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…

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.

Blog: Kresten Thomsen

‘What you don’t see is all the 3D that looks like real photographs.’

When the word ‘3D’ appears in the headlines it is, almost    invariably, supported by crappy images that look like crappy imitations of real life. We have all seen these lame ducks, either in the news or in computer games.

But what if you could take photographic images without the use of a photographer – or even a product? What if you could use 3D technology to produce high-end pictures of homes, furniture or materials without having to produce each product or material? Imagine eliminating the use of prototypes because you can see the end product in real life as you design it (it would certainly reduce the greenhouse effect), and then use the same technology to test user-friendliness, determine inventory and stock, and minimize losses with products that your focus group doesn’t approve of anyway.

The idea of taking a proposed product, testing it against the market, redesigning according to calculated focus group demands, and producing marketing material without an actual production run makes incredible sense – not only from a green tech point of view, but also in terms of hard cash. To reduce the cost of photography by 50 per cent is, in itself, highly relevant; but also to adjust your inventory according to demand is almost invaluable for anyone in the manufacturing business.

And then when you saw the word ‘3D’ again, you would still see all those crappy images. But what you don’t see is all the 3D that looks like real photographs – because you just don’t notice them. That’s when 3D technology becomes relevant from a user’s perspective, a designer’s perspective, and from the finance director’s perspective.

3D photorealism isn’t about making things look like real life; 3D photorealism is about making 3D a part of everyday life without anyone noticing. That’s when you’re really talking photorealism – when it isn’t a ‘Second Life’, but already part of your real life…