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Goog-411: Free Local Info

By: NikNik · Posted on April 26, 2007 · 4 Comments
Next time you find yourself on the road and in need of local information, try Goog-411 (Google’s Voice Local Search). It may be in it’s experimental stage, but I found it to be easy to use, and on target. You can try this service by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone. Oh, and it’s free!

When your call is answered, the service asks your city and state (only US business listings), after which you are asked, “What business name or category?” I searched a specific business name in my city. After being provided with the address and phone number, I could choose to be connected directly, or get the details by SMS if using a mobile phone by saying “text message”.

I called the service a 2nd time to search by category and asked for “restaurants”. This time I was provided with a list of top restaurants in my city (#1: Excellent Restaurant, #2: Great Restaurant, #3: Really Good Restaurant, and so on). At any time, I could choose to go back to a specific restaurant by selecting its number. And all their choices for my city were surprisingly right on!

Google says they are “fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing your requests”. Even still, it’s worth a try! 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411)

If your business information is not available, click here. You can add and update your business info. You can even add a coupon. (i.e. Great place for marketing ideas like Free Home Valuation, Home By Email feature etc.)

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Cingular’s Wireless Connectivity Speeds Finally Catch Up

By: Chad A. Johnson · Posted on April 14, 2007 · 2 Comments
I have spent quite some time on MyTechOpinion touting wireless Internet connectivity as a valuable real estate technology. The ability to access the MLS, Winforms Online and email from anywhere truly redefines the term “mobile real estate agent”. I just hit one year anniversary of my adding a Cingular wireless connection to my laptop bag. It really has changed the way I do business. While the impact has been good, a recent discovery by a friend has completely changed my opinion of the service.

Up until last week, I have been running on Cingular’s EDGE network. The EDGE network is slow. My download speeds topped out at 150 Kbps. For those unfamiliar with download speeds, imagine a hair above dial-up speeds. This made for a true test of patience and made downloading anything of significant size impossible. While I was well aware that this network was much slower than Sprint and Verizon’s EV-DO networks, Cingular provided better coverage in my area.

The discovery that I mentioned is that of a firmware update and Communication Manager software update that enabled the Sierra Wireless Aircard 860 to access Cingular’s HSDPA, also known as 3G, network. This new network is amazing. I am now up to EV-DO speeds. I am now topping out at 1.5Mbps, which is similar to DSL speeds.

On the HSDPA (3G) network, you’ll browse the web just as if you were in the office or at home. Now that all 3 major cell phone networks can provide DSL-like speeds, add a wireless card to your laptop and see how real estate technology can really catapult your business.

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Jott: Voice to Text Service

By: Reggie · Posted on April 8, 2007 · 3 Comments

Does your Real Estate business keep you moving? If you’re like most real estate agents, you could use an assistant for recordkeeping alone. Although often times the expense is too big of a barrier. Introducing a new FREE service by Jott Networks! Jott allows anyone to send email messages to themselves, colleagues, customers or groups by voice. Registered users simply dial 877-568-8486, 24 hours a day. Once the system answers, say the name of the person or group you want to email. Jott will then confirm the name back to you. Then simply speak your message and Jott will use a combination of machine and human transcription to convert your voice to text. Jott records in 30 second clips.

Interested in the technology, but still wondering how this can really help your business? Imagine going through your day, calling Jott from your mobile speed dial as you need to record important expenses, create to-do lists, set goal planning ideas, or send important emails. You may even record a personal memo as you preview a home, commenting on specific features your buyers will appreciate. How about logging the FSBO you drive by and create a reminder for follow up later that day. Maybe even write your next blog article as you are stuck in traffic.

If you would like to review a previously recorded Jott message, simply access the “JottBox” by calling 866-JOTT-BOX. From there, you can listen to all recorded messages and forward them out to your contacts as needed.

If you‘re a frequent reader of MyTechOpinion.com, you’ll remember an article we covered on a similar technology called E.V.A. The EVA system uses pure human translation via a dedicated transcriptionist. However the service has a monthly cost, similar to a cell phone. For those that do not want to undertake another reoccurring bill, Jott is worth looking into!

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HouseFront Helps Real Estate Agents with Mobile Access to Property Information

By: Reggie · Posted on April 7, 2007 · 5 Comments

Today’s Real Estate agent is mobile or at least beginning to move in that direction. Meaning the real estate agent has the ability to conduct their business wherever they are. Take for example Handheld MLS. This is the idea that you bring your MLS everywhere you are so that you can access it from your mobile device. After all, you never know when you may need access to property information. Just ask the buyers agent who is previewing properties with their client when suddenly from the back seat the client points and says “How about that home…how many square feet is that?” If you are not prepared or properly equipped, you may need to return to the office and conduct a search for the property details. Well now you have a FREE option that works with any text enabled cell phone. Introducing HouseFront mobile access system.

Using the free HouseFront system you will simply text any address to 46873 (which spells HOUSE) and the HouseFront system will respond within seconds listing an estimated value range, square feet, bedroom and bathroom count, year built, lot size, owner name(s), date sold, sale amount, and a few area trends over the last year. HouseFront will even catalog the homes you searched while on your mobile device; allowing easy retrieval back at the office.

I found the HouseFront service easy to use and it provided a quick turnaround of property information. With today’s younger consumers and real estate agents growing up with text messaging this type of technology is sure to be a part of tomorrow’s core essentials. I’m also interested to see how real estate agents who walk their geographic farm area will start using HouseFront and similar tools to access information as they need it!

By the way, Zillow also has property information via text messaging. Although I found their system did not provide owner name or area trends.

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Let’s Talk Google Apps

By: Chad A. Johnson · Posted on April 1, 2007 · 4 Comments

After posting my article on the benefits of Outlook Exchange hosting for the real estate professional, I got a great comment asking, “Why not use Google Apps?” This question really made me think. We here at MyTechOpinion.com are huge Google fans. I have become addicted to my personalized Google homepage and love my Gmail account. While these tools have improved my personal computing life, let’s take a look at Google’s offerings from the perspective of a real estate agent’s business needs.

Google is in the first stages of a new push towards becoming a leading business applications provider. In fact, they have recently announced a partnership with IBM to develop enterprise applications starting with an intranet search tool.

Google Apps is a compilation of several existing Google applications with the addition of some new offerings. These applications include Gmail (email), Google Talk (text and voice calling), Google Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets (a Microsoft Word and Excel alternative), and Google Page Creator (web page publishing). Google has also added domain name hosting, allowing you to use the Gmail application without an @gmail.com email address.

Google Apps is a very impressive package. Yet, I am not convinced that this is a great option for a real estate agent. While Gmail and Google Calendar have some great functionality, they fall short on contact management and smart phone synchronization is limited. I have played around with Google Docs & Spreadsheets and am amazed at what Google has accomplished with this application, but it isn’t robust enough to replace my beloved Microsoft Office (think of functionality like mail merge). Google Page Creator does make web page creation easy, but are you a real estate agent or a webmaster? Focus on selling homes and pay a professional to build your website.

Feature comparisons aside, the most important issues are that of reliability and support. InfoWorld.com ran an article here this past week discussing problems with service outages. According to their article, Prudential Preferred Properties, a Chicago based real estate firm with about 500 agents, experienced a several hour period recently where email service was unavailable. That type of service disruption can prove to be quite costly to a real estate agent or in this case, the entire brokerage.

With regards to support, phone support and uptime guarantees are only available to Premier Edition users. Premier Edition accounts cost $50 per user, per year. Standard Edition (free) users are limited to online support that includes user discussion groups, email and knowledge base access.

Relying solely on online applications adds another potential problem. If your Internet connection goes down, you are in the dark. With no access to your calendar, you could miss an important appointment.

When it comes to my business, downtime means lost opportunity. I would much rather spend a little bit more to have tools and services that I can rely on. Until Google Apps or another alternative can prove themselves over time, I am going to continue to use Outlook Exchange hosting, Microsoft Office applications, and a dedicated web host and recommend this for real estate professional, as well.

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Hosted Exchange Email for Your Real Estate Business

By: Chad A. Johnson · Posted on March 18, 2007 · 6 Comments

These days, it is difficult to find a real estate agent that works on only one computer or who doesn’t work with an assistant or in a team. For those of you who fit that description, you have probably found that you have outgrown the standard configuration of Outlook. Your contacts, calendar and tasks are on only one computer. Other computers that you use don’t have that information and you are unable to share that information with teammates or an assistant. The good news is that it is now easy to overcome these limitations.

Outlook Exchange is a server based version of Outlook. All contacts, calendar events tasks and emails are stored on a server. The user then configures their standard Outlook software to communicate with that server. This means that you can have the exact same Outlook data on multiple computers with no additional effort.

For times that you need to access your Outlook data when away from your computer, you can access your server’s Outlook Web Access (OWA) page from any Internet capable computer. OWA gives you full access to your data with most of the functionality of the Outlook program. This can be a real savior when on vacation. I accessed my OWA page from a coffee shop in Italy and was able to respond to an urgent client email.

For real estate agents working in a team or with an assistant, Outlook Exchange adds collaborative features that you will wonder how you ever lived without. Share contacts and calendars with teammates. Invite teammates to appointments and have the time blocked off on their calendar. Store Microsoft Office files in public folders so that everyone can find them (think marketing materials).

Other value-added functionality includes auto-reply capabilities for times that you are out of town or in conferences, and the ability to sync your Outlook data with any Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6.0 smartphone (see my posting on smartphone options for real estate agents).

Up until recently, only large corporations could afford the high cost of Outlook Exchange implementation. This has changed due to the numerous Outlook Exchange hosting services that have popped up. My personal favorite is a company called 1and1.com. They offer Outlook Exchange hosting for $6.99 a month per user. What really differentiates 1and1.com from the competition is the storage place that they offer. Most Outlook Exchange hosting services offer a miniscule 100 MB per user. 1and1.com offers 1 GB of storage per user (10 times the space).

1and1.com offers free domain names and Outlook software with your subscription. Most real estate agents that I have set-up on this service have their domain name tied to their website hosted on a different server. There is an easy solution to this. You can have your emails automatically forwarded from your website host to your 1and1.com account. You then configure your 1and1.com account to send emails with your email address as the “from” address.

Give this service a try. 1and1.com offers a 90 day money back guarantee, so there is no risk. Once you experience the added functionality, you will appreciate Outlook much more and will never go back to a standard POP3 Outlook configuration again.

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Zip Code Facts for Your Real Estate Business

By: NikNik · Posted on March 4, 2007 · 6 Comments
One more resource for your Real Estate Relocation Guides: ZipcodeStats.com and ZipcodeFacts.com (2 domains, one great resource). This beta site offers desirable demographic information for your buyers. You can search by city, area, state, and zipcode; or simply browse by state or zip code. If you select a state or zip code, information has been organized for you according to summary, economic, social, housing, and educational topic areas. With ZipcodeFacts/ZipcodeStats you have access to over 4 million pages of detailed statistics about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment) geographical data, crime data, housing, businesses, commutes, economics, schools, and quality of life. The site also utilizes Google Maps to provide great viewing of your selected area. Check it out!
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Cyberhomes Neighborhood and School Data Now Available

By: Reggie · Posted on February 13, 2007 · 4 Comments

The new Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES) product Cyberhomes has just been enhanced with neighborhood and school information. Now when you search for a particular address or city you will be presented with this new information. FNRES has partnered with Great Schools and Sperling’s Best Places to bring you this detailed set of data.

Cyberhomes’ neighborhood information now includes local housing facts, such as 12-month appreciation levels, how many people own, rent and how many homes are vacant. The new Cyberhomes coverage also includes population facts such as population density, graduate levels and median age. All these facts are compared against both state and US numbers. Cyberhomes also details the local economy sighting numbers such as median household income, sales tax, unemployment rate and projected job growth.

The Cyberhomes school information displays test scores and census data provided for both public and private schools and it’s enhanced with meaningful graphs. Parents will also appreciate the unbiased school profile information.

And of course the new Cyberhomes enhancement would not be complete without localized weather. Cyberhomes displays altitude, rainfall, snowfall and average temperatures at different points throughout the year.