Real Estate News

One of the best social media strategies for real estate agents is to become your network’s trusted advisor. And of course one of the best places to put that strategy into play is, without a doubt, on Facebook. So you create a profile and import your sphere list, now what?!

Well, as a real estate professional you can easily showcase your expertise and knowledge about your market area and industry trends. One of the ways I suggest doing this is by posting status updates that offer relevant info and/or tips your network would find helpful. Now some of you are already REALLY GOOD at sharing this type of info…and you might be so good at it that you decide to create a Fan Page to focus more intently on business.

Fan Pages are becoming more popular among real estate professionals for several reasons. Most importantly, it is more widely accepted (and preferred by Facebook) to utilize a Fan Page for promoting your business and sharing comprehensive listing data. NOTE: There are some people that truly ROCK the essence of Facebook and have mastered the art of the 3 P’s (personality, passion, profession) from their profile and don’t need to maintain the separation of church and state….or personal and professional. However, for many the draw of a Fan Page breaks down to the ability of sharing listing data, as well as relevant market data in a more appropriate fashion…with an opt-in network of interested folks.

Up until now adding real estate specific applications to a Fan Page has been, to say it nicely, less than effective. Many of the listing applications copy Website functionality and seem to have forgotten the nature of this network. Ideally, these applications need to offer more than just listing information but a way to provide interaction….or a rich data set of relevant information.

And that is why I was very excited to hear about  a new application for agents that launched this week! The Roost Social Real Estate Application is the first app of its kind to offer agents the opportunity to:

• Showcase their expertise from a Fan Page
• Provide valuable market data and information for a particular area (city) to their network
• Easily customize and install on your own Page (in 5 minutes!)
• Avoid the cost of hiring a professional to customize a local resource tab for you (this app naturally integrates local market trend info via Altos Research, active listings via Roost, mapping via Google, school info via Education.com, and neighborhood info via Walkscore).

The Roost Social Real Estate Application is clearly a value-add now…but there are more goodies to come with this app! Derek Overbey and Alex Chang of Roost took some time to share some important details about using this new app, as well as what’s in store in the future! In the coming months, Roost will add the ability to share market data for up to 5 cities! In addition the feature scope will widen to include featured properties, testimonials, and IDX compliant MLS search (inside Facebook)!!!

I have to say it’s very refreshing to witness a company like Roost incorporate Facebook functionality and real estate expertise…and deliver it to agents for FREE! Yep, this app is currently available on Facebook for FREE. You can add it to you Fan Page today, simply search “Roost Social Real Estate” once logged in to Facebook. Several agents have already taken advantage of the opportunity to add the app, check out Brad Coy’s Page,  Heather Elias’ Page, and Engel Real Estate Page for great examples of customization.

To add the Roost Social Real Estate Application to your Fan Page, follow these steps:

(1)    Visit the Roost Social Real Estate Application Page inside Facebook, and click on “Go to Application”.

(2)    You’ll be prompted to customize the app to your selected Fan Page by selecting: “Create Profile”

(3)    Next customize the application with your contact information, logo, and informational verbiage. NOTE- You can update the marketing verbiage periodically to share the latest trends and tips with your local network.

(4)    Finally, you’ll need to add the app to your Page. FYI- Facebook must render some images of the app so if it doesn’t load completely at first, be patient!

Once the tab has loaded onto your Page, you can direct your clients to the info by announcing it via a status update on your Profile, and even on your Fan Page! Also, be sure to share your Facebook Page URL on all your marketing. Write a blog post letting your clients now about this new feature on your Page, or create a postcard to share with your farm.

Related Posts

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• Real Estate Bloggers: Increase Your RSS Subscribers with Facebook
• 7 Ways to Syndicate Your Real Estate Listing

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Add To My Page: Roost Social Real Estate App

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Problem: When someone in the real estate industry goes job-hunting, it can be difficult to navigate through all the listings posted on Monster, Career Builder or some of the other online job boards posting up.

In addition, when an employer or real estate brokerage is looking for someone with specific real estate experience, it can sometimes feel like a ‘needle in a haystack.’

Solution: Vendor Alley has a BRAND NEW job board up just for real estate job postings. I think This is a great idea. It takes a a common problem  (unemployment in the RE industry) and makes a super-easy solution.

As of right now, there are 4 categories:

1. Sales
2. Tech
3. MLS/Association staff
4. MLS/Association CEO

This is a version 1 release. Vendor Alley plans on adding additional features, ‘bells and whistles, and possibly additional categories down the line.

Greg Robertson, Co-Founder, W&R Studios says, “I get a lot of requests for job postings on Vendor Alley or people wanting recommendations.  I also saw that there was no single place for people to look for jobs in the real estate industry.  Since Vendor Alley gets such diverse readership (vendors, MLS professionals, sales, tech, portal, brokers, agents, franchisees, etc.) I thought it would be a good place to start a job board.”

Posting a job is really simple – employers form to fill out that includes a place for a job descriptions and contact information. It is only $29.95 to post a job for 30 days via PayPal.  They are also thinking about the idea of charging an additional amount to also do a post about it on Vendor Alley.

Greg has requested feedback, so please check it out and feel free to leave a comment below.

Written by Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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The Washington Post’s Steven Pearlstein discusses regulatory reform.

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Pearlstein: Senators near an attractive deal on regulatory reform

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The response to the Zillow iPhone App, launched in April 2009, has been incredible (#1 real estate app on the iPhone, nearly ONE MILLION downloads!) and the smartphoniacs and real estate aficionados at Zillow are proud to announce our latest version.

New to the App: you can now find homes for rent alongside homes for sale, recently-sold homes, Make Me Move listings and other data on more than 93 million U.S. homes.  Home shoppers can find these listings whether using the app’s on-the-go GPS features — showing you information on all homes around you as you walk or drive through neighborhoods – or while searching neighborhoods and homes from afar.  Unique to Zillow, you can also now set your search filters by home price or monthly payment, and simultaneously find homes for sale and homes for rent within a price range you can afford.

And when you find that home or apartment you love…?  Share it!  This latest version of the Zillow iPhone App includes the ability to easily share listings and home photos with your friends, family, real estate agent or social networks via  Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, you can still email information on any home.

If you don’t yet have the Zillow iPhone app, download it for free from Apple’s App Store or at www.itunes.com/appstore/. Just search for “zillow” in the App store.

For the latest additions to the Zillow iPhone App, stay tuned to the Zillow Blog.

Read more:
Zillow Updates iPhone App to Include Share on Facebook and Twitter, Homes For Rent

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I’m sure none of our loyal FOREM member commit any of these ‘blunders’ – but just in case… I figured it would be fun to do a little post about it today.

Feel free to pass this onto anyone “not following the rules!”

Top 5 Real Estate Social Media Blunders:

1.    Talking about yourself to no end. Enough about me, let’s talk about ME! Yes, social media is social – but at some point, it is NOT all about you! This is tough in real estate, where you learn from every marketing person to ‘sell yourself’ and ‘you are your brand’ – which is true – but many people (especially the Gen X and Gen Y crowd) don’t want to hear all about you – they want to know about the interesting things going on in the community, in their neighborhood, local market stats, and other things that make what YOU do valuable to them.

2.    Only posting your listings. Major faux-pas!  Luckily I have not seen as much of this lately, but it’s still happening.   You can post your listings – but make sure you post other great content. (See my ideas in #1 above)

3.    Copying content and claiming it as yours. Big “no no” here. There is so much great content out there – it’s fine to use an excerpt of something and then credit the source, but don’t copy someone else’s  material and claim it as your own.

4.    TMI. There is a fine line between being social and giving out “too much information” – no need to tell your social network everything and anything!

5.    Speaking the same on Facebook as you do Twitter. Maybe this is my own irritation, but whenever I see hashtags and @ signs on Facebook I cringe a little. The language on Facebook is different than Twitter. I think it’s fine to duplicate messages on both channels (especially since a LOT of people are only on one of the channels and not both) – but if you do, take a moments to adjust your language to be more “Facebook friendly”

I know there are a lot more blunders – what’s your favorite one? Or the one you see agents doing over and over again? Leave me a comment below.

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Fun Friday: Top 5 Real Estate Social Media Blunders

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Planomatic recently released PhotoPlan Mobile 1.0 Beta - the first mobile interactive floor plan presentation optimized for the iPhone in the virtual media industry. iPhone users now have the ability to interact with real estate listings’ floor plans from any point on earth with internet service.

Planomatic seems to really have hit the nail on the head. The coolest part of this product is that the consumer can interact with it.

Once you click on the floor plan, you can pick from a drop down menu and choose which room you’d like to ‘decorate.’ Once you select the room, you are given a large variety of ‘furniture’ to choose from – including colors and styles, as well as the ability adjust wall and carpet colors.  I really like that a lot of thought went into the interactive part of this app. For example, you can pick different styles and colors of furniture – which really help to ‘put you in the house’ and paint the picture of what it would be like to live there.

One thing this app has going for it is the ‘fun factor.’ If I was a buyer, I could definitely see myself using this app especially for homes I was really interested in. It could  help a buyer make that decision when they are wondering:  “Is this the house for me?”

Kori Covrigaru, the CEO of Planomatic says, “It’s quite unique, and in my opinion (yes, I’m obviously biased) the coolest thing to hit virtual tours/iPhone in quite some time.”

To access the app – tap this link  from your iPhone – Safari will recognize that it’s on the iPhone, and automatically display the PhotoPlan Mobile:

Interactive FloorPlan Presentation

There are other great floor plan programs out there such as: United Lane or Floor Planner but none have the interactive iPhone app that Planomatic has.

According to Kory, the BlackBerry and Android apps are on their way!

What do you think of this app? Would love your opinion of it!

Do you have a unique or new product coming to the market? Drop me a line at katie@inman.com or post it in the comments below.

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Interactive Floor Plans Going Mobile

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If you are like most real estate agents, you’ve set up a LinkedIn account, put in your basic info, connect with a few people and then haven’t looked back since.   If this is you – you are not alone! If you have been updating your LinkedIn account regularly you are ahead of the curve!

Why do I like LinkedIn? I really like that it is a truly professional network and allows me with one click to share unbiased testimonials.

Here are 5 things you can do right now to get the most out of LinkedIn:

1.   Update your profile. Log into your account and make sure you have the basics in there – updated photo, work history, dates, experience and education. Sounds simple – but if you haven’t been in there in a while, it’s good to dust off that resume!

• Add your specialties. This section is key (located under the ‘Summary’ section within ‘Edit Profile’) – this is the section google is going to pull from. Think of this section as the ‘keywords’ or ‘meta tags’ for your profile. Pick 7-10 key words to describe your specialties and/or areas of expertise.
• Add 3 additional links. Under websites – select the drop down ‘other’ – this allows you to add 3 different links and name them whatever you’d like. Instead of being limited, you can add specific links within your site or blog. A few ideas here: link to a market stat page on your blog/website, link to your property search (IDX feed) page for a specific area/county, link to your Facebook page, link to community info on your website or blog.

2.    Add your public profile link to your email signature. If you are using Outlook, edit your email signature in the Edit>Options menu. If you are using Gmail or another free email service a great free service to use is WiseStamp. WiseStamp will allow you to add all your social media channels into your email signature.

3.    Add connections. Add past colleagues and past classmates. It’s worth the time to get your client database into an excel spreadsheet (CSV file). If you are using Outlook or Gmail you can easily export your list. Once you’ve done that, copy and paste that email list into LinkedIn (Under ‘Contacts’ > ‘Add Connections.’) You want to get your clients onto LinkedIn ASAP – why? See reason #4.

4.    Write 10 testimonials. One of the biggest benefits of LinkedIn are the testimonials you can generate. How do you get people to say nice things about you? Say nice things about them! Write 10 testimonials – do 10 a day for 5 days and by the end of the week you should have at least 10 from people ‘returning the favor.’  A testimonial does not have to be an essay – simply 2 or 3 sentences of how you know this person and why you would recommend them. A great example of this is a Realtor I worked with at Empire Realty in the SF Bay Area – Sue Rubin. Sue aggressively added her contacts into LinkedIn and wrote testimonials – she now has 10 fantastic testimonials on her LinkedIn account. How is this different from the testimonials on your web site or listing materials? To the average consumer, LinkedIn testimonials are more authentic because you did not touch or alter them in any way – they are truly from a past colleague or client.

5.    Join a group. A great way to stay connected to LinkedIn is to join like-minded professionals – with over 6000 groups available – there is something for eveyone. Do a search for ‘real estate’ or any topic you are interested in. You will be notified via email or new conversations in the group. The 3rd largest estate groups on Linkedin is Inman’s Real Estate Connect group – here you will find news and discussions about the market as well as conference updates and highlights.

Bonus: If you are on Twitter make sure you add your Twitter handle and note that you can link your LinkedIn status updates to Twitter

I would love to hear how you are using LinkedIn. Please leave your feedback in the comments below. Thank you!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Originally posted here:
Tip Tuesday: 5 Ways to Make the Most Out of LinkedIn

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Wondering which iPhone Valentine’s apps to check out? Here are 5 fun ones to download for this weekend!

1. Candy Hearts lite – This free app is perfect for those who love the idea of candy hearts but don’t want to eat any empty calories.

2.  iXplode – Valentine’s Day – This $.99 app is the perfect ‘Anti-Valentine’s Day’ app. From the product’s description, “Want to send your “ex” a special holiday greeting? How about a heart shaped box of Chocolate being ripped apart in a massive explosion along a custom message straight from the heart? Maybe you just want to blow your “special someone away” with a Valentine’s Day greeting they’ll never forget.”

3. iFlirt – For $0.99 this app will provide you with dating tips, pick-up lines, and more.

4. iWrite – Love Poems – This $1.99 app will help you get your creative juices flowing, give you tips on writing your love poem and provide examples.

5. Shakespeare. A free app containing the complete works of William Shakespeare and if it’s free love poems you want then skip down to the last two items on the menu; his sonnets and poems.

BONUS:
Not really Valentine related – but Open Table (for local restaurant reviews/reservations) and Foursquare (the addicting ‘check in’ app) are great apps and have become two of my favorites lately.

How is this related to real estate? Well, this weekend is the perfect opportunity to show your clients your LOVE! Ok, I know that was cheesy , but honestly why not take this weekend to send a quick note to your top 5 favorite clients to thank them? It couldn’t hurt, right?

Happy Valentine’s Day FOREM members!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Excerpted from:
Fun Friday: Top 5 Valentines iPhone Apps

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Google announced yesterday that they are throwing their hat into the social media ring. Google says the new Google Buzz tab will begin showing up on about 1% of Gmail user accounts starting right away. Google says the rest of Gmail users will be able to see a new Google Buzz tab in their accounts within a week.

2 things immediately caught my eye:

1.    Google Buzz is only integrated into Gmail. Granted there are 150M+ Gmail users but there are still quite a few people who are not.

2.    Google Buzz does not integrate into Facebook. I think this is going to be a HUGE factor in whether Google Buzz is successful or not. It should be interesting to see how this plays out and IF Facebook will one day integrate into Google Buzz. As Facebook sneaks past 400M users – this is certainly not a number you can ignore.

Here’s a quick ‘cheat sheet’ of what Google Buzz is:

1. Integrates with Gmail. Below your Gmail  inbox, there will be a tab for Buzz, allowing you to read status updates, photos, and video. The 40 people you converse with the most in Gmail and Gchat are automatically added as friends. Buzz updates also appear in your inbox if someone comments on your updates or comments, or someone directs a Buzz to your attention by using the familiar “@” symbol

2. Integrates with Other Channels. Photos from Flickr and Picasa and video from YouTube appear as thumbnails in Google Buzz.  You can pull in tweets from Twitter but you can’t send your Buzz updates out to Twitter or other social networks.

3. “Page Rank” for Status Updates. To compensate for posts that many people don’t care about (like what you just ate for lunch) -  Google Buzz lets you like and dislike status updates, and learn over time whether to show or collapse status updates from your friends. It also looks for conversations outside your direct group of followers and adds them to your feed as recommendations.

4. Private and Public Updates. Private updates can go to all of your Buzz followers, or just a select group. Public updates are posted on your Google Profile page and are immediately indexed for Google Search.

5. Mobile App. Google Buzz will have a mobile app that  dictate status updates by voice and geotag your posts. On Google Mobile Maps, Buzz updates appear directly on the map, so you can read location-based updates. You can also look for any recent Buzz updates posted near your current location.

So what does this mean for real estate agents and brokers? I think at this point Google Buzz is too new make any predictions about what Realtors will or won’t need to do. I do think that if Google Buzz stays as is – it will be somewhat limiting to agents due to the fact it is just available to Gmail users and that it does not integrate with Facebook.

However – as social media evolves, it is imperative that agents keep an eye on where people are gathering and where they are communicating. Today it is primarily Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Will Google Buzz be the next big thing? Only time will tell.

Here’s a quick video Google put out yesterday that explains Google Buzz:

What are your thoughts? Would love to hear your comments – please post your feedback here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Lead generation using social media and other ‘non-traditional’ sources continues to be a hot topic among agents and brokers.  There is a HUGE opportunity for Realtors to start ‘Farming’ online.

If I was an agent, there are a few things I would do ASAP to kick-start my lead generation using Twitter:

1.    Take your Twitter campaign seriously. If you were to start a direct mail farming campaign today – how long would it take you to see results? 1 year? 2 years? The same is true for social media. You must be committed to the process to see results. Still not convinced Twitter can make you money? Check out what Dell has done!

2.    Search for the type of clients you want to work with! Check out DemandStop – this web site helps agents farm Twitter for local leads. Find locals based on location and keyword relevancy (house hunting, apartments, rent, condos, etc.).  You can search your location and connect with real people looking for real estate in real time. Another option is to check out the Advanced Search function on Twitter. Search key words, hashtags, specific words – all within a certain geographic area.

3.    Put energy into conversations.

• Re-tweet comments of interest. Why? The obvious reason is that you like the info and feel it is worth repeating. The not-so-obvious reason is that when you re-tweet it shows people you reciprocate! Others will start to re-tweet your posts. The re-tweet is PARAMOUNT to your success on Twitter. When you post something – it goes to your couple hundred followers. What if 5 of those people re-tweeted it? And then another 10 re-tweeted it again? Your audience and potential leads grows exponentially.
• Respond to all mentions and messages. See who has mentioned you and thank them – every day! Respond to DM’s. Send a quick ‘thank you’ DM to anyone who follows you (but do not send them a slimy spam message!)
• Share your lifestyle -  be personal, be real. People want to connect with real PEOPLE!

4.    Treat Twitter like drip marketing. Tweet about what you are working on: working with new clients, building your referral network, interesting industry info, local market stats that link back to your site or blog (Altos Research is a great option for this.) Plan your tweets out – just like drip marketing using SocialOomph or Hootsuite.

5.    Add your Twitter handle to everything with your name on it. Wherever you have your phone number, add your Twitter handle: email signatures, Facebook page, website, blog, listing materials, business cards, and more!

Looking for more info?  Check out Tom Ferry’s video from Connect NYC talking about this very subject at Connect. You do have to be a premium member to watch, but this video alone is worth the price!
Have you started generating leads on Twitter? What is working for you? Share your tips and comments below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Super Bowl Sunday is an ‘All American’ pastime. Whether you gather to watch the game or gather to watch the ads – either way, advertisers know that a lot of people are watching. It’s estimated that last year over 93M people tuned in.

However, this year, a lot of big names like Pepsi are scaling way back and spending more of their money and time on social media.

Pepsi has started a social-media campaign to promote its ‘Pepsi Refresh’ initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20M in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education.  “This is such a fundamental change from anything we’ve done in the past,” says Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “… The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers.”

How does this apply to Realtors?

1.    You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a lot of buzz. In the past if you wanted to brand yourself you’d spend a lot of money on glossy magazines, park benches, and even worse – grocery carts. These days all you need is time and a plan. Within minutes you can create a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a LinkedIn account. With that you are armed to build your brand. You know those agents who put together detailed spreadsheets and calendars outlining their farming or SOI strategy? That’s the type of detail I’m talking about. To create a lot of buzz you have to get serious about your social media plan.

2.    Get creative. I love that some of the super bowl ads are getting super creative with social media – like Monster.com’s campaign. Having a 2-way dialog is key – asking for opinions, launching a contest, or creating a fundraiser. How can you RALLY your fans and start the dialog? If you are on Twitter create your own unique hashtag – for the 1st time the Super Bowl will have its own official hashtag #SB44. What could yours be?  How about #SoCalRE or #CARealEstate? Make sure you save that hashtag in your search. Respond to everyone who uses that hashtag twice a day – pretty soon the conversation will be rolling!

3.    Pick a few things and do them really, really well. With so many social media options, a lot of Realtors get overwhelmed.  If you’re going to do Facebook or Twitter – be a rock star at them. Post multiple times daily, post great content, be engaging – and treat it as seriously as if you were paying thousands of dollars for it! If you missed my post last week about Facebook, check it out here to see what you must be doing as a Realtor to be successful.

For those of you still wondering the effectiveness of social media, Alterian SM2 has been tracking the Super Bowl advertisers since early December. It has just released the latest version of its social media analysis and the findings are pretty interesting.

p.s. Looking to see some of those “banned” Super Bowl ads? Look no further!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Continued here:
Friday Fun: Top 3 Things Realtors Will Learn from Super Bowl Sunday Marketing

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It seems like whenever Apple announces the latest and greatest product -  there are always  other companies who see if they can do better. The last couple weeks, there has been a ton of industry buzz about the iPad – what it is and what it isn’t – and specifically, how it could impact Realtors. One of the biggest buzz items has been the lack of flash on the 1st generation iPad.

Just announced yesterday, the JooJoo tablet computer will begin shipping to pre-orders later this month. With all the hype behind the Apple iPad tablet, the timing could be perfect for Fusion Garage to launch the JooJoo as Apple has done the hard part of creating a huge viral buzz for ‘the next great thing.’  The JooJoo is listed for sale at $499 and will include Flash.

Fusion Garage CEO said, “It has a much larger screen, 12.1 inches instead of 9.7 inches. The resolution is 1368 by 768 pixels instead of 1024 by 768. There are an extra 300 pixels of length, so it’s 16:9 widescreen resolution instead of 4:3. And the Web browsing experience is even better than the iPad, because of the size of the screen.”

One thing to note – the JooJoo won’t have an app store.

Is Steve Jobs worried? Probably not

What do you think? Leave your comments here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Competition for iPad? Meet JooJoo: the iPad alternative with Flash

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This Tuesday I am talking about one of my favorite subjects: Facebook. With an audience of over 350M people – Facebook is the top social media source that Realtors must be engaged in.

5 Things Every Realtor Must do to Be Successful on Facebook:

1.    Post good content daily. This is the #1 one thing that I see agents NOT doing. They spend time calling or emailing clients, but they drop the ball on their Facebook page. You should be posting 2-3 times a day. A good formula for Realtors on Facebook is: 2 parts personal and 1 part business. Corcoran does a great job of this – they post interesting real estate and market data but also sprinkle in really cool and unique links to New York city, little known facts, places to eat, etc.

2.    Have a plan and stick to it. Make a list of the top 10 sites you like to visit – include news sites (i.e. Inman News, NY Times, etc), recreational sites (gardening, travel, etc), and of course your website or blog. Visit this list daily. This makes it very easy for you to link to interesting stories and post good and relevant content daily.

3.    Do it yourself. As a Realtor you can’t hire out someone to manage your Facebook account for you. You have to make time – every morning and every evening to manage your account. You can however hire someone to enhance your page and make custom tabs with HTML. Mike Mueller is a great resource for this.

4.    Comment on what others post. This is KEY! It is not all about YOU!   Take 5 minutes out of your Facebook time each day to comment on what some of your friends or fans have said.

5.    Be engaging. Ask questions, post photos, be a part of the conversation. Remember Facebook is like the ultimate dinner party. At a dinner party you wouldn’t sit in the corner and not talk to anyone right? Nor would you JUST talk about real estate.

Here are some great examples of Realtors doing many of the right things on Facebook:
Sue Adler
The GoodLife Team
Julie Ziemelis

Do you have a great Facebook page you’d like to share? Leave me a comment here!

Check out the Inman Facebook Page here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Original post:
Tip Tuesday: 5 Things Every Realtor Must do to Be Successful on Facebook

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This week every major tech blog has been buzzing about the iPad. Thank you to all the FOREM members who posted comments here as well as on our Facebook page. It was really exciting to see all the online chatter going on across the nation, as people waited to hear about ‘the big announcement.’ Whether the iPad will be a ‘game changer’ or not – especially for the real estate industry – is still up in the air.

In the meantime, I thought I’d add a little humor to the conversation. Enjoy!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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On Wednesday, January 27, Apple will likely unveil the company’s long-rumored tablet device. Apple sent out invitations to selected media outlets yesterday morning, asking people to “join us for an invitation-only event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco on January 27 at 10:00 a.m.

Rumored to be anywhere from $500-$1000 many Realtors will undoubtedly be wondering if they should make the switch to a tablet-like device. The launch of the all-in-one touch-screen tablet computer on will most likely spark the same excitement from agents and brokers that followed the iPhone’s launch in 2007.

What would the Apple Tablet mean for Realtors?

1. Portability

This may be the single biggest selling factor Apple will have when marketing to Realtors.  A Realtor could easily slip the tablet into their bag or briefcase. If the tablet is as sleek and thin as rumored, it will be simpler to transport than a traditional laptop.  Also, as agents are moving more and more away from a “traditional” office – something as light and portable as the tablet is sure to be enticing.

2. Paperless

This topic has been talked about for a few years at least – but the tablet may be the catalyst to make it happen industry-wide. The tablet potentially will have the ability to easily pull up contracts and receive digital signatures on the spot. If this is the case, a client would be able to literally ‘sign’ their contract on the tablet – much like how they accept a UPS package by signing on the UPS ‘tablet. ‘ In addition, there is certainly the ‘impress ability’ factor – clients will certainly be impressed by their tech savvy agent.

3. Easy learning curve

One thing I have heard over and over again by agents, is how easy the iPhone and other touch-screen smartphones were to learn. A short learning curve is key.  The only downside I can foresee is that unfortunately, some agent website vendors and MLS still are not compatible with Safari. If the tablet sweeps the Realtor world by storm, vendors and MLS’ will have to sit up and take notice. As mentioned at Connect NYC – now is the time to take a hard look at your vendors and see if they are in line with the goals you have set for yourself for 2010.

I am curious about your thoughts!

Will you consider purchasing an Apple Tablet? Why or why not?  A recent survey says 1 in 5 consumers will purchase one. Leave your comments here on the blog – thanks!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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What would the Apple Tablet mean for Realtors?

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