Real estate's white rabbit
The Davison Files
By Marc Davison, Wednesday, May 13, 2009.
Flickr image by s.carlson.What do Betty Crocker, Kraft Foods, Monopoly and Target not have in common with many real estate brands?
They have created iPhone apps.
These longstanding brands have plunged down the rabbit hole and into a wonderland where they have found a newer, cheaper, smarter way to connect and serve a generation of "king" and "queen" consumers -- your consumers -- while you are not.
Feed your head
Last week at Real Trends' "Gathering of Eagles" event in Dallas, a prominent association executive attempted to show me his organization's new app for the BlackBerry.
His presentation began with the statement, "I know it would look and work so much better on an iPhone, but ..." and concluded with an apology regarding its clunky, unattractive and rudimentary interface. "We had to make this for the BlackBerry" he said. "Our industry has yet to adapt to the iPhone."
Lame.
Talk about surreal. Just moments earlier, Zillow's Spencer Rascoff pulled me aside and offered these facts about their new iPhone app:
- The app had 150,000 downloads after only eight days.
- It now ranks as the No. 14 free app in the iTunes App Store.
- 25 percent of all searches last week on Zillow came from the app.
If real estate hasn't adopted the iPhone, then where did all this hoopla come from?
It must be consumers. Your consumers. Doing exactly what they did three years ago when Zillow offered them a view through real estate's comparative market analysis (CMA) looking glass. So unless I am smoking caterpillar, how many times is history going to repeat itself before real estate decides to head down the rabbit hole and get with the program? ...CONTINUED
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Submitted by Bob Hendren on May 13, 2009 - 3:47am.
I'm with you, Marc. I read this story JUST after having joined the iPhone Developer Program, downloaded the SDK 3.0, and watched the Ingredients of Great iPhone Apps!
I've been watching the number of users hitting our system using iPhones spike in recent weeks, so I went out and signed up for an iPhone myself. Immediately I saw the need to pound out a version of ListingWare to fit mobile browsers. Guess what happened? MORE mobile users! Because now, they're not trying to slog through our standard interface - they have an interface built JUST for them!
So, this is us, Drinking The Kool-Aid! See ya in the App Store!
Submitted by Sue Dahlgren on May 13, 2009 - 3:47am.
Interesting that there is a blackberry ad flashing in the middle of this page.
Whatever deal NAR has with Blackberry, it is time to get over it. I choose to use an iPhone even though it won't unlock my lockboxes and doesn't have an app to view the mls easily. My clients use iPhones too. It is time to start thinking about what our consumers want and figure out a way to accomodate them.
Submitted by Tina Merritt on May 13, 2009 - 4:06am.
There's no excuse for a real estate company to NOT have an iPhone app. I created my own in about 15 minutes and I am by no means a tech expert.
C'mon real estate companies! It needs to start from the top! Saying "I just don't get this tech stuff" in 2009 is akin to admitting illiteracy.
Submitted by Robert A. Hulme on May 13, 2009 - 4:25am.
The iPhone is just one good example of how we are going to reach the Real Estate client in the future. Technology will be evolving rapidly, it is important to keep our minds open to what is really effective at the moment.
Robert A. Hulme
Realtor, GRI, e-PRO
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Loan Officer
Mortgage Xpress
www.StGeorgeRealEstate.us
www.CedarCityRealEstate.ws
Submitted by John Rowles on May 13, 2009 - 5:09am.
In addition to the Betamax of Mobile device ads plastered all over here, the juxtaposition of your thoughts about the lack of iPhone adoption among the traditional industry and the link to the story about Realogy's $260m loss is also no coincidence.
Yes, the economy is in dire straights, but its also true that C21 (the most recognized brand in real estate!, yipee!) has no iPhone app. But they have a sweepstakes (technology originated by the church in the middle ages, modern American version dates to the 1890's), and they left TV to free up money for -- wait for it -- radio ads (Marconi, c.1909).
Even when the brands get pointed in the right direction, they can't execute. The CB iPhone app came out well ahead of the Zillow app, so why didn't it become a top 20 App Store download?
Because it is lame compared to Zillow's app.
The bar has been set. At this point it is pointless to release a branded app that is less useful than Zillow's.
Yes, a "pure" MLS search that most savvy iPhone users would use in conjunction with the Zillow app is an obvious opportunity for innovation -- so how will the traditionalists screw that up?
Mark my words, as soon as someone uses IDX data on an iPhone App, some disgruntled Luddite Real Estate agent will file a compliant with his local MLS, complaining that another broker is "advertising his listing" on the iPhone, and the NAR will brilliantly agree that the iPhone is a "scraper" and the MLS must "protect the data" from Apple and issue rules that cripple the app.
Submitted by Hank Bailey on May 13, 2009 - 7:39am.
What is funny is that there is a Blackberry Advertisement right below this column!!!! How quaint we are. Great column by the way! Right on!
Warmest Regards,
Hank Bailey, REALTOR®
ASSOCIATE- BROKER
hankbailey@kw.com
(c)706-621-1895
(w)706-316-2900
http://www.linkedin.com/in/athensproperties
www.athensgahomesforsale.com
www.hankbaileysellshomes.com
http://athensproperties.blogspot.com
Submitted by Ruthmarie Hicks on May 13, 2009 - 8:41am.
Right on the money...but I'm not holding my breath for reality to dawn. A couple of months ago I was at a CE class down at my local Board. The speaker was trying to connect a clunky VERY OLD (nearly pre-millenium) laptop up to the projector system and one of the techs was trying to help. He made some comment that it was probably "time for a new computer." I laughed and said "get a Mac, they're great!" To which the technician said "Nooooo, Macs are EVIL! They are such a PAIN!"
Meanwhile our MLS will ONLY run on Windows while on Internet Explorer. The solutions for the growing number of Mac users in real estate is a wild combination of patches. But everyone seems terribly behind the curve. There are so many flies in the ointment that Mac users are very frustrated. Lockbox card renewal requires Boot Camp - you can not renew your card on a "virtual windows." Ok fine, but then let us access the MLS on Boot Camp...um nooooo..you have to use Citrix. So you need one "Virtual Windows" and a partitioned version of Windows to function...
So I'm not surprised that an awkward program on a Blackberry is competing with Zillow's slick iPhone application - and losing....If the industry actually gets it together - now THAT will surprise me.
Submitted by Kristin Noll-Marsh on May 13, 2009 - 10:49am.
I just read a blog post, shared on Twitter by Kris Berg, about a company that is lancing at the windmills of listing syndication.
The reason that they even have to worry about the Zillows and Trulias of the internet is because we (Realtors) have been so slow to develop sites for CONSUMERS and what THEY want. If NAR had developed Realtor.com to be what those sites are now, we wouldn't even need to syndicate. Same with things like iPhone apps.
Not only that, instead of doing everything possible, to better the position of it's members online, it has actually hindered it by trying to make money off of us instead - by charging for listing enhancements, not developing social forums for buyer agents, limiting video and virtual tours on the site, not allowing sold comps and public tax information, etc. Just who's side are they on, anyhow??
If Realtor.com was "free" to members (ALL features)and offered the same cool features as these other places, there would be no reason for rules regarding others to scrape our listings, as it would be redundant information. We'd have the best site out there! As it is, I get more leads from my free posting at those sites - and I pay for Realtor.com enhancements.
NAR should have been the FIRST to develop these smart phone apps. How embarrassing. No wonder people think agents are dinosaurs. We have all of the information we are hoardin and think people will "need" us when it is having exactly the opposite effect. We look like fools fighting windmills, or worse, doing nothing.
http://bestmilwaukeehomes.com
http://blog.bestmilwaukeehomes.com
Submitted by Barrett Powell on May 13, 2009 - 1:39pm.
I'm not ready to throw out the baby with the bathwater yet.
First, Zillow has to do a lot better job of covering areas it doesn't cover yet, like my area for instance. Zillow data is non-existent. Get the data, good data first, and then move on to claim new ground.
Second, not every market is the 30 something IPhone User. Many parts of North Carolina, especially the ones selling right now, are mostly retirees, not 30 something IPhone users. Each market is different, and each market is not California.
Third, we as Realtors need to learn to walk before we run. Most agents, even if they had all the latest bells and whistles would not have the processes in place to handle inquiries and business coming through those channels.
I enjoy Marc's post and enjoy following his and other West Coasters with regard to where the industry is headed and what technologies we need. Right now, I'm just trying to help get my area agents to start adopting Mobile websites period! Much less understand IPhone apps.
I have always heard, and believe that technology in and of itself will not make a great agent, but a great agent with technology will. Let's not forget the agent.
Barrett Powell, Owner, Broker in Charge
RE/MAX Southern Advantage Companies
288 East Street, PO Box 1427
Pittsboro, North Carolina 27312
Submitted by Marc Davison on May 13, 2009 - 7:56pm.
This is less about Zillow, its accuracy or the iPhone as a thing.
It's amazing what the end user/consumer will tolerate in terms of perfection.
Look at Twitter. It's riddled with all kinds of issues, which have given rise to all the Twitter clients out there to supplement what Twitter can't do
I don't see Twitter referring to Tweetdeck as an interloper.
Honestly, the consumer is far less nit picky about perfection as real estate folks are.
That bodes well for real estate don't you think?
This also isn't about whether one market is 20 something or 30 something or how many devices are being used versus another.
Unless your selling real estate inside a DelWebb community, odds are there are young folks in your city and town who will one day become of age to buy a home and they will not know who you are, what you do or probably even care.
But they will know Zillow.
And this definitely not about California.
My house might be here but my purview is surely not.
And neither is my barber. He's on Astor Place and B'way (NYC).
This is about pushing your state of mind forward.
And quit spinning rationale.
This is about going to school on these companies. Join em. Beat em. Get inspired.
This is about what Kristin Noll-Marsh wrote above.
There's an agent in Alabama who sent me an app to look at this week and I was blown away.
He's and people like him are the future.
Hopefully, you'll get to meet him at Inman this summer.
Trying to squeeze juice from your raisin agents is not.
That's such a waste.
Marc
1000Watt Consulting
Turn On!
Marc
1000Watt Consulting
Turn On!