In a press release, “realestate.com.au today announced the launch of a new microsite the freshstartproject.com.au, an interactive site which hopes to raise awareness around housing affordability for low income families.

The Fresh Start Project campaign is the latest instalment forming part of realestate.com.au’s spring activity which helps Australians get fresh start in life.

Joanne Whyte, General Manager Marketing Communications and Insights for realestate.com.au said the company was pleased to partner with Habitat for Humanity Australia, which is the world’s number one provider of housing for low income families in need.

“realestate.com.au will donate $130,000 which will go towards building a safe and secure home for a family in need and help realise their dream of home ownership through low cost housing,” she said.

“The Fresh Start Project is a fully integrated digital campaign which leverages our social media assets using Facebook as the main channel to help spread the word and garner support from socially conscious people,” she said.

The partnership will enable realestate.com.au consumers and Facebook fans to spread the word about this worthy cause by collecting social bricks as they visit the realestate.com.au site.

The bricks will help build a supporters wall to acknowledge the contribution from realestate.com.au. Participant photos will be published via a virtual montage and people can share their involvement with family and friends.

In early November, realestate.com.au and Habitat for Humanity Australia will announce the lucky family who will be given the home. Together with volunteers and members of the community, the family will help build the home over a two-week period, with Fresh Start Project fans able to track the progress of the build via the microsite.

Habitat for Humanity Australia CEO Jo Brennan said: “We’re deeply grateful for the support of realestate.com.au and its desire to help house a family in real need in Australia.”

“We rely on individuals and corporate Australia to make homes a reality for so many low income families here and around the world, so we’re looking forward to seeing the number of bricks build up on the realestate.com.au site and of course seeing the supporters of Fresh Start Project on Facebook,” she said.

Habitat for Humanity is a global not-for-profit organisation with a presence in over 90 countries and has changed the lives of people all over the world building more than 400,000 houses and sheltering more than two million people in 3,500 communities.

Established in the United States in 1976, Habitat for Humanity’s recent projects include its work in helping rebuild homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and in Haiti with the support of celebrity A-listers such as Brad Pitt, Bon Jovi, Barack and Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.

realestate.com.au has worked closely with digital agency Amnesia Razorfish to bring the campaign to life alongside media agency Starcom. The campaign follows the recent launch of realestate.com.au’s TVC and advertising campaign which went live in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane recently.”

This time around it looks like Realestate.com.au and Amnesia Razorfish have put together a good marketing campaign (alongside Starcom).

It’s a massive improvement on their House Hunter Video campaign disaster earlier in the year which ended up being labelled as “REA suffers from Amnesia”.

Plus, it”s good to see that they”ve used an introduction video from CEO Greg Ellis to add a more personalised approach to the whole initiative. (should help them win some points amongst the Facebook community and Gen Y”s).

PS: If you haven”t seen realestate.com.au’s TVC mentioned within the press release you can view it here…

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Property information provider PriceFinder is set to shake up real estate marketing with a simple but groundbreaking internet tool called Share.

Share will be added to PriceFinder”s existing Pro Package subscription service from May 15, but it is already causing a stir. One prominent industry figure is redesigning his company’s website to take full advantage of the new application.

Share allows agents, property managers, mortgage brokers and other real estate industry professionals to provide clients with free access to property data. This represents a major move away from the traditional approach, where property data suppliers charge one-off fees to casual customers for price estimates, sales histories or suburb reports.

PriceFinder already provides property industry professionals such as real estate agents with a quick and easy reference to the estimated sale price, rental price and potential yield of a property within the current market or any time in recent history. The company also provides access to a revolutionary map-searching tool, recent sales, property photos, listings and much more. Share allows PriceFinder subscribers to give their clients free access to this valuable information with just the click of a button.

PriceFinder’s Chief Operating Officer Kent Lardner is excited and proud of this new product, which he says goes a lot further than just value-adding.

“At PriceFinder we are determined to maximise our service to clients,” Mr Lardner says.

“To do this we must be constantly developing new initiatives that give those clients a marketing edge, and I am confident that Share will exceed all expectations in that respect.

“Sometimes the simplest of ideas can bring major results and I think this will be one of those stories.”

Mr Lardner is expecting a big response from the industry, with many businesses integrating the service into lead generation campaigns.

“There are so many possibilities – real estate agents can offer access to buyers, sellers and landlords, and mortgage brokers can provide detailed information with new clients. This application is limited only by imagination.”

Among those already moving to position themselves to take advantage of Share is prominent real estate professional Kevin Turner. Mr Turner is the founder of Real Estate Talk (www.realestatetalk.com.au), which was last year named as a finalist in the ‘Most Innovative Media Site’ category of the international Inman Innovator Awards.

Mr Turner also hosts a weekly radio show by the same name, which covers real estate-related issues for buyers, sellers and investors. The show airs on 2UE Sydney every Thursday from 1.30pm to 2pm, and on 4BC Brisbane from 10am to noon every Saturday, and has an estimated audience of some one million people each week.

Mr Turner already uses PriceFinder to provide data and property information for his radio show and website. He is excited about the Share tool and is in the process of redesigning his website to take full advantage of its capabilities and marketing opportunities.

“From my point of view Share will open up a huge amount of information to buyers and sellers, and is very much in line with what the internet is doing for this industry,” he says.

“Five or six years ago agents were the gatekeepers of information, but now we are dealing with very educated buyers and sellers who want their own access to that information.”

Mr Turner is particularly impressed with the PriceFinder methodology to determine price estimates, which he says is quite unique. He says using information about property enhancements, local area, proximity to major infrastructure and other factors, as well as market trends and sales histories, gives a much more comprehensive estimate.

“Buyers are much more aware of property trends and are looking for that extra information,” he explains.

“We have been looking at the Share model consistently for the past month and we have a lot of faith in it.”

Such a show of faith is immensely gratifying for Mr Lardner and his team, but he is not surprised.

“Our company has a reputation for listening to what our clients want and this is a perfect example of that,” he says.

“This will be a great way for real estate agents to build goodwill with current clients or use the service to attract new customers. The best news is that it will come at no additional cost to the existing Pro Package subscription service.

“Many companies would see this as an opportunity to increase fees, but we see it as a chance to give our existing and prospective clients an edge in a highly competitive market, without added cost burden.

“Furthermore, Share is not just for real estate sales staff,” explains Mr Lardner. “As an example, property managers can also use it to share access with a landlord who wants to review her current property and the local market. That same landlord may also be looking to expand his property portfolio, so there are some very valuable cross-promotional opportunities here.”

How Share works

A real estate agent receives a call from a prospective buyer who has viewed a property the agency has on its books. The buyer wants more detail about property trends, sales histories, price estimates and other information, before deciding whether to lodge an offer.

The agent, who is a PriceFinder subscriber, tells the client he will send them an email providing access to this information, and asks for their email details. The agent goes to his computer, logs on, clicks the Share button and enters the client’s email address.

The Share access details are emailed immediately to the client who can then enter the PriceFinder system without the need for any password or account information.

One of the key aspects of this tool is that it only allows customers access to PriceFinder for a single session. This gives the agent the opportunity to initiate further contact and maintain an ongoing dialogue.

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Yesterday, I attended a meeting with one of the reps from realestate.com.au & talked about their new site update which has taken place today.

The new site looks very impressive.

One of the major things I got out of the presentation was how the ‘Local Voices’ section will be adapted into the site and ways that I could possibly use it to help promote me as a local area expert more effectively.

The ‘Local Voices’ site is something launched by realestate.com.au to allow anyone registered to write and respond to reviews on streets and suburbs, which is then shown on the search pages of realestate.com.au.

They have also set the site up to be somewhat like a social networking site. It seems to me that this application which will be nested in the realestate.com.au search pages will quickly become popular with new buyers and potential sellers alike.

Once in the site when analysing suburbs the site displays the ‘top local experts’. This, from what I can see and was told is based on the amount of reviews and responses to a local suburb. My aim (and at this stage I have only registered my profile and explored the site) is to become the local expert within my target areas. I plan to do the following;

• Create a professional profile on the site with contact details.
• Create a professional suburb profile (some of you may already have these) and load it to the system.
• Create an rss feed for my local suburb and respond to any reviews by others in a constructive way.
• Add any person that appears to live within the suburb as a ‘friend’.

With time (and at this stage as its new it doesn’t appear it will be too difficult) I should become the top local expert for my target suburbs. This will hopefully generate leads as local sellers start to investigate their suburb prices and local agents, and are naturally attracted to what others have said about their suburb.

I’d love to hear if anyone has already started using ‘local voices’ and the way in which they are doing so.

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I’m currently reading a book by Jason Jennings & Laurence Haughton, titled “It’s not the BIG that eat the Small…it’s the FAST that eat the SLOW – How to Use Speed as a Competitive Tool in Business”. It’s a fascinating book.

In Part 2 of the book they discuss Fast Decisions…

“Fast thinking won’t get you very far unless you’re able to quickly process your thoughts and make a decision. Nothing slows down an organization more than paralysis by analysis – the inability to make even the smallest decisions quickly.”

And when reading this paragraph, it made me think of the road blocks that so many of the Gen Y real estate agents are facing each day due to committee meetings & old-school methods being used by lots of agents and the frustration some young agents are experiencing.

Whilst I’m not taking anything away from the wealth of knowledge that the Baby Boomers & Gen X agents can share with the Gen Y agents ( I”m a Gen X agent myself), but the slow uptake of real estate technology & Social Media that exists within our industry means that in many offices Gen Y agents are sent out into the field to do time consuming, ineffective hit & miss ”old school” prospecting to build networks.

Gen Y are the greatest networking generation ever.

As a kid growing up my friends either lived in my neighbourhood or were classmates,etc from school. Whereas, Gen Y have hundreds of friends online from all over the place. As I said before, they are the greatest networking generation ever and yet some agencies won”t even let Gen Y agents use a computer.

C”mon!! We are talking about a generation who were literally born with an email address and a mouse in their hand.

If only you could see what I”ve seen some Gen Y agents doing you would be blown away…

The leverage that some Gen Y agents are applying to real estate sales has to be seen to be believed.

They use the internet & Social Media to do a task once and then leverage marketing strategies around that task or use other marketing tools (eg. Personal Profile Video, Blogging, Facebook Fan Pages, etc).

It”s time that Baby Boomer & Gen X agents sat up and took notice of what can be done.

This year Gen Y will out-number Baby Boomers for the first time in history and for the older, more experienced agents, there will need to be a significant shift in thinking & marketing strategies to ensure that they remain relevant within their marketplace and find ways that they can deliver a more streamlined approach to help retain high performing Gen Y agents and at the same time make sure they appeal to the ever growing Gen Y customers.

When you think about it, this is the first time in history where parents have had to ask their kids how to do things. Like, how do I program my new phone, how do I do certain things on the computer, etc, etc, etc? And, this same situation is now happening within real estate agencies & other businesses throughout the world.

Bosses are recruiting to fill in the gaps for their weaknesses in technology, but in the main they aren’t seeking the knowledge required to ensure that they have a better than basic understanding of how online real estate marketing really should work.

This means that operating systems within the agency are developed around old methods which normally make things less efficient and leads to frustration from employees and customers.

I understand, for a lot of agents, learning about computers is one of the last skills sets they are interested in learning.

I’m not suggesting agents need to turn into computer geeks, but they need to get a basic understanding of why web 2.0 is important and the psychology of the internet and embrace internet marketing strategies so they can use them to leverage their time & resources more effectively.

Plus, at the same time, find ways that they can use technology to deliver a better end user experience so that customers will want to deal with that agency and/or recommend them to their friends.

It”s not enough to have your listings uploaded to the major portals, having a company website and database software. you need to understand why customers aren”t doing business with you & what you can do to build more trust over the internet and use strategies that help to convert website visitors into clients on an ongoing basis, 24/7.

I feel disappointed when I hear about good young agents leaving our industry or going out on their own simply out of frustration and a lack of vision from their leader.

I know of a number of agents who have left companies simply because they felt held back due to lack of vision from their boss and have ended up opening up an agency down the road as competitors. Which is something that is becoming easier & easier for agents to do, especially with the emergence of virtual agencies & the current National Agency Licensing regulations.If an agency wants to move forward and retain their Top Performing Gen Y agents, they really should sit down and spend time listening to some of the ideas of the Gen Y agents rather than sticking in the comfort zone of “this is how I did it when I started out in real estate so that’s the way Gen Y agents should do it too.” (Wrong)

If agents continue doing the old things they will simply frustrate the good new recruits out of the industry and end up employing a team of people who lack innovation, inspiration and will find themselves heading down the wrong track where there is only a dead end.

Gen Y’s love being part of a fast thinking business that embraces change.

Step out of your comfort zone and don’t hold your Gen Y’s back and stop killing off their enthusiasm by using those boring ‘old school’ strategies that all your competitors have all gone back to doing simply because that’s all they know.

Look for new and exciting ways. Innovate, Inspire & Embrace Change Faster.

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Today has seen the launch of the Apple iPad and already I can see that there are a number of potential uses for the iPad for real estate agents.

Just like a restaurant could use the iPad for taking orders or displaying their menu, real estate agents can use the iPad to demonstrate how professionally they can present a potential sellers home, show comparable sales and create a marketing campaign digitally.

The pricing of the iPad means that Apple have provided an affordable way that an agent can make their company appear more high tech.

Here”s 8 Ways That Real Estate Agents could use the iPad…

• Use it for digital listing presentations

• Show property photos and videos in high definition

• Visit websites for doing CMA’s and show other related sites

• Create a Demo Individual Property Website for a client right before their eyes

• Instant database entry at open homes

• Portable client management

• Show details of current listings to buyers on the run

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• Checking email enquiries & setting appointments

Today’s launch of the iPad also provides an insight into where Print Media is heading. The iPad is going to make it a whole lot easier for people to get their news digitally, which will have an effect on major newspaper distribution numbers.

Local Press may not feel the same affect for a while, but it certainly could have an impact in the long term.

My hope is that the introduction of digital readers like the Apple iPad and Amazon”s Kindle may help to bring the real estate print media prices down to a more affordable level for agents and sellers.

Whilst I see some great uses for the iPad for real estate agents, there are some developers who feel that Apple could have gone a lot further with their development, eg here’s 8 Things That Suck About The iPad.

I’m sure Apple will include a number of these extra features to the iPad very quickly, just like they did with the iPhone.

But for now it looks like they have made something that is very appealing to the majority of people & have priced it affordably enough that the iPad should end up becoming just as popular as the iPod and the iPhone.

While agents will have to wait to get their hands onto an iPad, over the next few weeks there is a perfect opportunity to prepare a digital listing presentation in time for its delivery.

I’ve shared 8 uses for agents, if you can think of any others I”d appreciate any other thoughts or ideas.

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