Agent adviceleadsOpinionportalsscott olsenSelectTechnology
January 5, 2015

Leads come from agents, not portals

Had enough portal talk? It seems like everywhere you turn in our industry, someone’s discussing the pros and cons of Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com. It’s understandable — these companies are driving big changes in real estate advertising that will influence our industry for years to come. And although I prefer to stay…
Read More
matt bellmatterportSelectTechnologyvirtual tours
January 5, 2015

3-D tours may be the most powerful ‘do-it-yourself’ real estate marketing tool ever

Editor’s note: Virtual 3-D tours that let buyers walk through photo-realistic models of homes are starting to catch on in a big way. Inman reporter Teke Wiggin found that producing a 3-D tour is a snap, and the results — especially when paired with virtual reality (VR) headsets that will soon…
Read More
Agent adviceMarkets & EconomyReal Estate & Personal FinanceSelectTechnology
January 5, 2015

Jennifer Warden: ‘Consumers have expectations we need to attend to’

Jennifer Alter Warden is the chief operating officer and executive vice president at Baird & Warner. Are you optimistic about 2015? Yes, I believe that 2015 will be another good year. I’ve been speaking with our top agents, and most of them are what I would call “cautiously optimistic.” They…
Read More
ipolistingsmedicalreal estateSelectTechnology
January 5, 2015

3 types of sellers you can find using data

“List to live” is an old saying in the real estate business. And getting listings by leveraging big data is not as hard as it sounds. In most states, you’ve already got the tools; you just need to know what to look for and how to find it. All you…
Read More
leadsmorry eghbalobituary leadspredictive dataSelectseller leadsTechnology
January 4, 2015

Startup offers a new way to dig up seller leads

Ed Gilland, a real estate agent in Southern California, was looking for a new way to generate seller leads when an acquaintance told him about SuccessorsData.com. SuccessorsData.com, which launched in July as ObituaryLeads.com, helps real estate agents and investors connect with the heirs and beneficiaries who must decide what to do with a home…
Read More
matterportplanitarSelectsurefieldTechnologyvirtual tours
January 3, 2015

How 3-D is changing real estate

Real estate agent Shawn Battle recently received a flood of questions about one of his listings from an agent representing a relocating buyer. The real estate agent could have answered all of the buyer’s questions. He sent an online 3-D model of the listing instead. Click the image above to…
Read More
Lorelei TaylorOpinionreal estateSelectsenior agentTechnologytraining
December 31, 2014

How should we manage senior agents and technology?

The brokerage for whom I work comprises people of a wide variety of ages and levels of experience. Among the 100-plus agents on the roster are several “senior” agents who have been in the business 30 or more years and have seen the business of real estate change enormously. They bring…
Read More
dronesreal estate dronesSelectTechnology
December 30, 2014

Presales of easy-to-fly, $375 drone through the roof

Strong presales of the “Ghost Drone” — a one-pound unmanned aircraft that can be mounted with a camera and easily controlled with a smartphone app — have helped its maker land $10 million in funding. EHANG, which is preselling the Ghost Drone until Jan. 9 on its Indiegogo page, touts the…
Read More
Agent adviceMarkets & Economyreal estateSelectTechnology
December 30, 2014

Austin Allison: ‘Our focus is on innovation in an industry known to drag its feet’

Austin Allison is the CEO of dotloop. Are you optimistic about 2015? The housing market? Yes, we are very optimistic about the housing market for 2015. NAR is predicting housing sales to go up by just under 8 percent. While lending standards continue to be rigid, recent comments from the Federal…
Read More