Listing Bits Archives - Page 4 of 8

Listing Bits Episode: Making Video Marketing Profitable – with Christian Sterner of WellcomeMat

February 16th, 2021

Video marketing is a powerful way for agents, brokers and real estate companies to reach consumers. But how do we get the most mileage out of our videos? How do we maximize the marketing value of the content we create?

Christian Sterner is the Cofounder and CEO of WellcomeMat, the premier platform for managing your real estate video. Christian’s team facilitates successful video marketing campaigns for agents, brokers and companies who are committed to video as a long-term marketing strategy, helping clients leverage video content to generate traffic and engagement on their domain. Christian has been playing in the technology and marketing space since 2000, and he has led WellcomeMat since its inception in 2006.

On this episode of Listing Bits, Christian explains how WellcomeMat maximizes reach for every video in a user’s library and helps them make educated decisions about what videos to create. He offers insight around what kind of content really moves the needle for real estate professionals, sharing his take on the pros and cons of producing humorous or provocative video content. Listen in to understand how WellcomeMat is working to facilitate visual search for the real estate industry and learn how drone automation can be used to create killer listing videos and accelerate the adoption of video marketing among brokers and agents.

What’s Discussed: 

WellcomeMat’s mission to make video the most valuable thing agents and brokers can do to market themselves and their properties

What makes WellcomeMat the best way to maximize reach for every video in your library

How WellcomeMat accepts content from any service (and allows users to switch providers at will)

What WellcomeMat does to help users make educated decisions about what videos to create

How WellcomeMat increases site visits by an order of magnitude over using YouTube alone

Why listing videos are best for pushing top line revenue

The value in producing evergreen content like neighborhood tours, agent profiles, etc.

WellcomeMat’s referral database of 5,000 video production companies

Christian’s take on producing provocative and/or humorous video content

The MLS rules around branded and unbranded content + how WellcomeMat offers tools to remove branding for MLS compliance

WellcomeMat’s work to facilitate visual search for the real estate industry

How drone automation facilitates the production of quality video at scale for the real estate space

Connect with Christian:

WellcomeMat

Christian on Twitter

christian [at] wellcomemat [dot] com

Resources:

Tim Smith Group on YouTube

Smith Group’s ‘Teach Me How to Duffy’ Marketing Video

Gracenote

Shazam

Cole’s Drone Video

Amazon’s Ring Always Home Cam

Skydio

eWebinar

Listing Bits Episode 64: An IT Geek Turned Broker’s Take on Tech – with Georgia Purpura of Urban Nest Realty

January 18th, 2021

What can technology vendors do to better connect with the agents and brokers we hope to serve? And what can we learn from the perspective of a computer engineer turned REALTOR about how to approach real estate professionals and what kind of tech solutions they need?

Georgia Purpura is Managing Broker at Urban Nest Realty, a mid-size independent brokerage out of Las Vegas, Nevada, where she specializes in helping agents grow their business. She is also very involved in the local association, most recently serving as Chair of the MLS. Georgia has been a licensed agent for 12 years, acting as broker for Keller-Williams Southwest before joining Urban Nest in 2018. Prior to real estate, she earned her degree in business and information technology and spent eight years working as a computer engineer.

On this episode of Listing Bits, Georgia discusses how her background in IT has served her well in real estate, explaining how she evaluates technology solutions and what vendors can do to market their software more effectively. She offers advice for vendors and brokers on creating a business model that mitigates agent churn, challenging us to focus on producers rather than subscribers—casting a deeper net as opposed to a wider one. Listen in for Georgia’s insight on how modern agents learn about technology tools (and how that’s evolved over the years) and get her take on the top technology needs in the real estate space.

What’s Discussed: 

Georgia’s background in computer engineering and how that tech experience has served her well in real estate

How Georgia learned about tech tools early in her career from sales meetings and through the local association

How modern agents learn about tech tools through word-of-mouth on social media

Georgia’s advice for vendors around marketing to top producers who can create influence for you

Why vendors should lead with the problem they’re solving for in pitching agents and brokers

How Georgia evaluates tech based on its potential to shorten the sales cycle and save time or money

Georgia’s criticism of how brokers have gone about increasing profitability by having the biggest army (rather than the best)

How real estate brokerages and software vendors can build a business model that mitigates agent churn

The top technology needs Georgia sees in the real estate space

–Integration among tech solutions (strategic alliances)

–Agent retention and engagement tool for brokers

Connect with Georgia:

Urban Nest Realty

Email georgiapurpura [at] gmail [dot] com

Resources:

Joe Versus the Volcano

Our Sponsor:

Cloud CMA

Listing Bits Episode: How to Win Business with Buyer Data – with Ashley Terrell of Buyside

August 25th, 2020

Speaking of Buyside…

It’s easier to gain a seller’s trust when you have the data to back you up. But where can agents and brokers go for real-time buyer data? And how do we turn those numbers into actionable insights to earn new business?

Ashley Terrell is the Executive Vice President of Partnerships at Buyside, a real estate tech platform that helps real estate professionals leverage intelligent buyer data to capture seller leads, win more listings and close more transaction sides in-house. Prior to joining Buyside, Ashley served as the Director of Account Management and Director of Strategic Growth at Constellation Software and the Director of Account Management and Product Marketing at Real Estate Digital.

On this episode of Listing Bits, Ashley explains how Buyside partners with other vendors to procure data and provide its users with seamless product integration. She offers insight around the current buyer landscape, sharing her take on why there’s such a boom in real estate right now. Listen in for Ashley’s insight on the resources available to help agents use the Buyside tools and learn how to leverage buyer data to win your next listing presentation.

What’s Discussed:

Ashley’s background in tech and how she was introduced to the real estate tech space

How Buyside serves as a seller lead gen tool and helps agents win listing presentations

How Buyside procures data from vendors like Zillow, ShowingTime, etc.

Buyside’s focus on seamless product integration to create the best possible user experience

Ashley’s insight around the current buyer landscape in real estate

Ashley’s take on why there’s such a boom in real estate right now

How agents and brokers can leverage buyer data in a listing presentation

–Help seller price home

–Marketing strategy

–Pool of buyers

How Buyside serves large brokerages vs. small brokerages and large teams

The value proposition for Buyside in a buyer’s market

Ashley’s commitment to building out resources that help agents use the Buyside tools

Connect with Ashley:

Resources:

John Heithaus on Listing Bits EP061

‘Existing Home Sales Skyrocket Amid Pandemic, Inventory Down’ in Inman News

ShowingTime’s June 2020 Showing Index Results

Buyside Help Center

Sponsor:

Cloud CMA

Listing Bits Episode 56: The Value of Nationwide MLS and Association Data – with Clint Skutchan

March 10th, 2020

Out of 565 Multiple Listing Services nationwide, 82 serve less than 100 brokers and agents. Unsurprisingly, this means that the nation’s 20 largest Multiple Listing Services serve over 50 percent of the nation’s total MLS subscribers. These statistics didn’t exist a year ago, but thanks to the Real Estate Almanac, the disparity is clear. Now that we understand the scale of the issue, how can we make changes to better serve agents, brokers, and their clients?

Clint Skutchan is the vice president of T3 Sixty’s association and MLS division. T3 Sixty is an industry-leading management consultancy and research company that focuses on residential real estate brokerage. Clint has over a decade of experience in the real estate industry and previously served as CEO of a realtor association in Colorado. He established an independent consulting company in 2014. In 2018, he joined T3 Sixty.

On this episode of Listing Bits, Clint discusses T3 Sixty’s latest undertaking: Real Estate Almanac. He explains where the idea for a comprehensive list of MLSs and associations came from and talks about some of the surprises that came out of that list. Listen in for Clint’s insight on the future of the Real Estate Almanac and how the data it consolidates will impact the industry, and the nation as a whole.

What’s Discussed:

How Clint got involved in T3 Sixty

What the Real Estate Almanac is and what it says about the industry

Why T3 Sixty put the latest MLS and association list together

What issues MLSs and associations are facing nationwide

Whether Clint thinks NAR membership will stagnate, drop, or continue increasing

How the list of MLSs and associations has shrunken in five years

Why MLSs choose not to consolidate

How smaller MLSs might tackle some of the issues they face

What’s next for the Real Estate Almanac

Resources:

T3 Sixty

Real Estate Almanac

Top Associations/MLS

Connect with Clint:

Follow Clint on Twitter

Follow Clint on LinkedIn

Listing Bits Episode 55: Getting People in Homes with Down Payment Assistance – with Rob Chrane

February 14th, 2020

According to research conducted by Freddie Mac, there are 83 million mortgage-ready renters in the US! But most grossly overestimate how much they need for a down payment and very few know about the low down payment programs available to low and moderate-income home buyers. How much could a real estate business grow simply by making down payment assistance part of its business development strategy?

Rob Chrane is the CEO of Down Payment Resource, a platform that aggregates down payment assistance program data and connects homebuyers with down payment assistance. Rob has more than 30 years of experience as a top-producing Realtor and mortgage broker, and he has been recognized as a HousingWire Vanguard for his leadership in the housing economy.

One thing I love that Rob does is the “Beverly Faull Affordable Housing Leadership Award”. This year it went to Tonya Todd.

“The award, named in memory of accomplished real estate veteran Beverly Faull, recognizes an individual who has demonstrated leadership in providing more access to homeownership and affordable housing finance solutions. Faull was a well-respected veteran in the MLS and housing industry and one of Down Payment Resource’s first employees.”

I used to work with Bev and I know many of you knew her as well, and I think this is such a great tribute.

On this episode of Listing Bits, Rob discusses who down payment assistance is designed to help and why some agents and lenders are reluctant to incorporate these programs into their workflow. We also discuss the evolution of Proptech as well as the pros and cons of the fractional ownership model. Listen in for insight around how Down Payment Resource shares its data with MLSs, lending companies, and individual agents and LOs—and learn about the massive opportunity available to real estate players with access to down payment assistance tools.

What’s Discussed:

How Rob connects homebuyers with down payment assistance

What inspired Rob to create Down Payment Resource

Who down payment assistance programs are designed to help

Why agents and lenders are reluctant to use these programs

How Down Payment Resource gets its data to industry players

MLSs and Associations
Enterprise solutions for lenders
Down Payment Connect (individual agents, LOs)

How Down Payment Resource makes money via a subscription model

How Rob thinks about the Proptech fractional ownership model

How DPR’s data shows up for MLS clients vs. individual agents

Resources:

Urban Land Institute

Freddie Mac Housing & Economic Research

Connect with Rob:

Down Payment Resource

Down Payment Connect

What is homeownership?

February 12th, 2020

I think my friends in organized real estate have to start paying attention to how companies are evolving the definition of “homeownership”. Below is a video of a presentation given by Adena Hefets, CEO of Divvy Homes at an event held by Andreessen Horowitz.

“We believe the industry is very binary. You either rent a home, or dive in to the deep end and get a mortgage. There is no in-between.”
Adena Hefets, CEO of Divvy Homes

If you have been listening to my podcast Listing Bits you know I’ve been tracking Divvy Homes and Adena for a while now and am super intrigued.

Listing Bits Episode 54: Opportunities for Agents to Partner with Opendoor – with Shannon Fitzpatrick & Tyler Hixson

November 20th, 2019

Many agents might view Opendoor as a competitor, yet another tech platform out to eliminate their jobs. But what if you could leverage the iBuyer as a partner to build your real estate business?

Shannon Fitzpatrick leads a team of 45 agents at Movoto Real Estate in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada, and Tyler Hixson serves as the Director of Real Estate Partnerships and Strategy at Opendoor. In this episode of Listing Bits, Tyler and Shannon explain how agents can leverage Opendoor as a tool to grow their business, bringing cash offers to prospects and tying multiple transactions together.

Shannon speaks to the value of going into a listing presentation with an Opendoor offer, describing how it allows him to do what’s best for the seller, and Tyler discusses why agents can get a stronger offer from the platform by articulating the property’s unique features. Listen in for insight into the misconceptions agents have about Opendoor and learn how to work WITH the iBuyer to serve your clients and generate more leads.

What’s Discussed:

How Shannon uses Opendoor to bring a cash offer to prospects

Leveraging Opendoor to tie multiple transactions together

The value of going into a listing presentation with an Opendoor offer

Opendoor’s offer valuation process and associated service fees

How Opendoor passes its vendor discounts on to sellers

How Opendoor can serve as a powerful lead gen tool for agents

Why agents can get a stronger offer from Opendoor than sellers

How Opendoor works directly with agents through closing

How Shannon uses Opendoor as a recruiting tool at his brokerage

The advantage to sellers of working with an agent AND Opendoor

The misconceptions agents have about the Opendoor platform
-Quality of offer + fees
-Think it’s out to eliminate agents

Opendoor’s plans to expand to serve all customers, home types

Resources:

W+R Studios

Cloud CMA

Opendoor/CloudCMA

Connect with Tyler:

Opendoor’s Agent Partner Program

Connect with Shannon:
Movoto

Shannon’s Website

Shannon on Zillow

Listing Bits Episode 52: Alexa, How Can Voice Assistants Serve Real Estate? – with Miguel & Ami Berger of Voiceter Pro

September 26th, 2019

You can ask Alexa to turn on the lights, show you the forecast, remind you what’s on your calendar today, or give you the score of the Astros game. And now, voice assistants are expanding to the real estate industry, allowing agents to open their business information and even access the MLS—with the sound of their voice alone!

Miguel and Ami Berger are the creators of Voiceter Pro, the conversational search platform that brings real estate and consumers together via conversations with voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home. On this episode of Listing Bits, brought to you live from the 2019 RESO Fall Conference, Miguel and Ami share their mission to provide customized voice technology to the real estate space, affording voice access to websites, MLSs and associations.

Miguel and Ami explain how they came to create the company and describe their vision for Voiceter 2.0, offering insight around potential features and applications that could be added to the platform. Listen in to understand why the Voiceter technology is system agnostic, how industry standards make it easier for small teams to innovate, and what applications Voiceter might facilitate beyond the real estate vertical.

What’s Discussed:

Voiceter’s mission to provide voice to the real estate industry

How Voiceter affords voice access to MLSs and associations

The potential for Voiceter customization by MLS and agent

How Miguel and Ami came to create Voiceter Pro

Miguel’s vision around potential features for Voiceter Pro

Why the Voiceter Pro team has decided to be system agnostic

How the consumer search works and what info it provides

Voiceter Pro’s intention to integrate with other vendors, APIs

How industry standards support developers like Voiceter Pro

Potential voice applications beyond the real estate vertical

How Voiceter Pro brands to the agent, broker or association

Resources:

Ami’s Voiceter Pro Presentation at RESO

RESO 2019 Fall Conference

Cloud CMA Developers Page

ShowingTime

Connect with Miguel & Ami:

Looking for a new gig?

September 13th, 2019

National Account Manager – SavvyCard

“SavvyCard is seeking a highly motivated, field-based senior applicant with 8+ years’ experience developing business opportunities and sales with Real Estate Multiple Listing Services and Associations to fill the National Account Executive, Real Estate position. This is an opportunity to join a dynamic, fast moving company with a healthy existing customer pipeline and a compelling and competitively differentiated product offering, at the ground level.”

A special shout out to Vendor Alley sponsor SavvyCard. I had a chance to interview SavvyCard CEO and Co-founder, David Etheridge, on Listing Bits. We had great response to the podcast so I suggest you go and take a listen.

There are now currently 5 jobs listed on the Vendor Alley Job Board, so go take a look. Whoohoo!

Listing Bits Episode 50: The Pioneers of MLS Consolidation – with Brian Donnellan of Bright MLS

August 12th, 2019

“These combinations are fragile. You’re pulling 43 associations together. You’re pulling all these different boards together. You’re pulling all these different things together … so, I suppose you could look at blowing it up and go, ‘Why the hell did you do that?’ [The consolidation of MLSs] was a big deal and was very, very expensive. It really was, both in time and energy and everything involved. But you could also look at it this way: It’s something that had to be done. It really, really did. So, you can take your pain now or later.”

Brian Donnellan is the interim CEO of Bright MLS, a consolidation of nine forward-thinking MLSs in the Mid-Atlantic region that serves 85K real estate professionals and facilitates approximately 250K annual transactions valued at more than $70B. Brian has 13 years of industry experience, serving as CFO and COO of MRIS prior to the merger. On this episode of Listing Bits, Brian shares the challenges of merging different personalities and cultures and explains how the Bright consolidation gave others the courage to follow suit.

Brian also offers insight around the power of relationships in the real estate industry, the factors that influence growing agent attrition, and the value of building a product that helps brokers and agents make better decisions. Listen in to understand why Bright MLS is bringing on new staff from outside the industry and learn how the team’s commitment allowed them to endure criticism during the consolidation and get to a place they can be proud of!

**A quick note, due to a microphone issue the sound quality of this episode isn’t that great.**

What’s Discussed:

Brian’s background in information systems and public policy

How we underestimate the relationship aspect of real estate

Brian’s insight on the factors that influence agent attrition

How building a better product supports agent production

The challenge of merging the cultures of MRIS + TREND MLS

The distinction among members, customers and subscribers

The rocky start to the process of consolidating Bright MLS

How the Bright team endured the criticism on social media

The value of bringing in new staff from outside the industry

Brian’s pride in Bright’s progress and vision of the future