Ubertor Real Estate Blog

We have a few upcoming events…. feel free to stop by and see what we are all about.

Nov. 1st 2006 - Ubertor Training - (details)
Nov. 1st 2006 - Private Ubertor Training @ Sutton Westcan in Victoria (details)
Nov. 2nd 2006 - Private Ubertor Training @ RE/MAX Real Estate Services in Vancouver (details)
Nov. 6th 2006 - RSVP for The Vancouver Real Estate Professional November Meetup (details) (feedback from the last one)
Nov. 9th 2006 - Ubertor Training - (details)
Dec. 1st 2006 - Ubertor Training - (details)

UPDATE - Here are some pictures from the November 1st 2006 Training Session in Vancouver

I just got back from our Inaugural Vancouver Real Estate Professional Meetup that we held at Diner in Yaletown. It was a great success as we had over 30 agents show up.

A big thanks to Heather from Diner who opened her restaurant on an otherwise closed night to host our Meetup. Not only did she graciously open her door to our group but she unexpectedly fired up the kitchen and put out some hors d’oeuvres. Be sure to pop by Diner next time you are in Yaletown for lunch or dinner.

The format was a little loose as this was the initial meetup and we wanted to go with the flow a bit to see how things went. At about 7:00pm we took control of the group to do a little presentation on HouseValues.com, Zillow.com, Trulia.com as well as touched on JohnLScott.com. The theme was about the direction the internet is going and how information is being opened up and let loose. Locking down, login required and password protection are all old school thinking. Providing information to your users is key. The real key is providing value to your users. The real estate listings (ie the data) is not the value.

All Realtors can provide the data, the real key is providing value.
Value = Education, Experience, Opinion, Feedback, Knowledge etc.

I have already received some great feedback about this Meetup… he is what a few agents had to say:

“Thanks for going the extra mile to provide some ‘value added service’ with your social this evening. It is great to know that you are on top of web based marketing and keep us realtor informed! ” - Joel Carcone - www.livinglonsdale.com

“I just wanted to say thank you for spending some time to speak with me tonight regarding our website and where the internet is going. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the talk you gave at the “Diner”, it was very informative. ” - Diane Cardoso - www.ownanicehome.com

“Ubertor shines again - this company is very pro-active in bringing the newest technology and info as to what is happening in the web world. Great company, great job. Attending was definitely worthwhile.” - Helga Lauckner - www.helgalauckner.com

“Amazing!! Lots of people for networking, and the presentation is fantastic!! I really enjoy the whole experience. Michael Stephenson and Stephen Jagger are true genius. Their event are enlighting! Some top realtors even credit their success to these 2 genious! WOW!!” - Ian Sullivan - www.yaletownpropertyguy.com

Interested to attend our next Meetup? We have already set it up for next Monday. Please RSVP here if you would like to attend.

The last few days I have some across some interesting posts that are worth directing your attention to.

1. Trulia.com asks: Are Agents in Trouble?
2. Mike Davidson of Newsvine shows: How to piss off 1086 People with 1 Click
3. Greg Sawnn defends Zillow.com
4. ProvidentBlog point out an odd story: Naked Dad fights off Home Invader
5. Sellsius shows us the video of Allan Dalton of Realtor.com and Lloyd Frink of Zillow.com at the California Association of Realtors annual convention.

Patrick Nixon and Matt Hallaran are 2 of our experienced Real Estate Marketing Coaches that have been selling and consulting with our Realtors for years. Both Patrick and Matt have moved to Victoria to continue our expansion on the island. If your a real estate agent on Vancouver Island and looking to speak further with one of our team please feel free to contact Matt or Patrick directly.

Patrick Nixon
patrick@ubertor.com
250-893-9507

Matt Hallaran
matt@ubertor.com
250-858-3583

Their next real estate training session that they are holding is a Sutton Westcan in Victoria. If you would like to have them come by your office please feel free to contact them.

UPDATE - Just noticed that our pals at vOpenHouse.ca have an affiliate in Victoria as well. More details here

I have posted some data in my blog about highly searched keyword phrases for Calgary as well as a few random cities in the United States. Many of our agents emailed me asking about Vancouver and what kinds of phrases are being searched. So I did some research this morning and this is what I came up with.

“real estate listing vancouver washington”
There were approximately 49 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 1 website targeting this term.

“buy homes north vancouver”
There were approximately 41 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 1 website targeting this term.

“west vancouver realestate”
There were approximately 40 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 1 website targeting this term.

“west vancouver mls search”
There were approximately 41 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 2 website targeting this term.

“buy homes north shore vancouver”
There were approximately 41 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 2 website targeting this term.

“new homes west vancouver”
There were approximately 41 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 5 website targeting this term.

“re max west vancouver”
There were approximately 41 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 6 website targeting this term.

“mls listing vancouver bc”
There were approximately 51 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 15 website targeting this term.

“buy new homes north vancouver”
There were approximately 41 searches of this particular keyword phrase in Google within the last 24 hours.
There is approximately 11 website targeting this term.

This keyword phase is interesting. I found this one a few weeks ago. I emailed Joel Carcone in North Vancouver about it. I suggested that he should write about this phrase in his blog. Now, if you Google “buy new homes north vancouver” you will see his blog post come up number 1, his website’s sitemap come up number 2, and a link from realestatevoices.com where I posted his article. Here is a screenshot of the Google results:

My business partner Michael Stephenson and I have been meaning to engage our colleagues and clients in an informal environment for quite some time.

We thought it would be cool to hold these monthly Meetups to facilitate discussion of everything Real Estate, but of all things “Real Estate Technology” in particular.

Our industry is changing fast and we figure its best to explore and predict these changes amongst other Real Estate Professionals in an informal environment.

So here is to the success of all of you and the Vancouver Real Estate Professional Meetup!

Cheers,

Stephen Jagger and Michael Stephenson

When:
Monday, October 30, 2006, 6:00 PM

Where:
Diner
1269 Hamilton Street, Vancouver (Yaletown; between Davie and Drake)
Vancouver , BC V6B 6A8
604-444-4855

Description:

Who should come? Are newcomers welcome?
—————————————————-
All Real Estate Professionals are welcome to come. Thinking of buying or selling a home? Well, you should come by as well and meet Vancouver’s leading Real Estate Professionals in a great relaxed environment.

Why should people come?
—————————————————-
To learn more and discuss all things Real Estate with Vancouver’s leading Real Estate Professionals.

What will it be like?
—————————————————-
Hmmmmm….. let me think about it….. It will be FUN and interesting! So get yourself down there.

Should you bring anything?
—————————————————-
Questions, answers and good spirits. Oh, speaking of spirits there will be a cash bar available. Please walk or cab, bus, teleport or get a ride if you intend to drink!

How will you find us when they get there?
—————————————————-
The good folks from Ubertor.com will be at the door to bestow upon thee a Glorious Personalized Name Tag for all to admire!

PLEASE RSVP HERE so that we know how many to expect. Thanks

Your real estate website should be a living, growing entity. The idea behind just having a website so that you can say “I have a website” is no longer going to cut it.

I preach constantly about the importance of having a blog but more importantly writing in your blog. The Ubertor website software helps you by automatically adding blog posts for you when you add a new listing, change it to sold or add an open house. Your Ubertor website will grab unique content from your listings and automatically post to your blog. In addition to that, you must be writing in your blog with good quality unique content that describes you, the neighbourhood that you operate in, your thoughts on the market, interesting tidbits, etc.

Most people refer to a blog as a “web newsletter” and assume that it is the same thing. The BIG difference between your blog and a newsletter is that A BLOG GROWS. You don’t replace your June post with the July post. You add to it. That means that your posts from 2 years ago are still on your website thus filling it will good content that remains a part of your website.

Want to see an example of a Realtor that is seeing the results of his blogging efforts?

John Jennings in West Vancouver has an Ubertor website. The automatic blogs happen every time he adds a listings, changes it to sold or adds an open house. John takes a few every moments every few days to update his visitors on Ambleside Real Estate and Dundarave Real Estate. Now, Google those terms…. see what happens.

Ambleside Real Estate - in Google currently has John Jennings as number 1 and 2.

Dundarave Real Estate - in Google currently has John Jennings as number 1 and 2.

Keep in mind, the cheapest home available for sale in Ambleside, West Vancouver is listed for $799,000.00 (not a bad area to come up number 1 in Google)

What areas are your working in? Why aren’t you targeting those areas with your website?

On a side note - John Jennings website is a great example of a beautiful website NOT designed by us. He had his site designed by a 3rd party and then our team coded it so that it works with our software. This question comes up a bit with agents, and the answer is yes, we can do almost anything with our software. Custom designs are great and we can work with them. If you have an interest in getting a custom site I would suggest we chat first as there are some ground rules that are easily followed especially if we chat before you get a new design done. (604-264-1999)

Snipshot.com is worth a visit. We brought this website to your attention a few months ago but lately I have heard lots of positive feedback from real estate agents that have been using this website to crop and re size photos online (for free).

With the recent addition of our new Masthead Tool to the Ubertor software coupled with the ability to add your own Banner Photos, Snipshot.com makes it easy to customize your Ubertor Realtor website with your photos quickly and easily.

Take a moment to check out their website as you will find it easy to use and a useful tool.

Mike Stephenson and I were at the Vancouver Enterprise 2.0 Forum tonight where we chatted with a few entrepreneurs and listened to a few speakers.

The speaker from DabbleDB.com got up to speak and did a tour of their database software. Why I thought this might be interesting to our readers is that there was a small real estate related inclusion in his presentation. Andrew from DabbleDB.com did his demo showcasing how his database software could potentially help a seminar organizer track the speakers that were coming to the seminar; their hourly rates, the currency in which they were paid, the company they were from etc. The part I found interesting was near the end, he mentioned that you could take the database of speakers that were coming to your conference and add in the Zillow Zestimates from their homes to see an idea of their net worth.

Is Zillow mainstream?
Does a Zestimate become the house evaluation if enough people think it is correct?

We have added a few new countries to the Ubertor listing section of your software so that you can add listings from more countries that just Canada and the United States. Now within every listing, you will see an expanded drop down menu with more choices.