We asked this question on our Inman News Facebook page this week and we received a lot of great feedback, comments and advice. Check out the list below – what pearls of wisdom could you add to this list?

Can you imagine if you were starting out today as a Realtor? Or, maybe you are new to the business – I’d love to hear what you’ve learned!

What Tips Would You Share With New Realtors Just Starting Out in the Business?

Please leave us your thoughts and comments below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Social Media Director, Inman News, @katielance

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Just a few months ago, FOREM posted an article about Rent Jungle. Rent Jungle, launched in October, 2010, and claims to be the most comprehensive rental listing site on the web. It works much like other search engines in that it scours the internet to amass apartment listings from a variety of sites.

What sets them apart? Unlike other search engines, Rent Jungle specializes only in apartments and rental housing. Users can search, sort and bookmark individual listings, as well as save them for later use. Users can also view listings on an innovative user-friendly map, powered by Google. Rent Jungle was founded to fill a void in the online real estate market by offering a simple, easy-to-use directory and one-stop-shop destination for renters.

Last week I was contacted by Rent Jungle and informed that they have raised an additional $300,000 in angel round funding. The company plans to use the new funds to focus on expansion to new geographies and platforms, for refinement of the search algorithm, and to enhance user experience on the site. Rent Jungle will also soon be releasing their new iPhone, iPad, and Android application.

Rent Jungle says that users will benefit from faster service, more listings, as well as the consistent core elements of the industry-first apartment and rental housing search engine. The site has already expanded its technology to aggregate listings from over 5 million apartment and rental home listings from over 12,000 sites, improving its already massive listing-base so satisfy the growing needs of the industry.

Since last October, Rent Jungle has seen an increase from 30,000 unique users per month to over 500,000 users this March. CEO and co-founder Jon Pastor said on the subject,

“We have been fortunate over the last few months to see our traffic grow to such an extent, and we are always thrilled to find investors as dedicated and excited about the site as we are.” Although the site is relatively young compared to its competitors, its traffic is expected to reach over 1,000,000 users per month by the summer of this year. “It’s been gratifying watching the site grow so fast,” Jon Pastor comments, “and I’m elated in the interest and support we’ve received thus far.”

Similar to most search engines, Rent Jungle allows users to search for specific keywords including bedroom and bathroom count, amenities, price and location. The search engine’s rental statistics also grant a view into current rental trends based on market pricing nationally, by city, and by individual neighborhoods. Rent Jungle’s search technology can be used as a rental comparison tool allowing users to compare neighborhood rental trends to best match their housing and budget needs – a function new to the rental and housing industry.

Have you used Rent Jungle? I’d love your opinion and feedback, leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Social Media Director, Inman News, @katielance

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Today is the official launch of a brand new real estate education and community site designed to enhance agent productivity through social media – The Hip Roof.

The Hip Roof was created by Maya Paveza (@mayaREguru), award winning REALTOR in Delaware with Coldwell Banker Preferred and real estate social media butterfly! Maya has gained national acclaim for continuously redefining the role social media plays in her business.

I’ve know Maya online for some time and was very excited to see this new forum get off the ground with the assistance of a lot of great people in the industry including the one and only, Chris Brogan, president of Human Business Works.

I emailed Maya yesterday to interview her, and get the scoop on this new networking and learning opportunity for real estate professionals.

Q: Maya, how did you come up with the idea for The Hip Roof?

A: The idea for a real estate educational community is something I have been toying with since early 2009. I was a web developer and designer from 1993-2001, so my mind works in this sort of way, I am also very entrepreneurial in spirit. I loved the idea of creating a place where some of the community of experts I know via the social spaces, and from attending a variety of events, like Real Estate Connect, could interact and share their achievements and ideas with others. Where the new agent or the agent who has been working for 30 years could all come together and share and learn. A collaborative community if you will, where everyone can contribute as everyone has an area of expertise.

Q: What’s the general premise of the site?

A: The premise is that THR is a real estate educational community with a focus on social media.To allow people to grow and learn, to share successes and seek assistance from others. To remember that what we do is about customer service and finding new ways to do that better. To remind each other that humanity is much more important, especially in this day and age. To share expertise, to offer webinars to help agents better understand the social spaces, platforms, and a lot of basic business development and coaching too. Currently the membership gets three webinars a week, Sunday Night Open Forum, Experts Series Interview (kicking off 2/28 with Ben Kinney) and the Thursday “Hot Topic” learning webinar.

The most basic need I feel the site meets is to make education, coaching and training accessible and affordable to agents everywhere. We can’t always make it to New York or San Francisco for a Real Estate Connect, or a REBoot tour, especially with the current market conditions. I believe so deeply in this that we don’t want to turn anyone away – if someone wants to join but can’t afford it, I am working with a few partners to offer scholarships, it is that important to permit total access.

Q: Is it open to all agents nationwide?

A: Absolutely, real estate agents nationwide and worldwide – as long as they are licensed in whatever capacity in their municipality. But not just for agents, it is also for Brokers and owners – the category I call office leadership – they have their own private forum within The Hip Roof. Office Leadership will have different discussions needs from recruiting and retention to desk occupancy costs, and more. We also welcome our partners who we deal with on a daily basis, all of which have their own forums like the leadership does – lenders, title representatives, real estate attorneys and home inspectors. We don’t have a consumer facing side at this point, but there might be something coming soon to meet that need, a forum where consumers can ask questions and interact with the experts.

Q: I see you have no advertisers, will that change in the future? If not, do you have plans to monetize the site?

A: I want the agents and community to feel completely comfortable in sharing opinions and thoughts on technology, tools, platforms and vendors. I don’t anticipate that changing, which is why we do charge a membership fee, similar to the other Human Business Works communities although we are independent from the HBW family.

I don’t expect it will change, but the option has been reviewed. I think that if it comes down to advertising it will be advertisers that don’t directly market to agents, maybe on the consumer facing side – when and if that happens. I want to avoid agents having to feel like there is any undue influence on the information shared within the community, which is why I don’t want to permit advertising on the inside.  To help create local experts everywhere, because there won’t be a “tour” or local events, if a local board or mls wants someone we will refer them to one of our area experts.

Q: What is the cost for a membership?

A: The introductory rate is $27/month for the life of the membership until 3/31 for agents. For Brokers/Office Leadership, the rate is introduced at $57/mo as well as Lending Partners, Title/Attorney and Home Inspectors until 3/31.

Q: When is your official “open for business day”?

A: We soft-launched on Monday February 21, but our official “launch” is today! It is a living organism of sorts, the platform we are built upon is so dynamic, it is just amazing the things we can do with it, to grow it and expand. What is really exciting is that right now during the launch we are giving $5 for every paid membership that signs up until 3/2 to Daniel Rothamel’s Legal Defense Fund. Dan is a great guy, and he was in the new edition of Trust Agents, so he is a shining example of the goal of this site – to be a better agent, to serve your community, to share with others, to humanize business

Q: How did Chris Brogran hear about the project and get involved?

A: I met Chris in March of 2010 at a Trust Summit even in Wilmington DE, we have a mutual friend in Whitney Hoffman. She helped bring Chris, Julien Smith and Mitch Joel to that event. I wasn’t planning to go but decided last minute to buy a ticket. So serendipity, we met when a friend saw me arriving and called me into the coffee shop to meet the Governor. I honestly have to say I didn’t follow him on Twitter, had not read the book, and didn’t know much about him other than his name, I am like that with anyone, I want to meet people for who they genuinely are not what my mind might have created from reading about them or following them.

He is a good friend, more mentor often than anything else – always offering suggestions and a good kick in the backside when I needed it. This was a project I had been working on trying to create for a while, I believe I was most likely whining to Chris about my frustrations with progress on a variety of projects, purely for the friendly kick in the backside I needed and expected, when he suggested that his company Human Business Works could partner in the development of the site. An incredible offer, and after two previous partners had bailed, it was surreal to think it might finally become a reality. I think that for Chris it aligned nicely with some other projects HBW was working on, like 501MissionPlace.com and KitchenTableCompanies.com. Serendipity again. I really have the most amazing group of friends.

Q: What is your goal for this site? Your dream?

A: My goal has long been to create this site, so I now have to adjust my mindset to extended business planning and goal setting. This is the safe place for agents to interact and talk freely with each other without worrying about consumers reading about our day to day challenges. I want it to become the standard of excellence for real estate educational communities, to be the resource people think of when they want to learn something or ask a question. I think my dream is for the site to be everything that the member wants, it can grow and evolve as technologies change, platforms change, the business changes, it is completely dynamic and database driven so that is super easy.

Part of the dream of this site is to show my two daughters that anything is possible, and they should work hard and dream big. Be idealistic and be kind.

I would love to see it have a regular charitable cause, or some sort of benefit to the real estate community. I want it to make a difference in an agents life, to help someone gain access to all these wonderful resources, and affordable coaching. It really is about real estate agents by real estate agents, so I want everyone to feel that, and share in that sense of ownership.

My next dream has nothing to do with this site actually, I dream of being able to bring change to girls and women, to help bring back self-confidence and the #ownit mantra I have. Life is too short not to love every moment and feel great about who you are. My dream is to bring that message as far and wide as I can, by sharing my own story. That’s the next chapter after THR is running smoothly.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: I am so grateful for all the support from the RE.net community, there are so many amazing people out there, who have generously given of their time to help me build this community, when it truly is about the community. This is merely the beginning, I want to bring this to the far corners of every continent to make it accessible to everyone. I welcome anyone to join, and those that would like to contribute I would be happy to hear from them as well. There is always room for more people.

To find out more about The Hip Roof you can go to their site or contact Maya directly for more information.

If you have already signed up, I’d love your feedback on the site. Leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News, @katielance

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Exactly 3 years ago yesterday, Seth Godin posted a blog post entitled: Advice for real estate agents (quit now!)

First of all I love Seth’s blog. I love his wisdom and take on technology, business and the world around us. So when I saw he specifically wrote an article for real estate agents, my ears perked up.

He begins by saying:

“You should quit selling real estate.

I’m serious.

Quit being an agent. Get a job doing something else.

Some of you have been waiting to hear that. My pleasure.”

Anyone who has ever worked in a real estate brokerage, knows that there are some people that just don’t belong in real estate.

We all know these agents:

• The part-timers
• The ones who thought they could “get rich quick”
• The ones who act like the stereotypical smarmy salesperson
• They got their license to sell a house to their mom/grandparents/kids/friends
• The ones who got into real estate to “try it out”
• The one who comes to the office to “work” all day and spend most of the day chit-chatting with everyone, having lunch, and updating their Facebook status.

Those people probably don’t belong in real estate and it boggles my mind why any broker/owner would keep them as part of the “team” – but that in and of itself is a whole other topic!

If you look inside the walls of any brokerage across America, you are probably going to find some of these agents. For those people, they should take Seth’s advice above.

But I know, the readers that read FOREM, are not those type of agents.

I am so proud of the caliber of agents and brokers that read FOREM and Inman News. The people that read our blog and our news, work harder and smarter than just about anyone in the industry.

You are the one who are up early working, squeezing in phone calls and emails to clients throughout the day, you understand the need for technology and embrace it, you multi-task on your iPhone, Droid or iPad, you make time for educational training events and networking, you have a social media plan in place, you care about details, you are extremely skilled in valuation, you “go to bat” for your clients every day, you know when to ask for help, you have a strategic marketing and branding plan, you spend your money wisely, you are genuine and understand that this is a people business, and you understand that money can’t buy everything.

In addition –  you are not whiners.

As Seth says,

“Whining is not an option.

In fact, I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for you.”

A few years ago when many agents started leaving the business, many of the successful agents cheered and said “FINALLY!” I know I did!

Three years have passed since Seth’s original blog post was published and a lot has changed in the industry, but many things have stayed the same.

How do you differentiate yourself?

Seth says two things:

Number 1:

“Become the expert in what you do. Which means micro-specialization. Who is the single-best agent for condos in your zip code? Or for single family homes for large families? Who is the one and the only best person to turn to if you’re looking for investment property in this part of town?

No, you can’t also do a little of this or a little of that. Best in your world means burning your other bridges and obsessing.”

I love that. Too many time we see agents try to be all things to all people. You see that everyday, right? The “Expert in Foreclosures, REO’s, Short-Sales, 1st Time Home Buyers, Investment Properties, Luxury Homes, and More!”

Many agents think by being an expert in everything they are widening their net of prospective clients. They couldn’t be further from the truth. Narrow your focus and be the expert in the one area that you really are passionate about. Become laser focused about that one area and stop trying to catch “all the fish in the sea.”

Think you have no time? Seth says,

“Of course you have that time available.  Invest that time in building up your expertise and becoming the person people who don’t even like you turn to for insight.”

Number 2:

“The second asset to build is permission. It turns out (according to the NAR) that 91% of all Realtors never contact the buyer or the seller of a home after the closing. Not once. Wow. Someone just spent a million dollars with you and you don’t bother to call or write?”

Read that again – now granted this was written 3 years ago, but still…. 91% – unbelievable!

“The opportunity …is to find, one by one, the people who would benefit from hearing from you and then earn the right to talk to them. Earn the right to send them a newsletter or a regular update or a subscription to your blog. NOT to talk about what matters to you, but to give them information (real information, not just data) that matters to them.

The opportunity, in other words, is to stop waiting around for the phone to ring and instead figure out how to do what you do best… connect buyers and sellers in a way that makes them both confident.”

I love that: “Stop waiting around for the phone to ring.”

The most successful agents are the ones that make something happen, that don’t just accept mediocraty because of “the market” or “the economy.” They push through – they make more calls, they door knock, they reconnect with their past clients and new prospects on Twitter and Facebook, they do whatever they need to do to get business. They understand the fundamental key in success – it isn’t luck – it’s hard work.

I always have said that – you may be smarter than me, but I will out work you any day of the week.

This has never been more true for real estate agents and brokers than it is now.

“Some of you will stick with the standard business card with the standard photo, the standard office and the standard ad strategy and the standard approach to making the phone ring. It’s going to be a long haul if that’s your route.

I’m betting, though, that the best of you will end up with a business model that will survive, thrive and prosper. Best time to start is right now.”

There is no better time than right now to shake it up, to do things you’ve never done before, to work harder and smarter, to narrow your focus and to achieve the success you deserve to achieve. Don’t let one more day, or one more negative market report get you down. Make this the year – YOUR best year ever!

I’d love your thoughts on this post. Agree or disagree? Please leave me your comments and feedback below. Thank you again to Seth Godin for his timeless advice!

Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News @katielance

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Guest Blogger, Mike Bowler, Sr. has been in the real estate business (Lansing, MI) for the past 32 years. During that time he’s educated and consulted hundreds of REALTORS. Mike is a former owner; broker of Coldwell Banker Bowler Real Estate and is currently an Associate Broker for Coldwell Banker Hubbell Briarwood in Lansing Michigan, who bought his company in 2001. He also owns his own company PRETEC (Professional Resources, E-Business, Technology, Education, & Consulting) and is an avid fan of social media in the workplace. Mike was named in 2009’s Top 25 Most Connected Real Estate Professionals by PROXIO and selected by Inman News as one of the 50 Most Influential Online.

The real estate industry is in a constant state of evolution and changes every day with technology, regulation changes, and economic challenges, never experienced by most of us in the real estate business.  You can either bury your head in the sand or dig in and get on this exciting train ride. I choose to ride it out and continue becoming educated by some of the best resources I have witnessed over the past 32 years.

When our industry gets lax in education, it contributes to the lack of professionalism, our growth as REALTORS, and affects how competitive we as real estate agents will be in the coming years.  I really believe that adapting and learning new ways to do business will help brokers, managers, and agents stay ahead of the knowledge curve and strengthen our ability to survive this paradigm shift.

Who would have thought a few years back that:

• Move would be acquiring Threewide (ListHub) providing a huge syndication for Listings (See Inman News story)
• RPR – REALTORS Property Resources would be formed and providing 98% of the nations property data (For those who have it)
• That YouTube would be the number 2 search engine
  • That Facebook would have 500,000,000 members, the average user would have 130 friends and People would spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
  • That approximately 2.5 million foreclosures would be in the process, and another 2.5 million mortgages would be 90-plus days delinquent.

Yes, we are in a whole new era of education for REALTORS, with short sale designations, foreclosure classes, green designations, new mortgage regulations, classes on how to work with your ancillary related businesses like appraisers, mold technicians, home inspectors, and of course loss mitigation.  The sampling of changes above are just a small portion of drastic game changing events that any REALTOR, who has an interest in being a player for the future of real estate, must be aware of.

So where do we begin?

Professional development, learning new trends, and adapting to a more complex industry are musts for brokers, sales managers, and real estate agents. This also includes ancillary businesses like appraisers, mortgage originators, and title companies that have experienced massive change. My point is that as professionals we must adapt to new business strategies that enhance our knowledge, give quality service, and meet the demands of the e-consumer. We Must Raise the Bar!

Here’s a Place to Begin at Zero or Little Cost:

Right Tools Right Now
Agent Reboot™
Real Estate BarCamps
REALTOR University
Your Local Association, Company and Professional Educators

Setup Google Reader and Subscribe to the following sites:

Future of Real Estate Marketing
Mashable
Inman News
RISMedia
Realty Times
My Tech Opinion
Trulia Blog
Zillow Blog

I could go on and list many other avenues to education, however this list will help you grow your own list of favorite places to learn. Developing an edge in today’s market requires that real estate practitioners be proficient in Blogging, social media, search engine marketing, and how to work with the e-consumer once they contact you.

It is imperative that those real estate professionals who have come through this challenging market be fully prepared to take advantage of new steady growth that will be forthcoming. My point is that our industry needs to step up to the plate and sharpen our competitive edge by using good old fashion service integrated with new technology. Consumers drive the industry and have always driven it, however today they are looking online first. Are they finding you when they go to Google, Yahoo or Bing? If not, you owe it to your family, company, and yourself to get on board and learn this business all over again. All this is part of your newfound professional development, learning new trends, and adapting to a more complex industry.

Please share your strategies for staying abreast of the current trends in real estate.

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Have you heard the news? Inman News’ Real Estate Connect is turning 15!

15 years ago Brad Inman welcomed a couple dozen leaders in real estate to join him in Sonoma County. That was the birth of what has evolved into the leading event for the most influential people in Real Estate. The next Real Estate Connect conference will be held in New York City from January 12-14, 2011 at the Marriott Marquis hotel in the heart of Times Square. We’ve lined up a couple great keynotes already with more to come:

• Mashable COO Adam Hirsch
• Patch.com CEO Warren Webster

You can see more program details on the event website: www.realestateconnect.com/nyc11.

To celebrate this milestone, Inman News is offering its biggest promotion yet – $500 off the new Premium Package at Real Estate Connect 2011.

Premium Package – An all-access pass from January 11-14, 2011 includes:

• Full access to the first 2011 Agent Reboot™ conference on January 11 (a $149 value)

• All Real Estate Connect sessions: Workshops, Keynotes, Innovation Tracks and Meetups

• Real Estate Connect Special Events and Conference Receptions

• Access to the Premium Lounge where you can relax, enjoy complimentary refreshments, take part in special activities and test drive the latest technologies

• One-year subscription to Inman News as a Premium Member

The standard price for this package is $1,099 but if you register by September 30, 2010 you will pay only $599.

You don’t want to miss out on this incredible opportunity to mingle with the best in the business and celebrate Real Estate Connects 15th Anniversary. Register now and save! This is the best deal you’ll get.

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As mentioned in Part 1 of this post, one of the best parts of going to a conference are the exhibitors you meet.

At Real Estate Connect we had well over 60 fantastic tech, marketing and real estate vendors. Many of these vendors I was familiar with, but there were plenty of new faces (over 20 new start ups!!) During our “Meet the Press” session I was able to sit down with a number of CEOs, founders and marketing directors who told me about their products or services.

Each one of these companies has a very unique value proposition! Here are some highlights from my conversations.

Note: this is PART 2 (click here for PART 1)

Web Real Estate Tools | Drew Burks, Founder

This site is offers a very unique “School for REALTORS®” that teaches agents how to set up a WordPress blog, keywords for your website or blog, link building, social media, video marketing and more. There is a one-time fee that agents pay to access the school. Once they have paid, they have full access to all the learning modules. The training includes screen shots, PDF’s and screen recordings. Just launched – they will have a free webinar every Friday called “Free Blog Friday!”

Personally, I think this site provides excellent content for agents. In my opinion, there is a definite need for this type of digestible information.

In our interview, Drew said they they took over a year to research what REALTORS® really needed. To access the school, agents pay a one-time few to access all of the modules which include screenshots, PDF’s, screen recordings and more!

You can catch Drew live at Agent Reboot™ San Diego on August 25th – he will be on a panel teaching how to expand your social reach online. FOREM fans – use the code ‘FOREM0812′ to get $20 OFF your ticket!

HootHut – Tony Fantis, Founder Director

Tony is a REALTOR® himself and realized the need for agent to learn how to work in a social way. Real Estate Connect SF was his “official” launch. Not only is this a great product, but I was really impressed by Tony’s passion and enthusiasm for this product. According to the website:

“Most real estate software is just way too complicated. Agents do not have time to learn fancy software and certainly should not spend all day on the computer. HootHut is designed with the beginner in mind, and offers extra features for the techno-geeks, too. We made it simple to use so you can get back to work.”

When asked, “Why Hoothut?” The response is: “Because social networking has always been the primary 
source of referrals for real estate agents.” Among other features, Hoothut offers a Facebook application – “My real estate” tab available to put on Facebook page or profile. Coming up: online coaching, how to use friend lists, under contracts, solds, etc.

Tony has offered a special rate for FOREM fans – valid ONLY on Friday the 13th (8/13/10 only). Use the code: ‘INMANNEWS13′ to receive a FREE 6 month subscription!

Qonnect – Danny Sanchez, Co-Founder

Qonnect is a unique, bar code, mobile marketing platform. Their bar code is unmistakable. Scan a bar code with your smartphone, and instantly arrive at a mobile optimized website. This is a great opportunity for real estate agents and brokers to promote their listings and themselves in a unique and tech-savvy manner. According to their website:

“Qonnect is a platform that delivers mobile content through the use of QR Codes. We’re taking marketing to the next level as the online experience moves from desktop to mobile device. We’re talking hyper-drive speeds. Whether it’s advertisement, production, or publication, our codes will link to the information you need in the easiest way possible.”

They have worked with clients such as Weichert Realtors, The Chicago Tribune, the Hyatt Regency and are currently involved in a pilot program with 400 Coldwell Bankers agents. This is a great up and coming company to be on the lookout for.

VoicePad | Michele Rehm, Marketing Manager

This product reaches the consumer via a phone call. The idea behind VoicePad is that not all consumers have a smartphone, but virtually everyone has a phone. They offer a broker branded phone number that can be listed on ‘for sale’ signs. Once someone dials that number, all the MLS data is read over the phone to the consumer. According to Michele, this is a really unique and simple lead generation tool to receive ‘curb-side’ leads.  Once the call comes in, VoicePad can track exactly where the call came from via Google Maps. By using VoicePad, agents have seen the queality of leads from siugns increase 2-3 times over. Another added benefit is there is no IDX approval needed. Why is VoicePad different” According to their website:

“Unlike previous technologies, VoicePad automatically creates and delivers high-quality property presentations in both English and Spanish. There is no recording required, no per-minute charges and no toll-free phone numbers attached to your yard signs. VoicePad is available only to the professional community and cannot be used by FSBOs, who are not working with a licensed agent or broker.”

I think this service provides a really unique niche for agents and a way to differentiate themselves when marketing their listings.

I really encourage you to go to these websites to find out more about each company and service they provide. They are really leading the way with tech and innovation..

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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One of the best parts of going to a conference are the exhibitors you meet.

At Real Estate Connect we had well over 60 fantastic tech, marketing and real estate vendors. Many of these vendors I was familiar with, but there were plenty of new faces (over 20 new start ups!!) During our “Meet the Press” session I was able to sit down with a number of CEOs, founders and marketing directors who told me about their products or services.

Each one of these companies has a very unique value proposition! Here are some highlights from my conversations.

Note: this is PART 1 (stay tuned for PART 2)

NabeWise | Ann Baldinucci, Founder/CEO

NabeWise focuses on the quality of neighborhoods and where people live. They have a unique 30 point attribute rating system to find out more about a neighborhood (i.e. trendy, ‘family friendly’, etc).  According to their site:

“NabeWise allows you to understand any neighborhood as if you’ve already lived there, so you can explore the world on a local level, discover new places, and find the neighborhoods that are right for you.”

For agents, they have a free widget on their site that agents can grab for free to put on their website or blog. Personally, I really like NabeWise’s concept – as a consumer, neighborhood info (more than what we can find on the MLS) is so important!

RentJuice | David Vivero, CEO

RentJuice focuses on making renting easy. There is a growing rental market and a real estate agent who can focus on rentals can have a more consistent income. Rentals are a different animal than purchasing a home (average audience is 20-35 years old and an average rental is 1 1/2 years). According to their website:

“Make more money on rentals in less time. With one simple service, you’ll organize your rentals, advertise them to millions, schedule your appointments, and arrange a lease at lightning speed.”

RentJuice helps agents organize their listings,  get their phone ringing, helps them be more efficient with paperwork, and helps to generate new revenue. Here is a great video David just emailed me with some client testimonials. Personally, I think that this is a great time to have this type of product available to agents.

Allconnect | Scott Oakley, VP Partner Development

Allconnect has been in business for 11 years and launched a tool at Connect just for real estate professionals: ConnectMyBuyer.com. They have partnered with 230 different providers – utility companies, moving companies, moving companies and more.

An agent with an account with Allconnect can simply create a customized flyer (they email or print) with all the pertinent utilities at a client’s new home. What I like about this is the level of ‘concierge service’ clients must feel from this service. Moving is already stressful enough – to make the set up of utilities and other services easier is a great idea!

RealtyJoin | Andy Heller, Head of Marketing & Co-founder

Realty Join is a unique social networking platform for real estate professionals, investors, agents and brokers. Their business model focuses on the need for real estate professionals to have a place to do business networking online. RealtyJoin promotes that there is a real need for real estate professionals and the companies they work with to connect and share information.

Within the last five months they have over over 5,000 members on their site. Andy was excited to announce the recent addition to their team, Ilyce Glink who will be their Chief Content Strategist. The site is free for everyone to use and after joining myself, seems like a great social media tool for agents!

IMAGEination.tv | Gerard Lynch, President

Just introduced at Connect was CampaignSpeed.com – a real estate portal that brings marketing products together to make an easy, ‘one-stop’ shopping experience for real estate agents. They offer a “pay as you go” subscription model.

Included in this portal are products like: property micro-sites, print and publishing options, photo enhance service (this is a pretty amazing service – it really makes those ‘cloudy day’ pics POP!), Open3DHouse (a really cool 3D floor plan), IMAGEcast and e-magazines. What I really liked about this service is the ‘one-stop shopping’ service. If I was an agent this would be a huge selling factor for me.

I really encourage you to go to these websites to find out more about each company and service they provide. They are really leading the way with tech and innovation! Stay tuned for PART 2 of this post!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Last week I stumbled across a really interesting and easy-to-use personalized search plugin – Kikin.

Kikin, plugin you download for your browser, was launched in late 2009 and is still in beta form. When you search on Google, Bing or Yahoo – in addition to your regular search results, it will also aggregate relevant content from: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Reader, iTunes, eBay and/or Amazon.

Although Google is beginning to aggregate social media into its search parameters – what is different about Kikin is that you see results from YOUR streams – which means you are getting richer, personal and more relevant search results.

Here’s a screen shot from a search I did with the word “news”:

Who wouldn’t prefer the recommendations of friends through Facebook or Twitter over results returned by a search engine?

There’s a few things I really like about Kikin:

1. It’s compatible with Firefox, Safari and IE (Chrome coming soon)
2. Quick download. It took just seconds to download it and I instantly start using it.
3. Re-tweet function. Within the twitter stream you can instantly re-tweet something.
4. Customize Twitter stream. You can opt to view just your Twitter stream or all tweets.
5. Facebook news stream. Kikin connects with your news feed via Facebook Connect.

I also really like that you can easily moderate what content you want to see and which content isn’t useful to you.

You may not be interested in results from eBay for your searches, which you can disable (of course, it will still show up in your Google results). And if you tire of Kikin’s results, you can easily minimize the pane. It will interesting as Kikin moves out of it’s beta phase to see what kind of impact this may have on real estate home searches or agent searches.

For fun, I typed in ‘Realtor’ into Google using Kikin, and this Twitter post came up:

“If the realtor & her client next to us each stopped answering incoming cell calls they might get their biz mtg finished. Weird. Rude. Unpro.”

I also typed in ‘Realtor Bay Area’ and from iTunes dozens of real estate podcasts came up! from ReMax and Prudential. Interesting!

The bottom line is this: search is becoming more and more personalized and relevant. Not only that, but Kikin makes perfect use of how so many of us interact on the web – we surf from one site to another looking for prices, reviews, etc.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this company evolves!

What do you think? Would love your feedback, please leave me a comment below!

Written by Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Great news. The deadline for early bird registration for next year’s Real Estate Connect conference in New York has been extended for another week.

Plus if you register use the coupon code FOREM and you’ll save an extra $100.

Connect is by far the leading technology conference in Real Estate. There’s always a fantastic line-up of speakers… and next year is no different. Just take a look at the list of some of the folks who will be speaking there.

Dennis Crowley
Co-Founder, Foursquare

Jason Fried
President, 37 Signals

Saul Hansell
Tech Reporter, The New York Times

Max Ventilla
Zoo Director, Aardvark

Chris Pearson
Founder, Personified & DIYThemes

Vanessa Fox
Entrepreneur, Ignition Partners

If you’re serious about real estate technology and you’ve never been to a Connect conference – you don’t know what you’ve been missing. I’ve had the honor of being involved in many of these conferences and I’m hoping I can make it out to New York in January.

Full deets - Inman News Real Estate Connect runs January 13 – 15, 2010 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York. You can check out the entire program here.

Full Disclosure: Real Estate Connect is produced by Inman News, which owns the Future of Real Estate Marketing blog.

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