Thanks To The FOREM Readers

More often than not on this blog, I end up writing about new technologies that Realtors and real estate professionals can use or new web sites that are changing the way that work is being done.

To the end, I am looking towards the future (hence this blog’s title) and to the next big thing. But sometimes it’s nice to just take stock of where we are and see how some of these ideas I’ve talked about have actually been put into practice by readers of this blog…

A comment on my Inman News Blog post Social Mapping for the Masses with MyMaps led me to Carollo Real Estate in Queens & Nassau County, where Marketing Manager Jillian Barra had whipped up a Google Maps mashup of all their sold properties last year, using the new features found in
Google Maps. Very cool stuff, Jillian. This could be something you can
share with clients through an email signature or even just internally amongst your agents.

Rory, Steve and Dave are three guys in the business who have jumped into Web 2.0 by creating their own podcasts. FoREM reader Ashley Lichty tipped me off to these guys. Their podcast is informative and entertaining at the same time (something most podcast lack) and the three of them could be carving out a nice little niche for themselves. I hope they keep it up.

Finally, Michael Smith is an agent in Nova Scotia, Canada - he’s been listening to me preach the gospel of real estate video on the web and has come up with a novel approach to using video with his buyers. Says Michael:

If you read my latest blog post you will see how I use video to help with the buying clients.

And the “secret� of how I do it? How can I have a free website for each buying client? Simple, Google Docs. I host my videos of properties that I took a look at with my buying client, with Google Video and link to them with Google Docs.

You can see an example of how he’s doing this with his tour of Cole Harbour Estates. Nice work Michael. It goes to show you a video doesn’t necessarily have to be a slicky produced number or that you have to spend hundreds of dollars, that you can leverage the power of some of these free platforms and provide a unique experience to wow your clients.

Any more examples of from readers out there? Keep ‘em coming!

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