This "office of the future" thing is starting to catch fire

First it was NRT's Manhattan Beach Project. That was circa 2005, a year following a presentation Brian and I gave the folks at NRT about the paperless office. 

Then it was Intero's Andare office on Santana Row, which has been getting considerable attention these days.

Last week Inman featured a guest perspective by Matt Dollinger from @properties [disclosure: @properties is a 1000watt Consulting client] that took the notion of a future real estate office to some far-reaching lengths. Given the absolutely stunning nature of their facilities, I can certainly see where he was coming from.

Today Coldwell Banker announced their own take on the office of the future, which offers several of the ideas and appointments taken from the participants at a workshop we moderated with Sherry Chris last summer at Real Estate Connect.   

Just now I was sent a link that introduced me to the Dunes Properties website, which includes a microsite built around their office of future.

Man is this hot!

Here's what I like:

The website itself is super clean. It has a Web 2.0 feel to it which I found to be quite elegant and appropriate for real estate. I love the simple navigation that excludes all those typical things most brokerage websites offer that nowadays seem so pointless, such as" Buyer Tips," "Free Reports," etc.

I was excited to find a "Contact Me" page that actually offers a phone number, which strangely enough is not all that common. Many brokerage sites don't publish a phone number anywhere on their site.

Oddly, the site is missing a direct link to search. If you click around long enough you'll find it, but I wonder how many users will put in as much effort as I did searching for it.

Nevertheless, the payoff on this site is the microsite, a "studio tour." What a great idea. And talk about environmental branding -- holy cannoli!

I've quickly logged a host of suggestions that would make this microsite much better, such as including some video, live chat, links to PR, a blog and quite possibly a live cam - things that could bring this place to life. 

But here's my bottom line: If I lived in Charleston or decided to move there and needed to source out a brokerage, I'd go with Dunes. This facility creates that much of a wow factor for me. Considering I recently hired an agent to work with me in Austin due to her quick trigger on Twitter, and how nicely this has worked out for us, I trust my gut on this one.

While this website itself might not make our Top 10, and while there are many things I would do to improve the site, this post is more about what some brokerages are doing today to create difference, to spread the seeds of their brand, create impact and build something that brings them into the here and now. And poise themselves for the future.

I know there is considerable focus on the virtual office. But there is still something precious about a terrestrial facility -- if it is done right.I have a feeling we are going to seeing more and more of these as time goes on.

- Davison
Twitter: 100wattmarc

Flikr, Skittles, Oodle and other cool developments

Photo sharing site Flikr now allows free users to upload video. As I noted in my "Seeing online real estate" post a couple weeks ago, Flikr is one of many services that will drive a much more visual online real estate experience in the near future. Brokers and online real estate sites of all kinds can easily display location-related images and video via the Flikr API.

Skittles - those chewy little candies - are now being marketed online in manner that is ultra-aggressive in its approach to social media. In fact the boundary between the brand and the "conversation" has been obliterated. Take a look and think about how this sort of thing might be applied to real estate marketing. Risky but not without rewards if executed properly, in my opinion. [via searchblog].

Walkscore, the site that measures the "walkability" of places, including homes, has cut two significant deals in the past couple weeks. Both Zillow and Estately have integrated the Walkscore API. Users on these sites can now view the proximity of listings to various amenities. Walkscore is a non-profit and there's a strong normative dimension to the service (We should use cars less) but it's a compelling (and free) addition to most real estate sites. 

Oodle, the classifieds site, is quietly kicking ass (Yes, I think you can kick ass quietly). They went live today as the classifieds engine on facebook. This follows upon a deal announced last week with AOL and a partnership with Wal-Mart.com inked last year. Their traffic is skyrocketing. And they have a strong real estate category. As the real estate listings aggregators approach parity in terms of volume, I wonder if they will find themselves challenged by a player like Oodle, which can develop content and traffic mass of an entirely different order.

Brokers: Jump on the neighborhood conversation now or surrender it to a media company. That's the message to be taken from the New York Times' announcement that it is entering into the neighborhood blog arena.

-- Brian Boero