Technology Strategies for Real Estate

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking for over 500 sales people at from Coldwell Banker Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.  Sean Carpenter, the education director for the company has a vision of where his sales people need to be with social networking, video, and technology. And, he is doing something about it. We had an hour class on successful selling on the internet and then a great panel which I was asked to facilitate. On the panel we had the leaders in online websites. Each spoke for 15 minutes and then took great questions from the audience. Present were:

• Ben Philips, Managing Director for Openhouse.com
• Leza Van Beuren, Vice President of  Realtor.com
• Arjun Arora, who leads the Business Development team at Yahoo.com
• Sara Bonert Partner Relations Manager for  Zillow.com
• Pierre Cadazilla an onine Media maven at Trulia.com
• Rob Zellar - Director of Business development and solutions for Cyberhomes.com

If you ever get a chance to hear these people speak on a panel, do it! You will learn in 15 minutes the newest strategies, products and systems that each of these companies are bringing to the web.

Here is a little video of the day:

Click To Play

What was amazing is that these people drive from all over to attend this class. Kudos to Coldwell Banker and their inspiring leadership.

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I just had the opportunity to speak for the Women’s Council of REALTORS Mega Summit in Boston over the weekend. I taught a breakout on Video in Real Estate and was asked about Video Emails. I have seen lots of products that like to spend out money and I am not totally convinced that these branded polished email templates really reach and touch today’s consumer. Please check out TalkFusion and Covideo and VideoBusinessCard.

Then I found EyeJot - Wow! I must admit that I found it when logging into my RealEstateShows account. Jeff Turner had written a post on this product awhile ago and guess it didn’t interest me until . . . today!

You have to check this out.

Eyejot is a robust video messaging platform. It can be used in a number of different ways, including recording videos for email distribution, so you can send quick messages to anyone with your webcam! It is really easy to do and works with your email program. BUT . . . there is also Eyejot This!

Eyejot This! is a bookmarklet that allows you to send Eyejot video messages attached to web sites you visit. Your Eyejot message will automatically contain a link to the page you’re on, along with the page title.

You can install Eyejot This! on most browsers..

So, lets say you are sending a listing link to a client, you can comment directly on the web page you are viewing and have your video travel with that web page to your client, or whoever else you are working with. How can this help you and your business?

You can point out features that are not apparent in the text or even in the Virtual Tour.
You can educate today’s Buyer who may not know why solid Brazililan Cherry floors rock
You can include a call to action like: I am showing this home on Thursday - if you would like I can fit you in.
You can send an article from the Wall Street Journal on the housing market (that is not hosing us) to your sphere and let them know why you like it.
I think you get it.
What do you need? All you need is a webcam and an Eyejot account.

Webcams come in all shapes and sizes, and to fit any budget. One thing they recommend is looking for a webcam with a built-in microphone. Logitech has a great family of webcams. If you are purchasing a new laptop, make sure you get one built in. My new laptop has one and it is great.

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REEA Conf Tues 005

Originally uploaded by rfarrow

Just recently returned from the annual REEA conference (Real Estate Educators Association) where I taught a class on bringing video into the classroom and using video as an educational tool. Lots of fun, and always a challenge teaching your peers. We were in Bonita Springs, FL at the lovely Coconut Point Hyatt. Lots of great networking. The best things I learned were about distance learning, getting my classes on line the best way. I want to include lots of multimedia so the students stayed engaged.

Working on an Internet Risk Online class - will keep you posted.

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This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

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