Ubertor Real Estate Blog

“Tourism Vancouver’s new destination film uses multiple platforms to send its message — and it’s unlike any promotional piece of its kind. Incorporating a local band and original song, “It’s You… Vancouver” is the world’s first professionally produced destination film in music video format.

The song is performed by Watasun, a Vancouver-based duo whose music fuses urban beats with traditional folk sounds. One-time buskers on Vancouver’s Granville Street, singer/songwriter Adam Bailie and percussionist Reid Hendry now record, produce and sell their own albums, taking inspiration from the city’s diversity, vibrancy and unity.

Throughout the three-minute video, the duo perform their catchy tune while making appearances in, near or atop of iconic Vancouver attractions, including the Vancouver Convention Centre roof, an Aquabus ferry and snow-covered Grouse Mountain.”

hat tip (miss604.com)

I was reading about a new listing on the market today that I found on the public Realtor.ca MLS iPhone app and I couldn’t help but notice all of the agent short hand included in the description. Do you do that on your listings? I’m able to understand it but I wonder how many people can’t. What do you think?

A couple years ago Century 21 stated that it would no longer do television ads – well, it seems that has changed and Century 21 is back with a few 2012 Superbowl TV commercials including an all star line up. Check out the ads below:

Here is what they are up against at this years Superbowl:

The other day I posted a video from a California real estate broker who had pulled his companies listings from Trulia.com, Zillow.com and Realtor.com.

Here is Fred Glick’s opinion that rebuts the recent pulling out of real estate brokers from Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow:

What do you think?

What do you think about Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Zoocasa or the like? Are they helpful to your business? or harmful? Check out what Jim Abbott with ARG Abbott Realtor Group did. See his video below:

“ARG Abbott Realty Group Broker and President Jim Abbott explains why ARG listings will no longer be permitted on 3rd party syndicator sites such as trulia, zillow, and realtor.com” (source)

More and more people are moving to Apple for their computer needs. Have you made the switch? Are you using an iPhone now rather than a Blackberry? Or a Mac instead of a PC? Apparently, there are 371,000 babies born each day and there are 377,900 iPhones sold each day (source). That is an unreal stat!

When I speak with agents, many times they mention their MLS as the reason they have not made the switch, or why they use 2 computers. I see that real estate agent Russ Macnab has even put together an online petition to get Marketlinx to go Apple friendly.

So what do you think? Are you an Apple fan? Considering making a change? or love your PC?

I was invited to attend the CREB conference in Calgary, AB this past week to be part of the CREB Media Services booth within the trade show. About a year ago, Ubertor and CREB entered into an agreement for Ubertor to be the exclusive provider of websites to CREB agents. I flew into Calgary the evening before the conference to get prepared for the event but to also entertain a few of the speakers that were coming to the show.

I invited Tod Maffin, David Allison as well as Inman News‘ Chris Smith to join myself and a few Ubertor clients and friends for dinner at Wurst.

It was a great night and a great opportunity for everyone to meet and chat about all things real estate. (There might have been some talk of Calgary’s beautiful -41 weather as well)

The conference the next day was great. Very well run, a sold out crowd with a solid line up of speakers. Agents had lots of great feedback about the event and many took advantage of the offer CREB was promoting with Ubertor.

Here are some pictures from the dinner the night before as well as the conference the next day:

(Clockwise from bottom left: Todd Maffin, Kelley Skar, Jim Sparrow, Debra Sonmor, Cliff Stevenson, Chris Smith, Amy, Sandip Dagli, David Allison and Ryan Laurin.

(CREB / Ubertor Banner)

(Gloria from CREB)

(on right: Mark from CREB)

(L – R: Stephen Jagger and Kelley Skar)

Ubertor client Tom Everitt is running for Geographical Division of Vancouver Westside in the upcoming real estate board vote. He has posted a video explaining his reasons for joining. Check it out, it is another great example of using video to get a message across.

Dan Martell is a Canadian Entrepreneur living in San Francisco. He recently sold his last business (Flowtown) to DemandForce.com and has moved on to his newest venture – Clarity.fm.

From Dan; “Clarity makes it easy to connect with others looking for advice over the phone. The service is all mobile, is private and secure, has some amazing features that make it fast and delightful.”

I think Clarity is a great idea and can be really helpful to business owners trying to grow their businesses. The concept is awesome. Entrepreneurs donate their time to a charity through Clarity.fm. People looking for advice can call those entrepreneurs, pay a per minute fee to speak with them, and the funds go to the charity of the entrepreneurs choice.

So, want to speak with;
Jason Billingsley, Co-founded ElasticPath.com (call him here)
Micah, Founder of Graphicly.com (call him here)
Saul Colt, Head of Magic at Freshbooks.com (call him here)
Hiten Shah, CEO / Co-Founder of KISSmetrics.com (call him here)
Dan Martell, creator of Clarity (call him here)

If you are looking to reach me, you can reach me through Clarity here.

I’m sure as the product gets built out more there will be some sort of directory so that you can find business owners that you are interested in speaking with that fit the exact needs that you have. Do you want to get on Clarity? Sign up on their website for more details.

Dan Martell (R) and myself taking a call through Clarity.fm

Do you update your website for certain holidays? events? The Hamre team does. I just saw their website and they have dressed it up for the holiday season. Check it out. If you need help with your site, just ask our live help team as they would be pleased to point you in the right direction depending on what you are looking to do.