Two new Center For REALTOR® Technology surveys are now available.

The 2005 MLS Technology Survey reviews MLS technologies and the Realtor® business practices they support.

The 2005 REALTOR®  Technology Effiiciency Survey reveals areas where technology can be used to improve real estate processes.

Saul

A few years ago many associations believed they were getting the strong arm negotiation tactics from Supra, which in many cases, had the "only game in town" when it came to lock boxes. For those of you who were around, you will remember the controversy and disdain for Supra.
 
Getting involved with something as critical to REALTORS® livelihood as lock boxes is risky business. NAR Leadership decided to step to the plate and work towards an alternative, teaming up with SentriLock to create choice in the marketplace and the "REALTOR Lockbox." The success of this venture was by no means guaranteed as there were many obstacles (including patents) to overcome.
 
At the one year mark, SentriLock has over 80,000 lockboxes in service and 26,000 active users in the following associations:
 
Currently, SentriLock has over 80,000 lockboxes in service and 26,000 active users in the following associations:

Iowa City Area Association of REALTORS®
Charleston Trident Association of REALTORS®
Yosemite Gateway Board of REALTORS®
Mariposa County Board of REALTORS® New Bern Board of REALTORS®
Pismo Coast Association of REALTORS® 
Santa Maria Association of REALTORS®
Scenic Coast Association of REALTORS® 
San Luis Obispo Association of REALTORS®
Paso Robles Board of REALTORS®
Atascadero Association of REALTORS®
Casper Board of REALTORS®
Jefferson City Area Association of REALTORS®
Hemet San Jacinto Board of REALTORS®
Hutchinson Board of REALTORS®
Somerset-Lake Cumberland Board of REALTORS®
Southeast Georgia Board of REALTORS®
Outer Banks Association of REALTORS®
Harrisonburg Rockingham Association of REALTORS®
Lake Havasu Association of REALTORS®
Pagosa Springs Area Association of REALTORS®
Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of REALTORS®
Memphis Area Association of REALTORS®
Greater Lakes Association of REALTORS®
Kings County Board of REALTORS®
Pittsburg Board of REALTORS®
Jefferson County Board of REALTORS®
Bloomington-Normal Association of REALTORS®
Missoula County Association of REALTORS®
Randolph County Board of REALTORS®
Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®
Wichita Falls Association of REALTORS®
Palestine Association of REALTORS®

Associations in the process of migrating to Sentrilock:

Calaveras County Board of REALTORS®
Brunswick-Glynn County Board of REALTORS®
Imperial Valley Board of REALTORS®
Cullman Association of REALTORS®
REALTORS® Association of York and Adam Counties
Fayette Board of REALTORS®
Siskiyou Association of REALTORS®
Statesboro Board of REALTORS®
Greater El Paso Association of REALTORS®
Topsail Island Association of REALTORS®
Liberty Board of REALTORS®

I was provided with the following from Sentrilock:

>>
Production & Manufacturing
>From a production standpoint, SentriLock is keeping up with association demand and is typically able to install within 90 days of contract signing.
Existing customers can get additional lockboxes within 7-10 working days. The manufacturing center just expanded and added more capacity to raise production levels as needed to meet the growing demand for the REALTORT Lockbox.

Customer Service
SentriLock is also expanding our ever growing customer service center to keep hold times to a minimum and ensure our highly level of customer follow-up is done quickly. We recently implemented a program to assign each association executive a dedicated level 2 support resource to handle any SentriLock related needs. This will ensure top priority handling as well as

Later this year, SentriLock is expected to announce the formation of an official user group. This group will  meet annually to get customer feedback, discuss product development ideas and listen to the needs of associations. Stay tuned!

Outlook
As demand increases SentriLock is well positioned to maintain delivery schedules and ensure product availability moving forward. We continue to listen to the needs of associations and their members to make the REALTORT Lockbox the best lockbox system in the industry.
<<

Saul

If you use two computers, you need to designate one as your "Primary Computer." You will have this computer set to sweep the mail from your e-mail account (your POP account at your ISP) every time you hit "send and receive." The other computer should be set to "leave a copy of message on server." Finding the setting to "Leave Mail on Server will vary based on your e-mail software but something like the following should help:

1. Open Outlook
2. Click on Tools
3. From Drop Down Menu, select Services (or Accounts)
4. In Services, click on your Internet e-mail account and select Properties At the top, note the tabs.click on Advanced At the bottom of the box you will see "leave a copy of message on server"
5. Check the box if appropriate.

Saul

Never open an attachment unless you are expecting someone to send you an attachment.

Today's viruses have the ability to "spoof" the "From" and "Subject" fields of an e-mail message which prevents you from knowing who really sent you the virus or the content of the e-mail. A virus goes into the address book of the newly infected computer, grabs an e-mail address at random and puts it in the "from field" of a new message. It then attaches a virus to the message, and sends the message to everyone in the e-mail address book of the newly infected computer. There is no telling who sent you the virus. Familiar names are now a dangerous decoy, luring you into a false sense of security and tempting you to open infected e-mail.

If you are receiving e-mail from people, servers, or auto responders and you did not send an e-mail to generate a response, someone who has your e-mail address in their e-mail address book has been infected by a virus and your name was selected at random and placed in the "From" field of the e-mail launched from their infected computer. The e-mail sent from their computer triggered the response which is being sent not to the person who sent the e-mail, but to the person in the "From" field.

There is nothing you can do to prevent the above, but you can protect yourself. Keep your virus protection software updated with the latest virus definitions. I have my computer set to scan on a regular basis and use the "Live Update" feature of my Norton Anti virus software. Run a complete virus scan if you ever suspect that you have a virus.

If your e-mail address is in the e-mail address books of others, there is a good chance that someday your e-mail address will appear in the "From" field of an infected e-mail and some of the recipients who do not understand the nature of today's e-mail viruses will think you sent them a virus. You can also count on receiving lots of e-mail you didn't ask for since your name appeared in the from field.

1. Realize that web sites are billboards in the middle of nowhere. To get traffic to your website, you need a web site strategy. Placing in the top 10 of major search engines would be nice, but dont count on it unless you are willing to pay for it. Your website should be part of a comprehensive marketing and advertising strategy, i.e. include the URL in letterhead, business cards; ask clients for their email address. Do the little things. Remember, its the little things that make a difference.

 

2. Understand that the World Wide Web is not You friendly. You can loose business to the World Wide Web as sure as you can lose business to an open house. Support the business models that support you.

 

3. Web sites are more than advertising and marketing vehicles. A website is a publishing vehicle. Use your website to publish information of value to your audience. That means go beyond the generic information all REALTORS® provide on their websites…when is the last time you went to a REALTORS® website to check the weather? Be original. If you prospect for listings in a condominium project, publish the CC &Rs, Articles of Incorporation, By-Laws, Tenant Rules, Pool Rules, etc on your website and let all the residents know they can find the information on your website.

 

4.  Go surfing on the web to gain an understanding of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). Explore the net, look at your competitors websites. What do you like/not like about the web sites you visit?

 

5.  Develop a Web Page Concept: What do you want your site to do or say? What is the purpose of your site. If you think of it as an ad, then only expect people to drop in once. If you think of it as providing information as a service, you will get more looks and if you are good at adding content, many return looks. You are your webmaster. Whats your theme?

 

6. Be prepared to maintain or pay for maintenance.

You can do this yourself only if you have the time. What is your time worth and could you pay somebody more that could accomplish it in less time? Understand the costs up front. $50 to $100 per hour for a programmer.

Who will design it? Who will do the HTML programming (while this may not be that difficult, do you have the time to do it)? What about graphics and a graphic designer? Who will maintain it?

 

Most REALTORS® purchase website templates. Website templates are really software and when you buy the website, you are really buying a license to use the website companys template software. Learn how to use that software.

 

7. Choose a website company that has a reputation for good customer service. Two companies that come to mind are Advanced Access (http://AdvancedAccess.com) and Point2Agent (http://Point2Agent.com).

 

8.  Content is first in importance, then come your regular updates.  Useful links are key.  FAQs save you time and are a great client convenience.  You want to communicate solid information that is good enough and current enough that people will bookmark your page and return regularly---and then, of course, use your services when they need an agent..

 

9.  Keep material short and succinct; avoid slow loading graphics and music.

 Think about your audience: who are they, why are they there and what do they expect to find.  Then make it easy for them to navigate your site.  They are in a hurry and are using basic no-frills technology.  Don't hide content on the 5th page behind your marketing hype (don't bury good content).

 

10. Make it easy for visitors to your website to contact you via an email response form.  Then respond back promptly.

 

11.  Learn about the IDX (Internet Data Exchange) solutions available to you and make sure you integrate an IDX solution into your website. If the percentage of broker IDX participation is high in your market, it doesnt make sense not to have one. Buyers go to your website to look for listings. If your competitions websites displays all the listings in the MLS and you display 10 listings, buyers will not return to your site, but to the site of your competitor.

 

12.  Consider search engine optimization, cross-links, and participating in discuss groups.

Aloha:

Can it be that fellow e-ProTalk readers don't know about the excellent Internet Marketing Kit offered by Internet Crusade?  How can this be?  I've read a lot of complaints about both Z-57 and Advanced Access in this forum, but I've never heard of anyone being unhappy with Internet Crusade  which is run by Realtors for Realtors.

I have been using Internet Crusade's excellent services to build my web site for several years now, and I can't honestly think of a VALID reason to change.  The vast majority of my business comes from my web site, so I can't afford to take chances with "pretenders to the throne."

It isn't fancy -- I don't think animated Gifs or Flash presentations are necessary to provide a wealth of information for a potential client.  But my site really works, consistently producing a wealth of new inquiries, and a huge number of repeat visitors (I know this because I also subscribe to IC's advanced statistics reporting system). I've even had other Realtors here on Maui tell me they use my site for reference because it's so easy and informative.  Go figure!

Jack S. Fisher, R, ABR, e-PRO
Principal Broker * Owner
IsleOfMaui.Com Realty
mailto:Jack@IsleOfMaui.Com
Find Your Maui Dream Property At:
http://IsleOfMaui.Com

Saul's note:

Thanks for your trust and business over the years Jack. InternetCrusade was one of the first companies in the industry to develop an easy to use, practical web application. We decided a few years ago to concentrate on domains and e-mail and to let the other companies compete for the web site business. We still maintain about 1000 of our long time clients and friends web sites (with our Internet Marketing Kit) and provide it free to about 250 REALTOR Associations. Glad it works for you and that you are taking advantage of the web statistices. We continue to host custom web sites but no longer offer the template in the market place.

Aloha.

Saul

Today's viruses have the ability to "spoof" the "From" and "Subject" fields of an e-mail message which prevents you from knowing who really sent you the virus or the content of the e-mail. A virus goes into the address book of the newly infected computer, grabs an e-mail address at random and puts it in the "from field" of a new message. It then attaches a virus to the message, and sends the message to everyone in the e-mail address book of the newly infected computer.

There is no telling who sent you the virus. Familiar names are now a dangerous decoy, luring you into a false sense of security and tempting you to open infected e-mail.

If you are receiving e-mail from people, servers, or auto responders and you did not send an e-mail to generate a response,  someone who has your e-mail address in their e-mail address book has been infected by a virus and your name was selected at random and placed in the "From" field of the e-mail launched from their infected computer. The e-mail sent from their computer triggered the response which is being sent not to the person who sent the e-mail, but to the person in the "From" field.

There is nothing you can do to prevent the above, but you can protect yourself. Keep your virus protection software updated with the latest virus definitions. I have my computer set to scan on a regular basis and use the "Live Update" feature of my Norton Anti virus software. Run a complete virus scan if you ever suspect that you have a virus.

If your e-mail address is in the e-mail address books of others, there is a good chance that someday your e-mail address will appear in the "From" field of an infected e-mail and some of the recipients who do not understand the nature of today's e-mail viruses will think you sent them a virus. You can also count on receiving lots of e-mail you didn't ask for.

Saul Klein
President, InternetCrusade