Technology

We’ve added a new widget to our website - Instant Answers via Text Messaging!

Now, if you have a specific question about the buying or selling process or if you’re finding your next home on buyyourphoenixhome.com, you can ask a question and get an instant answer via text messaging.  We already offer instant answers via Instant Messaging (which is conveniently located below the new text messaging widget to the left) - but we aren’t always online to answer questions as instantly as we’d like.

Arizona Fusion Real Estate will receive your question on our iPhone and quickly respond via text messaging.  Because we have access to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service on our iPhones, we can quickly answer a question regarding a specific property and text the information back to you.

It’s all a part of our commitment to providing innovative solutions for today’s real estate consumer and backs up our philosophy of providing:

personal service enhanced by today’s technology.

It’s always available via the sidebar but you can also try it below:

We’re diving into video.  And we’re not talking home virtual tours with a slideshow of Carl Burns effected photos - they’re yesterday’s news.  We’re actually not even talking about specific homes.

Today, we’re proud to bring you Fusion Vision!  The goal is to bring readers a firsthand look at (mostly) Southeast Phoenix Valley communities and attractions.  From housing communities and buildings to favorite restaurants to quick tours of shopping areas and scenic attractions, Fusion Vision is our way of bringing a little piece of the Valley of the Sun to people all over the world.

Fusion Vision is by no means a professionally cut end product.  Fusion Vision is created by a man and his will… and an Apple MacBook, iMovie software and a fantastic Panasonic LUMIX DCM-TZ5 digital camera that records both HD video as well as takes fantastic photographs.

So, drum roll please …

By the way, if you want to get the feel for a Fusion Power Search personal website, you can view our sample site for Seville here as well as get a feel for the vast range of homes on the resale market in Seville.  At posting, listings ranged from $170,000 to $2.7M.

• Username: sevillesample
• Password: fusionpower
• Fusion Power Search Website

With a Fusion Power Search, you have your own, personal and secure website that constantly updates from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.  You can save your favorite homes, throw out ones you don’t like, view all homes or just your favorites on a map - even cross reference homes with tax information.  You can also ask additional questions on a listing or schedule a time to view your favorite homes in person!

Fusion Power Search is a result of the fantastic new MLS system we have here in Phoenix.

While I’d rather not get into politics at Arizona Fusion Real Estate …

John McCain’s Election Campaign is so 1.0.  Barack Obama’s Campaign is so 2.0.  Why?

Barack Obama’s Campaign sent out millions of text messages early last week to those who have registered at Obama’s website to give them the option of enrolling in a text messaging service to be the “first to know on who his VP running mate choice is.”  Millions enrolled.  Studies have shown that Obama’s campaign received the most enrollment from voters under the age of 40 - a critical demographic on Election Day.

As a result, Obama now has over 3 million people in his text messaging campaign.  Voters can still sign up at his website, too.  In fact, it looks like Obama will start advertising the option to all of America with a “text CHANGE to 62262″ at the end of all his online marketing and possibly television commercials as well:

The end of Obama campaign pieces :: Text CHANGE to 62262

Who knows how many phone numbers Obama will have as important dates near: the last day to register in each state and election day.  Will it be 4 million?  5 million?  10 million? 20 million?  Any way you slice it, having a database of cell phone numbers is invaluable to Obama.

McCain, on the other hand, is living in a 1.0 world.  He has a great website, a Facebook and MySpace page - but so does Obama.  McCain’s camp has chosen to take the stance that “voters are more concerned about the issues rather than receiving a text message.”  McCain is missing a huge opportunity to reach voters - an opportunity that Obama is seizing.

Obama also does a fantastic job of sending daily, if not more-than-once-a-day, emails to voters that include links to his website and often YouTube videos of what’s going on his campaign.

So how does this relate to real estate?

If you’re a real estate professional you should be striving to incorporate a web 2.0 experience for your clients as well as way to network.  You could create a text messaging campaign yourself with a simple SMS Plugin.  You could join Twitter and send out blog update links to your followers (which some may receive as a text message).  Once you have a database of subscribers you can send updates on listings, promotions, etc.  A few text messages a month will keep your business top-of-mind.

One thing Arizona Fusion plans on incorporating in the near future are videos of the Southeast Phoenix Valley.  We recently added a “Southeast Valley Spotlight” which highlights attractions, real estate developments and more in areas we do business - Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert.  Soon, we’ll add video spotlights as well.

Being 2.0 means reaching potential clients and servicing your current clients in the most dynamic way possible.  We strive to do it at Arizona Fusion Real Estate - constantly changing our marketing strategies as this world wide web of data continue to evolve.

I recently stumbled upon a listing in the Tempe area (see previous post) that at first made me half laugh at the stupidity of the agent selling the condo and half empathetically cry for the sellers of the condo.  

“The property, which is listed near downtown Tempe for just under $400,000 is incorrectly listed as being within the Cave Creek Unified District.  That’s one hell of a bus ride for kids to Cave Creek which is roughly a 36 mile drive to the northern-most suburb city of the Phoenix metro area.”

Worse yet is the description used in the listing - or lack of description for that matter.  It gives no detail of the property or the amenities located within this development or the convenience of future light rail and the proximity to downtown Tempe.  The pictures (there are only three and the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service now allows unlimited photos) posted for the listing look like they were taken with the first cell phone camera ever created as they are grainy and extremely small.  Worse yet, the agent “stole” a stock photo of a Tempe Town Lake sunset and the Mill Avenue Bridge - and used it as one of the three photos to market the property.  

Now, for the icing on the cake - the property is listed as “Owner/Agent” which means the agent selling the property is also the owner.  My empathetic cry for the seller quickly went away.  Can you imagine what this agent does for his/her clients if this is all he/she does for his/her own property!?!  It’s no wonder the real estate industry has a bad image - who sees the value in paying an agent upwards of $24,000 to market a property in that way?  I sure as hell wouldn’t.

Sellers:  Check and recheck your complete MLS listing for accuracies!  Don’t ever assume, no matter who your agent is, that they’ve listed your home with 100% accuracy.  Better yet, don’t assume they’ve posted it in it’s best light.  There are a few way to check your MLS listing.  The easiest is to simply ask your agent for the complete listing printout.  Ask for the “Agent Report” so that you see everything another REALTOR would see.  Verify that all the information in the listing is correct and that nothing has been left out.

Better yet, go to websites that reciprocate MLS data - perhaps ours - and check your listing’s photos and (hopefully you have one) virtual tour.  On our site, you can view the pictures in full-screen - but only if your agent has loaded photos that are of full-screen quality.  If they haven’t, they’ll be small photos or even grainy if they are of super-low quality.  Not only that, verify that your photos actually present your property in it’s best light.  That means either your agent is a great photographer with a great camera or your agent hired a professional photographer.  

With well over 80% of home buyers using the internet to start their search it’s very easy for them to move on to the next listing if the pictures for your property don’t stir their interest.  Most of us are visual people and will first look at the pictures and then decide if we actually want to read about the property.  Make sure your pictures and virtual tour engage buyers rather than disengage.  And make sure the information on your property is 100% accurate to ensure it comes up on searches as it should.

I am in need of more business cards and decided to place my main social networks on the business cards so that people can find me on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Here’s the design:

With social networking being a primary way of finding people - I thought it only made sense to add my Facebook profile (find out about the personal me), Twitter profile (find out what I am doing and where I am) and my LinkedIn profile (find out about the business me).

Feel free to join me as a friend in any of my social networks!

FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN

Arizona Fusion Real Estate is excited to announce new and innovative features that give buyers excellent tools for searching for the first, next or best home ever!  We call it fusionpower search!

fusionpower search allows buyers to completely tailor their search and access it on a personal, secure website.

Have you ever wanted to search within just a specific area ?  For example, maybe you are looking for a home that is north of Broadway in Tempe, Arizona but between Mill Avenue and Rural Road but south of Tempe Town Lake - and when you’re west of Mill you’d like to the search to continue north of University but east of Hardy Drive.  fusionpower search allows you to do just that!

It's okay. Be as specific as you'd like on where and what you'd like to search.

Here is what fusionpower search can do for you if you are thinking of buying real estate in the Phoenix Valley:

•    Search Your Way - Like You’ve Always Wanted ::  Be as specific as you like - a 5 mile radius from work, between Mill Avenue and Rural Roads south of Tempe Town Lake but north of Broadway, within a mile from a light-rail station - whatever your personal search requirements are we’ll meet them!
•    HD Photos :: If the listing agent has made the photos available, you’ll be able to view photos in fullscreen, HD quality.
•    Virtual Tours :: If the listing agent has created a virtual tour you’ll have a direct link all within your fusionpower search webpage.
•    Compare :: You’ll be able to compare other homes that are on the market.  You can see what the average Days on the Market are, what the average list price is and more.
•    Sales History :: If you’d like, we can add to your fusionpower search the recent sales activity and show you what homes have sold in the past three months in your search area so that you can get an idea of what you’d like to offer.  You’ll even be able to compare what the list price was compared to the sales price.  Of course, we’ll review this information again when we’re ready to make an offer.
•    Save Your Favorites :: You’ll be able to save your favorite properties for later so that you always have access to the information.  No more re-searching or clicking through hundreds of listings to show your family and friends.  You can also throw out listings you hate.
•    Schedule Showings Online :: Have questions on a specific property or want to schedule a showing?  Do it online at anytime.
•    Tax Info :: Your fusionpower search will give you instant access to public tax information from the Assessor’s Office on properties that interest you.
•    Mortgage Calculator :: Just click on the basic mortgage calculator to see what your payments might be.  fusionpower search gives you all the search power you’ll need.

Sign up for your personal fusionpower search webpage and when you purchase a home with arizonafusion, we’ll include:
•    A Free Home Warranty :: Up to a $500 value, your Home Warranty protects you from unforeseen issues with major expense items such as the air conditioner, water heater, appliances and more.  The warranty even will rekey your home and provide you with new and unique keys.
•    10% Back :: We donate 10% of our earned commissions to the charity, non-profit or university of your choice.  You can read more here.

Sign up for your fusionpower search website now.

With President Bush signing into law a bill that aims to help over 400,000 homeowners from losing their homes into foreclosure, buyers sitting on the fence should also know that it changes how you can purchase a home through the Federal Housing Administration, or FHA.

The law also requires buyers to put a down payment of 3.5% for a FHA Loan.  Previously, buyers only required 3% as a down payment.

But what may affect buyers even more is that sellers are no longer allowed to gift the down payment to the buyer.  New Home Builders can no longer give you your down payment and sellers can no longer give you an incentive to buy their home by handing you a down payment from their proceeds.

Buyers should be aware of this.  FHA loans are becoming the most popular mortgages out there.  Right now, buyers can still accept a down payment from a new home builder or seller before October 1, 2008.

The new housing bill also gives first-time home buyers a tax credit of 10% of the sales price (up to $7500).  In the Phoenix area you’re most likely going to get the entire $7500 tax credit with current market prices.  It should be noted that although the tax credit will benefit you on next year’s taxes - it is really an interest-free loan from the government.  You’ll be paying it back over the course of the next 15 years.

Is now the right time for you?  If you have good credit and have been waiting for the right time but don’t necessarily have a significant down payment you may want to start searching now - if the time is right for you and/or your family.

You can use arizonafusion’s map-based search or our just released fusionpower search for the ultimate property search experience!

Born: 1901 :: LA Times Real Estate Sunday Section

Deceased: July 27, 2008

That’s right.  The LA Times have discontinued their Sunday Real Estate Section this past weekend with the final printing.  

Is this a sign of things to come?  Newspapers are hurting all across the country as advertisers - from large corporations to smaller companies to REALTORS - move their marketing dollars from print to online.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why:

• Online advertising is more interactive (surveys, games, virtual tours, IM’ing …)
• Online advertising can hit a larger targeted audience.
• Online advertising, if done right, dollar-for-dollar will give you more bang for your buck.
• Over 80% of all real estate buyers and sellers start their research online.
• Fewer and fewer people read the newspaper - they go online for their news.

After recieving some comments, emails and feedbacks from Michael Wurzer, President and CEO of FBS Data Systems (the company who has created FlexMLS) and Bob Bemis, the CEO of the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, the problem I previously mentioned while trying to search listings on wireless.flexmls.com has been solved!  Hooray and hopefully no more “WTFs” except when clients and I see grossly overpriced listings.

If you haven’t used wireless.flexmls.com (and of course are an ARMLS member) here are some quick tips to get started with wireless FlexMLS access and then to save yourself from the “WTFs” and urge to toss your wireless device across the room:

• Get a smartphone device: Pony up.  Get with the times.  Do what you have to do - but you’ll serve clients much better if you have a smartphone, like the Apple iPhone, a BlackBerry or Palm.  I am partial to Apple products but also think the ease and use of an iPhone would make it the top choice for most agents whether they’re technology gurus or not.Ideally, you’ll want to get a device that has “3G” access, which means it accesses high-speed cellular networks with speeds similar to broadband at home (slow home broadband, but broadband nonetheless).  AT&T calls it “3G”.  Verizon Wireless calls it “EVDO” (although I noticed in a recent radio commercial they actually used the word “3G,” most likely a fallout from all the iPhone 3G coverage).  Sprints calls it “Sprint Vision.”  Currently, at least in the Phoenix Valley, T-Mobile does not have a broadband wireless network.
• Expect to spend about $30 more a month: Wireless companies will charge you, on average, around $30 a month for unlimited data access on your smartphone.  A small investment for the service you’ll be providing to clients and the convenience you’ll have of pulling up stats on the fly even if your paperwork is not handy, flew out the window, got ate by the dog, etc.
• Bookmark wireless.flexmls.com: The iPhone makes it super easy to have one-touch access to the wireless version of the ARMLS.  Here’s a screenshot of my own iPhone.  Now, Michael, can your software developers throw in an iPhone icon so that it doesn’t look so generic and ghetto on my screen (like the Google RSS and Wells Fargo you see)?  Notice the “flexmls Web” icon/link in the bottom row above my calendar:
  

  flexmls Web is located just above my Calendar widget in the lower lefthand corner giving me one touch access to the ARMLS.

  Most wireless devices will allow bookmarks.  It should be noted that even if you don’t have a smartphone, aren’t eligible to upgrade without shelling out full retail price for the handset (which still may be worth it in my opinion) or simply want to hang on to the 1990s, you can still access wireless.flexmls.com from most “regular” cell phones by going to the phone’s browser and typing in the address.

• DESELECT search items for a successful search: As Michael put it, “I know this is lame but what’s happening here is that a couple of the fields are getting selected by the browser even though you’re not selecting them.”  More specifically, the “Compass” and “Street Suffix” fields automatically select options that will make your search come back with zero properties.To clarify, here are some screenshots from my iPhone that show the correct way and the incorrect way for searching:
  

  "Select One" is automatically selected which makes your search pointless and gives you zero results.

  

  Deselect "Select One" as well as "--" in the "St Suffix" field and your address search will come back with results.

  Those two fields - “Compass” and “St Suffix” - have default selections that you may usually assume are instructions that don’t need to be touched or will search all.  Not the case.  Deselect these items for accurate search results.

  As always, it’s usually best to not select a compass (E, W, S, N, etc) for a street because the search is only as good as the agent that put it in the MLS.  The same goes for the street suffix (Street, Way, Cove, etc).  If I recall, FlexMLS uses more accurate address verification through tax records that may take some of the innacuracies out of the picture - but to be safe, keep those fields blank.

If you follow the search directions here, you won’t have the issues I had previously.  Once I deselected the default selections for compass and street suffix I had perfect success that mirrored results on “the real FlexMLS” on my laptop.

Kudos to Michael Wurzer and FlexMLS for offering a Web 2.0 interface on my computer and a viable solution on my mobile device.  Perhaps I can push the envelope and request a iPhone Application that would bring even more functionality to FlexMLS while mobile.

Kudos also to Bob Bemis and ARMLS for finally offering multiple IDX solutions to agents and brokers and bringing us FlexMLS and a MLS solution that allows the industry to do what they need to do easier and better.

Now, if we can only get some competition in the paperless transaction offerings and end the ZipForms monopoly.  In my dream world and others’,

• I pull up the ARMLS on my iPhone App
• Search for properties on my iPhone App
• Open up lockboxes via Bluetooth (no need to carry around a Supra Key or have an outdated Palm).  Supra claims Bluetooth would use way too much battery power, which is probably true.  But this is my dream world, right?
• Click on the property my buyer wants to put an offer on
• Pull up all the current AAR forms with the listing information automatically populated and relevant seller disclosures too
• Review the paperwork on the iPhone App
• Sign it electronically with integrated electronic signature technology or on the iPhone screen with a finger
• Send the paperwork electronically back to the listing agent
• Send the completed paperwork electronically to the title company, mortgage companies, etc.

Of course, in my dream world, all agents are onboard with today’s technology and we could whisk paperwork back and forth from agent-to-agent-to-mortgage company-to-title company-to-agent-to-inspector-to-client’s email.

Well, at least I can search wirelessly now with my clients this afternoon if the opportunity presents itself!

We can always dream …