Advanced information overlay technology has long been the preserve of futuristic film and TV fantasies. Here, United Lane’s VP of Communications, Peter Warren, reveals how a pioneering California-based company is turning science fiction into hi-tech reality for the masses via its online data-fusion system – with huge implications for the real-estate sector

Ten years ago, the now defunct 3D company Silicon Graphics put together a 3D astral model of the Milky Way for the American Museum of Natural History. Called the Digital Galaxy Project, the model allowed you to fly through our galaxy, marvelling at the sheer size and scale of the system to which our planet belongs, and of which it is such a tiny part.

As one visitor took off from an Earth still immersed in the Bosnian conflict, he commented to Carter Emmart, the researcher taking him through the Horsehead Nebula, that the one thing that was amazing about the system was seeing so many unnamed planets, and wondering when names and information would be supplied about them.

Emmart replied that the process of digitally pinning information against an object would first take place on Earth. This would be the beginning of an enormous and constantly changing encyclopedia that would eventually start to spill out into the stars, gradually tabbing data against the dots and giving them meaning. But he warned, ‘Just finding out what a planet or a star is will be a massive task.’

Fast forward to 2009. The information overlay technology that was first introduced to us in the futuristic TV series Six Million Dollar Man, and then refined in sci-fi blockbusters like The Terminator – which based their research on techniques developed by NASA and the like – is now forcing its way into the real-estate market. It’s still in its early stages – you may not see a data readout on your eyeball just yet – but by simply clicking on a building on a map, a data screen can now drop down and reveal huge amounts of information on a particular location – almost instantaneously.

One system developed in El Segundo by Geosemble – a California-based company that up till now has concentrated on supplying its artificial intelligence and geospatial data-fusion systems to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the US Air Force and other US government agencies including the CIA – can now pull together all the available data on a locality.

Within the last two years, the company has started to see real opportunities open up in the real estate market. ‘We have started to do work for cities that are undergoing redevelopment, who want to attract certain sorts of companies into an area,’ says CEO Andre Doumitt.

‘Up till now, you look on Google Earth and all you can see is rooftops. What we do is let you click on that rooftop and see who is in that building, and who are in the buildings around you, so that you can really get an idea of a neighborhood. We can deliver a lot of information.’

Just how much information is impressive. Go to one of Geosemble’s projects, the El Segundo website (www.elsegundobusiness.com), and you can home in on a particular area. By clicking on a roof you can drill down, uncovering information on the businesses you might be rubbing shoulders with, and all the restaurants, theatres and entertainment centers in the area.

The system depends on the ability of Geosemble’s technology to accurately overlay geospatial information on top of map data to achieve an absolute match between the two. When this is done, the system can then input information obtained from the web and other data sources to pinpoint a building and identify it.

This then allows the company to add other information gathered from the internet to a building’s data model. Precise data about what the companies in a block are doing, number of employees, recent news, etc, can then be displayed on a data readout.

So sophisticated is the system that it can also pull in information from social networking sites to present an even richer data picture. In the case of restaurants, you can even pull up menus if that information has been made available.

Geosemble’s business model is simple. The internet is changing, broadening and deepening; whereas once we expected a picture to be just that, now we want more information about what we are looking at than just a newspaper caption.

In the future, an image will be considered merely the entry point to somewhere in the real world.

This process is now gathering pace. With Google mapping streets in 3D, companies building interiors in 3D, and shopping centers and high streets developing websites about their services, a complex overlay of pictures and data is developing that mobile phone companies are now exploiting so as to be able to tell you where you are in that world, and what is around you.

‘If that information is open source or in the public domain, then we can display it. We can take geographic context and with our data-search techniques link that and other information to pinpoint content onto a particular location. In the old days, you would have to gumshoe it. Now, all you have to do is click on an image and you see a whole bunch of other information,’ says Doumitt. ‘A while ago, you would buy a computer that said ‘Intel inside’: well, now we’re the data inside when you tap on an image.’

This means that Geosemble can cut down on the time needed to research an area by presenting planning applications and development plans for an area alongside social and business information.

‘I see this as removing a lot of the fear that is involved in moving into an area,’ says Doumitt. ‘If you are looking to move into an area, it’s a bit awkward to go around and talk to people and ask them about what the area is like and what that gloomy-looking building is across the street. With this technology, you can determine if you want to make an investment decision very quickly.

‘For people investing in a home, that’s a big deal: they tend to only make those decisions three or four times in their lives. If it’s something like a business, then it can be crucial in being able to attract high-calibre staff.’

Costing around $10,000 to set-up for a small city, and with an annual maintenance fee of $2,000, Doumitt underlines the point made by Emmart 10 years ago about the model for the universe.

‘What can be accomplished all depends on the depth of the information and the frequency with which it is updated. We have got to the stage now with the internet when we are beginning to expect more and more from our images – we are aiming to be the data behind those images.’

• Geosemble Technologies provides automatic techniques for integrating and displaying geospatial information, including maps, aerial imagery, news, events, databases, businesses and more. For more information please visit: www.geosemble.com

The challenging economic conditions in the US housing market are leading to a revolution in the use of technology as real estate businesses cut costs and seek to exploit new ways to reach customers

The revolution has seen intense competition develop on the internet as Realtors try to get the most from marketing budgets and harness the growing trend for clients to search for property online. However, as real estate agents suddenly realise the marketing opportunities that the internet offers them, it is forcing them to compete not only with each other, but also with the traditional media organizations that they used to support with their advertising.

‘Media companies will be competing more and more with broker sites,’ says Joy Hanawa, Real Estate GM and Chief Technology Officer for Adicio, which produces online classified advertising software. ‘In the US there are hundreds of MLS’ and only a few major sites on which to see 80 per cent of all listings.  Brokers with access to a listing service, such as an MLS, may have more data than local media companies.’

Getting personal
This glut of data that means that brokers are now fighting to differentiate their websites in what has become an increasingly ferocious battle to drive online visitors to their sites – and then hold them there.

‘What we are seeing now is a lot of personalization going on with website design,’ says Gary Cowan, Vice President of Products for the web development company Datasphere. ‘More and more people are conducting their research through the internet than through any other medium. People are spending hours and days looking for the right property, so you need to give them an experience when they are purchasing property through you that makes them think that they are with you.’

Without that sense of personal presence, potential clients will not stay on a site. The result has been the implementation of web technologies like those used by Datasphere, that try to deepen the amount of information that visitors receive from a website.

In Datasphere’s case, it allows real estate agents to group similar properties in similar places in what Cowan refers to as ‘communities’, so that the viewing experience can be customized for the person viewing it.

Information exchange
The flirtation with personalization does not stop there: personalization has turned into a full blown love affair for a real estate business that has not had to work too hard for customers for the past decade. In fact, some real estate web sites are now in the process of gathering as much information on their customers as some online dating sites, picking up data on age, children, finance, furnishing preferences and taste.

One company, California-based Geosemble, has come up with a model that adds in even more information. ‘The key here is that there are lots of different web sites that list home size, price, number of rooms, lot size, last purchase price and lots of detail on the home itself,’ says the company’s CEO Andre Doummitt. ‘However, what homebuyers need is a simple way to understand the context that the house sits in, i.e. the neighborhood, surrounding businesses, shops, restaurants, news articles about the area, events, and things like flood plains, nearby planned construction of buildings, rail lines, pollution sites.

‘In the old days, you had to gumshoe that sort of information, but it’s data that is really crucial to you, not just because of the investment that a house represents but also because of what difference that information can make to your quality of life.’

Going global
According experts, such as Inman News’ technology columnist, Professor Bernice Ross, it’s information that will increasingly be demanded, as a global market for real estate develops following the move to the web.

Investors are already taking advantage of the current economic climate and buying properties in the US sight unseen from as far afield as South America and the Middle East. Professor Ross predicts this remote viewing process will encourage people to decide that they want to move to a particular area – and then find ways of doing so, rather than seeing employment prospects as the sole driver.

Competition vs collaboration
Such an appetite for information, and its availability, will, according to Hanawa, see the beginnings of the competition between media and real estate websites, as each seek to adopt their models to attract customers and viewers.

‘What we are seeing happening is two industries seeking to redefine each other by adapting and developing the technology that has thrown their old business models up into the air,’ says Aamir Butt, CEO of 3D real estate specialists United Lane and an adviser on new technology models for Atlanta Real Estate. ‘Due to the freefall generated by the present market conditions which has put them under enormous pressure, both sectors are trying to build business models that not only replicate what they once did, but also take on new functions that they do not have any real expertise in.’

Butt predicts that the winners will be those who realise that, rather than competing, they should be working together, a view echoed by Hanawa. ‘Some media companies will join forces with brokerages to get listings in exchange for advertising,’ she says.  ‘Media companies have the local content, news, demographics and the local audience.  As media companies continue to improve their online presence with more community journalism – blogs and opinion polls – consumers will come to rely on these sites to gauge the value of property, and research the area where they want to live.’

However, Hanawa adds that any trend towards virtual buying in the residential market will be small. ‘Even in the future, virtual transactions will be rare, at least for home sales.  People may send info to their phone and Twitter about a place they are looking at, but they are unlikely to purchase without physically visiting the property and checking out the community and potential neighbors.  Buyers will be much more knowledgeable about properties and their locations before making a purchase decision.’

And, with Geosemble’s technology and websites such as rottenneighbor.com, checking out the neighbors is now more than a distinct possibility.

Leading real estate writer, commentator and coach Professor Bernice Ross reveals how the latest hi-tech tools are changing the way properties are marketed and sold, and explains why 3D will be one of the major developments of the future

‘At the moment there are 2m Realtor licensees in the US and 1.2m members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). As an emeritus professor of psychology, one of my roles is to teach the companies that I work for how to perform better. I think that technology now plays a crucial role in that. Technology gives people a competitive edge, it allows them to simplify their business and not spend as much money on marketing. It also lets them know how best to serve their customers.

‘One of the things that those who are going to survive the recession have to understand is that the real estate market is now global. So the issue that they face is how do they reach that international buyer? It is not enough anymore to just go out and look at homes. The other challenge the real estate market faces is that, because of the buoyant market we have enjoyed for so long, there is a whole generation of people who are without negotiating skills and that we are now in a period when it is extremely difficult to get financing.’

Know your technology
‘What I am finding is that the people who are succeeding at the moment are those who have the wisdom to address those issues and they are doing that with a mix of technology and street knowledge. They are turning to technology because now 90 per cent of buyers are going online as part of their search.

‘But many of the people I talk to still do not know what is generating their online sales. Sites are getting a lot of hits, but the Realtors don’t know why. They don’t track leads and they don’t know what is governing their conversion ratios. They do not know what is generating their qualified leads: they think that technology is a substitute for connection.

‘Research recently carried out by the NAR has found out that 98-99 per cent of those people who view a property online will drive by and see it. The chief areas of technology that people should be concentrating on are Customer Relationship Management systems and a marketing set-up that allows them to carry out all of their marketing from just one place. With a one-stop marketing shop they should be able to carry out just one upload that places their listing on many sites and they should be able to do the same with their videos, etc: www.tubemogul.com is a good example of that.

‘It is something that the President of Nokia has referred to as “iPodification”. All of your services should be delivered to one point. Because of that there should be two variants of a real estate website – a full-blown version and a dot-mobi version which carries short, one-line descriptions for mobile.’

Sense of community
‘Mapping is one of those components that has been around for a long time and is now expected. One of the very interesting developments is www.rottenneighbor.com which lists bad neighbours, sex offenders and foreclosures. This is a development that I think is going to really pick up pace because at the moment anything that is pushing from the bottom up is gaining momentum.

‘So, what we are going to see is the growth of community information. That information will come from co-creation by users, word of mouth, the picnic and cocktail party circuit and from people who share common interests. Real estate agents are going to start drawing on that. The real estate companies that exploit this trend will be successful because they will become the “manager” of my zip code; they will become experts for that area and its lifestyle.

‘Two good examples of this are www.kevintomlinson.com and www.goarmyhomes.com – both are sites that are about “me and my lifestyle”. What these sites will start to do is become the basis for a search: people will be looking for people who have a similar lifestyle.

‘There are sites that are being put together now that are looking for people who are 35-50 and who either work on Wall Street or are involved in the media, film, TV and art. The idea is that they will form a community online and that they will also want to live near each other. It’s “where I’m doing business” and “what is my lifestyle”.

‘Into that you will get local information being factored in, so you will get the local restaurant owner and other people who have local businesses putting in information, and people buying a property will want to know all about that. People will be using Twitter and they will be blogging. In fact, I can see a growing market for journalists, because people will have to able to present this information in a professional way.’

3D – techno-tool of the future
‘I am making a presentation to the NAR, and one of the things that I have in it is that real estate goes 3D – I see that as a big trend. I also think that there will be an increased use of future creatures that will be able to walk around in those 3D models and give you a picture from wherever you are standing. I think 3D will expand into that community world.

‘The essential information that has to be on a website is listings, prices and community information – we are going to work towards what is being called “MLS 5.0”, which includes the traditional information, videos, interactive 3D and the community side.

‘One of the most interesting speakers at the last Inman conference was a man called Baynerchuk who was a wine merchant. He wanted to do a wine promotion over the holiday period and used radio and billboard advertising and Twitter. Both of the conventional methods generated 150 sales, while Twitter accounted for 1,700 because he made himself available as part of the local community and advised people on wine.

‘3D will have the same sort of role to play in providing local and specific information: it will also give people a competitive edge. I am involved in a real estate business in Beverly Hills, and if I were wanting to advertise a $3-5m listing, then I would do it in 3D – because that is what would give me the competitive edge.’

Blog: Mark Foreman

‘Virtual tours are great, but what if you don’t like the color of the living room?’

The constantly evolving technologies that help
us market and sell real estate all started with Gutenberg’s printing press in or around 1450. Fast forward to 2009. Fax machines, cell phones, digital cameras and the internet have created marketing tools unimagined 30 years ago – so what will the future of real estate marketing and sales look like?

No one really knows, but sci-fi author and techno-visionary William Gibson once said, ‘The future is already here – it is just unevenly distributed.’ Some innovative companies are already showing a glimpse of how agents will market their listings in the not-too-distant future: 3D technology is at the center of this movement.

Potential buyers already have the ability access property data, photos, flat floor plans, photo tours and virtual tours online, before they venture out to physically tour the homes. In the very near future, agents will be able to walk buyers through their listings virtually. If they don’t like the wall colors or floor style, they will change them with the click of a mouse. Want to see what the rooms look like with furniture? Simply arrange and rearrange with your index finger. Just about any item in the home will be viewable in a different style or color.

As a Realtor for over 21 years, I have worked with a lot of buyers who look at a lot of houses that they never buy. Some just like to look. And I can’t tell you how many times I have heard, ‘My furniture will never fit in this space.’ Having my buyers ‘fit’ their furniture in the rooms before they go out and look at the homes would make a tremendous time saving. They would only then look at homes about which they already have a sense of the interior size and layout. Most of my clients end up spending a lot of time envisioning how the walls will look in a certain color, or asking, ‘What if I changed the floors to hardwood from carpet?’

Many Realtors already use floor plans as part of their marketing package, which add depth to the information a potential buyer uses in making a decision whether or not to go see a home. Virtual tours are great, but what if you don’t like the color of the living room? How can you tell if a King-sized bed will fit in the master bedroom? A two-dimensional static floor plan lets you see the room layout, but it won’t allow you to place furniture in the rooms or play with different wall colors.

A new program, being developed by the Denmark-based United Lane Corporation, will soon allow home shoppers and commercial tenants to make and see these changes online. United Lane’s software takes that 2D floor plan and converts it to an interactive virtual 3D model that then becomes an open house – 24 hours per day. No more Sunday open houses; no more asking the sellers to leave for the afternoon; no more baking gingerbread cookies to make the house smell ‘homey’. Any buyer can look at and ‘walk through’ the listing anytime, from anywhere in the world. That’s powerful marketing.

It’s rare when a product/concept so unique and intuitive first comes to the market and almost everyone can immediately see how this could change the face of several industries. The early version of the program is impressive to say the least, but high-definition, video-quality 3D walkthroughs are already in the development stages. And purchasing consumer products through this venue might be as easy as clicking the Dell laptop on the desk in the den and inputting your credit card info.

It won’t be too long before every single piece of commercial and residential property in the world will have an interactive 3D rendering of the layout available to the owner, or made accessible to the public if the home is for sale. Planting a virtual ‘For Sale’ sign in front of these homes and buildings will let the world know that this property is on the market. Potential buyers will be able to ‘cyberwalk’ down United Lane, popping into the properties they are interested in seeing. Agents will benefit by taking buyers only to homes that they have a high level of interest in. The possibilities can only be imagined…

The mobile phone is already considered indispensable in the modern world. As the device becomes increasingly powerful and complex, techno-evangelists are hailing it as the next frontier in digital communications

The humble mobile has become the focus of huge amounts of attention over the last four years, as companies ponder ways to turn it into both a hi-tech pocketbook and a universal communications device. The advent of mobile broadband and, increasingly, inexpensive mobile tariffs is now accelerating that process. Four years ago, researchers found that people leaving their houses always checked for three items: keys, wallet and mobile phone. The aim of technology companies today is to bring that down to just one item: the mobile.

Uniting a key with a mobile phone is a relatively simple process; the move to develop the phone into a mobile banking system capable of letting you pay for small items with your handset is taking longer. But, despite being hampered by the recession, things are now well under way. (See http://www.futureintelligence.co.uk/content/view/49/57/) Further mobile updates expected over the next five years will include new OLED (organic light emitting diode) screens which will have hugely increased resolution, soft metals, touch screens with tactile feedback, fast and accurate voice recognition systems, and keyboards and screens made from light.

The long-term aim is to produce completely mobile communications systems that can be easily worked with while on the move, have the same power and display functionality as a desktop PC, and which will provide instant internet access. The result of this will be mobiles that can be integrated into clothing, powered by our immediate environment, and capable of producing instant, full-size ‘air screens’ that we can interface with, either by talking or using ‘air keyboards’. Until the full emergence of this technology, in the short-term the attention is on the development of ultra-high-definition tactile screens that we can reconfigure into any interface required, using our fingers to access information.

The content industry is already gearing itself up to accommodate these developments, with film and mobile companies working hard to develop films, games and TV access via the mobile. Big internet companies, such as Google and Microsoft, are not only supporting this new technology, but are also actively engaged in developing it.

It’s a brave new world that is ignored by real estate companies at their peril. Real estate technology guru Professor Bernice Ross (See her interview and blog elsewhere in this issue) flags up the growing consumer trend to use their mobiles both to display property listing information, and then navigate to the location. She says companies should not just develop an internet presence, but one that can be accessed by the mobile.

‘The mobile is something that the real estate sector should not ignore. More and more information is being held by people on their mobiles; it is something that the President of Nokia has referred to as iPodification. All of your services should be delivered to one point. Because of that, there should be two variants of a real estate website – a full-blown version and a dot-mobi version which carries short, one-line descriptions for mobile.’

Some Realtors have already started to experiment. ‘We are seeing a lot of real estate companies starting to come to us for mobile websites,’ says Daniel West, CEO of Unity Mobile, a company that specialises in producing fully functional mobile websites capable of streaming high quality video.

‘Our technology allows people to set up incredibly inexpensive mobile phone websites in 10 minutes, which means that we can bring the functionality that only used to be available to large companies to smaller businesses, and that is proving very attractive to real estate.

‘We can redirect any website to a mobile so long as the content is digital, though it has to be remembered that no phone can deliver 100 per cent of the functionality that you get from the internet because a different technology is used. In some cases, people are finding that they have to build other applications to get an equivalent experience, but that’s not difficult to do.’

West points out that Unity’s system also allows huge amounts of analytical data to be extracted from any visit to its mobile websites. ‘Information about who a person is, what their phone number is, and what they have been doing while they were on the mobile website, can all be recorded. If you then think about the potential of being able to link that with SMS, then this becomes very powerful.’

Doug Garcia, director of research for Colliers Parrish, a large commercial real estate group based in the San Francisco Bay area, is already looking into ways that his company can exploit the trends in mobile, and also looking into the potential of the new locational services offered by companies such as Google. With other companies now working hard to offer services that will allow messages to be triggered on a mobile phone when you drive down a particular street, he predicts a world where you will sign up to receive alerts about a particular type of house within a certain price range from a Realtor’s internet site, and then be sent a message when you are near to a property advertised by that agent, asking you if you want to view it. This new mobile world will be supported by a huge raft of viewing technologies.

‘The rate of development of these technologies is already having an impact on the US real estate market,’ says Garcia. ‘We’ve explored using 3D modeling on the market. We are working towards a future where actual 3D tours will allow you to go to different floors of a building and look around the location using Google Earth.

‘Increasingly, we think that people will want to use 3D to assess the value of a property remotely, and the challenge there will be in the refresh of the 3D worlds that will evolve – though I could see that happening with social networking for an area where people will work to contribute information.’

Blog: Bernice Ross

Agents today face numerous challenges when it comes to technology. Which solutions really work? How can I convert more leads from the web? What do I need to do to motivate visitors to return to my site repeatedly?

For the last two years, blogging has been at the forefront as a solution for improving search engine rankings and for motivating visitors to return to your site repeatedly. Nevertheless, most agents find blogging difficult. With the latest Web 2.0 real estate technology innovations, agents now have multiple options to turn their websites into a lead conversion machine. Better yet, most of these new tools are free.

All things local
Your goal as an agent is to become the single go-to resource for your specific market niche. A number of services now make this easier than ever. Everyblock.com provides a wealth of information about the five cities they serve (Charlotte, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.) They display business reviews, permits, crimes, liquor licenses, real estate listings from Trulia and Redfin, restaurant inspections, zoning agenda items, as well as maps pinpointing relevant locations. Another local site, Eventful.com, claims to be the ‘world’s leading events website’ and has a comprehensive list of events occurring near your local address. Both of these resources will motivate your web visitors to visit your site regularly.

What’s your Walk Score?
If you represent properties where people routinely walk to nearby services, this is another great addition to your site. With gasoline hovering around $4.00 per gallon, many people are leaving suburbia and returning to urban living. Walk Score (www.walkscore.com) allows your web visitors to determine the ‘walkability’ of various neighborhoods. Walkability is important because it supports local merchants, reduces fuel costs, and strengthens local neighborhoods. Furthermore, it can be a major influence on where your buyers decide that they want to live.

Plug in your address (or the address of any of your listings) and you’ll receive a score between 1 and 100 rating how ‘walkable’ that address is. The site grades walkability based upon the convenience of various businesses to the residents, income mix, parks and public space, nearby schools, bike paths, and a ‘pedestrian-centric’ design. They also evaluate how accessible the area is for the disabled, what the flow of the traffic is, and how comfortable and/or convenient it is to use mass transit if available.

One caveat: Walk Score does not rate the quality of the neighborhood. Just because there are facilities nearby doesn’t mean that they are places that you want to visit. When you post a Walk Score, it’s also a good idea to post pictures or videos that provide your web visitors with a sense of the area.

Find Cheap Gas
Gasbuddy.com links to the local gas prices in your neighborhood. Consumers report in real time the price they paid to fill up their tanks. This tool is another excellent way to motivate people to visit your site each time that they need to fill up.

Highlight interesting architectural properties in your area
Ourbania.com is a site for real estate enthusiasts who want to share pictures and other information about ‘the buildings that shape our cities worldwide – innovative existing and future projects, from bridges to skyscrapers.’ Whether it’s the ‘lipstick’ building in New York City or the Kodak Center in Hollywood, this site is a great resource to acquaint your web visitors with the most interesting buildings in your area. It’s also an excellent sightseeing resource if you’re traveling to major cities both inside and outside the U.S.

‘Rat out’ lousy neighbors and landlords
While you may not want to add RottenNeighbor.com and Introin.com to your website, it’s an excellent idea to check these sites when you’re working with sellers, buyers, lessors, or lessees. RottenNeighbor.com reports on noise, odor, and other neighborhood nuisances. There is also a place to report great neighbors as well. Introin.com provides information about the availability of rentals as well as an evaluation of the buildings and their landlords.

Track your numbers
AltosResearch.com provides real time charts that graphically display the median prices in your local area. They allow you to download this valuable information to your website and update it for you regularly. For sellers who may be reluctant about lowering their prices, you can show them if the market is trending down. You can also use the statistics to encourage your buyers to take action when prices begin to increase. The advantage is that you’ll have the data long before it appears in the press.

Another useful tool for your website comes from ListingNumber.com. Virtually no one evaluates the ROI (return on investment) for specific marketing campaigns. ListingNumber.com tracks this data for you and specifically shows you the cost of each lead that you generate.

While implementing this many innovations may seem daunting, you can easily add most of these solutions to your website. The result is that you will have a website rich with fresh local content that will keep visitors constantly coming back for more. Best of all, you didn’t have to research or create it – someone else did it for you!

Bernice Ross is a leading real estate writer, commentator and coach.
Email: Bernice@RealEstateCoach.com
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved in all media.

Much of what used to be done from an office window or in the local paper has moved onto the web, and from there onto mobile phones – a trend presenting the real estate industry with enormous challenges

In a world of remorseless change, it’s not only new technologies, but also new techniques, working practices and skills that could prove the difference between success and failure.

‘The chief areas of technology that people should be concentrating on are customer relationship management systems and a marketing set-up that allows them to carry out all of their marketing from just one place,’ says real estate technology guru Professor Bernice Ross. (See also her blog in this issue of Future World.)

‘With a one-stop marketing shop they should be able to carry out just one upload that places their listing on many sites, and they should be able to do the same with their videos.’

Some 90 per cent of buyers now go online as part of their search, but Ross – an Emeritus Professor of psychology who coaches real estate staff – says many real estate companies do not know what is generating their online sales, neither tracking leads nor finding out what is causing their conversion ratios.

‘They do not know what is generating their qualified leads and they think that technology is a substitute for connection,’ she says.

Research recently carried out by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has found out that 98 to 99 per cent of those people who view a property online will drive by and see it, something that Doug Garcia, the director of research for San Francisco Bay area commercial Realtors Colliers Parrish states will routinely involve the use of a mobile phone.

Garcia says his company is now looking at both mapping technology to guide clients to a potential property and, in the future, the use of locational tags to alert a client to the fact that they may be passing a property.

However, the use of smart phones and internet mobile is also presenting the real estate community with issues. ‘The President of Nokia has referred to it as iPodification,’ says Ross. ‘All of your services should be delivered to one point. Because of that, there should be two variants of a real estate website – a full-blown version and a dot-mobi version, which carries short, one-line descriptions for mobile.”

Ross is not alone in picking mobile technology as a rich new area. Intensive research carried out by Future World has revealed that real estate agents are all trying to find ways into a device that is increasingly being seen as a pocketbook. New products and systems being promoted by the mobile phone industry itself should make that process easier, allowing text messages and adverts to be sent direct to mobile.

Internet websites being developed for mobile by companies such as Unity Mobile (also featured in this issue of Future World) are being closely followed by phones – from companies such as ‘3’, which open Skype and Facebook to show who is online without connecting to the web – which offer opportunities to real estate companies to connect via mobile.

This interest in social networking could help evade moves by governments in the US and Europe to regulate access to mobile due to privacy concerns: people will happily supply information via social networking applications that they would not dream of providing to market researchers.

Which comes back neatly to one of Ross’ other tips: the use of social networking technologies like Twitter and Facebook by the real estate industry. Much has been written recently encouraging the use of social networking by Realtors, but little about why they should. The answer is simple. Not only do the systems provide valuable potential leads, which many have already recognised, they also provide localised information that can be mined to provide an invaluable lifestyle resource.

Says Ross: ‘What we are going to see is the growth of community information. That information will come from co-creation by users, word of mouth, the picnic and cocktail party circuit, and from people who share common interests. Real estate agents are going to start drawing on that.

‘There are sites that are being put together now that are looking for people who are 35-50 years old, and who either work on Wall Street or are involved in the media, film or art. The idea is that they will form a community online and that they will also want to live near each other.

‘It’s “Where I’m doing business” and “What is my lifestyle”. Into that you will get local information being factored in, so you will get the local restaurant owner and other people who have local businesses putting in information, and people buying a property will want to know all about that.

‘The real estate companies that exploit this trend will be successful because they will become the manager of my zip code; they will become experts for that area and its lifestyle.’

Real estate agents would then add this community-rich information to a rapidly developing data mine.

‘Mapping is one of those components that has been around for a long time now and it is expected,’ continues Ross. ‘One of the very interesting developments is www.rottenneighbor.com which lists bad neighbours, sex offenders and foreclosures. That is a development that I think is going to really pick up pace because at the moment anything that is pushing from the bottom up is gaining momentum.’

The final area of technology development identified by Ross is the evolution of 3D.

‘Interactive 3D will have the same sort of role to play in providing local and specific information: it will also give people a competitive edge.

‘I am involved in a real estate business in Beverly Hills, and if I were wanting to advertise a $3-5m listing, then I would do it in 3D because that is what would give me the competitive edge.’

An opinion backed by some of the most tech-savvy companies in real estate, with many now researching the potential of 3D offerings from companies like Google and Microsoft to provide views of local communities, streets and neighbourhoods.

Taking people inside the houses in those areas – so that they can see the view from the window – is the next logical step as technology begins to populate the virtual world.

For those wishing to read Professor Bernice Ross’ full article click here.

For those wanting to know more about United Lane’s unique 3D technology, contact James.digby@unitedlane.com

If you have any queries regarding this newsletter, or would like to contribute, please email Peter Warren at peter.warren@unitedlane.com

3D technology is being hailed by experts as one of the possible answers to the credit crunch, as web designers look for that extra wow factor to give their sites the edge in the economic downturn

Having already been the victim of one false dawn eight years ago, 3D technology is beginning to emerge from the shadows as one of the most exciting developments on the internet.

‘The trend is very clear,’ says Karthik Ramani, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Indiana’s Purdue University and an authority on 3D technology.

‘The real world is 3D and, as humans, we want things to behave in the way that they do in the real world, so going to 3D is very natural. It is the next evolution of the web.’

Techno race
The claims have not gone unnoticed by internet companies like Google and Microsoft, which have developed Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth in what appears to be a race to capture the world in 3D on the web. These developments are now exciting traditional industries such as property sales and furniture design, and are spawning a whole new virtual world industry, far removed from current technologies like Second Life.

‘The rate of development of these technologies is already having an impact on the US real estate market,’ says Doug Garcia, the director of research for Colliers Parrish, a large real estate group based in the San Francisco area.

‘We’ve explored using 3D modeling on the market and are working towards a future where actual 3D tours will allow you to go to different floors of a building and look around the location using Google Earth.

‘Increasingly we think that people will want to use 3D to assess the value of a property remotely, and the challenge there will be in the refresh of the 3D worlds that will evolve, though I could see that happening with social networking for an area where people will work to contribute information.’

Superior interiors
And while companies like Google focus on the outside, other companies are now working hard to create interiors that show off properties and products. Here at United Lane, we want to form a closer association between 3D virtual environments and the real world.

‘Our aim is to make 3D technology available to anyone using the web,’ says Chief Technology Officer, Kresten Thomsen. ‘So, what we do is let people upload plans of their own houses from a 2D floor plan and populate it with real furniture and objects, change floors and wall colors and then render the whole thing in a photorealistic fashion, because people find that more compelling and attractive.

‘In our visualizations, we can even add the view from a window; that is how I see the internet going – it will be a believable mirror of the real world.’

Virtual world
While United Lane can make photorealistic images of buildings that do not yet exist in a remarkably short space of time, Vzillion, wants to go further. In line with the old vision of the internet bubble at the turn of the century, when developers promised a photorealistic world inhabited by lifelike avatars of real people, Vzillion envisages 3D with everything.

‘We think in 3D and we feel things in 3D. If you look at a virtual world you see an environment you are engaged with,’ says Antonio Collier, the company’s CEO.

Its offering for the future is a 3D virtual world where you are given the keys to a virtual flat that can be populated with the objects that you use in your everyday life. Objects which, according to Collier, will work in much the same way that they would if they were in your real room.
‘You will be able to go to Amazon and point and click and play a music movie on the TV in your virtual apartment,’ he says. Potentially, it’s a move to mesh the real world with Second Life – that might have implications for both.

3D thinking
Professor Ramani, whose resume also includes work at the prestigious Stanford Research Institute in California, says that the key factor in the use of virtual environments for people is the amount of data that a 3D world can convey.

‘I have worked with cognitive psychologists and we have looked at the way that people like to navigate 3D content. We gave them the ability to take snapshots from within the visualization and found that people always choose positions that allow them to convey the maximum amount of visual content.

‘Of course, there has to be some value for the 3D visualization to be useful, and we found that people considered the 3D interface much more intuitive than a 2D one.’

Part of the reason for this, according to a recent study carried out by scientists, is because our brains find 3D environments more reassuring. Their research suggests that the part of the brain governing vision is able to map out a copy of a 3D image by projecting it onto responsive neurons that can create a 3D model of an object.

‘Human beings are keenly aware of object structure, and that may be due to this clear structural representation in the brain,’ Charles E. Connor, associate professor in the Zanvyl Krieger Mind-Brain Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, told Science Daily in October of this year.

In the study, Connor and colleague Yukako Yamane, a postdoctoral fellow, trained two monkeys to watch a computer screen while 3D objects were played upon it, while the researchers recorded the responses of neurons in the higher-level part of the visual area.

According to Connor, the research may ultimately reveal the reasons why our brains find some objects and views visually pleasing, yet dismiss others. The suggestion is that there may be an element of ‘pleasing comfort’ created in the brain among groups of neurons when they display an object.

While most technology aimed at real estate is focusing on moving to the internet, one California-based direct marketing company is insisting that there is still a need for the human touch

SendPepper, a company that combines web marketing with direct mail, is finding success by offering the direct mail campaigns used by large companies like Amazon to small businesses.

‘As we virtualize all of these services that used to be offered by offices, we are finding that people are looking for that sense that there is someone out there,’ says Landon Ray, CEO of OfficeAutopilot, SendPepper’s parent company.

“There is something much more tangible about having something in your hand and we are finding that there is a demand for it.”

Though maybe part of a rearguard action, SendPepper does unite two of the current trends that are occurring in the real estate market: the use of the web to generate high-value leads, and the recognition of ‘community’.

By using the response rates from targeted and personalized direct mail to direct customers to internet pages, it can then bring them ‘online’ to allow more sophisticated tools to gather information on them.

SendPepper works by linking together interest from the web and offline contact data. Existing paper-based lists are automated and new ones generated. Visitors to a web page generate a record that the system then tracks all the way along the sales cycle, keeping a complete record of web visits and responses to email, which includes phone calls and meetings.

It works by tracking who’s on your site, how long they’re staying, and what pages they’re viewing in real time. Once it has some understanding of you, the system will automatically send follow-up emails, phone calls, or direct mailings at intervals that the realtor specifies. Once set up, SendPepper then automates the process.

‘Imagine visiting a site, looking at a potential property, then receiving a postcard in the mail offering additional details and a personal tour,’ says Ray.

With the debate starting over whether real estate offices will leave their former bricks and mortar to become virtual shadows of their former selves, Ray claims that SendPepper can go some way to solving that.

‘Realtors are famous direct mail users, but in the past it has been batch and blast. Our system changes that by collecting information that then allows you to have a dialogue with your customers.

‘What we aim to do is help you generate a list – and then help you nurture it.’

Ray says that SendPepper does this by noting specific information, such as birthdays and the anniversary of someone moving into a house, then sending out appropriate post cards or emails.

‘Direct mail is a very powerful tool. There has been a slump in its use since the arrival of the web, but now we are seeing it pick up because people are getting very intolerant of their email queues being jammed with junk.’

Ray claims that by sending out personalized cards, tailored to an event, that realtors can show an awareness of their customers that enhances their brand.

The system also offers a personalized landing page system that increases response rates and can be used for particular campaigns.

The glut of properties on the market due to the property slump has put power squarely in the hands of the customer, a change that has been seized on by the commercial real estate broker Choyce Peterson

The firm has launched a radical new website that offers free advice to companies on how to renegotiate their leases and take advantage of the current market conditions.

‘Tenants are now the 800lb gorilla and they actually have a lot of negotiating power,’ said company principal and co-founder Alan Peterson.

‘Up till now it is only large companies that have been able to buy in the expertise to really challenge their leases. The recession has now given all tenants that advantage.’

Current market conditions have seen many companies contracting as they lay off staff – or closing their operations altogether. Those companies downsizing have been seeking either smaller premises or changes to their lease that free them of office space they no longer need – a development that has lead to an inevitable focus on the contracts that they signed in the first place. It is this change that Choyce Peterson is seeking to exploit.

‘Around 90 per cent of people who relocate go through a broker to help them find premises. However, far less than that use a broker to negotiate their leases for them, so we are providing an online checklist for people that allows them to do that,’ said Peterson, adding, that it was now possible to not only get a 20 per cent reduction in rent, but also to get substantial changes in sub-clauses.

‘Some agreements have written into them that a tenant cannot sub-let to a neighbouring company in an office block, which was a clause that put the power into the hands of the owner.

‘Another element that we saw growing was the calculation of square footage to include the lobby and machine and utility rooms. Seeing as everyone in a building shares those facilities it was just a tax that allowed a building’s owners to levy an extra 20 per cent. That can now be negotiated away.’

The move by Choyce Peterson to put information online that might be seen as the ‘bread and butter’ of their business is part of a calculated play by the company to build brand awareness.

It’s a trend that others in the real estate industry are expected to follow suit on. By offering free services such as advice on the local community, information about schools, and the culture and lifestyle of an area, real estate companies will enhance the perception of themselves as an organization.

This associative process is now being used by some of the biggest brands in the world to bolster their image, with companies such as Nike now expected to offer a range of services via mobile phone and internet that will have nothing to do with sports shoes, but which will demonstrate community values, trustworthiness and reliability.

A point not lost on Choyce Peterson. ‘We believe that people coming to the site will view us as experts in the market. Some people will use the free services on the site but we think others will consider the process as too complicated and will see the value in using us to negotiate for them,’ said Peterson.

‘We think that this will raise the bar for the whole industry.’

It is a process that is being gradually embraced by other sectors of the real estate market. Competition for customers is leading to a demand for website differentiation that will enhance customer experience and create brand awareness.

United Lane has not been slow on the uptake. ‘It is one of the reasons for our technology,’ said CEO Aamir Butt. ‘The 3D technology we have developed allows customers to get more out of visiting a site and provides them with a free service that lets them decorate and furnish a property and get some idea of its potential.

‘Being able to do that is good for the realtor because it provides them with leads, and good for the client because it provides them with an enhanced service that they did not have before. That enhanced experience builds trust and reputation for the realtor’s website.’