Embracing Technology – Will It Really Help You Sell More?

I was at the NAR conference last month.  I am a newbie to the real estate space so it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about the service providers in this industry and to chat with agents and brokers.  My background is in technology so I spent a lot of time learning more about the latest and greatest tools that are out there for real estate professionals.

I’ll bet if I walked the show floor some 10 years ago, I would not be seeing the number of vendors promoting some type of computer technology, hardware, online databases and multimedia products.   And looking at the session topics, I’m sure the whole idea of social media would have made most brokers and agents heads spin back then.  But welcome to 2008 and the onslaught of technology – where the NAR session on Blogging 101 was packed and had to be repeated the next day because of all the interest.  And like Carrie in Sex in the City writes – “Will technology really help you sell more?”

If you ask the more seasoned top producers (like I did), the answer would be “No”.   They know how to sell, they know how to reach the buyers and sellers, and they don’t need all these fancy tools that are out there now to help them do any more business.  It’s all about the relationships they tell me.

If you ask those that have less experience, the answer is “If you don’t embrace technology, you won’t survive in this business.”

I guess there is no right or wrong answer here – but after attending many sessions and talking to many people, my conclusion is – “It certainly can’t hurt”.

Do you need a Web site in this day and age?  Probably.  It just makes sense given that the highest majority of buyers now are Gen X and Gen Y and guess what, they know what a computer is and they know how to surf the Internet.  You know the number – 84% of home buyers begin their search on the Internet.

Do you need all this social media stuff?  Blogging, twittering, Facebook-ing?  It may help you get exposure to more people, but like the more seasoned pros would tell me, it doesn’t necessarily help you build that one-on-one relationship that will help you get referrals and gain repeat business.  If you have the time, go for it – but I wouldn’t expect to measure the return on your efforts.

Do you need more ways to expose your listings to more people – Yes.  Because it will help you sell more?  Maybe, but primarily because you are demonstrating  to your seller that you are doing all you can to actively promote their property.    YouTube, GoogleBase, Trulia, Zillow, Oodle, Yahoo, Homescape and the list goes on.

You can do it yourself or certainly go the free route – it’s all about putting a dollar value on your time.

Photography and videos – Yes.   The stats are out there – 12% increase in perceived value with photography and almost a 6% increase in perceived value by using a video.  There are so many inexpensive options out there that can give you a quality product – and quite frankly, your sellers should be demanding it.

Lead management systems, contact management systems?   In this market, would be a luxury to have.  I wonder how well these particular vendors did at this year’s show.

All in all, embracing technology is probably a good thing.    And if you invest your time and efforts wisely in the right technologies, chances are that you will become more efficient and more effective over the long haul – and yes, that will probably translate for more sales.

Free Online Photo Editor-FotoFlexer

The standard for photo editing still remains Adobe Photoshop.  However, using Photoshop does require a learning curve to use and it is expensive.  Photoshop elements $99 & Photoshop CS3 $999.  My favorite webapp for editing photos is FotoFlexer and it is FREE!!!.

FotoFlexer is a free online we application that allows you to upload images from you computer or other online photo applications like (Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket, and more)  to FotoFlex for editing.  There are no programs to buy and no subscribtions costs.  The user interface is easy to navigate.  Once your photo is uploaded there are options to crop, resize, add text, and many more.  What is also an advantage is you are able to save the file as a jpeg or png back to any destination you choose. (Desktop, Facebook, etc.)  Give it a try, I think you will find it useful for when you need a quick photo modification.

Remember to subscribe to our RSS feed or email updates to get all of our latest posts.  Happy Selling!!

Whiz Bang! Great technology enhances video creation

We love that you love how easy PropertyPreviews.com is to create free real estate video.   There’s a way to make it even easier.   Perhaps you’ve seen references to Eye-Fi on our site, and paid it no attention.

For those of you who make frequent use of PropertyPreviews, and we know there’s a lot of you, this is something you may want to learn more about.

What if you could take pictures of a house, then stop at McDonalds for a bite to eat, and when you got home, all your photos were in your PropertyPreviews account waiting for you.   That’s right.  You NEVER connected your camera or memory card to your computer.   In fact, they’d also be waiting for you on your computer as well.   Sound impressive?  It is!  That’s what an Eye-Fi card does.  If you have a camera that uses an SD memory card, you can replace it with an Eye-Fi card, and all this magic can happen.

Here’s what’s happening.  The Eye-Fi card not only is a 2 GB memory card that stores your pictures, it’s also a wireless transmitter that will send your photos over the Internet to your computer and to PropertyPreviews, all via your pre-designated wireless network (like home or office network).   Some versions of the card come with one-year free Wayport Hot Spot access, which allows you to transmit at some public hot-spots, such as McDonalds.   Once configured, when you’re camera is on in range of one of these pre-selected networks, it automatically uploads photos.

I’ve personally used it, and there’s even more whiz-bang stuff, like geo-coding where the photo was taken.  That means, in addition to storing data like shutter speed, and date/time taken, it can also approximate the latitude and longitude of where it was taken.  This allows you to map the location of it on a map like Google Maps.   This feature is not available on all Eye-Fi models.

For those of you that like focusing your time on buyers, sellers and prospects, and not on labor-intensive marketing (hey, isn’t that why you use PropertyPreviews.com in the first place?), then consider adding an Eye-Fi card to your tool bag.   Once you try it, we think you’ll be as impressed as we are.  PropertyPreviews is proud to be the first real estate partner of Eye-Fi, and we think you’ll be excited when you learn what it can do.   Others think it’s impressive as well.  Eye-Fi has garnered numerous awards, including PC World’s “The 100 Best Products of 2008″ and Yahoo! Tech’s “Last Gadget Standing 2008.”

Learn more by clicking here.

If you’ve tried it, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Letter from Jeff Harris – General Manager of PropertyPreviews.com

Letter from Jeff Harris, General Manager of PropertyPreviews.com

Hello from PropertyPreviews.com Headquarters!

By now, thousands of real estate professionals have seen the many advantages of using our free online service.  I hope we’ve answered the one question on everyone’s mind, but just in case – PropertyPreviews is still a free video creation service, and will always be free!

I want  to share some updates that we’ve just launched on PropertyPreviews.com.  We’ve listened to your suggestions, and we’ve implemented several new upgrades to our site including:

•    The ability to create a new video by adding or deleting photos in the video
•    The ability to delete a listing/video if you no longer want this to appear on your dashboard
•    Enhancements to our photo upload tool – including a gauge that lets you know the quality of the photos you are loading
•    More options for property descriptions – to use in your ePostcard or for flyers and postcards you may want to order
•    Enhancements to our marketplace – including a new subscription-based Enhanced Listings product for ChicagoTribune.com – only $50/month for all of your listings

We’re also excited to announce the launch of our official PropertyPreviews Blog – a site dedicated to helping real estate professionals gain knowledge on anything from new technologies that can help sell properties to prominent market news.  We hope you’ll check it out.

I hope you’ve been following our progress so far.  Join our Facebook group or page to stay up-to-date on all PropertyPreviews news.  Or check out our BlogRoll for a complete list of our social media presence.

Feel free to contact me at jharris@propertypreviews.com.

Best,

Jeff  Harris

Official Company Blog

PropertyPreviews.com, the creators of the free video creation service for real estate agents, has just launched the official PropertyPreviews.com Blog. This blog allows Real Estate professionals to expand their knowledge on low-cost, successful ways to manage their online marketing and learn about emerging real estate marketing trends.

The blog features articles on topics such as marketing properties online, real estate photography, relevant real estate news, as well as articles geared to help agents and REALTORS® increase the perceived value of their properties. Contributors of the PropertyPreviews.com blog focus on helping real estate professionals find focus in a sometimes overwhelming online landscape, and how utilizing online tools can help sell properties better and more efficiently.

About PP.com

PropertyPreviews.com allows you to quickly and easily upload your real estate photos and create a compelling and engaging video presentation of your property in three easy steps. Your online real estate video can then be distributed throughout the Internet to a variety of video hosting sites – all with just a click of a button!