicate content filter, that applies to mirror sites. This filter analyzes the URL structure instead of page content. Normally, mirror sites are not indexed by search engines.

Canadian Real Estate iPhone App from ZooCasa

Searching for real estate in Canada just got easier! Take advantage of ZooCasa’s powerful search technology to save time and energy to search homes for sale nearby.

With one touch you will be able to see all properties for sale around your location displayed on a Google map. Narrowing your search is fast and easy by filtering on Price, Beds, and Baths. View details including a photo and agent contact information.

> Link To ZooCasa App

FEATURES

• Find homes for sale near you by using iPhone’s built in GPS
• Touch quick link to see a description, photo of the home, and agent information
• Get directions to the home you’re viewing from where you are
• Customize your search by filtering for price, beds, and baths
• Email the details to friends, family, or agent 

Zoocasa.com is a new, innovative way to search for homes in Canada. Combining listing information and mapping technology provided by Google Maps, Zoocasa.com allows users to personalize their search experience and discover community, demographic and lifestyle information to help them choose the right home.

ZooCasa iPhone App Map View

ZooCasa iPhone App Search View

ZooCasa iPhone App Listings View

ZooCasa iPhone App Home Detail View

RETextLeads – Mobile marketing and lead generation for Realtors®

xMedia Participation, LLC today announced the immediate availability of RETextLeads, a cutting-edge mobile marketing and lead generation platform designed specifically for the real estate industry. With RETextLeads, REALTORS®, brokers, property managers, and landlords can facilitate fast, timely communication with potential buyers by making detailed information readily available to them via their cell phones or handheld devices, as they are passing by available properties. Real estate professionals can try RETextLeads at absolutely no risk or cost by signing up for a free listing!

xMedia Participation, LLC, a leading provider of advanced services and solutions for mobile marketing, today announced the immediate availability of RETextLeads, a cutting-edge mobile marketing and lead generation platform designed specifically for the real estate industry. With RETextLeads, REALTORS®, brokers, property managers, and landlords can facilitate fast, timely communication with potential buyers by making detailed information readily available to them via their cell phones or handheld devices, as they are passing by available properties.

“Many real estate agents spend countless hours and significant amounts of money placing classified ads, or printing and distributing flyers and brochures for the many properties they are selling,” said Chris Haller, Founder and Director at xMedia Participation. “This approach is not only time-consuming and expensive, it is quite limited in its effectiveness. Our goal is to empower real estate professionals with a faster, better, more affordable way to get the attention of potential buyers, so they can close more deals.”

RETextLeads allows potential buyers to retrieve in-depth information – such as square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, lot size, and price – as well as images, by simply sending a text message using a number displayed in front of the property. Agents are instantly notified, so they can follow up immediately and schedule a showing.

“RETextLeads empowers real estate professionals to improve the reach and cost-efficiency of their marketing efforts,” added Haller. “They can generate more highly qualified leads, in a shorter period of time, without the need for antiquated activities such as cold calling or direct mail that produce limited results. They can also close deals faster, and generate more commissions, by responding instantly to interested buyers, before they purchase or rent another property.”

Key RETextLead features include:

• A simple text messaging environment that is familiar and easy to use for both agents and potential buyers.
• Convenient anytime, anywhere access to property details via cell phones, PDAs, and other handheld devices.
• Rapid, real-time property listing creation and updates.
• Dynamic alerts that notify agents instantly when a prospect has expressed an interest in a specific property.
• Lead segmentation and tracking that provides insight into the success of sales and marketing strategies.

“In addition to selling or renting more properties, REALTORS® can also use RETextLeads to gain a competitive edge,” concluded Haller. “By providing potential sellers with an innovative marketing tool that will generate more interest in their property and increase showings, they can win more listings.”

And best off all, real estate professionals can try RETextLeads at absolutely no risk or cost! Interested agents and brokers can experience this robust, yet economical solution by signing up for a free listing at http://retextleads.com. So they can see for themselves just how easy RETextLeads is to use, and how it can help sell properties faster, without expensive or time-consuming marketing tactics.

Add Listings to your Facebook Page

Facebook is not only a great tool for locating your high school sweetheart, it’s also a powerful business resource for real estate agents. The latest real estate facebook application, by eListit.com, enables Realtors to add a “Listings” tab to their facebook profile page. It’s available for a FREE 30-day trial version, after which it retails at $49.99/year.

The application is fairly intuitive and easy to use though we ran into issues (server error) when we removed the application from a profile page and attempted to reinstall.

My first recommendation for the app developers is devise a method for pulling listing data directly from the MLS to avoid the laborious task of entering in data manually. I would almost regret getting that extra listing for fear of having to duplicate efforts (almost).

Below are screenshots of the application on a facebook page.

REtecy contacted eListit.com and here is what they had to say:

We started life primarily as a rental search/listing service and later expanded into real estate listings. We have started focusing some energy on better serving our real estate clients. Real estate agents are able to create a personal profile that appears alongside their listings.

Recognizing that real estate agents who use our service got to some effort to increase the visibility of their listings, we decided we we could help them leverage that effort and enable them publicize their listing on their facebook profile. Real estate agents already know that many of their best customers are their friends and family and these same people can be their best promoters (if they know what the agent has for sale).

We are actively look at expanding and improving this feature as well as providing other means of helping agents promote their business.

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