For those of you who missed Inman News’ Real Estate Connect, held July 23-25, 2008 in San Francisco, here are some of my crib notes (no, they’re not there):
- there are 5 million real estate listings in the US and Realtor.com claims to have 4.7 million of them — still, folks visit 7 different websites, on average (seems to me like poor marketing by Realtor.com– or maybe it’s their search experience)
- California will have a statewide MLS. As soon as standards are established, there will be a national MLS (so maybe your grandkids will get to use it)
- the next wave of real estate consumers are millennials (aka Gen Y, aka Echo Boomers aka my son), those born between 1980-1995 (more or less). They are the largest generation (79 million)– all grew up with computers. Learn about them.
- the internet is a visual medium (duh) and visuals DO communicate
- there is a decline in long form reading (double duh)– 50% drop off with each click to a new page (so get rid of those “read more” links)
- the internet is social— but you can’t be at every party
- the internet is going mobile — big time (if you don’t have a mobile application, get one, with GPS and Geolocation)
- smartphones are laptop replacements
- WiMax is low cost high speed you may want to put your money on
- millennials are heavy consumers of all media (and you’re just giving them text?)
- print is NOT quite dead– 1/3 of the millies still read newspapers and magazines
- Millenials have a form of ADD called CPA– continuous partial attention (and I have B.A.D.D.)
- 50% of John L. Scott’s business is referrals
- real estate is part commodity, part lifestyle– integrate them
- want to be successful? ask your successful peers
- Remember the Milk
- find out where your buyers come from and market there (you may have to speak their language too)
- the global elite want a lifestyle
- listing sites may not be the best place to market property– behavior and geography targeting suggests otherwise. A Chicago developer went on an international road show to get customers (gotta love that)
- many folks don’t know the big real estate brands, especially foreigners — something to think about if your market gets a lot of foreign buyers
- connect with people in social spaces– don’t sell them homes
- brokers are using lead generation companies to become rainmakers for agents
- the lead generation companies are now in the blog and social media pools
- there are 11 months of unsold inventory nationwide, according to NAR’s June 2008 study
- Five real estate agent tips:
- promote sold listings
- mine past clients
- know your market stats
- communicate to renters
- do a price adjustment review every 30 days, with a new CMA
Some Memorable Quotes:
“Trulia is not a search engine.” ~ Douglas de Jager, co-founder DotHomes.com on Finding Buyers Outside the U.S.
“There is no national housing market…. the crux of this whole thing is credit.” ~Jonathan Miller on When Will the Market Turn”
“You’re not John Stoessel.” Todd Carpenter, on How NOT to Get Sued blogger panel
“If you have a crappy business, a blog won’t help.” ~ Linda Davis (CT broker)
“Hey, wanna see my secret ring?” ~ unnamed, at an unnamed party
Inman 2008 Innovator Awards: Winner (Category)
Sawbuck Realty (Broker)
Roost (New Technology)
AgentGenius (Blog)
Frontdoor (Media site)
Estately (Web Service)
Technorati Tags: inman real estate connect 2008, real estate marketing, inman conference
