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

Fresh air from the Northwest: Windermere unveils new Website

Windermere's new site launched yesterday. I decided to take some time and really dig into it because I like these guys and I know how hard they've worked at this.

For the most part they've really nailed it. I love the simple home page sans all the clutter and phony imagery that plagues most real estate websites.

I love that they made search simple -- a welcome relief to the eye, especially when held next to the text and image heavy John L Scott site that throws wizards, draw tools, quick searches, and interactive maps at you all at once. Windermere offers the user one simple option. The one they want: Home search.

I can smell the fresh scent of Northwest air laced with pine.

A thought though: Why not, at the very least, highlight the markets they serve? Does the average Bay Area resident know that Windermere has offices and listings in Washington State? I wonder.

Search defaults to a map. And a pretty darn good one at that. Personally, I would have preferred a list view, or a choice (map or list). Technically it's pretty cool. Young users will enjoy this. Boomers... not that convinced.

The search offers a host of refiners that place the user in the driver's seat delivering a nice Trulia - like experience. One request however: Let's move the City and State fields located above the map over to the right, above price, so all the refiners are in one place. That would do it for me.

What is "Clipping"? Sounds like something grandma did with coupons when I was a kid. Seems this is all about saving listings. Might be prudent to just call it Save Listings and not get fancy with the naming. Site navigation and nomenclature should steer clear of metaphors.

I could not find Listing Alerts. Maybe that's coming in phase II.

I clicked on "Advanced Search" and found it to be quite simple and not all that advanced really. We see that a lot. Quick Search. Advanced Search. "More Search Options" feels more appropriate.

The listing detail page seems a bit cramped and I wished I could have expanded it a bit and reduced the map some. The property ought to be given a bit more room to breath. Also, it took me an extra few seconds to figure out that the numbers under the main photo changed the property photos. Not a big deal but considering how cramped this display is, little things like this would bug me as a buyer and piss me off as a seller.

This site has greatness in the making written all over it. With a quality technology and marketing staff and a meaningful brand to build around, I think it's only a matter of time before it will become a key destination for those looking for homes in the areas Windermere serves.

What it's going to become is anyone's guess but I for one want a front row seat when it's unveiled.

Great job Windermere.

- Davison

1000watt Consulting and RealTrends release "Top Ten Real Estate Brokerage Websites in America" Report

Today we are proud to release a new report produced in cooperation with RealTrends, the highly regarded research and consulting organization headed by Steve Murray: "The Top Ten Real Estate Brokerage Websites in America."

You can download the full report here (be patient--the download may take a couple minutes.)

You can also view the report online here, on Scribd.

This report was compiled over a three month period, during which we examined the websites of every company on RealTrend's 2008 "RealTrends 500" list, which ranks the largest brokerage companies in America.

There are no doubt smaller shops that offer excellent websites. And many of you will offer your own picks. And that's the point: As we note in our introduction:

"We hope this report serves as encouragement for brokerage companies that seek to create websites commensurate to their already considerable offline success. We do not pretend to have the last word, and recognize that there will be legitimate disagreement over our findings. Let this then be the first word in a long and fruitful conversation. The real estate experience matters. We can do better. Brokers can do better."

We hope you enjoy the report.

This is just a bad idea

On every single level

'Nuff said

- Davison

Are your web developers taking you back in time?

Here's a quickie from 37 signals blog. Architects: 1998 Called and it wants it's sites back
It's a clever post worth reading.

I agree with the writers POV. Big time. Sites should be easy. Simple.  With a clear definition of where to go and what to do. This is imperative today given the freedom designers have with expanded pages, wide screen monitors and rails programming. Just because you have access to all the bells, whistles, mapping, video, flash, and lot's of design space, no one is forcing you to use all of it.

So who here has a flawlessly designed site? One that incorporates the tenants of good UI, design and clear concise copy?  Feel free to post a link. It will give some our critics a chance to voice their expertise.

- Davison

The road to killer

This year, as in the  past, I'm moderating several sessions at Real  Estate Connect. If you've not yet registered, take the time to do so -- it's going to be a great show. One of my sessions is titled "Building a killer brokerage in a Web 2.0 world." I'm devoting this article to part of what that conversation will be about.

What is a 'Web 2.0 world'?

We've all read the O'Reilly manifesto. It's deep, comprehensive and defines how millions of people interact online. Most have no sense of what folksonomy, long tail, open source, and Ruby on Rails are or mean. Nevertheless, these things have changed the way they interact with each other forever.

Perhaps it is simple curiosity that propels most people into social engagement on the Web. Or the challenge of figuring out something new. Or maybe it's a desire to be part of a phenomenon.

Real estate people, on the other hand, are more practical. And at times stubborn. Maybe a bit too much for their own good.

But let's face it, some of what's popular about Web 2.0, while arguably cool, is a bit silly. I get Facebook. But then again, I've never written on someone's wall. What's the point in that? And the notion that I have more than 500 friends is a tad dishonest. And Twitter. Yes, I have an account. But the volume of utter nonsense that streams into it is deafening. And for most agents, Twitter's a game that has no measure of return on it.

So what is it about this quirky Web 2.0 that so many are drawn to? What, if any parts of it, can real estate use to build that "killer brokerage"? We're going to dig into this in my session next week, but for now let's get started on …

The road to killer

I've  isolated five elements of Web 2.0 that pertain to this endeavor. Nail these and  you're good to go.

Design: Think curb appeal. Picture that carefully manicured front lawn. And the unencumbered path that points guests to the front door. That's your home page.

Web 2.0 design is an aesthetic that instinctively creates purpose. It distills a sense of invitation to the site. Specific colors transmit activity. Connectivity. Empowerment. Those oranges, greens and blues throw off a ray of fun. Excitement. Youth. It's an appeal that invites and welcomes.

Real estate, however, still clings to a Reagan-era palette tied to logos developed before there was such a thing as research and marketing.

Web 2.0 design is something that can take your worn-out broker brand and pop it with freshness. If you think your marketplace will be confused by a logo and design redo … ask Lennox Scott if it affected his company when he did it 20 years ago. Better yet, I'll do it for  you. He's on the panel.

Navigation: You may understand terms like "MLS." And "exclusive properties." The user, however, does not. What does "exclusive" mean anyway? Does it mean I need to be special to view it?

Web 2.0 navigation  is simple. Like one entry point to search. Not 10.

Like "Contact Me" offering a dozen ways to make contact. Not one form where I get to tell you how to reach me but you still don't tell me how to reach you. A killer navigator guides people down a clean and simple path. A killer brokerage is one that does that online as well as offline.

Copy: This is also simple in the Web 2.0 world. Unencumbered by saccharine odes to the home and ham-handed hucksterism. It's not long and winding, whistling its own Dixie. And it never tries to take ownership of what it can't guarantee. You don't get to tell me you're my "Realtor for life." You don't own that right, just like Apple doesn't own the right to sell connectivity even though most of its products are built to create it. They cannot guarantee connectivity. But they own "Twice as Fast -- Half the Price."

Killer copy. It's short. To the point. And tells it like it is without sap. And it takes ownership of only those things you can own.

Content: Web 2.0 content is original. Meaningful. Opinionated. Fresh. And topical. If your copy is written by others, and cloned over and over on hundreds of sites … well that's simply not killer. I'm sorry but I don't believe that a "Home Buyer's Guide" should be the same for a site in Santa Barbara and for one in Stockton.

Killer is real content. Written by the people in your company. It taps the brains of your agents who know the community better than any technology ever can. And it leverages that knowledge. A killer brokerage deals with issues. And isn't afraid to publish content that is truthful. Like telling sellers they will never sell their home if they price it too high. That's killer.

Conversation: Lets face it: Few of us are mired in endless debate over the merits of Euripides and his progressive portrayal of the intelligent woman versus those of Aeschylus and Sophocles, his counterparts who together made up the trilogy of great tragedians of classical Athens.

Most conversation is simple. Sometimes even trivial. Regardless, people have a dire need to converse. A killer brokerage gets itself in the center of that conversation -- especially if it's about the community. Brokerages have scripted a tragedy of their own these past 10 years by distancing themselves from the conversation by virtue of Web 1.0. The consumer went somewhere else. But they are still conversing. Trulia Voices proves that. A killer brokerage should own the voices of its own community.

A killer brokerage in a Web 2.0 world

A killer brokerage is one that inspires oneness. Internally with its independent agents and externally with its customers. It's a culture.

Picture the Yankees. A team of independent free agents. But when they put on the pinstripes and step out onto the field they become one. Better than many other teams. That's what I mean by killer.

Building that killer brokerage in the Web 2.0 world also means it must be profitable. And it must borrow from the ethos of what lies at the heart of what real etate is  - service, community,  assistance and yes the godfather of all Web 1.0 practices some semblance of lead generation.

There is more to real estate Web 2.0 that some bright colors a cool design and an RSS feed. What that is, what it looks like and who is going to do it is what this session is about.

I will be moderating this panel of killer people that includes: Guy Wolcott of Sawbuck Realty; Henry Shao of Movoto Real Estate; Lennox Scott of John L. Scott Real Estate and Matt Fagioli of Diamond Dwellings.

Come join me. Take part in the conversation. Tell me who your favorite ancient Greek playwright was. And get on the road to killer.

- Davison

What will real estate search look like in 2010?

Real estate search has changed a lot in the past five years. Mapping, data overlays, better design and a freer hand with listings themselves have brought us some great models.

But search has nonetheless become cocooned in the soft fibers of conventional wisdom at this point: Properties should be displayed in a list, with thumbnails, next to a map mashup; "save this search', while confusing, should always be among the user's options; school and neighborhood data should hang off the listing detail page.

Trulia, Estately, Roost and others have raised the current paradigm to amazing heights. Joel at FOREM's list of top search sites pretty much nails it.

What's next, though? That's the interesting -- and important -- question. Real estate search will surely look much different two years from now. Application and platform innovations are proceeding at a faster pace now than they were in 2003, when Web 2.0 first hit real estate.

Here are three things I think give us a clue:

#1: Searchme. This company launched this week in private beta. Take the time to watch the demo video. They are introducing something they call "visual search". If you own an iPhone or use iTunes, you'll recognize this (I imagine Apple's IP lawyers have too). I'm not convinced this will work as a general search paradigm, but imagine those pages you see are homes. The site information that appears at the bottom of the pages are listing details -- beds, baths, etc. A "listing" contains a cluster of data, but it's still fundamentally about a home, a visual pregnant with emotional triggers. Forget the blurry thumbnails in the list of search results to which we've become accustomed: show the homes, front and center, as the search result. Much better.

#2: Everyscape. I came across this site a few months ago when they launched their street-level view of Aspen, CO. They have since expanded to a number of markets. It's something like Google Street View dialed up to 11. You can walk down the street online. Do the neighbors keep up their front yards? What's in that strip mall down the way? This is now discernible from your computer. This, I believe, will supplant the mashups and aerial views that are tied to most real estate searches today. It will also send yet another shock wave through the Realtor value proposition. The role of high-priced chauffeur was already waning. This will kill it.

#3. Urbanmapping. One problem with the community or market information that's often integrated into real estate search displays (usually in the form of tabs or links off the property detail page) is that the level of analysis is all wrong. In most cases, the data are presented at the ZIP code level, which often renders them meaningless. My ZIP code in Oakland, for example, includes high-end enclaves and streets I would not walk after dark. What users need is neighborhood level, even block level, information. Urbanmapping maintains a database of over 20,000 neighborhoods across the country and provides contextual information for all of them.

So ... pulling this all together, the real estate search experience of 2010 might go something like this:

I, the user, enter: "Three bedroom Redwood Heights Oakland" into an online search site or real estate brokerage site.

My results are are full size photos of homes I can flip through and onto which are layered key data points.

I click on a link on one of these homes that says "walk down the street". I do just that, noticing that while the homes around this listing are well-kept, the duplex at the end of the block looks like it's inhabited, Animal House-style, by kids from a nearby college. I don't like that.

So I click on another link, "Check out the neighborhood". It gives me demographics, market trends, comps, and amenities for the small, somewhat serpentine piece of Oakland that is this neighborhood. I get the data, but also, because the semantic Web and data portability movements have born fruit, can show me something about the people behind the data, and how they are connected. In short, I get a view into something akin to a graph of the community.

I don't buy a house here, but I've made an informed decision.

Of course, there are lots of concerns and questions here. Or maybe you buy none of this and see search headed in a different direction. My point is that you can count on the search experience changing rapidly and significantly over the next two years. It will give consumers more power. It will further dissolve the traditional Realtor value proposition. And it's going to happen whether you're on board or not.

So get on board. Think a few steps ahead. Forget about replacing your crappy IDX solution with something slightly less crappy. Hike up to where the air is thin, take in the view, and then find someone who can help you make it real when you come down from the mountaintop.

Anyway, I've just show you some of the things I see on the horizon. I am interested to hear what you see.

-- Brian Boero

J Car websites

• 
  1982 Pontiac J2000
• 1982 Oldsmobile Firenza
• 1982 Buick Skyhawk
• 1982 Chevrolet Cavalier

J Cars. Identical cousins. Except for some minor cosmetic differences and engine upgrades, the cars were virtually indistinguishable.

They lacked identity. Spirit. Individuality. They marked the nadir of American auto design. Two decades later they were replaced by a different type of car with designs that reflected the personality of their owners. Hummers. Beetles. Scions.

Individuality. We aspire to it on the road, in the clubs, and in the business world.

But ... behold the preponderance of agent and broker websites in existence today. Except for a few cosmetic differences, they are identical, built on platforms that have remained largely unchanged since 1997. They are the J Cars of our industry, of our time.

These J Car websites, tens of thousands of them, rust away on shared servers, severing their owners from their marketplace much in the same way J Cars disconnected the big auto brands from the American consumer in the 1970's and 80's.

Forget the fact the some of these sites allow you to customize them. Or that you can pop in a little Java to display one "hot property" on the home page. That's really no different that replacing the factory stereo with Satellite radio.

Consider the times. Consider the needs of your target customer. Consider your need to connect with that target customer. Can you afford to continue paying for and using a site where search is buried, where the home page is filled with promises the site can't keep, and by which your brand is tarnished?

Whatever a real estate website was once upon a time, these clunkers should have been junked and sold for scrap long ago.

Let's face it, the end user doesn't need to see a picture of the practitioner. The end user doesn't need FREE REPORTS, RELOCATION INFORMATION, or a MISSION STATEMENT.
The end user doesn't need links to other crappy websites.

The end user doesn't need to read 500 words on the home page describing what they can do on the website.

The end user doesn't need a link to boilerplate monthly newsletters.

The end user doesn't need jpegs of area maps that are not clickable.

The end user doesn't need links to empty pages that contain no content.

The end user doesn't need links to pages that promises information but offer nothing like the page below.

None of these things matter to the end user. And they strip the practitioner of their own voice, their own personality, their own brand, their own vibe, their own ability to deliver their promise to the consumer.

What should a website be today?

It should be exquisitely tuned to the end user's desires -- and deliver on them the second the user arrives at the site. On the home page.

What does the end user want?

They want to search for homes -- all of them -- right there on the home page. They want to see an interactive map. They want to see pictures of actual homes for sale They want to have a multitude of contact options. Phone number. Live chat. They want to know exactly what the site is and does in 25 words or less. They want to learn and they want to read original content – your voice.

That's it.

Continue building or using a site built for you and you will likely be the only one to use it. Build a site for them, your target customers, and … they will come.

Vendors, feel free to post, comment and supply a link to your product. I know there are some Scions and Beetles out there.

- Davison

Searching for Web 2.0

Ever search for a word but can't seem to find it?
Or try to recall a fact that won't roll off the tip of your tongue?
Ever need to buy a vowel from Vanna White?

What's missing from the online real estate experience?

As part of a brand analysis for an East Coast brokerage, I drilled 10 pages deep into Google's results for "real estate" in the company's market area. I explored every result. There were 100 Websites in total. Of these 100 sites:

51 belonged to either associations, media companies, builders, funeral homes (not kidding), or listings aggregators;
37 belonged to individual agents, teams or single brokers;
7 belonged to brokerage companies;
3 were ActiveRain blogs;
1 site was a listing blog with an RSS feed;
1 site was a Naymz profile.

While I learned a bit about search-engine positioning, this exercise revealed something far more concerning: the X that marks the spot where real estate Websites, in general, fail.

Promises, promises

Several things crystallized. The most obvious was the mechanical gunfire of platitudes rat-tat-tatting across every broker and agent Website. The bullet holes murdered my ability to decipher and choose. It's like the old game show, "To Tell the Truth." Will the real local expert, market specialist, top producer, #1 expert, yada yada yada please stand up?

Next was the realization that what a Website is or could be has been lost among real estate companies. Most of these sites were more closely related to their bus bench and moving-van-ad cousins. I felt like Charlton Heston landing on the Planet of the Apes wondering how this could be happening amidst all the advances in Web features and design standards.

Finally, there were the promises made but not kept on these sites. Ideas like "Find your Dream Home," held a greater promise than what actually delivered. The lead forms and poorly executed IDX solutions covering tens of thousands of homes - a huge haystack in which I am left to find my dream needle that screamed "gotcha!"

What's missing?

Truth. Honesty. A real voice. Three huge wells to draw ideas from that could carry the Websites from the 1.0 world of cliché.

What is a ""#1 expert"? What does that even mean?
What is a "top producer"? What is it that you produce?
What is a "market specialist"? What is a market anyway? Don't we live in towns and neighborhoods?
And what makes you a "specialist"? How can I come to believe in that?

If you are these things, prove it. If you want to use these terms, bring them to life. Extend the statement and allow the user to experience these things first hand.

100 Web sites, one unfulfilling experience

Inside and across the caverns I hear the shouts of those who would claim this illustrates the failure of Web 2.0 in real estate. But Web 2.0 has not failed real estate; real estate has simply failed to grab hold of its promise. Consider for just a minute those examples of agents and brokerages who have scaled to the top of their local real estate boulder by digging their crampons and cams dug into the 2.0 sensibility. Proof is there. In the pudding.

It's been five years since mashups were introduced to real estate. Three since blogging started generating buzz. During this time hundreds of millions of Web users have been exposed to a new way of experiencing the Internet. And while I believe that there are many social aspects of Web 2.0 that make no sense for real estate, I will argue for the ones that do. I will argue that providing proof of the claims on your site hones in on the basic tenets of branding.

Web 2.0 is a failure if you believe it is.
Web 2.0 is a failure if all you value is the short lived thrill from a lead delivered to your inbox. 
Web 2.0 is a failure if you believe there's no value in a meaningful online conversation.
Web 2.0 is a failure if you believe conducting local business is not about inviting a global marketplace.
Web 2.0 is a failure if you're not patient enough to reap long-term benefits. 
Web 2.0 is a failure if you're not willing to learn new skills and jettison the old real estate marketing playbook. 

I visited 100 Web sites. Save for the ActiveRain profiles, there was nary a trace of any of the great things Web 2.0 offers. That tells me there's a big opportunity waiting for the brokerage company or agent willing to cut through that haystack with a shiny new needle that's different.

- Davison

Stop looking at me

Human images are used liberally on real estate websites. Among agents this is usually done in adherence to the tenets of personal branding. Brokers and online real estate companies often use images of people to add warmth to their sites, to create engagement through contrived empathy, or to lend credibility to their claims.

This practice has waned a bit as sensitivity to usability and search engine optimization has increased, but it nonetheless remains in some pretty prominent places.

I've always found pictures of smiling families, earnest agents and confident borrowers cloying or just plain distracting. I chalked that up to my own less-than-warm and fuzzy disposition -- until a friend sent me this post from GrokDotCom. Take a look at the heat maps in the post and then look at these two sites:

There's so much right about this page, but I found my eyes locking in on David and Betty right off the bat, which is probably not such a good thing, considering critical information about the company's mission and benefits gets a short shrift.   

This page is not so wonderful, which makes the image of the guy in the middle even more damaging. We're caught in his gaze and left really confused as to where to go next - the puzzling "building blocks" header to his left or the anemic call to action on his right.

People interact with web pages in different ways. But this should give anyone building a real estate site something to consider before playing the "people" card.

-- Brian Boero