Mark Foreman, former Connecticut State Realtor President and 2008 VP of Committees for NAR will lead this webinar on applying basic leadership techniques and skills to understand and effectively navigate the changing real estate and technology landscape.

Join us for a Webinar on any of these scheduled times…

Tue, Feb 9, 2010 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

Tue, Feb 16, 2010 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

Tue, Feb 23, 2010 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

Tue, Mar 2, 2010 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

Tue, Mar 9, 2010 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar

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PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

In this awe-inspiring webinar sponsored by United Lane, Marc Becker Professional Photographer, will take you the next level of expertise.  Buyers will want to see your listings first. Market research shows that buyers start their search on the internet. Learn how to make a great first impression with high quality thumbnails that attract buyers. We’ll cover common mistakes and how to correct them. Great tools and techniques on composition, lighting, editing, and posting images.

Join us for a Webinar on any of these scheduled times…

Mon, Feb 8, 2010 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Mon, Feb 15, 2010 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Mon, Feb 22, 2010 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Mon, Mar 1, 2010 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

How to avoid the seven most common social media mistakes most agents make as well as the eleven social media best practices to make your business soar in 2010.

Join us for a Webinar on any of these Scheduled times…

Date: Thursday, February 11th, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/198136594

Date: Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/545100042

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

In this fast-paced free webinar sponsored by United Lane, Bernice Ross, author of Waging War on Real Estate’s Discounters, will show you how obtain more listings at the right price and the right commission with today’s most powerful Web 2.0 tools. Learn the latest strategies to market your listings using video and United Lane’s Open3DHouse™ technology plus how to overcome the most common seller commission objections.

Join us for a Webinar on any of these Scheduled times…

Date: Thursday, January 7, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/897792746

Date: Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/830936370

Date: Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/451762243

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

The increasing interest being shown in 3D technology has been underlined by the decision by real estate giants Realogy to agree to market United Lane’s Open3DHouse™ interior modelling software to its brands.

Realogy is the world’s leading real estate company with brands including such household names as Century 21®, Era®, Coldwell Banker®, Sotheby’s International Realty® and Better Homes And Gardens®, it has approximately 270,000 affiliated real estate brokers and sales associates, who work from 14,400 offices in 93 countries.

The decision by Realogy to market Open3DHouse™ to its brands is a sign of changing times in the real estate market, according to Aamir Butt, United Lane’s CEO: “Realogy is a company that is at the forefront of technological innovation and I would like to think that by its decision to market our technology that it sees us as part of that process,” said Butt, adding that the real estate industry in the US was now much more receptive to technology as it comes to terms with life in the first decade of the 21st century
“The impact of the current economic conditions and the rapidly developing world of the internet have been presenting realtors with a number of challenges.

“As a result realtor’s are turning to the internet in a bid not only to cut costs but also to respond to the fact that 90% of their clients are choosing to start their search for property on the web, said Butt.”
A change that has other messages for the modern real estate broker, the survey from the National Association of Realtors that found that nine out of ten searches start on the web also found out that 98% of those using the web to start their quest for a house subsequently viewed properties they had seen on the web.
Statistics that also mean that other properties were rejected, some because there was not enough information available about a property to sell it.

According to Butt, it is now essential for the modern realtor to engage those clients instantly and provide them with as much information as possible, if they can do that then they can cross one of the biggest hurdles and form a relationship with those virtual clients there and then at the same time differentiating them from their competitors.

A process that Open3DHouse™ has been designed to seamlessly dovetail into by letting people searching the web not only to get a feel for the property they are interested in by allowing them to walk around a 3D interior of the building but also by allowing them to decorate and furnish any part of the building using tools and databases built into the system.

“One of the things that we have discovered about the technology trends going on in real estate is that people want to have choice but also they want the reassurance of working with names that they can trust, that is why we consider our association with Realogy so valuable because we believe that the value of our brand is its ability to contribute to the value of other already outstanding brands,” said Butt, adding: “This now gives us the opportunity of working with the top names in real estate and bringing the value of our internet viewing technology via that association to a much wider audience.”

Buying and selling a house has always seemed a very personal transaction to me…not to mention the largest and potentially most important financial transaction most people experience in their lifetime.

It seems the business of real estate (the real estate industry in particular) has been one of the slowest to embrace technology, with most of the more significant advances happening in the last 2-3 years.

According to NAR, over 80 percent of people start their real estate search online. For today’s real estate agents, the opportunity to build relationships starts the minute a potential buyer or seller taps the keyboard. To capture those keystrokes as early as possible, the real estate industry has been scrambling to verse itself in the ways of technology.

The most recent challenge: mastering the art of social media, where online applications like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have taken networking to new heights. In an industry where your sphere of influence is the single most important driver of your book of business, these social networks seem like a dream come true. Agents can now reach hundreds, even thousands, of people, without setting foot outside their front doors – and without spending a dime.

This is a major contrast to the old-school traditions of building relationships that used to start with desk time at the office, talking to strangers in the supermarket, one-on-one schmoozing with everyone you know and pricey marketing tactics like billboards and mailers – it does require a sea-change in thinking within the real estate community.

As a result, broad acceptance of social networks in real estate has been slow – there are always those brave few that quickly embrace and leverage technology – but the majority of agents have been slow to jump in.

Some complain that social media can be time-consuming; others point out that its value has yet to be proven. Many stand firm in the belief that real estate requires a personal touch.

They’re not entirely wrong. By its very nature, real estate will likely always require some level of face-to-face interaction. Buyers and sellers benefit from meeting in person; from seeing a home first-hand; and most importantly, from working with a trusted and trained professional.

In stark contrast to the high frequency of those searching for homes online, the number of homes that are sold by owner is still under 20 percent, pointing to the notion that consumers still need someone to guide them through the complexities of a real estate transaction.

The good news is that the real estate industry is starting to more broadly adopt the use of technology to facilitate building real world relationships. The fact is, these two worlds need to live side-by-side. It would be a mistake for either to think that the other is going away anytime soon.   There are now a plethora of sites that foster social interaction at some level, each enabling an agent to demonstrate their unique voice and hopefully engender trust with their future clients or share valuable experiences with their peers.

Because essentially what social networks do is extend that old school tradition, letting the real estate agent reach out from their desks into the new streets of the internet and meet up with the people who are searching for the houses that they want to visit there.

At the end of the day, both online social networking and in-person interactions in real estate are about being responsive to the consumer and rather than turning over the pages of a paper in the old school way your buyer is now clicking their way through cyberspace.

Being available in person, online, via cell, via text, via Twitter – it’s all connected. The key to survival in the current real estate market will be the ability to leverage both old-school and new-school skills effectively.

The launch of United Lane’s Open3DHouse™ software  at Inman Connect has been met with a wave of enthusiasm from the real estate industry.

Typical of the reaction at Inman was Bob Fiorito of Coldwell Banker’s Premier Real Estate who recently tested Open3DHouse™ and described it as a product ‘that blew his doors in’.

Bob credited the software with being responsible for swinging his company a 72 unit condo contract with a developer.
“If you want to impress potential clients this is a product you should be showcasing,” said Bob.

Another ecstatic convert was Nicole Borsey, the Broker/Owner of The Property Network LLC.
“Coming from a graphics design video production background I think the product is amazing it just really rocks, said Nicole. “Now I’ve come across Open3DHouse I’m going to use it on every listing.”

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.

With the recent trickle of big 3D feature film releases looking set to become the proverbial torrent, Tim Butler, Associate Director at legendary UK screen advertising company Pearl & Dean, examines the exciting implications for the world of entertainment – in UK cinemas and beyond

‘The buzzword in cinema for 2009 has to be 3D. After successful forays in recent years with The Polar Express (2004), Chicken Little (2005), U2 3D, Bolt (both 2008) and 2008’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (which was created specifically as a 3D feature, rather than in 2D and altered for the screen), a real and growing thirst for 3D entertainment now exists within the UK cinema-going public.

‘2009 is shaping up to be a bumper year for 3D, with over 20 major releases scheduled. Films range from the recently launched animated Monsters vs Aliens, which was screened in 3D in over a quarter of cinemas nationwide on release, to James Cameron’s hotly anticipated return with the sci-fi opus Avatar, which hits the screens towards the end of the year. Already this year we have seen My Bloody Valentine, and more recently Coraline, which have had astounding box office results, clearly as a direct result of this new and improved format.’

Major investment
‘It’s no longer about ‘gimmicks’: real 3D filmmakers are interested in creating something that pulls the viewer into the experience, not just including a few ‘jump out of the screen’ moments. This resurgence of a film technology, which had long been consigned to the bargain bucket, allied to B-movies and 70s horror sequels, is undoubtedly down to considerable investment in associated technology by cinema chains seeking to develop and deepen the cinema experience.

‘Each of the major cinema chains in the UK, Odeon, Vue and Cineworld, is committed to introducing 3D capacity in their cinemas across the UK throughout 2009. By so doing, they are making the medium much more accessible to much wider audiences. UK exhibitors not investing in this innovation will simply miss out on the box-office opportunity that the new format provides.

‘This investment – in conjunction with major film producers like Disney and Warner Bros producing 3D versions of Toy Story, Bolt and certain scenes in the Harry Potter series, respectively – has also assisted in bringing modern 3D cinema to the masses. Equally, as Jeffrey Katzenberg, president of DreamWorks Animation, recently noted in an interview with CNN, 3D films cannot be illegally recorded with a camera from the stalls – undoubtedly a major attraction for an industry increasingly frustrated by film piracy.’

New 3D experiences
‘The first foray into 3D cinema advertising came in 2007, with an ad produced specially to promote the Red Bull Air Race. The three-dimensional element allowed the brand to convey the excitement, adrenaline and dynamism of the live London air race by truly bringing the experience to life on the big screen for cinema audiences. The commercial appeared on 764 cinema screens across London and the South East. Cinemagoers collected branded glasses before entering the auditorium, and were entertained by a two-minute introduction to air racing before the ad began, taking the viewer though a thrilling, multi-dimensional ride.

‘As the film industry responds to increased demand for 3D experiences in cinema by creating ever more varied and accessible product, the medium is likely to grow and spill over across differing types of cinematic experience. For example, many cinema chains, including Vue, have recently begun screening live events, such as concerts, allowing audiences to share the experience of a music event from the comfort of their local multiplex. Seeing the Genesis concert beamed live from Dusseldorf was a great experience for the viewers, but imagine how it would look in 3D, as if cinemagoers were watching the event from the best front row seat in the house. Vue has even held a live comedy event where cinema audiences could heckle a comedian performing in Liverpool from the relative safety of their cinema seats!

‘This kind of live event can be streamed across multiple channels at the same time. A recent test was performed of a live 3D concert performance by British band Keane. The event was filmed at Abbey Road studios and streamed live to a cinema screen at Vue West End, as well as to a Sky HD channel and to the internet simultaneously. Fans of the band who wanted to watch from their computer screens had been given directions on how to make a set of homemade 3D glasses, so they could experience the full impact of the performance.

‘This multichannel test of the technology worked perfectly across the different channels and has underlined the potential for 3D to work equally well through the medium of the web. At a time when the ‘multimedia schedule’ is key, 3D not only creates an opportunity to connect across multiple touch points by successfully combining cinema, TV and online, but it also does so in a hugely impactful and memorable way.

‘As audiences register their approval of increased 3D output, and this translates into tangible box office figures, it is likely that the 3D cinema experience will develop further, as more brands look to take advantage of the extra dimension it can add to advertising and the experience as a whole.

‘Looking ahead, it doesn’t seem beyond the realms of possibility that film premieres screened online in 3D and/or synchronised performances in 3D will soon be putting film and music fans right at the centre of the action – even from across the other side of the globe.’