Real Estate Blog

Yahoo! Inc., just released the results of a study they did on how the Internet influences home buyers and sellers and specifically how it influences consumers when it comes to selecting a real estate agent.

No great surprises in the results (which were tabulated from a survey of 500 participants)… Yahoo’s found that… Yes… the Internet plays a “pivotal role in the selection process and was central in helping consumers identify agents”.

The numbers are good brain fodder though.. here’s what Yahoo! found:

• Home buyers and sellers consider approximately two agents on average before making a final decision.
• The Internet impacts consumer trust. Forty percent of respondents credited a site in increasing their trust in the agent.
• 74 percent of people who accessed an agent Web site got there with the help of a search engine. [emphasis mine]
• The online research process is quick and intense: consumers spent an average of 12 hours online researching agents and 75 percent selected an agent within one week of starting their search.
• 45 percent of respondents used the Internet to learn about agents they didn’t know existed.
• 41 percent discovered special deals and promotions offered from an agent through the Internet.

Struck me that maintaining a blog might still be the best way for Realtors to deal with the discovery and introduction process.

But the biggest find reinforces what many of the online search sites are banking on (see Trulia Gets Beaucoup Bucks) - there is still a massive disconnect between Realtor’s advertising budgets and where consumers are looking for information. According to Yahoo! (bias noted) 77 percent of respondents searched the Internet for information during their research process compared to 34 percent for print.

And guess where Realtors are still spending the most of their money? A Borrell Associates report quoted by Yahoo says that newspapers continue to get biggest share of Realtor advertising dollars at 40 percent (though online is catching up - and now stands at 32 percent).

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Related Articles at Future of Real Estate Marketing:

• Stroking Your RSS Ego
• MyNewPlace promises to help you find an apartment
• Turnhere Takes a CAR Ride
• Jump into 3D with Agent Earth
• Internet Marketing for Real Estate Developers

Source:
More Proof You Need to be Marketing Online

Simmering resentment over Trulia’s SEO practices (see Trulia Caught Cloaking Red Handed) hasn’t stopped the search site from landing another $15 million in funding.

Deep Fork Capital LLC led the financing to top up Trulia’s reserves; Trulia’s other investors Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Fayez Sarofim & Co. also participated.

In the statement, Trulia co-founder and CEO Pete Flint said… well, he didn’t say all that much really…

““This additional capital will help us take advantage of this opportunity and continue our accelerated growth. This market is also a unique time to help real estate brokers and agents transition their marketing efforts and services online. In the coming year, we plan to roll out world-class products that will continue to transform the online real estate experience.”

Also found in the release - Trulia claimed it has:

• Approximately 5 million unique users
• 100,000 real estate professionals as registered users
• More than 3 million real estate listings nationwide
• Over 70 million property records providing constantly-updated comparable sales

Trulia has now raised $33 million since it launched. That’s big money - so somebody definitely thinks there’s a payoff somewhere to be had. The only question is from where?

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Related Articles at Future of Real Estate Marketing:

• Trulia’s Web Site Down?
• Too Busy To Blog? Pay Someone To Do It For You
• Trulia Now Live in the Pacific Northwest
• Welcome Trulia!
• Quick Hit: Trulia profile

Go here to see the original:
Trulia Gets Beaucoup Bucks

Moo is one of my very favorite online printing companies. In fact, the first time I went to Inman’s Real Estate Connect (see Help Plan My Trip to Inman Connect NYC) I carried with me in my pocket a handful of Moo’s MiniCards with me that had my blog URL and contact information on it.

For those of you who have moo’vd your marketing yet, Moo (which is based in London) creates brilliant printed products that can pipe in photo feeds from your Flickr or Facebook account so every single card can have a unique image on it.

For this reason, it makes Moo uniquely useful to the real estate agent. And they’ve just released a new product that their aiming directly at agents too - full-size business cards.

Using Moo’s “PrintFinity” technology, you could be printing business cards for a new listing that has a different picture on every card with the property information on the back. Imagine blowing your seller’s mind when you show up with a box of these for them to pass out.

Alternatively, you could create a series of business cards that have all the listings you’ve ever sold on the backs of the cards, along with your contact info.

The other nice thing is that Moo lets you do very small print runs (of only 50 cards) - which makes sense for a single listing - as you end up having a lot less waste and a run can be updated if there’s a price change. 50 cards costs only $21.99 and you can choose to get the cards in 100% ‘Green’ card stock (recyleable and biodegradeable) too.

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Related Articles at Future of Real Estate Marketing:

• Friday Fun: Business Cards to Remember
• In the Daily Grind with Real Estate Agents
• Agent 2.0: not-so-clever play on ‘Web 2.0’ or the future of real estate marketing?
• BuyerHunt is Real Estate in Reverse
• An Embarassment of Riches

Read the rest here:
Moo Launches Business Cards for Agents

Apartment, France, The “Mourvèdre” apartment is built in typical Provencal style, situated 15 km from St.Tropez, midst the forests … 275.000 EUR

Read the rest here:
Luxury air-conditioned first-floor apartment

Amsterdam-based Seaarland Shipping Management and New York-based Overseas Shipholding Group have set up Suezmax International, a commercial pool which will initially operate eight tankers.

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Seaarland and OSG Set up Suezmax Pool