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As Realestock readers may know from seeing our Twitter account and Facebook page, we are giving away an iPad. The contest was simple – tell us your most insightful or inspiring social media story. The most popular Facebook stories would be read by the Realestock staff and we’d pick a winner.
There was only one problem… the Realestock staff deadlocked. We couldn’t decide between two very worthy stories.  So, after a long meeting, our CEO solved the problem – put it up to a public vote – that way, the winner is chosen fairly and democratically.
So, please read these two stories that captivated the Realestock staff, then vote for your favourite. The voting closes on Saturday, June 19, and we will announce the winner on Monday June 21.

Story 1:  Kimberly Ciesla – Home Based Business Success in a Tough Economy
My story began 25 years ago when I married my husband. After our first child was born, we decided that we would focus all of our time and energies into raising our family and building a happy and safe home for them to grow up in. That is when our home-based window coverings business was born.  We have built this business from the ground up. During this entire time my husband has continued to work full-time as a machinist in Northern Michigan.
I’m not really sure how we managed to pull it all off, but we managed to stay in the black for 20+ years solely by spending smart and hunkering down when times became tough. I also put in a lot of extra time and effort totally pro-bono to help support our local Michigan music scene and community. This on top of trying to build a home-based business has not been an easy task to do and over the years we have had our ups and downs. Due to the struggling economy, the last two years have been the most difficult years of all and we have had to really be creative in finding ways to develop our business and advertising strategies.
Through all of our experiences in our home-based business we have found that the best type of advertising is word-of-mouth.  The social media networking system has really evolved over this period of time and most recently has created an abundance of opportunities to help to spread the word-of-mouth about our business and also the music events happening in our area.  Without social media, I am sure our business would have failed and we would have had to “close our doors” as many other local businesses have had to do over this past year.
Through it all I have become somewhat of a social media addict via Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks. Being a work at home mother of two children, now ages 16 and 21, utilizing social media has kept me socially connected to my friends, family and colleagues across the entire United States and to the “outside world”.
This has also afforded us the opportunity to help to support our children’s future and also allowed us to be readily available and to assist my husband’s elderly mother who has become disabled by a stroke. She has been living comfortably and dependently in her own home with our support.  We both give everyday to our home, business and children and family and the home based business has allowed us the flexibility to drop and run at a moment’s notice. An iPad would be VERY USEFUL in helping me to continue to do my work for the local music scene along side with continuing to build and grow our small business via the social media network! The portability of an iPad will be a great help to keep me tweeting and posting while on the go with my busy and active family life!

Story 2:  Ryan Chelak – Devoted Father of a Special Needs Boy and Social Media Junkie
OK, so aside from being a Realtor, a social media junkie and a blogger - I'm first and foremost a father.
I have 3 children, and in April of last year, our youngest boy was diagnosed Autistic. I was in denial and it wasn’t easy – and this is the first time I’ve ‘publicly’ shared this much of our struggle with Autism. My wife is a rock and since last April, each day we fight day by day, little by little to help make our son’s quality of life better.  Our son Benjamin, has a more severe occurrence of Autism and is non-verbal – he can’t talk. Over the past year we’ve moved past our pediatrician’s assessment of “there’s nothing you can do” and educated ourselves as much as we can about this disability.
Last October we started ABA therapy. He’s responded amazingly to the therapy and has even started some non-verbal indicators like pointing! I know it seems silly, but when you have an autistic child, things like eye contact, pointing and smiling AT YOU have such an impact, I can’t possibly explain it. There is a lot you can do to help with Autism, unfortunately the wait list for potential government funding for ABA/IBI therapy is 3 years so everything we’re doing comes directly out of pocket. 
The reality is when you have kids, you sacrifice everything you possibly can to make their lives better. An iPad isn’t in the cards right now when my son and other 2 kids need and can benefit more from the money that’s on the table.
My son can’t speak or communicate verbally, but he will take our hands and lead us to what he wants if he can’t bring it to us; however there’s still a lot of guess work and trial and error involved.  His therapists have mentioned that they think he’s ready for and would benefit from the PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) method. PECS is a system of exchanging pictures to communicate. This system was developed to help people with autism who are nonverbal or have limited verbal communication. It entails taking pictures of everything he would play with, want, eat or use and setting up a centre where he can go and ‘show us’ what he needs or wants.
A far less labour intensive and PORTABLE solution would be an app that’s been developed for the iPhone and iPad. It uses the PECS method and would help our son to communicate with us by touching what he wants through the app. This has to be the coolest thing ever and would have the biggest impact or benefit for using an iPad in our family.
As I said before, I’m not expecting you to believe that I wouldn’t LOVE an iPad for business.  Would I use an iPad for my business? Of course, just like everyone else would - but I can’t tell you what a gift it would be to be able to better communicate with my little boy.

Still want to win an iPad? We’re planning to do a lot more contests and giveaways at Realestock! Head on over to our newsletter the Realestock Report and check out the Summer Issue for another chance to win an iPad!

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More and more real estate agents are investing in Customer Relationship Management software (CRM) because they’ve been told it will make their lives easier and increase their sales.  Adopting a CRM system isn’t a magical sell-more solution for realtors though.  There are no guarantees that it will make a business more productive and more profitable – the only guarantee is that it will cost money! According to research firm Meta Group Inc, 55% to 75% of CRM solutions fail to meet their initial objectives. If that initial objective is increasing sales for a realtor… then what customer relationships is that software actually managing?

That said, as many real estate agents will tell you, a successful CRM system is an incredible tool for them – allowing them more time, more flexibility and more automation in their day to day tasks.  So, the decision – should you take the customer relationship management plunge –  is not an easy one.  Only you can determine, based on your personal needs if a system will be a boon, or just a money wasting bust.

However, to ease the decision making process, we’ve done some research and put together a short quiz. Give yourself 2 points for a yes, 1 for a maybe and zero points for a no – then tally up your scores and see how you did.

Scores:

0–4: While many real estate agents swear by customer relationship management software, you probably don’t need it.  Your business seems to run well the way it is, and there aren’t a lot of direct benefits to be gained for the cost of a real estate customer relationship management system.

5–8: You answered with a lot of maybes, and that’s where you are with CRM – maybe you need it, but maybe you don’t. There is room for improvement, but before adopting a potentially expensive solution, you may be able to use your existing system better.

9–12: What are you waiting for? You know what you need to do with your customer data to take your business to the next level – so go out there are do it! If you’re in this category, you would benefit from implementing CRM software. Start putting together a list of your requirements, and determining which solution is right for you. You won’t regret it!

Photo Credit: Lincoln Mondy. Flickr

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Apple naysayers – your end is nigh! While it was hard to ignore how iPhone revolutionized the smartphone, with the incredible success of the iPad (2 million sold in 2 months), only the staunchest of apple opponents aren’t begrudgingly jumping on the iBandwagon.

However, what do you do if you’re just getting around to using an iProduct? Here’s a listing of the our pick for the 12 best iPhone and iPad Apps for Real Estate. Not all of them are real estate apps, but all of them are great tools for your business.

Real Estate

NearBuy:

Developed by 4 university of Missouri students, this app won the team an iPhone app creation contest in 2009. Proudly the number 2 real estate app, you can search by area, bookmark listings and see where the results fall in price without having to open the listing with Nearbuy’s coloured coded listing pins. Available for iPhone. Price: Free

Trulia:

Trulia’s iPhone app takes the Trulia website and makes it portable. Search by area, bring up detailed listings and see the properties history – has it gone up or down in price? A realtor standby, but the catch it that it doesn’t work in Canada. Still, if you can use it, Trulia is a great tool. Available for iPhone. Price: Free

Zillow:

The reigning champion of realty apps, the Zillow app provides location search, Zestimate price information, changes in price, sale and tax info, all with a clean, super simple to use interface. It’s easy to see why Zillow is number one! Better yet, it looks great on the iPad. Available for both iPad and iPhone. Price: Free

Yelp:

Need to find a restaurant in an unfamiliar neighborhood? Just want to try someplace new? Running out of gas? Don’t look further than Yelp – you can search by business, or area. The best feature though? Read the online reviews from Yelp users to take the guess work out of finding a new place to eat lunch. Available for iPhone. Price: Free

Around Me:

Not a local, but need to show clients there are plenty of amenities in a new neighbourhood? Around me is what you need. Similar to yelp, but with a more basic interface, Around me grabs your location and allows you to choose from preset categories like banks, coffee shops, movie theatres and even hospitals. View the route from where you are, add the information to your contact list or even email the information to a friend. Warning though – if the information you want is not in Google maps, it won’t be on Around Me. Still, handy if you’re in a big city. Available for iPhone. Price: Free

powerOne Financial Calculator:

There are many mortgage and finance calculators, but powerOne is the Cadillac of them all. Figure out investment income, mortgage payments, compound interest, or do some advanced algebraic equations. The well designed interface means that you’ll never sweat when trying to do complex math again. Available for both iPad and iPhone. Price: $5.99

General Productivity:

Evernote:

This app has many fans in just about every industry there is. Evernote flawlessly takes notes, pictures or audio recordings with the app, and then syncs it up to your home computer later. Add tags for even easier file retrieval. Evernote comes up in a lot of “best app” lists for a reason. Available for both iPad and iPhone. Price: Free

Dragon Dictation:

Apps like this even make the biggest tech fiend swoon. An incredibly accurate dictation app that works like a charm (speak slowly and clearly for best results), and can send your notes to text, email or the clipboard. Never drive and text again (not that you would do that!) Available for both iPad and iPhone. Price: Free

GoodReader:

Like Evernote, Goodreader has many brand evangelists – one of the best and most reliable readers for the iPad, Goodreader can view local files, download files from websites, FTP servers, Google Docs, AND use wifi to move files from your home computer to your iPhone or iPad.  Reads PDFs, word documents, PowerPoint presentations, txt files… almost anything you might want to read. Available for both iPad and iPhone. Price: $0.99 (on sale now!)

iWork Suite:

Apple ported Pages, Number and Keynote (aka, Word, Excel and PowerPoint) to the iPad and the results are astounding – maybe they don’t have all the functionality of the desktop versions, but they do anything you’d ever want to do on the go. If you use a laptop mainly for email and internet, the iWork suite makes a compelling argument to ditch the laptop for an iPad. Available for iPad. Price: $9.99 each.

Social Media:

Facebook:

The official app is still the best one out there. Limited functionality (groups are not listed in the default launch screen, and you can’t read messages on for events), but if you’re a Facebook junkie, you have to download this app. Available for iPhone. Price: Free.

Twitterific:

There are about a million Twitter apps for the iPhone, and each one has its pros and cons. Twitterific gets our nod because it has one of the most intuitive user interfaces, supports multiple twitter accounts, and is super easy to use. Available for both iPad and iPhone. Price: Free version for iPhone and iPad, & a $4.99 premium version for iPhone (without ads).

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Any Realtor will tell you that Real Estate is a competitive industry – between competition from other agents, demands from clients, and the breakneck pace of technological updates to keep up on, it’s not surprising that some agents might be wistful for the simpler days when adding their listings to MLS, printing out some direct mail pamphlets and taking out a few advertisements in the local paper were their real estate sales tools. 
So how are successful agents marketing property now? How do you sell real estate today? It’s as simple as BYOB. No, not Bring Your Own… Beverage…
The new sales tools are all about setting up a Brand, using Yourself as a tool, getting your listings Online and setting up a Blog.

Brand
Chances are when you are thinking about a major purchase, you’ll gravitate to a brand that fits your needs. How do you know that a Honda is a better fit for you than a Hummer? Simple – if you’re looking for a car that’s reliable and fuel efficient, you know that Honda is a brand you associate with those qualities. If you already associate a brand with the things you’re looking for, you’ll turn to that brand when you want to buy.
Real estate is no different. A potential client is looking for an expert in the type of home they want to buy or sell. If someone is looking for to sell their high end downtown condo, they’re not going to start with a real estate agent that is primarily in the business of selling family bungalows.  Take what you know, and make it your brand. If you have a lot of interest in local history and architecture, brand yourself as a Historical Homes Expert, and use your knowledge to connect to people who want a heritage home. Drive sales using a unique brand as a real estate tool.

Yourself
If you feel that Twitter and Facebook are replacing ‘real’ interactions with people, you’re about half right. Yes, people are increasingly socializing online, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to actually socialize – quite the opposite. In the age when anyone can connect to anyone else, the best real estate sales tool you can have is… yourself! Engage your twitter followers, follow your local hashtag, attend things like ‘tweetups’ and actually become friends with the people you talk to online.  Put yourself out there as not only a real estate agent, but a friendly, local expert.

Online
Putting a listing onto MLS is now just one sales tool. Creating a website to showcase your listings, putting videos of house tours up on YouTube (way better than just a few photos), using location based listing services and specialty real estate websites can greatly increase the chances that a listing will be seen. There are numerous online real estate tools that can be used to market and sell real estate and not just to locals – buyers from other areas, and people looking for investment properties in other markets are likely to use online services to find properties. Getting online and getting exposed is the way to sell real estate.

Blog
When you want information on something, you probably hop online and Google it. Looking for a Realtor is no different. So how do you make sure your name, and your website comes up first? Blog, blog, blog! 

A blog demonstrates that you know about the local market, have good insights and are at the top of your game.  It also gives a search engine something to find you with. If you want to position yourself as the top seller of high end condos in Vancouver, start a blog – they’re one of the most powerful real estate sales tools.  If your blog has lots of posts about condos, apartments and downtown Vancouver living, it’s more likely to be picked up by search engines; therefore, when someone searches for “downtown Vancouver Condos Real Estate Agent” your blog will be one of the first to show up.

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Well known for having the hottest real estate market in Canada, Vancouver defied market trends, with the average prices increasing despite the worldwide recession. Famous for incredible mountains, a strong economy and being an olympic host city.

What do you get for $1,000,000?

If you’re looking for a home to call your own in Vancouver without moving to the suburbs or the rougher east side, and all you have to spend is a million, you’ll be looking at a fairly modest house pretty far away from downtown. The better bet is on a condo - in the million dollar price range, you can get yourself a two bedroom sub-penthouse in the tony Yaletown district.

Trendy Sub-penthouse Condo - Vancouver

Size: 1049 sq feet

Bedrooms: 2

Bathrooms: 2

Price: $999,900 CAD

Tokyo, Japan

The original housing bubble economy, Tokyo real estate is expensive because the city is incredibly crowded - over 8 million people live in the city proper, but adding all the outlying suburbs and towns that are connected by the massive rail network swells that number to a mind blowing 30,000,000 people. With so many people wanting to live in a limited area, real estate is valued above all else.

What do you get for $1,000,000?

A surprisingly large apartment in Kagurazaka - a neighbourhood in the classy, ultra-modern and fashionable Shinjuku Ward of Tokyo. Kagurazaka boasts tree-lined streets, some of the best traditional Japanese restaurants in Tokyo, and lots of of history - the area was home to geisha and artists in the 18th century. Watch out for the extra fees though - parking, building management and maintenance fees are an extra $1,300 a month!

Modern Family Home - Tokyo

Size: 125.55 sq m (1,351 sq feet)

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 1

Price: ¥89,500,000 (or about $1,002,129 CAD)

Seattle, Washington, USA

Seattle - the home of high tech companies such as Amazon and Microsoft, and the birthplace of the global obsession with good coffee. Despite its high tech industry, Seattle is delightfully down to earth, filled with funky, hole in the wall eateries and friendly people.

What do you get for $1,000,000?

A brand new apartment right the middle of downtown with a waterfront view - and only a few blocks from the internationally famous Pike Place market. The Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue condominiums have floor to ceiling windows, high end appliances and all the amenities that you’d expect to have in a million dollar apartment in one of the best and most exciting parts of Seattle.

Brand New Downtown Digs - Seattle

Size: varies (from 1,787 sq feet)

Bedrooms: varies

Bathrooms: varies

Price: $1,000,000 USD + (or about $ 1,032,680 CAD +)

Paris, France

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7 Ways to use the iPad in Real Estate and 1 way to win an iPad for yourself!

Why do so many people lust after iPads? These “magical” little devices are in hot demand with good reason. Early-adopting realtors have been quick to jump on the iPad bandwagon, using it to enhance their open houses, presentations, and showings.  Want to know how?

Here are 7 ways to effectively use an iPad in real estate:

1. Use your iPad as an interactive signup sheet for open house visitors. Bonus: Don’t waste time later transcribing information into your CRM or contact management software.
2. Use Yelp or Google maps to quickly show buyers how close by great restaurants, schools, grocery stores or any other amenities are.
3. Set up a keynote presentation to play a virtual tour of a property, and email it to buyers who want more information after they’ve seen the open house.
4. Keep your client’s info at your fingers by accessing documents stored online.
5. Stop giving yourself eyestrain by looking at your iPhone to access MLS listings, emails and maps!
6. Flag the map locations of properties for clients and get immediate driving directions from each location.
7. Buyers not so interested in the open house, but like the area? Have PDFs of your other listings in the area easily accessible for them to browse on the iPad.

Sounds good, right? Well, the best way to see if something will work for you is to try it – and Realestock is giving away a free iPad to give you that chance!

How do you win? Just head on over to the Realestock Facebook page, and share your real estate social media success story, OR why you think an iPad would be great for your business. The most insightful or inspiring story will win – simple as that.

Contest closes June 4, 2010. Good Luck!

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Luxury real estate sales in Canada are soaring, breaking pre-recession sales records as buyers are capitalizing on low interest rates and increasing economic confidence.
RE/MAX released its first quarter Upper End 2010 Report on Monday, showing a marked increase in luxury home sales in markets across Canada. The report noted that, "Canada's sound banking system, political stability, and strong dollar are attracting foreign investment -- and that is spilling over into high-end residential real estate.”

According to Wayne Schrader, a RE/MAX Broker/Owner and specialist in luxury properties on Vancouver Island, consumer confidence is playing a big part in the rallying sales.
“Markets are picking up and turning the corner,” said Schrader. “People are realizing the big recession didn’t materialize in Canada, and at the same time, prices have come down and are much more attractive.”
The Conference board of Canada echoes Schrader’s sentiments - its economic forecasts predict the Canadian economy will grow at a healthy 3.2% in 2010. An upswing in the economy makes the current market conditions even more attractive, as buyers take advantage of the current low interest rates, noted Schrader.
But why have sales increases have been so sharp, in some cases bettering years that were fueled by the white-hot real estate markets of the time? According to Schrader, and the report, they key is balance.
High end property prices have softened from their previous peaks explained Schrader, which can make luxury real estate look like a better investment for some buyers.
“Ample opportunity and a good selection of product exists, and savvy purchasers are taking advantage of favourable conditions,” said the report.
According to the Elton Ash, Regional Executive Vice-President of RE/MAX in Western Canada. the luxury “segment of the market was hardest hit when the recession took hold, yet its comeback has been fast and furious.”
Comparative sales figures back up Ash’s statements. In the first quarter of 2009, high end property sales had slumped - only 411 properties classified as “upper end” were sold by RE/MAX across Canada. This year, the number has leapt to 1,111 - an increase of more than 170%.  Comparing that to 2008’s first quarter sales of 894 high end properties shows overall sales in Canada are still up almost 24% over pre-recession numbers.

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On April 28^th and 29^th, 2010 in New York City, CMAEON’s CEO and Founder, Tim Vasko will be speaking at the REMarTech (Real Estate Marketing & Technology Academy) event on online marketing, named ‘Is Social Media a Fad?’

The ReMarTech is a two-day conference with eighteen workshops, focusing on online listings and “virtual office websites”, lead generation, email and mobile marketing, online video and viral marketing, publicity and PR, the Facebook Marketplace and much more!

Tim will be leading two innovative workshops on Website Design-Web Portal Magic and Social Conversation Lead Generation. His workshop on website design focuses on how to create buyer relationships through web content tools, understanding connected media and how to drive buyers to your website and how to create a successful web presence strategy.

Tim’s workshop on lead generation will take participants on a journey to discover new ways to practice online lead generation. Topics that will be covered include: how to find, qualify and convert leads, how to become part of the natural social conversation and how to inspire word of mouth online.

Speaking from his experiences running CMAEON® and Realestock, Tim will address key issues in lead generation and website design facing today’s marketplace to help participants discover how to rank higher on Google and create updated content to engage and attract buyers.

Other speakers at the event include Ross Anderson, President/Owner of nylmedia and NewYorkLuxury.com, Sarah Bonert, Director of Broker Services, Zillow and Kelly Roark, VP of Interactive Sales and Development from HGTV/Scripps Network.

For more information on Tim’s workshops or to register for the event, please check out Real Estate Marketing and Technology Academy at http://greenpearlevents.com/remartech/.

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