Technology Cost vs. Value
by Kurtis Holsapple on 11:46 am June 16, 2008
As an owner of an online marketing tool that is always expanding its options and features, I am wondering what technology enhancements does to your listing fee. We all know that in each brokerage there are those that “Get It” and those that don’t. With all the great technology that I see being showcased on this site, does this affect how much you cost? I know of a few local agents here in Portland, OR that have different pricing structures based on how much the … Read More »
Who needs a local desktop anymore?
by Kurtis Holsapple on 4:30 pm April 24, 2008
In a world that is rapidly filling up with internet access points, that question might be more and more realistic. Introducing Ulteo.com, a complete online desktop with the tools to do most day to day work. I urge you to take a look at this, and see what you think. True, working with an online desktop can definitely slow you down without a fast internet connection, and lag time could drive you crazy, but just imagine being able to access any file you want to, … Read More »
Online marketing, “The worst idea ever”
by Kurtis Holsapple on 9:08 am April 1, 2008
Read this article from Yahoo Real Estate as to why they are pulling the plug on everything that has to do with online real estate. Quote: “With the lack of face to face business taking place today, we have decided to help out those that never got sidetracked with all this fancy technology. Good for you with your ad in the paper, your 1000′s of mailers and your door to door marketing. Paper is the only medium that people trust when they read it; if … Read More »
What is your home’s Walk Score?
by Kurtis Holsapple on 10:55 am March 21, 2008
For any agents out there working with buyers, especially for those that are looking to buy in the city, here is a great website to build the value of the area you are showing. It’s called WalkScore.com and it is a pretty cool site. Living in Portland, OR, I wasn’t too surprised to find that my walk score was pretty high (88 out of 100). Showing off a condo in the city, or working with a seller, try putting their walk score into your listing … Read More »
Live near the Portland, OR area?
by Kurtis Holsapple on 1:31 am March 12, 2008
If you live near the Portland, OR area, and you read this blog, chances are you should think about attending this event. All the tech savvy Real Estate people from the Portland Metro area are going to get together for a few drinks, some talking and absolutely NO shameless self promotion. Hosted by Joel Burslem from FOREM and Inmann, you know this will be good exposure. It’s almost positive that the guys from PlugMyListing.com will be there. Time to meet the neighbors. The location is … Read More »
Top Producer – 8i Improvements over 7i and still boring websites
by Kurtis Holsapple on 12:15 am February 22, 2008
Working with agents in the Portland, OR area, I run into many different contact management systems, but keep running into Top Producer. Just about every agent using this system is using version 7i, and with it’s quirks and annoyances, it seems to be doing a pretty good job of providing agents what they need to get their jobs done. With the release of 8i Top Producer answered some of my big problems with it. The user interface is much improved. It is easier to navigate … Read More »
Another Web Tool – Splashup
by Kurtis Holsapple on 7:14 pm January 29, 2008
As I continue to find new tools online, I will write about them here if they are applicable to the real estate business. With as much real estate photography talk as is going on here, I though I should share this great tool. Toady I will be writing about the website Splashup.com. This website uses a flash tool for online photo editing that ties into your Picasa, Flicker, Facebook accounts or works with images on your computer. You can also create a Splashup.com account and … Read More »
Save the planet, be more geeky.
by Kurtis Holsapple on 11:03 pm January 6, 2008
I know a few agents in the Portland area that are working to save the environment and cut paperwork by using a new service called DocuSign. We can all do our part in 2008 for our planet, and I think that online document signing could be a great first step. The legalities of this have been cleared by those in power at a local KW office here in Oregon, but I would definitely recommend you all to check with your brokerages before starting up a … Read More »
2007, a bad year for OS upgrades?
by Kurtis Holsapple on 3:00 pm December 26, 2007
As a nerd, I like to check out the end of the year lists that most companies put out. You can find thousands just by typing “Best of 2007″ in Google and waste a couple of days getting feedback from everyone. One list I thought people should take a look at is straight from PCWorld, a rather reputable tech source. They have put together a list of the 15 biggest tech disappointments for 2007 and I was quite surprised by some of the items listed. … Read More »
Feed generation annoyances
by Kurtis Holsapple on 10:24 am December 18, 2007
As a web developer, I have the fun of creating feeds for different agents to use as a means to get their listings onto some of the bigger listing web sites (Trulia, Zillow, formerly edgeio, Vast, etc.). All of these sites have different specifications as to how to format the feed but a few things remain consistent throughout. Here is a list from a programmer’s perspective to the most problematic things that we see when developing feeds from agent input. Use numbers when it makes … Read More »
