Here are the highlights of the survey:

Top 3 smartphone brands used by respondents:

• Blackberry (41.2%)
• iPhone family: iPhone 3G (14.1%) ; iPhone 3GS (11.9%)
• Palm (14.0%)

Top 3 reasons why respondents were motivated to choose current smartphone:

• Best device for email (45.9%)
• Ease of use (26.2%)
• Ability to use a keyboard (23.7%)

Top 5 features used most by respondents on their smartphones:

• Telephone (91.2%)
• Email (88.4%)
• SMS/texting (73.8%)
• Calendar (52.6%)
• Web browser (42.3%)

For general purposes, social media related apps were the most popular type of application downloaded by survey respondents (54.5%). This was followed by maps (43.3%) and weather applications (41.8%).

When it comes to MLS listing information:

• 57.3% indicate they have access to MLS listing information through their smartphone’s web browser.
• On a scale of 1-5, where 5 is extremely satisfied – respondents rated their overall satisfaction with the MLS listings available through their smartphone a 3.12.
• 10.7% do not have access to listings via a smartphone because their MLS does not allow it.
• Of this group, 94.4% are very interested in obtaining access via their smartphone.
• 11.4% are not interested in accessing MLS listings via their smartphone.

Out of all this data – the one that is the most disturbing to me, is the MLS info.

Only about HALF of smartphone users have access to MLS data on their phone? And 10% don’t have access because their MLS won’t allow it? REALLY?

It really boggles my mind that agents would not have full and complete access to this data from any internet connection – laptop, desktop or smartphone. I know many times the problem lies in that many MLS’s only work on Internet Explorer – which yes, is still the top web browser but unfortunately it also usually contains the most bugs. Many tech-savvy and smart agents are working from Firefox, Chrome or Opera – just to name a few. In addition many MLS’s are not compatible with Safari – the main browser on a Mac or iPhone. I hope NAR and the Center for REALTOR® technology will help move many MLS’s into the future!

This topic is sure to be a hot debate at Real Estate Connect during our MLS Track held in the afternoon on July 14th.

FOREM fans – what do you think of this survey? Would love your thoughts and opinions – please leave me your feedback below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Here are a few of my favorite quotes from this site:

Looking for a home with specific qualities?
We will work with you to find out what you are looking for in a home, then we’ll show you the homes we wanted to show you before we pretended to care about your needs.

Worried about getting pre-approved by a mortgage company?
Why bother? That takes all the fun out of home shopping. We’ll figure all that math stuff out after you fall in love with a home you can’t afford.

We hold open houses every week for our clients.
We’ve never actually sold a listing by holding open houses, but we have attracted lots of new customers to our agency by using our client’s homes for our own personal gain. Plus it’s fun to rummage through our client’s personal belongings and if we’re lucky there might even be something good in the refrigerator. We’ll hold as many open houses as you like. It’s the least we can do.

Want your house advertised by a professional?
We believe in the 3-P’s of real estate marketing: Put, Put and Pray. Put a sign in the yard, Put it on MLS and then Pray someone will come along and buy it. We usually find that after enough time passes, and after several price drops the house usually sells itself without too much intervention from us. That’s an easy commission earned. We like easy.

Props to Agent Harvest for creating this really entertaining site. According to their site: ‘AgentHarvest empowers clients, selling or buying a home, with the ability to find, interview, hire and work with the best available agents that can serve their needs. Our free service provides an opportunity for home owners and sellers to avoid unprofessional, unproven, or unsuccessful agents while focusing entirely on “harvested” agents in their micro-territory that have displayed an ability to sell in our client’s area.’

Pretty creative if you ask me! What do you think? Leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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A big thanks to the fine folks at Zillow for hosting me and letting me shoot some Inman TV interviews in their offices (as long as I could drag myself away from their fantastic view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains anyway).

Drew Meyers turned the camera on me too, while I was there, and posted the resulting interview on the Zillow Blog.

Driving home to Portland however and I saw this…

The Realtor That Rocks. Awesome.

I’ve ranted about real estate logos before (see Why Do All Real Estate Logos Suck So Bad?) – but this one was simple yet effective. Plus it spoke to me (might have had something to do with the AC/DC on the stereo at that time).

Rock on Brother.

[Pardon the crummy camera phone pic. I ditched my Blackjack today for a new iPhone today and what can I say, I'm totally loving it - finally, a smartphone that syncs nicely with a Mac and so much fun to use.]

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