A specialist in real estate web design including IDX, VOW, ILD, RETS and MLS property search with integrated dynamic maps and customer relationship (CRM) automation for multi-branch offices, top REALTORS®, brokers and agents.
His shiny face reinforced his image for all of those people who recognized the advertisement.
However, when he polled people who hadn’t seen him before, a different story emerged.
The types of people who visit a web site come in 2 basic types:
Those who know you and respect you
Those who don’t know you and aren’t looking for a sales pitch
Paying attention both types will give you better results.
Branded users come for the relationship: insight, timely information, interaction. If you’re a real estate agent and ask “Why would I want a blog?”. How about… to showcase your local insight, interact with visitors and provide regular information to reinforce your personal brand?
Unbranded visitors want the product: properties, photos, virtual tours, maps, tools, IDX solutions. These site visitors will focus on a positive answer to their internal question… “Can I find what I’m looking for?”
10 Ways of Building Your Personal Brand with a Real Estate Blog
1. Offer something of value, your “Unique Selling Proposition” or “USP”
2. Provide timely relevant information
3. Repeat your message frequently
4. Allow your visitors to interact with you
5. Plan for the future by understanding your industry today
6. Make sure your message is consistent
7. Brand yourself by your interests, whatever you have a good amount of knowledge in
8. Give back by helping others
9. Participate in other real estate industry blogs, forums, social networks
10. Don’t forget to network yourself in offline meetings and groups
How to Appeal to Unbranded Website Visitors
1. Provide a property search function that allows users to search or browse properties more effectively than your competition
2. Always provide a “call to action” so visitors will contact you
3. Provide up-to-date property information
4. Have mapping tools so visitors can place each property into geographic perspective
5. Invest some time learning how to take quality photos so you can showcase all your listings with plenty of pictures
6. Make sure your listings have a virtual tour
7. Provide mapping tools so visitors can place each property into geographic perspective
8. Build trust: show real testimonials backed up with references
9. Showcase your local insight (try tying it together with maps, IDX property directories or searches)
10. Tell us what works for you! Leave comment below
Recently having a “Eureka” Moment, Pat at TransparentRE.com showed us all his fancy moves with Google Maps. In his words “…real estate professionals can use Google Maps to continually update their clients on the status of their local housing markets…”
A good number of us wondered how to do this. So I’ve created a video tutorial detailing the basics of the process.
Step 1: Find some inspiration
You can use your own stock photo collection or visit some of these websites to find some reference photos to get your colors… istockphoto.com shutterstock.com flickr.com
Find a photo that appeals to you or the “mood” you’re trying to create at your site. For example, if you’re in real estate, you might choose some dramatic photos of your area.
Step 2: Extract some color
The most simple way to do this is to use a program designed for it.
Free and paid programs for Mac or Windows can be found here: www.colorschemer.com
Or, if you’re already a Photoshop guru, you know the drill.
You’ll need to use the color picker portion of whichever program you’ve chosen to extract the color values from the photo.
For example, if you’re on Windows and using the free Color Schemer ColorPix, you’ll have all the different color value schemes you’ll need (RGB, HEX, HSB, CMYK).
It’s best to start with one main color then use it in Step 3 below making the variations for that color, then come back to Step 2 before moving on to a new color.
Starting with the main color, and for each subsequent color, make a note of each RGB and HEX value.
Step 3: Mix and match
If you have a paid version of Color Schemer above, you can create your color palette from within the program.
Note from the legal department: It’s fine to use a photo for color scheme inspiration. However, you’ll get into trouble if you actually put a photo on your web site that you don’t have the rights to use. When in doubt, take your own or stick to royalty free images.
The world of the real estate web 2.0 loves a mash-up. Google maps, Yahoo maps … maps, maps, maps. Ooh ahh … sigh.
You would think I was against mapping, to the contrary, I’m just against the superficial way they’re implemented.
Why? Maps are good for people who know an area or need to live in a specific place, but they ignore site visitors that aren’t familiar with an area.
Here’s an internal conversation our fictitious “Joe Re-locater” has with himself:
I’m “Joe Re-locater”, I come to your real estate website…
Nice site, where’s the search?
There it is, click…
I want a condo, 600-750,000, min 2000 sq ft… Searching…
These are all fine and good, The first one looks nice, It’s on “ABC street”
I see it on the map. 2 Miles from the beach, that’s good.
What’s that area like? The map shows me the streets, possibly even a plethora of statistics.
Man, it would be nice if this real estate site has some information about these areas …
maybe even tied to this map?
More visuals, pictures, descriptions, area amenities, local businesses and services …
I mean, can I get broadband, who’s it with, how much is it?
How close are the local stores?
Is there a dump of a building next door?
Oh well, I’ll have to get a plane ticket and go look… Sigh.
Maybe “Joe” will contact you; but most likely he’ll wait until after he’s gone through the area to get a feel for it. By then, he could be with another agent, searching on another site; remembering what a disappointment your website was.
Sure, you had the property search, but you didn’t answer his internal question properly: “Is this the real estate person I want to contact? Can I trust them? Do they know the area?”
The bottom line is mapping has so much more potential. If you give it some additional content.
1.) It doesn’t allow site users to search for property - Property is the first thing people want to see when they come to a real estate web site
2.) It’s template-based - If you paid less than $2,000 for your entire site, it’s probably a template.
3.) It has a “splash” page - Visitor to self: “Load already, come on!!, OK where’s the back button?”
4.) It has scrolling text - Just say no
5.) The site uses low quality, grainy images or clipart instead of high-quality images - Inexpensive professional stock photos are available
6.) Photos are old and dated - Ditch that photo of yourself from 1980
7.) The site doesn’t address visitors needs - Be careful how much you promote yourself on the site over what’s in the clients “mindneed”
8.) Content areas are not clearly defined - If the site looks like someone cut up a website and threw it on the floor, it needs help
9.) It has black text with black drop-shadows - Find a new web designer
10.) It has a scrolling message in the browser status bar - This was neat in 1995, now it’s just annoying
Reprinted with Permission, Copyright 2006 Directions Magazine.
Author: Adena Schutzberg
Geospatial solution providers have looked at the real estate industry as a huge potential market for years. What could be better than GIS to sift through locations, prices, demographics, school ranking and proximity to the train station all at the same time? During the past few months, GIS applications for this sector has been revitalized. Recently, Prudential Preferred Properties of Chicago jumped on the Google Maps/Earth bandwagon and other, similarly powered sites have appeared. A few weekends ago the New York Times highlighted online tools for researching real estate in its Technology section.
But there is a threat to all this progress in the form of a patent. U.S. Patent Number 5,032,989 assigned in 1991, describes “a method for locating available real estate properties for sale, lease or rental using a database of available properties at a central location and remote stations which use a graphic interface to select desired regions on a map of the areas in interest. The user begins with a region where they are interested in acquiring property and select an inner area within this region by using a pointing device such as a mouse to designate boundaries on a map displayed on screen. This is then zoomed in on and a second area is selected within the zoomed region. The second area is then cross-referenced with the database of available properties whose approximate locations are then pictorially displayed on screen. Information about the properties can then be obtained in textual form.”
Yes, the geospatial community has been through this before. There’s that patent for moving data from GPS to GIS that appears now and again, and has been licensed, so far as I know. And, there’s a patent for online mapping that many in the industry tried to refute by showing prior art (evidence that the idea was in use before the patent was assigned). So, is this a real threat?
The Real Estate Mapping Patent and Recent Lawsuit
The ‘989 patent described above is held by Mark Tornetta and assigned to a holding company formed specifically to license the patent: Real Estate Alliance Ltd., or REAL Ltd. Its URL is realpro989.com which has been unavailable in the weeks during which I researched this article. REAL was relatively quiet for several years, but in 2002 “a major investor, Andrew Rooke” joined and became president.
REAL contacted a RE/MAX agent in Pennsylvania earlier this year stating she was infringing on the patent. She was using a service, TReND, provided by the Multiple Listing Server, MLS. REAL put out a press release regarding the lawsuit. She and other end users contacted by REAL were asked to pay $10,000 in royalties each; none have paid according to an unnamed source quoted by Realty Times in a July 14, 2005 article. TReND, a non-profit, has retaining counsel to fight the alleged infringement and stated the case is without merit.
The patent expires in 2008, but the licensee has six additional years to track down and litigate past infringers who did not license the patent.
A Valid Licensee
One company did step forward and license the ‘989 patent. Equias Technology Development is the exclusive USA licensee of ‘989 “Real Estate Search Method and System.”
CEO Scott Tatro, the comany’s CEO, wants to “make the technology legally available to the real estate community through its portal, FindAHome.com.” (The domain is owned by a company in Denmark, though Tatro claims control of it.) The website is just a placekeeper at this time; further developments are expected by the end of the year. According to an article in Red Herring, “Subscribers to Equias’ site will be able to wipe the legal slate clean of any past or present liability.”
Tatro contacted Directions to suggest we cover the story of the patent and the “huge industry cover-up.” Tatro is making the rounds for his case this fall. In this RIS Media interview from October he tells his story in some detail.
Tatro’s Story
Tatro has an interesting history that’s interwoven with the patent. In 1994 he founded The HomeSearch Information Network, a searchable index of real estate available for sale across the United States. Four years later, in 1998, Microsoft bought the company’s assets. In 2000 Microsoft spun off HomeAdvisor as HomeAdvisor Technologies Inc. but retained majority ownership.
It was at HomeSearch, while researching a consumer offering built around the index, that Tatro and his company were approached by Tornetta regarding the patent. After consulting with its experts, HomeSearch licensed the ‘989 patent.
Tatro stayed involved with the patent after the sale and performed significant due diligence. He felt strongly that the patent was valid and the industry was ignoring it. He formed Equias LLC, to take advantage of the intellectual property he’d licensed back in 1995. As he explains in the interview, “Our agreement allows us to take the exact same license that REAL is offering agents at a fee of $10,000, and provide it to agents who use our licensed system at a much lower cost, paid for over time.” Equias recently approached the National Association of Realtors about a bundled license for its members, but was refused.
National Association of Realtors
Tatro contends that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is not stepping up to the plate and is in fact participating in a cover up of sorts. Here’s his argument, which is echoed in this anonymous post to a blog (second comment - the long one).
Tatro asserts that NAR has been aware of the ‘989 patent for more than 10 years. In fact, he maintains, executives from HomeStore, the operating business for the organization’s website, homestore.com, spent $2 million researching this and other patents. The conclusion must have been that there was a need for a license since NAR met with REAL to discuss a license for NAR’s Realtor.com and its 1.14 million members. That negotiation did not yield a license. Instead, says Tatro, HomeStore recoded the website to remove the infringement by cutting out some of the steps defined in the patent. He points out that NAR has since maintained that it does not infringe on ‘989 and never has. Further, he says, NAR has told its members and others not to bother with licensing the patent.
Suing Microsoft
Tornetta sued Microsoft and another company for infringement of the ‘989 patent in 1998, but those suits were dropped. One source reports, “The judge threw the case out because it was filed in the wrong name.” A second source, Lawrence Husick, an attorney for REAL maintains that “Tornetta eventually dropped the suits because Microsoft and Cyberhomes [the other defendant] each had discontinued the services that allegedly infringed the patent” according to an article in Inman News.
Is the Patent For Real?
Peter Zura is a blogger and registered patent attorney based in Chicago. He’s been keeping an eye on this story and raises some interesting points. “Evidently, REAL must has some kind of deal with Scott [Tatro] and his company regarding this patent, since there is no reason for him to plug the ‘989 patent in this manner (he’s merely a licensee).” That’s true. However, by speaking out on the patent issue Tatro is getting a whole lot of free advertising for his soon to be revealed service and licensing deal. Zura also raises the issue of REAL going after end users. While this might bring in some money quickly, in the end, he suggests those who “put together the databases” may well be liable.
In a second post on the matter Zura concedes that REAL may have a case but indicates two issues with which the company will need to contend: the stop and start litigation (suit in 1998 dropped and then another springing up in 2005) and the fact that the patent was granted before the Internet was mature as development platform.
My Take
The standing of the patent is for lawyers and potentially a court to decide. Tatro explains that he did due diligence on the patent and found it solid; that’s why he says he decided to license it. The partners in REAL and Equias must feel there’s value in their investment in this intellectual property and most likely expect some money to come their way in due time. It has also been asserted that HomeStore has expressed interest in investing in REAL (< $10 million), for appropriate concessions.
Those who have been sued claim no infringement. Some may have perhaps altered their offerings to limit liability. And, some have readied their legal staffs. Clearly, a whole long list of real estate mapping sites might be considered to infringe on the patent. I suspect we'll hear more about this in the coming months, especially as FindaHome.com goes live.
The following Internet Listing Display policy consolidates and replaces both the Virtual Office Website (VOW) and Internet Data Exchange (IDX) policies to create a single, unified policy governing the Internet display of all property information originating from multiple listing services (MLSs) owned and operated by REALTOR® organizations. All REALTOR® MLSs are required to comply with the new policy by July 1, 2006.
Internet Listing Display Policy
I. General Provisions.
1. Associations of REALTORS® and their Multiple Listing Services must enable MLS Participants to display on Participants’ public websites (“Internet Listing Display sitesâ€? or “ILD sitesâ€?) aggregated MLS active listing information, subject to the requirements of state law, regulations and this policy.
1. To comply with this requirement, MLSs must, if requested by a Participant, promptly provide basic “downloading” of all MLS current listing information, including without limitation all non-confidential data fields, listings types, photographs, and any links to virtual tours. For purposes of this policy, “downloading” means electronic transmission of data from MLS servers to Participants’ servers on a persistent or transient basis.
2. Associations and MLSs may also offer, in addition and not in replacement, alternative display options including framing of Board, MLS, or other publicly-accessible sites displaying Participants’ listings (with permission of the framed site). This policy does not require associations or MLSs to establish publicly accessible sites displaying Participants’ listings.
2. MLSs may require that the Participant (1) utilize appropriate security protections, such as firewalls, provided that any security obligations imposed on the Participant may not be greater than those employed concurrently by the MLS, and/or (2) maintain an audit trail of consumer activity on the ILD site and make that information available to the MLS if the MLS has reason to believe that the Participant’s ILD site has caused or permitted a breach in the security of the data or a violation of MLS rules related to use by consumers.
3. Unless state law requires prior written consent, each Participant’s consent for display of that Participant’s listings on the ILD site of other MLS Participants is presumed unless a Participant affirmatively notifies the MLS in writing that it has withdrawn consent to such display (“opt out�).
1. A Participant that opts out may not display on its ILD site(s) (including by framing any other website), if any, the listings of any other MLS Participant provided by the MLS.
2. A Participant that opts out may not permit display of its listings on any ILD site of any other Participant. It may, however, display its listings on public websites of third parties, including but not limited to Realtor.com.
3. A decision to opt out may not be revoked for a period of ninety (90) days from the date the decision becomes effective.
4. An MLS that provides an ILD-specific feed of listings that excludes the listings of Participants that have opted out shall also identify for recipients of the feed those listings provided by Participants who have opted out.
5. Participants operating ILD sites may provide to consumers via other delivery mechanisms, such as email, fax, or otherwise, the listings of Participants who have opted out.
6. Except as provided elsewhere in this policy or elsewhere in the rules or regulations of an MLS, MLS databases of current listing information, or any part of such databases, may not be distributed, provided, or made available to any person or entity.
7. Except as expressly permitted herein, MLSs may not adopt rules or regulations that are inconsistent with these policies.
II. Policies applicable to Participants’ ILD sites
1. Any Participant that wishes to establish an ILD site must notify the MLS of its intention at least 10 days in advance of establishing the site and must make its ILD site directly accessible to the MLS for purposes of monitoring/ensuring compliance with applicable rules and policies.
2. Participants must protect ILD information from misappropriation by employing reasonable efforts to monitor and prevent “scraping� or other unauthorized accessing, reproduction or use of the MLS database.
3. Listings or property addresses of sellers who have affirmatively directed their listing brokers to withhold their listing or property address from display on the Internet shall not be accessible via ILD sites. However, a Participant may display on its ILD site the listing or property address of consenting sellers who have listed their property with the Participant.
4. Participants may exclude listings from display on their ILD sites based only on objective criteria including, but not limited to, factors such as geography, list price, type of property, type of listing, cooperative compensation offered by listing brokers, or Realtor® membership held by the listing broker.
5. Participants must refresh all MLS downloads and refresh all MLS data at least once every seven (7) days.
6. Except as provided elsewhere in this policy or elsewhere in the rules and regulations of an MLS, a Participant operating an ILD site may not distribute, provide, or make any portion of the MLS database available to any person or entity.
7. When displaying listing content, a Participant’s ILD site must clearly identify, in a readily visible color and typeface, the name of the brokerage firm under which it operates.
8. A Participant who has opted out pursuant to this policy shall provide notice to sellers who list with such Participant that, in accordance with the Participant’s decision to opt out, the seller’s property will not be available for display on the ILD sites of any other MLS Participant. Participants shall make such disclosure to sellers and receive confirmation of such disclosure from sellers using a document that conforms to the “Seller Internet Display Choice Form� attached to this policy as Appendix 1.
1. A Participant who has opted out shall obtain the seller’s initials on the “Seller Internet Display Choice Form� prior to entering into a listing agreement with the seller and shall retain such form for at least one year.
2. A Participant who has opted out shall also, using the “Seller Internet Display Choice Form,� provide the seller the opportunity to select to have the listing included among those that Participants operating ILD sites may display. In such cases, the Participant shall notify the MLS at the time it submits the listing that the listing may be displayed on other MLS Participants’ ILD sites. A Participant may decline to accept a listing from a seller who requests that his property be available for display on other MLS Participants’ ILD sites.
9. MLSs may not prohibit or regulate display of advertising or the identification of entities other than the operator of the site on ILD sites (“branding� or “co-branding�), except:
1. to impose the requirements of III. 5 and 6 of this policy, or
2. to prohibit deceptive or misleading advertising or co-branding.
For purposes of this provision, “co-branding� is deceptive or misleading if a reasonable consumer cannot readily determine the identity of the operator of the site
10. Participants may operate more than one ILD site.
11. MLSs may not prohibit Participants from enhancing their ILD sites by providing information obtained from sources other than the MLS or additional technological services such as mapping functionality.
III. Policies Recommended for adoption by Multiple Listing Services to be applicable to Participants’ ILD sites.
The following guidelines for ILD sites are recommended but not required provided, however, that except for III.12, MLSs may impose such requirements only if equivalent requirements are imposed on Participants’ use of MLS listing data via all other delivery mechanisms.
MLSs may:
1. prohibit display of expired, withdrawn, or pending listings, or listings of properties that have been sold by other Participants.
2. prohibit display of confidential information fields intended for cooperating brokers rather than consumers including compensation offered to other MLS Participants, showing instructions, property security information, etc.
3. prohibit display of the type of listing agreement, e.g. exclusive right to sell, exclusive agency, etc.
4. prohibit display of seller’s(s’) and occupant’s(s’) name(s), phone number(s), and e-mail address(es)
5. require that any listing displayed identify the listing firm in a readily visible color and typeface not smaller than the median used in the display of listing data
6. require that the identity of listing agents be displayed
7. require that MLS listing information displayed not be modified. MLS data may be augmented with additional data not otherwise prohibited from display as long as the source of the other data is clearly identified. This requirement does not restrict the format of MLS data display or display of fewer than all of the available listings or fewer authorized data fields.
8. require that any display of other Participants’ listings indicate the source of the information being displayed, e.g., the MLS.
9. require that listings obtained from sources other than the MLS, e.g., from other MLSs, from non-participating brokers, etc., display the source from which each such listing was obtained
10. require Participants to indicate on their websites that the information being provided is for consumers’ personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties that consumers may be interested in purchasing
11. establish reasonable limits on the amount of data/number of listings that consumers may retrieve, download, or be provided in response to an inquiry, but in no event may the limit be fewer than 50 listings.
12. limit the right to display other Participants’ listings to a Participant’s office(s) holding participatory rights in the same MLS
13. require a notice on all MLS data displayed indicating that the data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS. Participants’ ILD sites may also include other disclaimers necessary to protect the Participant and/or the MLS from liability.
IV. Additional optional policies
1. MLSs may, but are not required to, limit the right to operate an ILD site to MLS Participants licensed as real estate brokers.
2. MLSs may, but are not required to, allow non-principal brokers and sales licensees affiliated with MLS Participants to operate their own ILD sites. ILD sites operated by non-principal brokers and sales licensees affiliated with MLS Participants are subject to the Participants’ consent and control and the requirements of state law and/or regulation.
3. MLSs may not prohibit Participants from downloading and displaying or framing listings obtained from other sources, e.g., other MLSs or from brokers not participating in that MLS, etc., but may, as a matter of local option, require that an ILD site be searched separately from listings obtained from other sources, including other MLSs.
4. MLSs may,as a matter of local option, charge the costs of adding or enhancing their “downloading� capacity to Participants who will download listing information. Assessment of such costs must reasonably relate to the actual costs incurred by the MLS.
Effective Date: This policy shall become effective on August 31, 2005. MLSs shall have until July 1, 2006 to adopt and implement it. Participants shall have not later than ninety days following adoption of this policy by an MLS in which they participate to cause their Internet display of MLS listings to comply with such MLS policy.
Appendix 1:
SELLER INTERNET DISPLAY CHOICE FORM
1. I have been advised by [Participant] that, if I select him or her to represent me in the sale of my property, my listing will not be displayed to buyers searching for properties on Internet websites operated by other brokers in my community.
____________
initials of seller
2. I have been advised by [Participant] that I can choose to include my property among those that may be displayed to buyers searching for properties on Internet websites operated by other brokers in my community.
____________
initials of seller
3. Seller should circle one of the following:
a. I choose to have information about my property be available for display on other brokers’ Internet websites.
or
b. I choose not to have information about my property be available for display on other brokers’ Internet websites.
