The word on the Tweet
By Matt Carter, Wednesday, May 13, 2009.Bookmarking Sites
Some of what's going on in the world of real estate today, as seen through the window of Twitter:
Within 40 minutes of landing in Washington, D.C., Phoenix-based broker-owner Jay Thompson has remarked twice about the horrible traffic and then declared "apparently I am now in Maryland."
NAR has paid Thompson's way to the midyear conference in order to provide feedback on the trade group's IDX policy -- which according to the latest staff interpretation, allows MLSs to require that brokers block search engines from indexing other brokers' listings (see story).
1000Watt Consulting's Marc Davison fumes that "The next broker who complains they don't have $25,000 2 develop an app then takes a month off 2 cruise Mediterranean, why return?"
For additional context, check out Davison's Inman News column today (welcome back Marc).
Davison writes about his frustration with what he sees as the failure of some in the real estate industry to recognize the potential of the iPhone, which runs an operating system that makes it possible for companies to develop customized applications. Trulia and Zillow are among those who have seen the light -- Davison reports that Zillow's Spencer Rascoff says Zillow's new iPhone app was downloaded 150,000 times in eight days and generated 25 percent of the site's searches last week.
Another Inman News columnist, Bernice Ross -- CEO of RealEstateCoach.com -- tweets that "I am conducting a training class on Twitter at Long & Foster in McLean Virginia -- all but 2 people are new to Twitter."
If any of this sounds interesting and you are not Twittering, here's a recent post that can get you started. It includes links to a list of real estate profesionals using Twitter, and blog posts by Gahlord Dewald on using Twitter for lead generation, customer service, trend spotting and reputation management.
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Submitted by Becky Washam on May 13, 2009 - 6:05pm.
I agree about the iPhone craziness. It's generating a huge volume of our traffic.
Frisco Texas Homes for Sale
Frisco Real Estate
Submitted by Matt Carter on May 14, 2009 - 7:38am.
Jay Thompson tweets that the MLS committee has OK'd a resolution revising the IDX policy to allow indexing. Must now go to full board for approval. Jay's posted a picture of the proposed wording: "Possible revision to Multiple Listing Policy Statement 7.58. Internet Data Exchange (IDX) and Section 18.2.2 of the NAR Model MLS Rules and Regulations (all types). Participants must protect IDX information from misappropriation by employing reasonable efforts to monitor and prevent 'scraping' or other unauthorized accessing, reproduction or uses of the MLS database. This requirement does not prohibit indexing of IDX sites by search engines."Submitted by Robert A. Hulme on May 15, 2009 - 4:21am.
Great Job Jay, Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend that will finally help allow a little more access for our clients.
Robert A. Hulme
Realtor, GRI, e-PRO
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Loan Officer
Mortgage Xpress
www.UtahCountyHomes.ws
www.UtahCountyRealEstate.us
Submitted by Harrison K. Long on May 15, 2009 - 9:43pm.
Agree with Jay Thompson that NAR and its MLS committee should OK the resolution revising the IDX policy to allow indexing, which should also be approved by the board.
Harrison K. Long
Realtor & broker, Explore Properties Group
Coldwell Banker Previews
Irvine, CA
949-854-7747
949-701-2515 cell
www.ExploreOCHomes.com
http://twitter.com/hklong
Submitted by Luca Adriani on May 17, 2009 - 7:41am.
I agree that giving the consumer the tools to make educated decisions is the right thing to do.
Luca Adriani
luca@tahoedreamteam.com
www.tahoedreamteam.com
530 583 1327 direct
530 734 3771 fax
Chase International
The Leader in Luxury Real Estate
1990 Squaw Valley Road
Post Office Box 2140
Olympic Valley, CA 96146
Submitted by Sal Antsipenka on May 17, 2009 - 1:16pm.
Internet real estate marketing as a business is far greater than just IPhone applications alone.
Press realeases and articles generate tremendous amount of traffic as well.
Sal Antsipenka
Century 21 Mike Miller Realty
Naples, Florida
http://www.naplesrealestateseller.com
http://www.realestatefair.net
Submitted by Jay Thompson on May 17, 2009 - 1:34pm.
Sadly, the NAR Board of Directors sent the IDX "scraping" issue back to the MLS Committee for further discussion.
From my understanding, that means it can't be voted on until the November convention.
But at least we got the issue out in the open...
Jay Thompson
Broker / Owner
Thompson's Realty
Blog: www.PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com
.
Submitted by Russell Volk on May 17, 2009 - 5:40pm.
As always, Jay is doing the right thing.
I'm actually new to Twitter and started using it a few days ago. So far I'm enjoying my experience and hoping to learn more from the experts on using Twitter for real estate lead generation/conversion.
Visit the most complete Bucks County Real Estate guide on the Internet.
Submitted by Bernice Edelman on May 18, 2009 - 6:10am.
Twitter seems to be the be the biggest thing right now not just in real estate but for any kind of business that requires leads and networking.
Bernice Edelman
Preston Hollow Homes
Submitted by Victor Lund on May 18, 2009 - 7:58am.
Although it is popular to measure the value of a mobile application in terms of downloads, perhaps this new insight will review a different measure of success. According to this research, consumers only open a downloaded application 20 times, and spend fewer than 10 minutes using it.
http://ow.ly/7AJ3 - link to the report
Granted, for a major publisher like zillow, trulia, realtor.com, et al - this may be a significant matrix - 150,000 downloads times 3 hours of engagement is pretty decent. However, for a broker, the $25,000 app ticket is a bit much.
Victor Lund
Partner
WAV Group
http://waves.wavgroup.com
http://www.wavgroup.com
Submitted by Phil Hutson on May 22, 2009 - 9:44am.
Twitter is huge right now, and you don't have to worry about content so much now, just post a link and you're out there. I think it's essential for any type of SEO or lead generation.
Phil Hutson, REALTOR(R)
Austin Homes TX
Submitted by Ron Redlich on June 20, 2009 - 10:36pm.
So much to do ... so little time.
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Submitted by Patty Redlich on June 28, 2009 - 3:21pm.
An educated consumer is our best customer!
Orlando real estate Apopka real estate Orlando homes for sale Apopka homes for sale
Submitted by sonia bane on July 1, 2009 - 9:48pm.
Twitter is tremendous in generating traffic and already proved as traffic generator source.
Real estate PA Real estate Agent Phoenixville Phoenixvill Homes
Submitted by Samuel Anderson on July 5, 2009 - 2:03am.
I'm using different twitter applications like: twitterfeeds, TweetLister TweetNewz, TweetPhoto and found them best to connect with my users.
Real estate Software | Real
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Submitted by Ashour Rehana on July 6, 2009 - 7:37pm.
I think we need more phones that will be compatible with the MLS. www.HomesForSaleID.com
Submitted by Real Estate Web Design on October 29, 2009 - 6:44pm.
Isn't it astounding that currently IDX is not indexable?
Talking of which, when can we get new listing via RSS?