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The Real Estate Web Blog

The Secrets of Real Estate Website Branding
August 2, 2007

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:

1. Those who know you and respect you
2. 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

10 Signs Your Real Estate Web Design Needs an Overhaul
March 6, 2007

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

Will Patent Threat Bust Real Estate Boom in Geospatial?
August 16, 2006

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.

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IDX or VOW?: When is it best to require registration?
August 7, 2005

Time and again REALTORS ask this question: Should I use a VOW (require registration before search) or an IDX (search first ask questions later) type site?

It depends on 5 factors:

1.) How well does your site develop a sense of trust with visitors in the first 7 seconds?

- The more trust you can develop, the more likely you can get consumers to register. Whatever you use IDX or VOW, you need to sell the idea that it’s the best one in that moment.

2.) What does your competition have and how quickly can your site’s visitors click the back button and find a competitor?

- How will consumers find your site? Is your competition a few clicks away? Keep that in mind when deciding to go with an IDX site or VOW website.

3.) How are you marketing the site?

- TV and radio advertising can allow you to use a VOW by eliminating the “hit the back button and go to the next competitor” trend. By exclusively channeling site visitors to your specific site, you have an opportunity to capture more visitors who would otherwise be able to go somewhere else.

- Search engine (Pay-per-click [PPC] and Ad Buys) are best suited to IDX. It’s too easy to lose leads if 2 clicks can get them to your competitors IDX site. Users know when they click an advertised “Sponsored site” and judge you accordingly. They had better be impressed in the first few seconds of visiting your site. Otherwise, no trust and on to your competitor. Click click, bye bye.

- Search engine optimization (Regular search results) are best suited to IDX, but VOW’s may apply if under the right circumstances. Users have been proven to convert at a higher percentage when visiting sites found in the major search results as opposed to “Sponsored/PPC sites”. You have a little more trust before the user even gets to your site. But wait, don’t get too confident, it only buys you a few more crucial “first seconds”. If you use a VOW you still have to sell the idea that registration before searching is a good idea.

- Print advertising is all about how exclusive you are in the consumer’s mind. It’s also how much trust they can develop that motivates them to put the publication down and visit your site. For example: If you’re in a weekly real estate book with several other competitors, a real estate IDX site may be your only hope. IDX could actually be a selling point if any of your competitors require registration before searching.

4.) How do you plan to handle your leads?

- If someone registers on your site are you able to followup within 15 minutes? 30? more? Fast response times solidify consumer trust in a world where another real estate agent is close by. If you use a VOW site, you’re likely to do more qualification by phone. If you use IDX you’re allowing consumers to “find a property and qualify themselves” which tends to work better for those who are already busy or do not have a qualification assistant/staff.

5.) Does your MLS/Association actually have a VOW policy and offer true VOW data?

- True VOW data is closer to (or sometimes the same as) the actual MLS data itself. If there are data columns in your MLSes VOW/MLS feed you need, that are not available with IDX, you might want a VOW. Note: The majority of MLS/Associations don’t have an actual VOW policy.

New Realtor Technology Survey Identifies Ways to Improve Transaction
June 4, 2005

A new survey by the National Association of Realtors(R) has identified key areas where Realtors(R) believe technology can play a significant role in improving the real estate transaction process.

The 2005 Realtor(R) Technology Efficiency Survey, conducted jointly by NAR’s Center for REALTOR(R) Technology and FBS Data Systems, found that technology has become more prevalent throughout the real estate transaction life-cycle, allows for Realtors(R) to better serve clients and points out areas of technology that are still emerging.

The survey reveals that Realtors(R) have embraced the Internet and that high-speed Internet access has become the norm, with almost nine out of ten respondents indicating they use high-speed Internet access. Of the Realtors(R) polled, 68 percent indicated they use the Internet to generate leads, but six out of ten of this group only get 10 percent or less of their leads through the Internet. The top sources of Internet leads are company and agent Web sites.

“The Internet is vital to a growing number of Realtors(R)’ success; more than two-thirds of Realtors(R) indicate they have a Web site,” said Mark Lesswing, NAR vice president of CRT. “And while many Realtors(R) have Web sites, only 40 percent of respondents are able to direct maximum traffic to their site.”

The survey indicates that while agents realize the importance of the Internet for generating leads and most are using the Internet in some way to do this, only 12 percent are using any system to qualify leads, Lesswing said. “About three-fourths said they were not satisfied with the number or quality of Internet leads. We see this as indicating areas that are ripe for innovation using technology.”

The survey indicated that referrals and repeat clients are most important for generating leads. More than 40 percent of those surveyed indicated that half or more of their business is based on referral or repeat clients. Even though referral and repeat clients are the most important methods of generating new business, only 22 percent of respondents were “very pleased” with the methods they use for staying in touch with past clients.

The study reveals that only 13 percent of respondents report they use any form of automated transaction management system. Sixty-eight percent, however, expressed interest in using transaction management systems in the future.

“With the increased documentation required by a transaction, it’s understandable why so many Realtors(R) see they’ll need automated transaction systems. It will simplify the homebuying process for both consumers and Realtors(R),” said Vince Malta, a broker with Malta & Co. in San Francisco, who participated in the study. “It smoothes the process and makes important transaction elements like communications, follow-up, disclosure and document storage easier,” said Malta, president-elect of the California Association of Realtors(R).

The survey was based on data from field research conducted earlier this year. The survey respondents included agents (81 percent) and brokers (16 percent). The survey was e-mailed to 50,000 NAR members in April and generated a 5.1 percent response rate with 2,554 usable responses. The 2005 Realtor(R) Technology Efficiency Survey is available at http://www.realtor.org/crtweb.nsf/pages/CRTsurvey?OpenDocument.

CRT is a division of NAR that provides advocacy, implementation and information on technology to the real estate industry. Further information on CRT is available at http://www.realtor.org/CRT.

FBS Data Systems Fargo, N.D., is the creator of the flexmls(TM) system and has served Realtors(R) and MLS systems for more than 25 years.

The National Association of Realtors(R), “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Information about NAR is available at http://www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the Web site’s “News Media” section in the NAR Media Center.

REALTOR(R) is a registered collective membership mark which may be used only by real estate professionals who are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS(R) and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics.

Source : Moneyplans.net Archives

Understanding Web Design Through Real Estate
June 2, 2005

Web Design:
The communication gap between techno-head web designers and the real estate industry can cause all kinds of project problems and mis-understandings. What means “Custom design” to you may not mean “Custom design” to your web developer. So, let’s learn in real estate terms what each web design aspect refers to and how to ask for those by name.

Web design can be defined by these main elements:

1. The design - how your will site look, the colors and images. Think “interior decoration”.
2. The layout - the positioning of the elements on your pages. Think “floorplan”.
3. The content - the words and pictures that fill your site. Think “furniture”.
4. The functionality - how your site will give your visitors and you access to the information and tools you need. Think “amenities”.

Just as the interior decoration, floorplan, furniture and amenities can make or break a real estate deal, the design, layout, content and functionality will do the same for your web site.

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