Technology Archives - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Periscope for real estate agents

June 18, 2015 By Dean Ouellette

Have you seen the new social media app Periscope? If you are on Twitter, I am sure you have seen a few updates in your stream and maybe you are wondering what it is.

Periscope is a live video streaming service which is now owned by Twitter, so you know the integration going forward is only going to get tighter.

I have been using Periscope for about two weeks now and am really starting to enjoy it. It has allowed me to connect with new people in my community, new agents and to reach a good size audience.

How I have been using Periscope for real estate purposes

There are two things I have been doing on Periscope. One is community highlights. Periscope is great to highlight your favorite parts of your community and for showing it off to your followers. This helps you and your business by extending the branding of yourself as a community expert in a new way.

The second thing I have been doing, and the thing I am getting the most interaction on, is house tours. People seem to love looking at houses, even a quick walk through, on their mobile device. With my house tours, most of them get over 70 viewers per tour.

When I am out doing showings I either show up 10 minutes early, or I stay for a few minutes after my clients leave, I fire up periscope and do a walk through of the house. I only do this with vacant homes, never with occupied houses.

It has been amazing to see the wide variety of people who show up and ask questions. I have even had former professional athletes show up.

When it comes to the other end, viewing, I have been able to connect with several new members in the local Phoenix area. The best way to find people to follow locally is with the map feature. (Sorry Android users, this is only iOS as of 6/18/15). When you look at the map feature, you can zoom into your local area and see anyone who is Periscoping and has their location turned on. The number of Scopers is still low, so there are usually only a few at a time in the Phoenix metro area.

Now, every now and then you will open a stream that is a kid Scoping from their bedroom or a 20-something doing a bong hit. That is ok, just leave quickly and move on. One thing that I love about Periscope is I heard early on there was a lot of let’s say, adult content, but Periscope quickly closes those accounts down, so luckily I have not had that issue myself.

When you do find someone local, chat with them, ask them questions, interact with them and follow them. This is like the early days of Twitter where it is really easy to connect with local people, as there is still a relatively small audience on Periscope.

Tips
Leave location on – You are looking for people on the map, they will look for you there, too.
Do a variety of things that show you know your local market.
Give people what they want, and they seem to want to see houses!
Talk to people who type questions in your broadcasts.
Block the trolls, they are always out there and Periscope makes it easy to block them.
Give people you are watching lots of hearts! Hearts are the same as a Like on Facebook, but you can repeatedly leave hearts by double tapping the screen.
Keep the camera in portrait mode so the comments are easy to read for you and your viewers.
Turn on save video to camera roll.
Meet new local people!

What I don’t like
One thing I really don’t like on Periscope is limiting the replay of videos for only 24 hours. That means if I were to film a Scope at 9am today, and another one at noon time, if someone looked at my profile at 1pm tomorrow afternoon they would see 0 recent broadcasts. I would at least like to see Periscope change this to 72 hours or a week or something a little longer so you could see how active people really are.

Who to follow
Of course, I hope you follow me @DeanOuellette, and my partners on this site @NickBastianAZ and @SharRundio, but here are few of my favorite follows, both real estate and non real estate related

Who to follow on Periscope – Real Estate
First is Sonia Figueroa who can be found at @soniafigueroaRE. Sonia is the one who gave me the idea about doing home walk throughs. Sonia is a Chicago based agent who does a good job showing her city.

Julie Ziemelis – What is it like to live in Kona, Hawaii? @JulieZiemelis shows you some of the best places in the 50th state. I will warn you, if you get jealous easy, don’t tune in to Julie.

Mobile Agent TV is doing a good job giving you some insight on how they think you should be using Periscope. Michael Thorne has been fairly active early on, as you would expect from @MobileAgentTV.

As usual, Raj Qsar of the Boutique Real Estate Group has been on the cutting edge also. If you want to see what the luxury real estate market in Orange County, California is like, give @RajQsar a follow.

Three others that have crossed my radar recently who are very active are California agent @HerbieSoCal, Baltimore agent @AlyssiaEssig and Naples Florida agent @RedHotNaples. I don’t have a great sense of their work yet because they are so new to my radar, but they are worth watching.

Who else to follow for education, fun, and entertainment
Here are a few people I find either entertaining or informative and worth a follow:
@KatieLance, former Inman Connect social media director, is very active.
@JasonStolken, a comedian who has a great game of #ScopeCharades.
@Feynwomen, because hey, science is cool.
@CathyHackl, want some great Periscope info, she is among the best.
@MarkKayeShow, LOVE THIS. Informative and educational, no not really, but the #ScopeMob is so fun. Yes, it can kill your productivity for 15 minutes a day, but everyone needs a release of some type.

The Little Blue Box ~ A Home Seller’s Friend

May 1, 2015 By Shar Rundio

No, I’m not talking about the beautiful little blue boxes that come with treasures from Tiffany & Co.. Though who doesn’t love those?

Today I’m talking about the REALTOR® specific lockbox (iBox) that only REALTORS® (or vendors with a code from the REALTOR®) can use. In AZ (and many other states), these lockboxes are purchased and monitored through Supra Systems. Why do you as a seller care what kind of lockbox is on your house?

The other day I walked up to a front door that looked like this:

Yep, door wide open, lockbox open, and key in the door. My clients and I waited for a few moments thinking there was another showing going on. Nope, no one to be found. Just the door WIDE open. This house was on a cheapy contractor’s lockbox easily purchased at Home Depot or Lowe’s so when I called the agent to let her know she had no idea who was at the house last and how long it had been this way. I’ve heard nightmare stories where the buyer’s teenage kid watched the agent open the contractor’s box and went back with friends and partied it up at the expense of someone else’s home.

The benefit of an iBox per Supra’s website:

Each time an iBox is opened, both the key and iBox record the date, time and the identify of the keyholder. The information is delivered to Supra’s secure database and can be obtained using SupraWEB. The listing agent can also read the iBox to view recent access information.

The iBox offers the ability to customize showing hours. Another option may be set to require all showings be prescheduled with the listing agent.

The benefits to you as the seller mean that only licensed professionals can access the key to your house AND that access is monitored and recorded when it happens. This allows your agent to track who has been in your house and when they were there. Another helpful benefit is that it allows us to know how many showings you’ve had and to follow up with other agents for feedback.

When interviewing your next REALTOR® make sure to ask about the lockbox they use. And, as always, I’d love the opportunity to earn your business. Email me at shar@phoenixrealestateguy.com or call 480.420.4441 if there’s anything I can help with!

The Last of the Social Media Holdouts

August 4, 2012 By Marty Boardman

This post isn’t about you. If it were you wouldn’t be reading it because you don’t do social media.

Chances are, you have a Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, friend, co-worker or business colleague that completely rejects the notion that social media is valuable and can somehow, either directly or indirectly, improve their lives and the lives of others.

This post is about them. They are the last of the social media holdouts.

(Marty is not a holdout, follow him on Twitter)

I have a friend who is a nurse practitioner. His wife is a doctor and they own and operate their own medical office. Both refuse to use Facebook, an ideal medium to promote their practice and educate their patients, because they believe it could destroy their marriage. How so? One of them could use it to reconnect with an old high school flame.

A former business partner of mine owns a home remodeling business in Illinois. His craftsmanship is exemplary, yet his company is struggling to make ends meet. Still, he won’t take the time to learn how to set up a blog with before and after pictures of his remodeling projects. To me, this is the equivalent of him not knowing how to use a hammer.

Then there’s my family. One relative sends me 6-10 chain emails a day, addressed to 15 other people on his contact list. This person won’t get on Facebook because “it’s a waste of time.” I have another family member that won’t do any social media because she is afraid her identity will be stolen.

Clearly, the social media holdouts have their reasons for not going online. However, I believe the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Over the past 12 months I’ve used social media (Blog, Facebook, Twitter) in my business to:

Sign a book publishing deal about fixing and flipping houses
Raise over $200,000 in investment capital
Connect directly with journalists at the L.A. Times and Wall Street Journal
Refer homebuyer and seller leads to my Realtor partners
Refer home remodeling work to my contractor partners

On a personal level, social media has helped me to stay in touch with old friends and distant family. Last week, a soccer buddy sent me a message on Facebook to see if I wanted to join his indoor team. He also asked me to list his house for sale. That’s a valuable connection that probably wouldn’t have been made in the offline world.

Technology can be frightening, new technology even more so. While I’m fairly certain lots of people initially debated the value of the automobile, the airplane, the computer, the Internet, cell phones, email and text messaging, few would disagree that today they all help to improve our lives.

So the next time a social media holdout you know wants to bash the medium share this post. Of course, you’ll have to print a copy and put it on their desk or send it to them in the mail because they don’t do social media.

Photo Credit

A real estate tool I couldn’t imagine living without

June 11, 2012 By Dean Ouellette

It is amazing at times how fast things in the real estate industry change. Just a year ago if you said Phoenix would the hottest real estate market in the country in 2012, few would have believed that was possible. Something that may change even quicker than the Phoenix real estate market is how we use technology in our business.

There is a reason Thompson’s Realty uses the tag line “The Power Of Technology With A Personal Touch.” Jay and Francy Thompson understood that using technology could not only help them in their business, but also make the often difficult process of buying or selling a home more enjoyable.

About 18-months ago I purchased my first iPad. When I was waiting in line as excited as a 6-year old on Christmas Eve, I started imagining how the iPad could make me more organized and more productive. Little did I know just how much I would end up using it.

The iPad has allowed me to go completely paperless and save money. From having my files always at my finger tips with Evernote, to MLS on the road wherever you are, the iPad has completely transformed our industry and how we conduct our business. Now we have the ability to write and sign contracts from the mobile version of zipforms and their built in wet signature functionality which makes getting an offer in quickly a snap in this challenging market.

I have been teaching iPad for real estate classes for almost a year now. We are about to kick off for the first time an iPad for real estate 202 class where I completely walk through a transaction on the buyers side and sellers side on the iPad and show you exactly how to pull it off. The first two classes will be held on June 28th at 10am and a lunch and learn on July 11th 12pm at the RE Tech Tank (RETT) office at 1959 S. Val Vista Dr. Suite 113 Mesa, AZ 85204 (map). If you want to attend please email me.

If you want to hear about other upcoming training classes such as “The Productive Agent” and Evernote classes we will be announcing soon, head on over to the Thompson’s Realty Facebook page and make sure you Like us. Seriously, go there now. And if you are interested in joining a brokerage that pushes The Power Of Technology With A Personal Touch, drop me a line.

Cool Commodes : Terrific Toilets?

September 30, 2007 By Jay Thompson

Into The Box TV, brought to you by Rachel Natalie Klein — a New York City ~~Realtor~~ Video Blogger (vlogger) — has some interesting video clips on New York real estate. The latest is titled, “Cool Commodes”…. yep, “high end” toilets are becoming all the rage.

Now I love remote controls, but I honestly don’t really think I need one for my toilet…For more info on the “Toto Washlet” featured in the video, click here. And if you’re really curious, here is the product feature comparison page from their web site… The S400 with auto seat open/close is the obvious choice. Prices start at only $1,890.

Hat tip to Rudy for the Into The Box TV tip!

Periscope for real estate agents

How I have been using Periscope for real estate purposes

The Little Blue Box ~ A Home Seller’s Friend

A real estate tool I couldn’t imagine living without

Cool Commodes : Terrific Toilets?

Who is The Phoenix Real Estate Guy?

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