realtor.com Releases its App

realtor.com, the official website of the US National Association of Realtors (NAR) and home to approximately 4 million listings, is the latest to release a home search application for iPhone users.
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REALTOR Magazine to Cut Back in Print

REALTOR Magazine is to cut the number of issues it publishes to six per year from 2010, according to agentgenius.com.
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UK Residents Just Looking

A survey commissioned by UK based property portal propertylive.co.uk has found that 69 percent of UK residents look at property online even when they are not actually planning to move.
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NAR Appoints Social Media Manager

Companies and organisations are finally coming to terms with the reality that they need to take social media seriously. So seriously in fact that the National Association of Realtors in the US (NAR) have advertised for and, after a lengthy search, appointed a social media manager.

The job has gone to Todd Carpenter.

Todd is the founder of Bizomi Consulting LLC, and mariah.com, a web 2.0 network of real estate and mortgage industry blogs, tools, and web sites including lenderama, REMBEX, and Denver Modern Homes. According his bio on the website’s blog, Todd has worked in the real estate and mortgage industry since 1992. His experience includes service and sales in retail mortgage, wholesale lending, and internet marketing solutions.

More recently he’s worked as a new media consultant helping real estate and mortgage professionals use effective and affordable new media tools to market themselves.

Todd will leave his independent businesses behind and lead the effort to help NAR’s staff and volunteer leaders engage with members and others in social media.

There has been much speculation over who would be appointed. Revealing the long-awaited news, Hilary Marsh at NAR said:

“We loved Todd’s ideas, his easygoing manner, his reputation and how knowledgeable he is about social media. We also really valued his relationships with so many REALTORS® who are using blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media channels to connect effectively with one another and with potential clients and customers.”

The appointment is a true indication of the value and potential of social media for the property industry and has the property blogosphere in a spin.

trulia.com Founders on Top 10 Newsmakers List

As part of the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report that is published each February in the US, the top 10 Newsmakers in Real Estate list is compiled by the company’s research team.

Representing the world of property portals on the top 10 Newsmakers list for 2008 are trulia.com’s founders, Pete Flint and Sami Inkinen, who came in at number nine.

Author of the list, Stefan Swanepoel, blogged about the Top 10, saying of trulia.com:

“As founders of Trulia these two leaders, in spite of the current financial difficulties and the market downturn, continue to go against that flow and have raised funding in the amount of $33 million, which solidifies Trulia as a dotcom company that could survive the economic and/or Web 2.0 downturn to become one of the new paradigm companies to shape the future”.

At number one on the list is William Foley, founder and CEO of Fidelity National Financial (FNF). The company’s real estate division, Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, provides real estate information, media and technology for homeowners and professionals, including the cyberhomes.com portal.

At number seven is Saul Klein, CEO of Point2 Technologies. And at number eight is Charles McMillan, the 2009 President of the National Association of REALTORS.

Newsmakers are defined by the company as those people that during the year made headlines as individuals, as a result of their actions and leadership of the companies or associations they are involved with in the real estate industry.

The second list to be released is the Top 10 Events Impacting on Real Estate for 2008. Among the key events for 2008 are: the election, ActiveRain reaching 100,000 members, twitter, NAR celebrating 100 years and, of course, the bailout, which comes top of the list.

Find out more about the Swanepoel TRENDS Report at their website: retrends.com

NAR Judgment Finalised

In the US, Judge Kennelly has filed the final judgment, settling the antitrust lawsuit of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) versus the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

A press release from the NAR on Thursday called the settlement a “great day for real estate and consumers”:

“This compromise is terrific news for the industry and shows that the real estate industry is dynamic, entrepreneurial and fiercely competitive,” said NAR President Charles McMillan.

The lawsuit dates back to September 2005, when, as Inman News reports, the US federal government said the Realtor group approved policies governing the online sharing and display of property listings information that were illegally restrictive. The NAR maintains that the policies did not violate federal antitrust law. The parties came to a proposed settlement just weeks before a trial was set to begin in May.

The statement from the NAR continues:

“After four and a half years of probing the industry, the DOJ’s claims regarding anti-competitive effects of the Virtual Office Web site policy continue to be speculative. The final order expressly provides that NAR does not admit any liability or wrongdoing. NAR will make no payments in connection with the settlement.

The settlement compromise approved by the federal court today reaffirmed NAR’s position that MLS members must be actively engaged in real estate brokerage by actually helping people buy or sell homes.

The terms of the agreement preserve and strengthen the MLS as a means for broker-to-broker cooperation intended to serve real estate professionals who are actively engaged in the business of listing or selling property in that MLS, said Laurie Janik, NAR chief counsel.

By terms of the settlement, NAR adopted a revised VOW policy and must request MLSs to adopt that policy within 90 days. The impact of the amended VOW policy is expected to be minimal, since most consumers do not use VOWs because these sites require online registration.”

Ultimately, consumers may end up benefiting from a larger and more diverse collection of online real estate information.

In other NAR related news, NAR have asked Realtor.com operator Move Inc. to provide consulting and technology services for the much anticipated proposed nationwide property information database project, now known as Realtors Property Resource.

Property Portals and Generational Marketing

Generational marketing could become a lot more important for property agents and portals, particularly as Generation X, the first Internet savvy generation, begins to dominate the property market.

Generation X describes the demographic currently aged 27 to 43.

According to research by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), in the US Generation X make up approximately 25% of Realtors® and over 55% of homebuyers. Generation Y are slowly advancing into the property market, while Boomers still make up most of the decision makers in companies.

It might be old news, but some are taking the hype about the different demographics very seriously.

According to a recent article by RISMedia you need to understand how to work with Gen Xers, as well as how to promote portals and properties to them.

The article states:

“Gen Xers are the first generation to embrace the full potential of the Internet. They may be going 100 MPH on the information highway but they still need help reading the road signs. They look for value in services and are willing to pay for it. They want choices. Services should not be “one size fits all.” Gen Xers want to see the value of a transaction and how it can fit into their financial future. Gen X consumers expect to access their transactions, reports and documents online 24/7.”

US based portal Homes & Land released data about their readers that corroborates NAR’s demographic research. They say 61% of their audience is between 25 and 44 years old.

Most interestingly, Homes & Land say 69% of their audience is female, with males making up just less than a third, or 31% of their audience.