I have recently been invited to contribute to Zillow’s own Geek Estate Blog. The topic is internet marketing by tech savvy real estate agents and they thought I would be a good fit. I am adding a feed to the sidebar on Rostad Realty that will allow you to follow my activity on the Geek Estate Blog. If you want to see ALL of my posts, click here for my Geek Estate Blog profile. I urge you to check it out since it will give you some insight on the way I do business and some of the various techniques I use to market properties for our clients. I’m always trying out new methods and technology as well so check back often because the lansdscape of internet marketing is constantly changing.
Geordy Rostad, SamDeBord, Geordie Romer & Sunnyview (left to right)
I was invited to join the team from Zillow for lunch on May 14, 2009. I had no idea what to expect. For the couple of weeks prior to lunch I wondered if I was the only one they invited or whether they had invited every real estate professional in the area they could get their hands on. I had a suspicion they would invite Sam DeBord. He is another agent who is extrememly active on the Zillow discussion forums. I had assumed that is where they culled their guests from. The surprise came when I showed up and met Geordie Romer in person. He is not overly active on the discussion forums because Leavenworth, WA, his area of expertise, has no Zestimates yet even(At the meeting, it sounded like they were coming though). Geordie had met Spencer Rascoff at a REBar meeting and had a bit of an idenity mixup. Spencer had put us in contact because we both have a unique(so I thought) name and we both work at Windermere. Lastly, but certainly not least, Zillow invited Sunnyview, a helpful non-professional Zillow user with over 7600 postings to date. She does this purely for the love of real estate and helping people out.
Our meeting started with Spencer introducing us to at least 10 Zillow gurus who would soon be picking our brains for our perspective of Zillow. He prefaced the meeting with, “we have no specific outline for this meeting”. Nevertheless, I think it was a mutually beneficial meeting of the minds. I gained a bit more insight about where Zillow is planning to end up and thought seriously about new ways to integrate their tools into my arsenal. They gained some great suggestions from the four of us which I hope they implement soon. (I understand if it takes a bit guys, the list was long) The bonus was that I met several people face to face that I had cooresponded online with in the prior months. This can be a rare opportunity nowadays.
Thanks for lunch!
http://www.zillow.com/blog/talking-to-a-few-local-zillow-advice-regulars/2009/05/14/
- Click picture for more photos
This is our listing located on Redmond Ridge. It is the least expensive condo on Redmond Ridge that is not age restricted or profit restricted. The prices typically have averaged from $300k-$400k for the same square footage. So why are we so much less? The condo is currently under construction on the exterior of the building. This means the decks are torn apart and access to the stairs is currently blocked. To enter the unit, you’ll have to go in through the garage until sometime in the month of August when the work is scheduled to be completed.
If you can handle this minor inconvenience, you’ll get an incredible bargain. We are offering the condo for $259,950 $249,950. It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and nice hardwood flooring throughout. It’s all on one level but up stairs. The total square footage is around 1100 square feet. It’s clean as a whistle and ready to move in. Sunny Southwest exposure keeps the place light and cheery. Vaulted ceilings in the living room help make the home feel larger too. Here is more information from the MLS listing:
“Incredible opportunity to purchase 10% under CURRENT market value. We have priced this unit to sell and there is no competition near this price on Redmond Ridge. Excellent open floor plan boasts hardwoods throughout the entire home and sunny southwest exposure. No wasted space or hall ways. Attached one car garage. Clean unit is turnkey and ready to move in. One block from Microsoft connector bus. 2 domestic pets (including large dogs)allowed.”
Call Rich or Geordy to schedule a showing if you’d like to see for yourself. Even more information is available here: Redmond Ridge Condo.
The ultimate real estate phone?
Like most other professionals, I am faced with technological trade offs. A large line of devices compete for space in my pocket that used to just be for my wallet and keys. I was very happy when the smart phones came around and I was finally able to stop carrying a separate Palm Pilot that lived in a really clunky housing just to open lock boxes. Every time I’ve upgraded phones, I was wowed at first with new features I had but then disappointed at some other aspect of the phone/device.
The latest phone I have is the Palm Treo 800w. This is easily the best phone I’ve had to date. The reason that I chose this one is that it’s the only phone in the Sprint store with an infrared port. At the time, an infrared port was required on any device in order to open the iBox locks. Now, GE/Supra have released a key chain FOB which is a bluetooth to infrared adapter so real estate agents can now use their beloved Blackberries to open houses up for showings and previews. Whatever the case, my new Treo is awesome. It has GPS, it’s very small, lightweight and it has a decent thumboard. It would almost be the perfect phone if not for a couple fatal flaws. The first and worst is the battery life. It sucks. This phone has the worst and most unacceptable battery life I’ve ever encountered with a phone. I’m lucky to make it halfway through the day without sticking it on the charger. If I take the phone to Canada and don’t use the phone ALL day and then wake up in the morning, the phone is dead. The other flaws are minor in comparison but ragging on my Treo was not the point of this posting.
Enter the iPhone. At first glance it looks like the ultimate real estate phone. It has a great calendar system, needs no sync cables and Zillow’s new iPhone app just adds a cherry on top of it all. If you have not seen the Zillow iPhone app, you need to check it out. You open it up and get the values of homes you are walking or driving by in real time. Homes that are for sale or have “make me move” prices on them also show up. Zillow has upped the ante an truly made this the ultimate real estate phone except for one missing piece of the puzzle. There is currently no app for the iPhone that allows Realtors to unlock key boxes. For me, this would mean going back to the older style standalone eKey device. To me, this is completely unacceptable to have to carry two devices again. What would happen is that the eKey would be left at home on the cradle or somewhere else other than in my pocket where it needs to be.
Here is my plea to Apple and GE/Supra: Please put your heads together and get the eKey app up and running on the iPhone. Apple- You are missing a huge market of real estate professionals that would love to be sporting a shiny new iPhone. Furthermore, I know it seems like a step back in time but consider putting a full infrared port on your iPhone. I’ve seen countless times that people want to use their iPhone as a smart remote as well.
The last piece of the puzzle for me is the carrier. I know the iPhone will not be an AT&T exclusive forever. It’s just a matter of time. I’m on Sprint and as much as I like them, even I know an iPhone probably isn’t in their future. Apple Wireless Inc. anyone?
