Ubertor Real Estate Blog

Mike Simonsen over at Altos Research in Silicon Valley, CA introduced me to a couple of agents in Los Altos, CA that were in need of a new website for their real estate business. Jeff Stricker and Steve TenBroeck started using our Ubertor real estate website software to power their new website designed by the talented crew over at MarketingDesigns.net. With the power of our system, their unique look and the advanced research that Altos provides their website is second to none.

If you’re interested in taking your website to the next level have a look at what MarketingDesigns.net can do for you and definitely give Mike at Altos Research a call about your area to see if they have a solution for your area.

Neighbourhood or niche websites are a great way to target a specific farming area. The key is building a website that provides value to your visitors, shares your knowledge on a specific topic, showcases properties for sale and most importantly depicts you as an expect in the area.

Do you want to do more business in a certain type of property or a certain area?

Here are 4 examples of real estate agents marketing themselves to a certain area and in one case to a certain property type:

www.loftsvancouver.com
Reid Dewson and Ed Gramauskas have been working a niche website for years. Their website showcases all lofts available for sale within the Vancouver area. Plus they have building information, upcoming projects, plus much more. It is by far the most reliable website for lofts in Vancouver.

www.yaletownpark.ca
Ian Watt has 6 niche websites all targeted towards a specific area or property type. YaletownPark.ca is dedicated to the Yaletown Park condo development that has just gone up in Yaletown, downtown Vancouver. Here are his other sites - www.vancouver-penthouse.com, www.electricavenue.ca, www.whistler-homes.com, www.vancouver-townhouse.com and www.ianwatt.ca

www.kitsilanohouses.com
Marty Pospischil runs 3 websites. His martyhomes.com main website which is all about his real estate business but he runs kitsilanohouses.com and assignmentsvancouver.com (under construction). The Kitsilano website has rental information, properties for sale, restaurants, businesses, schools, plus much more.

www.pointgreynow.com
Ken Wyder is a great example of a website put together in only a few months and is seeing excellent results. Ken has adding lots of great information about Point Grey including the real estate listings that area available in that area.

What to see some results?

- If you Google “Lofts Vancouver” or “Vancouver Lofts” you will see that loftsvancouver.com comes up #1 under both terms.

- If you search “Yaletown Park” in Google, Yahoo and MSN you will see Ian’s website come up 2, 5, and 3 respectively.

- In Yahoo and MSN when you search “Kitsilano Houses for Sale” Marty’s website comes up number 1 in both search engines.

- Searching “point grey real estate” brings up Ken Wyder’s website on the first page of Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Would you like to get started?

We can get you up and running in 60 seconds for $67.00/month - no setup fee. ($57.00 for your website and $10.00 for your autofill category of listings) Give us a call at 604-264-1999 to learn more about creating a website for a neighbourhood or niche that you want to farm.

I wrote the other day about video killing the virtual tour and it triggered an ton of emails in my inbox. Many agreeing with the post, some not, but it caught the attention of a bunch of our readers. It was a timely post for us, as tonight, with our most recent roll out of upgrades, bug fixes and new features comes a change that has been widely anticipated. The upgrade to the V360 tab within the Ubertor control panel.

Now when you log into your control panel and click on V360 tab within any listing you will notice that it now has the updated interface, the ability to add a link to a 3rd party URL or upload the virtual tour images and the ability to change the tab on your website to anything you want. I assume most people will change Virtual Tour to read Video Tour, but we did not force that decision. You can now change the tab to read whatever you wish.

CNN.com picked up the story about the power of real estate blogs and what is to come for 2007. Take a moment to read the article. It is worth your time to learn about the internet and what it can do to your real estate business.

“real estate professionals have two choices when it comes to confronting the changes wrought by technical advances: engage it or pretend it isn’t there.” - Bradley Inman, Inman.com

Provident Security is holding a Free Home Security Seminar at the Arbutus Club on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007. Michael Jagger from Provident Security came and spoke at the December Vancouver Real Estate Tech Meetup and it was a great success. If you missed it (or made it and wanted to learn more) your opportunity is here.

Here is what you can expect from attending this seminar (via Provident Security Blog):

The first Westside Home Security seminar of 2007 is going to be held Wednesday, January 24th, at the Arbutus Club.

We want to make it easy for you to learn more about protecting your home from burglary.

Through an interactive presentation, with lots of pictures, I will show you exactly what burglary looks like on the Westside. More importantly, I will show you some very specific things that you can do (both high and low tech) to reduce your risk.

Whether you are a Provident client or not, you will learn tactics to ensure that you do not become a victim.

My most recent presentation like this was in December for about 35 realtors at a Ubertor Real Estate meetup event that was very well received.

Vancouver Police Constable Ray Gardner, from the Kerrisdale, Oakridge, Marpole Community Policing Office will also be available to answer questions and discuss property crime issues and concerns.

7:00pm – 8:30pm
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
The Arbutus Club
2001 Nanton Avenue (Nanton and Arbutus)
3rd Floor – Quilchena Terrace

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP. Feel free to let your neighbours and friends know to attend… please just let us know how many people are coming with you so that we can ensure appropriate room set-up and refreshments.

Why should you attend? here are a few reasons….
- learn more about home security for you and your family
- become more knowledgeable about home security as an asset to your real estate business
- network with Vancouver Real Estate home owners

Bradley Inman posted his summary of takeaways from Real Estate Connect NYC this past week:

1. The trend of declining real estate commissions will reverse this year because there are more listings and fewer Realtors and because the discounters are in trouble as consumers go back to old reliable.
2. User-generated real estate content will overwhelm the industry — more blogs, more uploads and more service ratings.
3. Wall St. will introduce new mortgage instruments in an attempt to keep the housing market alive.
4. Woes in the sub-prime mortgage market will hurt liquidity for EZ home loans and will create a minor real estate scandal mid-year.
5. Several small social networking start-ups will be acquired in Q1 and Q2.
Am I crazy?
– Bradley Inman

Minister Responsible for BC Assessments has a video out with tips for property owners across British Columbia. What I find interesting is that they have a video out on the internet trying to educate the people of British Columbia about:

1. What to do if you have not received your notice by Jan 17th;
2. Who to contact if you have concerns about your notice;
3. Jan 31st is the deadline for appealing your assessment.

It would be interesting to see what kind of response this video gets compared to other marketing techniques they have tried. Good for the BC Government in getting their message out online using video!

(hat tip to Leon at RealEstateChannel.ca for pointing it out)

According to Joel over at futureofrealestatemarketing.com:

“Video Killed the Virtual Tour
I believe this is going to be the year that online video finally make an impact in real estate. The barriers to entry have largely disappeared and the reams of data that now exists now needs context. Video does just that. Realtors and brokers should start looking at how they can incorporate video into their marketing efforts, not only as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition, but as a way to bring greater value to their clients and to consumers.”

Interesting to note that our pals over at vOpenHouse.ca just announced a change to their pricing structure.

(would be nice to see them add them to youtube.com as well)

Do you help your clients market their investment properties? If not, maybe you should be as an added service. With the combination of the unbelievable power of craigslist.org, the unique URL feature of the Ubertor software and our NEW RENTALS enhancement - you can help your clients get their new investment properties rented.

Now with the Ubertor software you can add an enhancement that allows you to promote your clients rental properties quickly, easily and professionally.

The NEW Rental Enhancement Pack includes:

* enables For Rent/Rented Badges
* enabled 2 new listing pages (For Rent/Rented)
* customizes SEO options for rental listings

What is the cost of this new enhancement?
$5.00 per Month plus $29.75 one-time Setup Fee

Just go to your enhancement page within your control panel and order online quickly and easily.

Your rental listings could look like this:

Once you order the Rental Enhancement you will see this in your control panel:

Still have questions? Please feel free to contact us directly for more information.

Check out Akbar Nimji’s website in Calgary Alberta. He has the Rental Enhancement within his website and work with many of his investor clients to help them find renters as well as his own rental properties.

James Rodgers and Dexter Realty are doing some very unique marketing to gain exposure to their real estate business. The environment is a big topic these days and they are pushing home buyers to improve the energy efficiency of their homes with a cash back program. I like the idea of this program as it is different and is a hot topic these days. I also really like James’ use of a press release to gain awareness for their program. Press releases are a quick and easy way to gain some great inbound links to your website.

Real Estate Agents of Change
The Environmental Side of Realty

Vancouver, British Columbia, January 9, 2006 - British Columbian homes are about to get Greener thanks to GreenerHomes.ca, a BC Real Estate Company* that is walking it’s ‘Green’ talk. As of January 1, 2007 GreenerHomes.ca Realtors will be giving their clients $500 to assess and improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

With the Environment foremost on Canadian’s minds, and federal incentives for residential energy-efficiency in short supply, GreenerHomes.ca is taking the lead on making Canadian homes more environmentally responsible.

“Realtors can, should, and now are, playing a significant role in addressing the health, energy-efficiency, and environmental impact of our homes.” remarks GreenerHomes.ca Realtor James Rodgers, “We are the ones sitting down at the kitchen table exploring people’s housing needs and choices. More and more those needs require finding a home that is Green - energy efficient and therefore affordable to operate (heat or cool), healthy to live in and built with environmentally sustainable materials.”

The $500 Rodgers and his fellow Green Realtors are giving their clients will result in ongoing monthly energy and cost savings in the homes they buy and sell. As well, the GreenerHomes.ca Realtors will utilize the Energuide for Homes rating system to help their clients access thousands of dollars in various energy-related financial incentives.

“The EnerGuide for Houses rating system – a number between one and 100 for each house where 100 is extremely efficient – is a critical tool designed to reveal to homeowners the quality of hidden renovations like insulation and proper air sealing” says Paula Steele, Energy Efficiency Coordinator, City Green Solutions (www.citygreen.ca). “Clients will value a realtor who can help them compare two 1950s homes and know which one will save them energy and therefore money over the long-term.”

When asked how a handful of green realtors in a sea of 16,000+ licensed BC Realtors can make a difference Rodgers comments, “By pioneering and modeling a new, green paradigm of real estate practice we hope to inspire industry-wide changes in the way resources and property are valued. As an industry we must change as consumer values change. An increasing number of Home Buyers are looking past the stainless steel exterior of appliances and are concerned with their energy efficiency.”

“I welcome this approach from the real estate industry. If this was embraced widely, it could become common practice for people to upgrade their homes before they sell them, or as soon as they buy them,” said Guy Dauncey, President of the BC Sustainable Energy Association (www.bcsea.org). “This is a great move forward.”

Beyond the immediate financial incentives that translate into energy savings and the related reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, GreenerHomes.ca Realtors offer clients across BC a full Green Realty service. This includes being able to offer guidance and resources related to the the environmental aspects of a home, property, or community.

Green Realtor training and certification is currently being developed by the Greener Realty of BC Association (www.greenrealtors.ca) and it’s partners. The curriculum consists of six primary fields of study: Energy Efficiency; Green Building Design, Construction, Renovation, and Materials; Housing Affordability and Green Finance; Green Market Awareness and Trends; Healthy Homes including immediate environmental issues such as pollution, contamination, etc.; and Site and Community Planning (including protective covenants, etc).

Although qualified Green Realtors are currently in limited supply in Canada, the number of green-minded consumers is rapidly increasing. Generally speaking these consumers are motivated by the cost savings related to greener homes as well as the associated moral and ethical benefits. Quite often these green consumers can be profiled by their appreciation for quality goods and the value of buying organic, fair-trade and locally grown or produced products.

The goal of the GreenerHomes.ca $500 Energy Incentive Program is:

1. To increase the value of the homes that GreenerHomes.ca Clients buy and sell.

2. To help GreenerHomes.ca Clients access energy-related grants and financial incentives while saving thousands of dollars in energy costs and the related reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

3. To inspire a national cataloguing of the energy efficiency of Canadian homes.

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* Vancouver’s Dexter Associates Realty has partnered with GreenerHomes.ca to provide a ‘green’ real estate service and resource, www.greenerhomes.ca that addresses the growing market of consumers interested in healthier, cost-effective homes that have a reduced impact on the environment.