I’m a pretty heavy iPhone user, the thing is pretty much attached to my hand at all times… but one thing I didn’t expect was how much I’ve come to depend on it while on the road; to get directions, to find a particular store or get restaurant reviews. It’s a fantastically powerful device to have in the car, but one that’s incredibly dangerous too.

The iPhone’s touchscreen means that it’s very hard to type without looking at the screen, so it usually means I have to madly scramble while stopped at a red light to find what I’m looking for.

vLingo (iTunes store) solves this problem. Now you can speak to your phone and it understands you.

It’s voice recognition for your iPhone, much like the recent voice search feature added by Google, but vlingo takes this one step further; not only allowing you to perform Google searches but local searches (on a map) and even voice dialling your contacts all in one.

As a bonus, you can even update your Twitter or Facebook status by voice as well. vlingo instantly transcribes your spoken words to text and sends them out.

It’s pretty amazing. And lightning fast. Give it a try.

vlingo, iphone

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Century 21 released the results of a recent market research study today (see Inman News) that shows that they are “the best-known name in the business”.

Full results below:

“Please tell me which real estate agencies you have ever seen or heard of?”

1. CENTURY 21: 97%
2. RE/MAX: 93%
3. Coldwell Banker: 89%
4. Prudential: 75%
5. ERA: 51%
6. GMAC: 38%
7. Keller Williams: 33%
8. Weichert : 18%
9. Realty Executives: 14%

The results came from the 2008 Ad Tracking Study, conducted between March and August, 2008 by Millward Brown, a market research organization. The survey was based on 875 online interviews.

Certainly, C21 has been one of the more aggressive marketers despite a down market. Their ‘Path Home’ ad has been all over the airwaves this year, so it’s not surprising to see them at the top of this list.

century 21, real estate marketing

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The situation for the local real estate section looks grim. AdAge is reporting newspaper ad revenue fell nearly $2 billion in Q3 of 2008.

Even online ad sales are looking miserable.

Newspapers’ online ad sales, where everyone is hoping some part of the future business model resides, accelerated their decline with a 3% drop. Online ad sales slipped 2.4% in the second quarter.

No question that once we’re through this recession (now official) the advertising marketplace will be radically different. And the shakeout won’t be pretty. I don’t believe a business model solely reliant on advertising can survive (see Storms Ahead for Real Estate Sites).

So it’s more pressing than ever for the big publishers and online media sites to start thinking about how they can help the industry.

Over a year ago I wrote about three things newspapers could do to help their bottom lines and also help real estate professionals make the transition online (see 3 Ps - The Future for Real Estate Newspaper Advertising)- it’s more urgent than ever to start thinking about some of them.

Reprinted below:

Providing the Platform

Leverage existing publishing infrastructure to provide agents/brokers with a web presence, but free the database from the design so it is totally customizable (Ubertor) and retain a unique top level URL and easily create single property web sites (RealBird). Agents have complete control of their presentation of these sites but traffic can easily be fed both directions. Make the data exportable so if the agent wants/needs to leave they can.

With control of the source of the listing data, it can then be pulled back to enhance the mothership’s search results. There is an opportunity to up-sell featured listings (Trulia) or even premium placement for the agent’s sites on search results (Zillow). Don’t get greedy either - help agents get these listings elsewhere on the ‘Net too (Point2NLS, vFlyer).

Give the agents a blogging platform (Move.com, ActiveRain) and allow the content to be rolled up into a hyperlocal information source (Outside.In, Localism, YourStreet). Bonus - you can use this approach to find talented writers that can build out into group blogs (RainCityGuide, BloodhoundBlog), e.g. the PI’s Seattle Real Estate Professionals.

Packaging the Right Tools

Give agents the tools they want to get video tours of their properties and connect the agents with the producers (RealEstateShows, WellcomeMat) but don’t confine the distribution to your site - following the listing model, help the agents syndicate those videos out across the web (TubeMogul).

Promoting the Brand

The package should include various levels of self-service advertising network (with CPM, CPC advertising options) - with options to centralize ad buys on other sites as well. The package could also include placement inside an enhanced local service provider directory (MerchantCircle) in the real estate section. And it should give the Realtor the tools they need to manage their online reputations on other local directory destinations (CitySearch, Yelp, etc.) as well.

With this approach, brokers and agents ultimately would benefit from the one-stop-shop for all their marketing needs as well as playing off the paper’s still resilient brand with local real estate consumers.

If they can see this opportunity, the papers are the only ones that (for now) have the local market penetration to pull something like this off. And at each of the step, there are clear and obvious ways that the newspapers could monetize this - far beyond selling simple classifieds ads.

advertising, real estate marketing, real estate 2.0, online media

Flickr photo by eob.

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Calculated Risk: Sad News: Tanta Passes Away

tanta, calculated risk

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I got my beta invite to PlayStation Home last night. Home, for those of you who don’t have a PS3, is Sony’s attempt to create a 3D environment where gamers can congregate and connect with each other. Much like Second Life, Home lets you create an Avatar, sets you up with you an apartment and then lets you begin to interact with others inside this virtual world.

While still in its infancy, Home definitely looks interesting. And there are some definite indications that Sony plans on monetizing this virtual real estate.

Here are a couple snaps I took.

In game advertising (IGA) is a nascent market, but one that is projected to hit $732 million by 2010. Just as an example, in the recent election, President-elect Obama reportedly spent $44K for billboard ads in the popular Burnout driving game (see Obama’s in-game ad bill).

Granted, this kind of spend probably doesn’t make sense for most real estate brands. But for the right company, looking for the right vehicle to reach the 18-34 male demographic, IGA may make sense.

Personally, I know that’s where I’m spending the majority of my free time these days. It’s not watching TV or reading the newspaper.

virtual real estate, real estate marketing, playstation home, second life

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My employer Inman News has embarked on a major editorial project over the next few months focusing on the future of the real estate industry.

I’d love to hear from FOREM readers what they think that might look like. You’ll score a pass to the upcoming Real Estate Connect conference in New York for your efforts.

We are also calling for essays that focus the future of real estate. Write no more than 400 words on how to reinvent the real estate industry and revive the housing market. Pick a category — brokers, agents, technology, title or lending — or discuss the entire industry. Our editorial team will review the essays, publish many of them, and hand out a $500 check to the author of the best essay. Also, the authors of all essays published in full will get a free pass (valid for new registrations only) to the upcoming Real Estate Connect conference. Send your essays to future@inman.com by Dec. 31, 2008.

Read more on reinventing the real estate industry.

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A big thanks to Real Pro Systems for supporting FOREM this month.

Real Pro specializes in web sites and marketing solutions for the real estate industry and have a pretty comprehensive internet marketing solution for Realtors. Their Gold3 package includes a web site, blog and all kinds of integrated lead cultivation and drip marketing tools designed by agents for agents.

And the best thing is they have graciously set up an exclusive offer for FOREM readers this month…

If your looking to retire your old website, you can trade it in today and get up to a $400 credit towards a new set up from Real Pro Systems. Add any of the add-ons and you’ll get an additional $100 off. Not a bad deal.

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One of my favorite online real estate search tools, Estately expanded in to two new markets today; Greater Chicago and Long Island, New York. This marks the first markets outside of the West Coast for the Seattle based search site — Estately previously only served Washington, Oregon and California.

This means Estately, which pulls all of its listings from its relationships with the local MLSes, now has over 330,000 homes for sale on its site.

Another welcome feature in this latest release is the addition of past home sales information to every listing. You’ll now be able to see the entire sales history on any listed home to see if has recently changed hands and if so, for how much. This new feature is powered through a relationship with Cyberhomes.

With these two new markets, Estately is taking big strides to move beyond being simply a regional player. Even if it still has a long way to go to rival the reach of the big national sites, there’s no question the underdog is starting to lose its puppy teeth.

estately, real estate search, real estate 2.0

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Neighborhood boundaries are a fluid thing. My definition what encompasses my neighborhood (Multnomah Village in Portland) may vary greatly from the person across street.

It’s also one of the Holy Grails to online search. The ability to confine a search to a particular neighborhood. Roost does this particularly well, as does Estately and to a lesser degree Zillow.

Zillow also took the step of creating a set of neighborhood boundaries (over 7000 of them) that they released earlier this year in Shapefile format.

Another effort is slowly taking shape (literally) however. The popular photo-sharing site Flickr is also releasing Shapefiles of neighborhoods, using the data it collects from the geotagged photos in its database to accumulate a collective definition of what makes a neighborhood.

The project, which is in early Alpha, can best be viewed on the mashup site Neighborhood Boundaries. Simply punch in your neighborhood name (or city name) and see how the boundaries are being defined in your neck of the woods.

Again, this is early Alpha, so many markets won’t have much coverage. But the possibility of user-defined neighborhood boundaries is intriguing to say the least.

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Taking a page from the its search portal cousins and perhaps even its cross-town competitor Redfin, the new Windermere web site launched today, with a simple search box up front and center. Simple, slick and straight to the point.

Broker web pages are often cluttered with all kinds of extraneous information; programs on this and that. Windermere cuts right to the chase and puts the power of its IDX driven search tool up front and center. Just what I’m looking for.

Better still, the search experience gets even better once you dive in. Results return speedily are mapped quickly onto a Microsoft Virtual Earth map. Clicking on a individual listing and you get a nice big picture as well as the ability to read the entire property details, view all existing photos and print out a ready-to-roam flyer.

I suspect this is the model for the brokerage web site moving forward. A simple, interactive online destination that supplies the consumer with the complete search experience. If Windermere takes this to the next level and white-labeled this tool for its agents, they’d be on to a winning combination.

Windermere serves the Western US, in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington state and Wyoming.

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