A Real Estate Discussion Blog

According to the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (who the heck is this?), 302 is the ideal number of Facebook friends you should have to be considered socially attractive. 

(I guess getting Facebook friends is a cheaper and easier way to become more attractive than the plastic surgeon or spending the day at the beauty salon...)

Have a good weekend everyone!

Each year NAR puts out a report profiles the home buyers and sellers, comprised of responses from more than 10,000 consumers who recently purchased a home. The report is packed full of interesting information and worth reading, but it is long- want some cliff notes?

Realtor magazine put together this 10 question quiz:

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW BUYERS AND SELLERS?

I am a sucker for quizes, but I thought this one was pretty good. 

Upon submitting your answers, the back up data they provide for each question is really good information pulled from this report. 

Good luck!

Conference season is in full swing!  There are lots of places you can find Zillow employees to chat in person.  Catch us at the following upcoming events:

SEVRAR / BlueRoof360 Tech Fair- 1/26 8:45-3:30 in Mesa, AZ, Technology fair hosted by the local MLS.  Zillow will have a booth and I'll be on an afternoon panel. 

CENTURY 21 Realty Group Companies'  11^th Annual Business Conference- 2/4 in Indianapolis, IN.  Zillow will be exhibiting.

Bloodhound Blog's Unchained Conference- 2/12 from 1-5 in Seattle, WA at the Zillow headquarters.  Mortgage lender Brian Brady and real estate broker Greg Swann are leading the charge. RSVP HERE for Unchained Conference.  FREE to the first 50 who register.

RE BarCamp - 2/13 from 9-5 in Seattle, WA at the Zillow headquarters.  This is a gathering of real estate professionals to share information and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event filled with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants. Interact with other real estate professionals who are passionate about technology, Web 2.0 tools, and online marketing.  Free to attend. 

Keller Williams Family Reunion- 2/20-2/26 in Orlando, FL.  Zillow will be exhibiting.

Coldwell Banker Annual Meeting- 2/28-3/3 in San Antonio, TX.  Zillow will be exhibiting.

ERA Annual Meeting- 3/6-3/9 in San Antonio, TX.  Zillow will be exhibiting.

Century 21 Annual Meeting- 3/9-3/13 in San Antonio, TX.  Zillow will be exhibiting.

Prudential Annual Meeting- 3/29-3/31 in Las Vegas, TX.  Zillow will be exhibiting.

Hope to see you at one of these events!

On individual profiles which can be set up on Zillow for free, there is an area to include your "Specialties".  This not only helps advertise your services, but also creates keywords to help people find you in searches within the Zillow Professional Directory. 

Last week an email was sent out asking Professionals to please try to limit the number of specialties to about four.  I received a number of emails asking exactly how to do this, so I wanted to address that here:

Log onto your account.   Go to your Profile page and click the Edit button next to your first and last name.

Scroll down the page.  Under Professional Information, you can either check/un-check the appropriate box(es) of your choice. Once done, click the Submit button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.

Hopefully this helps with any confusion this email may have caused! 

My favorite speaker this year at Inman Connect was Gary Vaynerchuk, who runs winelibrary.tv.  He was a strong believer in the power of social media. 

Giving away information:

A few months ago at a difference conference, the keynote speaker noticed that people were recording him in the front row.  He asked them to stop.  Why?  He was getting paid for to deliver this valuable content! Gary noticed the same thing at Inman, he encouraged it.  Why?  The people who were recording were probably going to post it on YouTube, which will probably get viewed by people who Gary wouldn't have been able to reach by his own efforts, and he will probably pick up a new client.  Being open opens you up to get passed along.  Which approach do you think will garnish more results? 

Transparency:

Gary does short videos about wine, some he likes and some he doesn't.  People watch him and buy from him because they feel like he is being honest with them and isn't trying to sell them wine he himself doesn't like.  Take a video of a home and say why it sucks will get you further than a library full of glowing videos- he said.  Hmm....I see where he is going with this, because he is right.  Whenever I read restaurant reviews on Yelp and every single one of them is positive, it looks suspicious.  However, as Realtors I don't know that you could do this to a particular homeowner.  But are there other areas you deliver this type of transparency?  Maybe using market stats or business forecasts? 

He had a lot of other good advice, but since there are videos galore of him on YouTube (a search for Gary Vaynerchuk yields 687 results, and how many other people have that name..) I'll let you watch for yourself if you are interested in hearing more.

But I'll close with something I found very interesting.  This holiday he spent $7500 in advertising promoting a discount code for free shipping on his site.  These were the results:

Billboard: 170 orders

Radio 240 orders

Direct Mail: 320 orders

Twitter: 1700 orders in 24hrs (he has 31,177 followers, @garyvee)

Recently at each Inman Conference they have had a speaker highlight various websites to watch for various reasons.  Last week in New York, Jeff Turner put together a list of 25 websites that will help you reduce costs, save time, and communicate better. 

I like his last note not to forget about the old fashioned telephone or hand written note when addressing communication.  Two art forms that can be overlooked. 

Definitely worth a quick look through his list which can be found here:

25 Websites To Help You Find Customers & Save Money In A Downturn

Hey all- its that time of year again!  Time for us to drink free beer together and kick off Bloggers Connect at Inman in NYC. 

This year it is in the conference hotel in the hotel's atrium.  So if you are attending the conference, please plan on stopping by the Marriott Marque hotel from 6-8pm on Tuesday night (1/6). 

Hope to see you there!

Last year's party pic:

Brian Block, Me (not a blond anymore!), Bob Stewart, and Tom Plant (looks like he may be sans facial hair now).