It seems like the hot topic all over the technology news channels is – “When will the new and improved version 2 of the iPad be revealed?”

According to a Wall Street Journal article today,

“The new iPad will be thinner and lighter than the first model, these people said. It will have at least one camera on the front of the device for features like video-conferencing, but the resolution of the display will be similar to the first iPad, these people said. It will also have more memory and a more powerful graphics processor, they said.”

“The new iPad will initially be available through Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., but not Sprint Nextel Corp. or T-Mobile USA in the U.S., according to some of the people familiar with the matter.”

The big rumor swirling is that the iPad 2 is in production and be released in April 2011. Since the iPad’s release, Apple has sold 14.8 million units. The cost rumors are that it could be anywhere from $499 – $899.

So the question is – will real estate agents buy the new version of the iPad? If you have one, will you upgrade? Personally, I can’t wait for Version 2. Historically, Apple products get better and better with each generation – so hopefully, this one will be even better than the original.

It is truly amazing how the iPad has and will revolutionize so many industries – especially the real estate industry. At Real Estate Connect and Agent Reboot the rooms were full of agents taking notes, blogging, tweeting – all from their iPad. More and more agents are using the iPad in their listing presentations. Real estate professionals across North America have discovered tools like Evernote, Dropbox, Keynote and so many more that are available on the iPad and just make work faster, simpler, and more fun!

Want more of the Apple iPad rumors?

Here are a few great articles that I came upon today:

Would love your feedback about the iPad – what do you love the most about it? Will you be purchasing the new one? Leave me a comment below!

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

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Bill Risser is an Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager for Chicago Title in Phoenix Arizona. When he is not conducting workshops or closing escrows, he can be found at the movies with his wife or golfing with his son. Follow Bill on Twitter @billrisser or friend him on Facebook.

Recently, I completed what some of my friends called a foolhardy challenge. Back on June 11th, I posted a video blog entry and proudly proclaimed it was the first in a series of one hundred video posts in one hundred business days. Yep, I would shoot a video on a title/escrow or technology topic and post every business day. The first ten were easy enough, but by video twenty, I really wished I had challenged myself to thirty posts. Without missing a day, video one hundred was finally posted on November 4th.

The purpose of the challenge was to force myself to practice a couple different things. One was content creation. It is definitely the biggest challenge facing agents that decide to start blogging. Second, I wanted to learn more about shooting and editing video. Video is considered by many to be important for content and allowing readers to get a better feel for the blogger as a person.

My entire series was shot on a Flip Mino. I shot from a tripod on my desk, and edited first with Flip Share (the software that comes with the Flip) and later with Windows Movie Maker. I intentionally used free editing software, and a low budget camera to see what could be created at minimum expense.

I like the results. I did two multi-part tutorial series (one on HootSuite and one on Facebook). I created a video I intend to continue producing called 20 RE Professionals, 1 Question. I became comfortable with these video tools and I can now help agents learn and use them. Best of all, I now have a library of over 100 videos at my disposal. If a client sends me an e-mail asking for an explanation about the lenders policy of title insurance, I can reply with a link to the video post in my blog that answers the question.

Video number one hundred is below. It’s a blooper reel from my challenge. If you decide to work with video, don’t just toss those mistakes. I began categorizing and saving them, with the intention of eventually using them. I’d love to hear what you think…

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Marty Boardman is a Realtor, real estate investor and instructor in Gilbert, Arizona.  He’s the Chief Financial Officer for Rising Sun Capital Group, LLC, a real estate investment firm that buys and sells distressed real estate in the Phoenix metro area.  He’s also an accredited instructor for the Arizona Academy of Real Estate.  You can read about his successes and failures on his blog, www.freerealestateeducation.com or contact him directly at marty@risingsuncapitalgroup.com.

I know certain things.  For example, I know that I should exercise at least three times a week for 30 minutes.  I know that I should eat a balanced diet of lean protein, fruits and vegetables.  I know I shouldn’t drink soda, smoke cigarettes, or drink alcohol excessively.   I also know I shouldn’t speed on the freeway or talk on my cell phone while driving.  I know I should floss my teeth every night before I go to bed and tell my wife that I love her.  So, if I know and accept these things to be fundamental truths then I must do them religiously and without fail right?  Well, if you’re anything like me then the answer is a big fat no!

Why is that?  Most of us know exactly what we need to do to be successful, from our diet to our fitness.  The trouble is following through.  Some experts believe it’s because as a society we are undisciplined.  That’s part of the reason but not the real answer.  I believe it’s because it’s just too darn easy not to be successful.  The consequences are often unrecognizable and far off in the distant future.

As a REALTOR there are things I know in my business too.  I know my listings will sell faster and for more money if they have lots of clean, well-composed, high quality pictures.  I know that potential buyers will most likely find my listing online and will call their REALTOR to see it because of the pictures.  The bottom line is that facts tell and pictures sell.  You probably know that too.  But do your listings show it?

I’m not advocating dropping thousands of dollars on an expensive camera and lighting equipment, nor am I suggesting you go back to school and study photography.  However, I do recommend you invest about $500 in a digital camera and learn some basic photography techniques like the rule of thirds.

I recently purchased a Canon G11 digital camera.  Keep in mind I’m no photo geek so I’m not going to bore you with the specs.  What I like about this camera is that it’s high resolution (10 MP), has a built-in wide angle lens (a must for taking pictures of houses) and is excellent in low light.  The Canon G11 is a hybrid between a standard point and shoot and DSLR.  It won’t weigh you down like a big DSLR but it has easy-to-use settings that allow you to switch back and forth between inside and outside shots.

Once you have a good camera it’s time to work on your technique.  For starters, turn off the date stamp feature and don’t ever shoot directly into the sun.  And unless you want to end up on UglyHousePhotos.com, do not to capture your reflection in the mirror while taking that picture of the master bathroom (a little tip here – kneel down below the mirror.)  Leif Swanson a REALTOR and creator of the site, also says you should never take pictures from your car or at night, and never have people or pets in the image.

There you have it.  You now know what you already knew.  What I have written here may not get you to the gym or prevent you from drinking a bottle of wine at dinner but at least you’ll start selling more houses.

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by maladiets

There’s no doubt it’s a bad time to be in the newspapers classifieds business. They’re probably wishing they could back in time too. Revenues are down – with real estate classifieds advertising being hit especially hard. Mega publisher McClatchy is down 29.4% in real-estate classifieds revenue. Likewise, Gannett’s real estate classifieds revenues are down 13.5%. Not a pretty picture.

Advertising dollars are slowly and surely fleeing print. A recent report from Borrell sums up this flight.

“There are less homes being sold, but at the same time advertisers and real estate brokers are looking for the most effective use of their dollars. And everybody agrees that the most efficient means is online.”

I think the flight is not just a flight from print advertising however. I think it’s symptomatic of a larger move away from the sort of fire-and-forget advertising done so much in the past, that just doesn’t work in a Web 2.0 world.

Carson Coots, writing at agentgenius.com, sums it up this way.

The funny thing is, effective online marketing in real estate doesn’t involve spending money on ads as much as it involves spending valuable time.

Carson is right. And if you look deeper into the report you find that spending on online ad is only 16.7 percent of total Internet marketing budgets. That number is only poised to grow to 17.3 percent in 2009. That’s less than one percent growth! The real bulk of online spending will continue to be in web site design, communications and database services.

So if the future growth isn’t really just more advertising options online, what is it?

At NAR, I sat on a panel in front of a group of newspaper execs who were trying to figure this all out. I suggested that simply adding new ad products into the mix (see Zillow and the Newspapers Sitting in a Tree) won’t solve their woes.

I proposed they needed to radically change their focus away from product-based mentality towards a new platform-based approach.

Real estate professionals these days are looking for marketing partners, not sales people, and the smartest thing for the newspapers to do would be to ape some of the models being pushed forward by the Real Estate 2.0 crowd and give agents a unified local real estate marketing platform. Here’s a few ideas how they could do this:

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.

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Or wishful thinking?

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