Ubertor Real Estate Blog

Vancouver Real Estate Tech March Meetup brings you 2 new speakers to the group. We are pleased to have Cameron McNeill and Cameron Good of MAC Marketing Solutions.

Cameron McNeill the founder of MAC Marketing Solutions and Cameron Good the Director of Sales for MAC Marketing Solutions will be presenting on their recent use of YouTube and Web Episodes to promote the upcoming Yaletown building called “Donovan”.

MAC created a made for web TV series about a woman’s life in Donovan, a downtown Vancouver condo development. A kind of “Sex and the City” meets “Will & Grace.” - (see all 5 episodes here)

MAC is one of Canada’s leading project marketing and sales organizations which assists developers to design, market and sell new residential developments. MAC boasts over 6000 sales valued at over $1.7 Billion of new homes in the last five years.

MAC has marketed over 160 residential developments and has worked along side some of Canada?s largest developers. Currently MAC is actively involved in real estate projects valued over $3 Billion throughout Greater Vancouver plus the BC Interior and Alberta. www.condosbymac.com

And, a new format, we will have a few of Ubertor’s client service team on hand from 6:10 PM to 8:30 PM ready to answer any questions you have about your website, search engines, Meebo, SEO, blogging, content, Google Analytics or whatever you can think of. If you have a question and want it answered this is a great opportunity to learn more.

***** To attend, please RSVP here*****

Here are some photos from past meetups?

From outside of Vancouver? don’t worry, you are welcome to attend… past Meetups have had agents from Whistler, Victoria, Seattle, Bellingham, Calgary, San Francisco and Gibsons. Would be great to see you, let us know if your coming from out of town as we would be pleased to answer any questions about hotels, driving directions, etc.

February 5th 2007 is shaping up to be a great day.

Ubertor Training - 10:00am - 12:00pm
- For those that want to learn more about their Ubertor websites, meet other agents using the Ubertor system and take their existing web presence to the next level then attending the Ubertor training session on Monday, February 5th 2007 is a must. Complete details here (be sure to RSVP)

Real Estate Tech February Meetup - 6:00pm - 8:00pm
- The 4th Real Estate Tech Meetup is shaping up to be a great one. Leon Ng President of RealEstateChannel.ca and Dara Sklar the founder of RealtySupport.ca will both be in attendance. Complete details here (be sure to RSVP)

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)

US President hopeful John Edwards announces his candidacy on YouTube today. Want more information about John Edwards? Maybe you should check out his blog (http://blog.johnedwards.com)

Seth Godin says “John F. Kennedy was the TV president. The debates got him elected and his newsreel footage lives on. (When was the last time you saw Eisenhower in a video clip?) That began an era of politics that lasted more than forty years. That’s why it costs hundreds of millions of dollars to run for President.”

Another example that there is massive power in blogging and using video to promote yourself? Now Presidential campaigns are embracing the technology. Do you think it is time you did?

Reggie Nicolay from San Francisco is our guest blogger today from www.mytechopinion.com a blog that explains technology as it pertains to the real estate industry. Reggie is here thanks to the inaugural blog swap that RSS Piecess put together.

Reggie Nicolay, San Francisco - YouTube is turning out to be a noteworthy tool for Real Estate. I’m not just saying that because they’ll host your video for free. Let’s face it; YouTube has become an online destination. And not just for teenagers. In November, iMedia Connection covered an eMarketer report dispelling myths about the average YouTube visitor. eMarketer said, ages 35 to 64 make up the largest audience, with ages 25 to 34 coming in second. I was surprised to learn this; it’s contrary to what the mainstream media leads us to believe. eMarketer also stated ages 35 to 64 were the largest share of unique visitors. As if that isn’t enough, according to Nielsen NetRatings, YouTube was the fastest growing Web brand the first half of this year. Compile that with ComScore Media reporting over 60% of YouTubes visitors earn 60k or over annually. Now what do you think of YouTube and its benefit to Real Estate Marketing?

Okay, so we know consumers are flooding YouTube. How can real estate agents benefit most? Why not start by creating educational videos? For example, buying your first home, the process of buying/selling, planning your move, or even financial preparation. These videos will enhance your own website, and be viewable on YouTube. You may also want to advertise your new listings or promote services…the list goes on and on! Just keep in mind you are making a video to represent you and your business. Keep it professional.

How do I get started?
First you need a plan! Start by reading up on a few principles around video production. VideoMaker & YouTube have a lot to say on the subject. If you don’t already have a free YouTube account, create one here. I’ve also compiled a list of ingredients:

- Digital / analog video recorder (Digital is preferred. Analog must be “digitized” using a converter box.)
- Tri-Pod & Microphone (Not required, but can increase the overall quality)
- Video Editing Software (For PC -Adobe Premier Elements, Windows Movie Maker or for Mac iMovie)

Once you’ve created a video, you are ready to post! Keep in mind the following:
- Popular Formats: Quicktime (.mov), Windows (.avi) or MPEG.
- Recommended Format: MPEG formatted at 320 x 240 resolution with MP3 Audio.
- Movie Length: Less than 10 minutes.
- Movie Size: Less than 100MB.
- YouTube Tags: Important, these are your keywords. Think creatively.
- Embed Code: This is the snippet of code you will add to your website or blog to display your video.

Want to read more from the real estate bloggers that participated?

Transparent Real Estate’s Pat Kitano vs. Zillow’s Drew Meyers

RSS Pieces’ Mary McKnight vs. Future of Real Estate Marketing’s Joel Burslem

St Paul Real Estate Blog’s Teresa Boardman vs. Phoenix Real Estate Guy’s Jay Thompson

3 Ocean Real Estate’s Kevin Boer vs. SLC Real Estate’s Nigel Swaby

Issaquah Undressed’s Larry Cragun vs. Maury Properties’ Andrew Maury

Chicago Home Weblog’s Geno Petroche vs. NY Houses 4 Sales’ Christine Forgione

Jonathan Dalton’s Phoenix Arizona Real Estate Blog Jonathan Dalton vs. Bonnie Erickson’s Real Estate Snippets Bonnie Erickson

The boys of Sellsius vs. Real Estate Tomato’s Jim Cronin

ML Podcast’s Michael Price vs. FamousAgents.com’s Elise Wright

My Tech Opinion’s Reggie Nicolay vs. Ubertor’s Steve Jagger

Redfin’s Glenn Kelman vs Rain City’s Ardell DellaLoggia

CondoDomain’s Anthony Longo vs. miOaklandCounty’s Maureen Francis

The San Diego Home Blog’s Kris Berg vs. Urban Dig’s Noah Rosenblatt

I did a few in-office training sessions today for some of our real estate agents in West Vancouver. I was in the Royal Lepage Northshore office in the morning doing a training session that turned into a bit of a discussion of the latest trends in online real estate. We talked about Zillow, Trulia, HouseValues, GoogleRealEstate as well as a few others. It was a great session.

After that, I went across the street to Prudential Sussex West Vancouver to meet with a bunch of our agents there as well. Zillow is defiantly an interesting topic. Not many Realtors in Canada have heard about it, but when I mention it they are eager to learn more.

We have a bunch of in-office training sessions setup in addition to our regular training sessions. The in-office sessions are being done by me and if you or your office are interested, please email me so that we can chat further about the schedule.

Keep in mind, when I say training, that includes training on our software but also, training agents on the power of blogging, utilizing craigslist.org, new technologies like the ones mentioned above (Zillow, etc), Google Analytics, VOW’s, YouTube.com plus much more.

Jessica Swesey over at Inman News points out 3 videos on YouTube humorously saluting the “Real Financial Heroes” in the same fashion as Budweiser’s series of commercials that salute “Real American Heroes”.

Google, the Internet’s leading search engine, announced Monday that it is buying popular online video site YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. More here, here, here and here

Jim the Realtor added a video about Tips on Selecting a Real Estate Listing Agent to YouTube.com and it has been posted all over the internet. Some of the places it can be found are here, here and here.

Here is the video that Jim Klinge, a new Ubertor client from Carlsbad California, posted on the internet just a short time ago. Nice work Jim, using YouTube is a great way to gain exposure on the internet.

Stacy over at Video Openhouse emailed me a link to an article written by Georgie Binks at the CBC. The article talks about how doing video tours of your listings is a great way to showcase a property. I think that adding as much content to your listings as you can is important. Photos, Virtual Tours/Video Tours, Floorplans, Strata Documents, Google Maps, Neighbourhood Information, etc etc.

I think that you can take this one step further and include videos about the neighbourhood that your listing is in. The best part is, there is a resource out there on the web ready to help you do this,…. and its free.

TurnHere.com, created by Bran Inman of Inman News, “is a digital media company with a unique mission. TurnHere produces professional digital videos, accessible on the Internet, which convey authentic experiences of places and leisure activities in cities and neighborhoods around the world.”

TurnHere.com allows you to link to their neighbourhood videos at no cost. Here are some examples of their work:
Vancouver’s Main Street
Vancouver’s Davie Street
Toronto’s Kensington Market
Seattle’s Ballard Neighbourhood
Calgary Stampede
Chicago’s Wicker Park

Check it out, they might have a video that you like and that you want to use within one of your listings, or maybe, you want to get your own Video made for your own use.

I only wish TurnHere.com allowed you to embed the video instead of doing it as a pop up. I really like the way YouTube.com’s embedded feature works. (Check out MJ Ankenman’s “about me” video that she embedded into her site)