Breakdown of the new ATT Unlimited Plan

1. The $99 unlimited plan applies to voice only. I didn’t like this, but at least you don’t have an excuse for hanging up on Grandma so fast.
2. How many of us talk on the phone more than we SMS, Chat or use Twitter? Not many. Well, there are additional plans for unlimited voice, text, picture, video and instant messages. Price is $119.
3. iPhone unlimited voice for $99 with data plans for an additional $20-40.

Read all about each ATT unlimited plan.

I plan to expand my market this year, so signed up for the Luxury Home Marketing Certification class. I have been pretty impressed with how responsive the Luxury Home Marketing Institute has been with incorporating blogs and social networking into their efforts. The main website can use updating, but their Luxury Home Marketing blog is pretty informative. Even non-members can access the site, which provides tips that agents and sellers in any price range can use.

So do you to target the luxury home owners and sell million-dollar listings this year?

Here’s 5 steps to dominate your local luxury home market in 2008:

1. Prove you’re committed. Join the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. After you take their two-day intro training and sign up, you’ll have access to the members-only section of the site, discounts with institute partners and ability to earn your Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist (CLHMS) designation.
2. Get in the know. Read the Lifestyle Marketing of Luxury and Sign up for Luxury Insights. You will stay updated on the latest market analysis, how-to tips, and luxury marketing news while gaining more insight and perspective on the luxury lifestyle.
3. Create a sleek online presence. Gayle Henderson recommends RealProsystems lead generating “stealth sites”, Gooder Group follow up campaigns and materials, as well as Advanced Access for a main website.
4. Step up your image. Try proven, top notch graphic design and marketing companies like Lulu Strategy, ByDesign Publishing, and Full Moon Design Group.
5. Never stop growing. Stay on top of the luxury marketing game by investing in your training and business growth. Get month business coaching through Star Power or Billion Dollar Agent. You can hire a salaried assistant, but also try virtual teams like Team Doubleclick or Kim Hughes Company.

Unfortunately for CompUSA workers, the electronics chain slowly degraded in many areas since the late 90s. If you’re a geek, you understand why the remaining CompUSA stores are to close their doors for good in 2008. I wanted to give Carlos a head-to-head rundown of what happened from the customer point of view.

WHY COMPUSA WAS GREAT

I worked at Apple, Inc. from 1999 to mid-2005 before making the leap into full time real estate. As Apple made it’s financial turnaround with the iMac and Mac OS 9 around 1998-1999, CompUSA jumped on board with a critical partnership.

Steve Jobs knew that he needed stores to carry and service Macintosh products. CompUSA was one of our largest partners. They were able to demonstrate the Mac on-site and even provided service.

On the other hand , Best Buy shunned Apple during this crucial relaunch period because Apple could not keep up with iMac demand. Best Buy was a growing powerhouse at the time and even I was afraid that the Mac comeback would fail without retailer support.

THREE REASONS WHY COMPUSA FAILED

There is probably a laundry list of why CompUSA failed, but here’s the quick list that my friends and I talked about after we heard the announcement.

Lack of Product, but Higher Prices.
CompUSA stores were often very small. Unlike Best Buy and Frys, CompUSA never upgraded to accommodate more merchandise. As the number of consumer gadgets increased, so did the need to add more product on the shelves. Even new CompUSA stores stayed small, perhaps to be more intimate, but this isn’t what we wanted. Geeks demanded more product and at more affordable prices. Why would we continue to shop at CompUSA when they would most likely not have what we wanted AND it would be at a premium? Most times, I’d simply go online to find the best prices and selection at Amazon.com, Buy.com, or locally at Best Buy.

Lack of Product Knowledge from Sales and Service.

Best Buy has the Geek Squad. Apple has the Mac Genius. Frys Electronics…well, they’re all geeks. CompUSA didn’t grab onto the consumer trend that geeks wanted our sales and service staff to be super-geeks. If I know more than the salesperson about a product, that’s bad news and I’ll go somewhere else.

Consumers need sales staff to guide us on the best product to buy, not simply read the back of the box for technical specs. We want service professionals to quickly solve our problems with minimal hassle. If we wanted free-form guessing, we can visit online forums. If we go to a store for service, we need expertise. The Geek Squad, Mac Genius’ and others are true experts at what they do. It’s fun to try to stump them, but most times, they simply solve your problem.

Poor Return Policy.

The return policy what caused me and everyone I know to ban CompUSA because they assessed a 15% restocking fee on opened items along with only having about a 15-day return policy. Was the 15% fee enough to justify losing a customer? Restocking fees don’t mesh with digital age because products may not work as intended. A quick look at CompUSA’s return policy online shows they still have the restocking fee, but the returns are now 21 days.

Best Buy and Frys, on the other hand, had return policies of 30 days for most products. Some products have 15-day returns, but the 30 days give you enough time to set up and try your gadget. If it doesn’t work the way you want, you can take it back with little hassle except standing in a long waiting line. At the very least, you’ll be given a store credit, which is fine at those chains because they carry just about anything you’d want.

GOODBYE TO COMPUSA

I wish all CompUSA employees the best. I can’t say that I miss higher prices, low merchandise, lack of a knowledgeable sales staff, and a poor return policy, but I personally appreciate how CompUSA supported Apple during their time of need in the earlier part of the decade. From my point of view, CompUSA was a big part of Apple’s stability at a time when the company seemed to be rocky. Perhaps that’s one of the great things the retailer can be remembered for. R.I.P. CompUSA 2008.

If you’re like me and most of my geek friends, you’ve become complacent with your holiday wish list. When asked what you want for the holidays, you’re likely to say, “I don’t really need anything”, “Whatever you want to give is fine”, or “A gift certificate to Amazon.com, Best Buy, Apple.com, etc. works”.

Geeks Need the Holiday Shopping Season

I never understood the holiday shopping craze until recently. While holidays are a great time to take vacation, appreciate your loved ones, and reflect on the past year, they’re also bargain shopping times. First, some of the best geek discounts are offered at the end of the year. Second, holiday gifts are next to birthday presents in being excuses to receive items you’d never buy for yourself.

I know you probably don’t want much for the holidays, but if you’re family is forcing you to decide, here’s some cool geek gifts to think about.

Wooden Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard. Come on, have you ever seen anything so cool? Not only do they look pretty sleek, but I bet you’d get tons of second glances. WoodContour.com has higher quality stuff, but I also found a keyboard and mouse set for only $20 at Geeks.com.

Prefer something less practical?

Start office warfare with your USB Office Missile Launcher or be the source of ridicule with your retro cell phone headset, both from ComputerGear.com.

Better yet, spend about $13 to brand yourself with geek jewelry from ThinkGeek.com.

Geeks need to stick together when it comes to holiday gifts. Unite with us by posting your links to some cool geek gifts to give or receive this holiday season!

The Top Producer team seems to be integrating their tool with a great deal of vendors, which is key if agents want to be productive.  A few popular real estate applications that automatically send leads to your Top Producer 7i Database include BuyerAcquire, Realtor.com and Rainmaker E-central.

Top Producer 8i Wish List

For those of you who use Top Producer 7.i,  ACT 2008, or other online databases, you may have a features wish list. Here’s what I’d like to request. Feel free to add!

• Have a more user-friendly interface. The Top Producer Database has a steep learning curve. It’s not very intuitive and requires at least some training. Although I’ve been happy with technical support, the product doesn’t function in the same way most users think. Top Producer can increase their 8i adoption rate if they can hang on to customers who give them a try.
• Get rid of little-used functions. Top Producer 7i has a kitchen sink approach to real estate. Does anyone really use their expense tracker or the feedback tool? I use the database, scheduling, and email features as well as lead and transaction management functions. Although most agents won’t use all features, developers should have enough data by now to get rid of extras that aren’t popular or that can be better served by existing tools like HomeFeedback.com.
• Integrate with Wolfnet IDX or other IDX tools. Wolfnet provides enhanced IDX searches including their very cool MapTracks upgrade. I saw an option in the Wolfnet admin panel for “Top Producer Integration”, but Wolfnet technical support didn’t understand what this link was for when I asked for clarification.
• Expand mobile functions. So far, Top Producer Mobile works on Palm, Blackberry and Windows platforms. When I send text messages, they can’t be linked to a contact record. It doesn’t seem too far-fetched to capture other forms of communication in the application.
• Run on a Mac. Apple just announced their increased market share. In the earlier part of my career at Apple, I endured laughter and taunting for “using an inferior computer”. Now that Apple has completed their comeback, it would be nice for Top Producer 8i to work on Mac products such as the iPhone and Macbook Pro. Sadly, I doubt this will happen with the new Apple operating system, Leopard on the way.

I’m not taking bets on features that Top Producer 8i will actually implement, but rumors were that the interface and usability have greatly improved, partially because Java is no longer required. Stay tuned!

I must say that I like the updates and think you will enjoy them. They include:

• A Redesigned Home Page
• “Count on the Fly” Search Results
• Individual REALTOR® Blogs
• Easier Site Navigation
• Ability to Save Listings and Custom Searches
• A Realtor.com Widget that works on PDAs and Cell Phones.
• New Listing Detail Page with neighborhood information, integrated maps, and open house alerts.
• Enhanced video tours that support a variety of formats.

This shows that REALTOR.com is making an effort to stay on the forefront of industry changes. One of their video tours stated that buyers will stay on their site longer because of the feature enhancements. I agree that the upgrades will make the site more “sticky”, but I’d like to see REALTOR.com do more to promote real estate agents without charging them extra.

It’s no secret that I think most REALTOR.com “upgrades” should be standard, but that’s another topic. See the ad in this month’s REALTOR Magazine.

So we’re on the same page, Client Gateways are simple sites that you can easily set up for clients via your MLS (such as TEMPO or MLXChange) that allow clients to view, save and make notes on properties. Most client gateways have great capabilities that can save time for the client and their agent, such as the ability to schedule a showing through ther tool.

RATEPLUG FOR MLXCHANGE

A handy MLXchange plugin is Rateplug, a free tool for agents that allows affiliated lenders to provide live, automatic mortgage information via their client gateway or emailed search. So far, it seems valuable to lenders, brokers and agents.

Here are just a few quick benefits:

• Agents and brokers can further enhance relationships with their most trusted mortgage professional without paying for the tool.
• The client can get real-time, accurate information from a trustworthy mortgage broker. Since the agent’s reputation is connected with the lender, you can expect a higher level of performance.
• If the buyer likes the mortgage rates and information, they can quickly contact the lender. Since they’ll get a live person, they can expect fast, personal treatment.
• Lenders can obtain live, warm leads who have already been searching for properties. You can feel comfortable knowing client contacted you, so they are probably a more serious buyer.

If you’re interested, take a look at the Rateplug website. They have an online demo that further explains features and benefits.

TOP PRODUCER

That said, I do like the integration of my Treo 650 with several real estate applications. For instance, the Treo will sync to my Top Producer database using the mobility upgrade. I have listings, closings, appointments and contacts all in one little device that travels with me.

The SUPRA iBOX

Many agents were upset when our board completely moved to Supra iBoxes, which are electronic keyboxes that allow secure access to homes. The Supra iBoxes by GE are useful because agents can set access hours and know exactly who entered the home once the agent syncs their key again. In Austin, we simply purchase iBoxes from the board. Before you can use it, they will program your information into the box.

The #1 benefit of using the iBox is the ability to quickly ask for seller feedback using HomeFeedback.com.

E-KEY APPLICATION

The eKey application is optional software that allows you to use your TREO to access Supra iBoxes instead of the typical MLS key. You can purchase it as an upgrade when you buy the box itself. The eKey application is pretty handy because you can search MLS through preset parameters, automatically sync to the key each night, and even send feedback once you open a door.

As other Palm OS applications come online, the Treo should continue to be useful. So far, I haven’t seen news that GE is working on applications that can sync to Blackberry or Windows Mobile platforms.

After a fair amount of searching, I settled on Slideshare.net. It’s very easy to use because you can just upload a power point presentation (PDF export from Apple Keynote for Mac users). If you’d like to add audio, simply point to the file on the net and use their online tool to match it up.

The very nice thing about online slide shows is that they can be emailed, embedded in a webpage or linked to. Slideshare, Blip.tv and others typically allow tagging, which can help with SEO.

Here are a few ideas on how you can use online slideshows in your real estate business:

1. As a pre-listing tool – I uploaded my listing presentation so sellers can view it online. I haven’t included all of my “secret” tools, but it gives sellers a great overview of how I work. I plan to add audio soon. See the example.
2. Introduce a new listing – Instead of just having pictures pan in and out, I created some slideshows at Blip.Tv and Slideshare. View it here.
   
   
3. Provide market updates – Using Slideshare, I was able to create a simple slide show that discussed development in Downtown Austin. I’m also gearing up to add audio, which I think will help better explain the upcoming changes. See it here.

These are just a few ideas and I can post a “how to” if readers are interested.

I’ve been using Dylan’s system for some time now and love the ease of use. See our Blip.tv video podcast (embedded below) for more information about Dylan’s background, features of DriveBuy and some hot tips for agents.

TOP FEATURES

• Buyers get instant information on properties via text message.
• Without speaking to an agent, you can get the home’s square footage, number of bed and bathrooms, price, and other basic information.
• The agent can text message e-flyers or additional information to you within seconds.

TIPS FOR AGENTS

• Respond to inquiries immediately with additional information.
• Do not attempt to leave out important details that buyers want, such as price and basic featuers.
• Do not call the buyer unless they show interest or ask.