If you don’t know what a QR code is, it is basically a bar code that you can scan with a smart phone application and it will take you off to the internet to view a web page, video, images, text, whatever. QR = “Quick Response” and they were originally created by a Japanese company to track inventory.

Don’t get me wrong. As a technology lover, I think QR codes are cool. They are pretty amazing little pieces of technology. It’s the hysteria I see in the real estate community that has me baffled. You’d think they were the second coming of blogging, Twitter and Facebook. You know, those things that are going to create vast amounts of untold wealth for real estate agents with no effort or work involved on their part. QR codes are apparently the next delicious magic pill for success!

Whatever. I’m not saying there is no place in real estate marketing for QR codes. There probably is. The use of QR codes is becoming more prevalent across many places, not just real estate. The other day I was in Best Buy looking for a computer monitor and used their QR codes to send a link/web page to my wife. It was probably the best practical application I’ve seen for QR codes to date, though to be honest it would have been far simpler and more efficient to call my wife and say, “They have one for $99 and one for $139. What do you think?”. After all, you can talk on a smart phone too…

Recently Realtor Magazine published an article by Michael Russer, aka “Mr. Internet” titled, “Your ‘Code’ to Mobile Marketing Success”. In this article, Mr. Russer recommends placing a QR code on your car. It should point to your website, or even better an “irresistible offer” on your web site. The recommended size of this QR sticker on your car is 10 inches by 10 inches. This size is needed “so it can be scanned easily by other drivers”.

Let’s just hope the agent sporting a 100 square inch QR code sticker on their car doesn’t get a letter like this:

From: Willy Suehim, Attorney at Law

Subject: Auto Collision Liability and Invoice

Dear Amazing Real Estate Agent -

As you are aware by now, my client Joe Imanerd was driving his 1971 VW Microbus down U.S. 60 the other day when he scanned the rather large and obnoxious QR code on your car. Mr. Imanerd was distracted during the scanning and viewing process and as a result of that, slammed into someone driving a 2010 Lamborghini Murcielago. Fortunately no one was injured and Mr. Imanerd’s Microbus came out relatively unscathed. The Lamborghini however was totaled.

Please see the attached invoice for $374,000. Payment in full is expected within 14 days. Cash or cashier’s check only.

Respectfully,

Willy Suehim, Esq.

Mr. Russer also suggests using QR codes on your for sale sign riders. This is probably the most commonly discussed application for QR codes in real estate (rivaled only by using them on business cards). I’ve often struggled with the whole QR codes on sign riders concept.

• Someone drives by a home with your for sale sign on it.
• They stop…
• They get out of the car…
• take out their cell phone…
• scan the QR code…
• wait for it to process and then are sent to a web site or video about the home.

About the home they are standing in front of.  Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just take a flyer out of the flyer box? Put a QR code on that if you really want to impress the geeks who dig QR codes. Do people really want to watch a video on a cell phone about a house they are standing in front of? Sure, that appeals to some people, but it’s hard to imagine it having a lot of appeal to the masses.

Mr. Russer does solve the getting out of the car part of the QR codes on a sign/rider dilemma. He once again suggests a 10×10 code be placed “so it can be scanned from the comfort of a prospect’s car”.

But that doesn’t really work so well. Here is a short video I made that shows the potential issue with this suggestion:

Just in case you don’t watch the video, I’m not trying to pick on Michael Russer. I like him. He interviewed me for an article once. Super nice guy, and wicked smart. I’m (obviously) just not on the QR code bandwagon.

I suppose one reason I’m a little wary of this is I have no idea what the adoption rate will be in the general public. QR codes are apparently wildly popular in Japan, but I sell houses in Phoenix. I took a little poll on Facebook today to see if people just knew what a QR code was. I posted an image of a QR code and asked non-real estate people to say if they knew what it was. So far, I have 25 responses (including 9 who are in real estate. Read people, read… ).

Of the 16 people not in real estate, 11 said they knew what the image was, 5 said they did not. Of note, in this group of 16, four had connections to real estate but weren’t technically in real estate. They were real estate web developers/designers, consultants and spouses. All four of them replied “yes”. A few other non-real estate types that replied yes are people I know to be confirmed geeks. (Of note, I use that term in the most endearing way. Geeks are cool).

Of the nine real estate types that answered, 7 knew the QR code, 2 did not.

There were more “yes” responses from the non-real estate group than I expected. Granted, this is FAR from a statistically significant survey. And the data may be confounded because most of my non-real estate friends are geeky and tend to know about things like QR codes. I would LOVE to see a large, statistically significant survey taken across a wide swath of the general population to see what percentage of people know what a QR code is, and what to do with one. If anyone knows where to find such data, please let me know.

Adoption rate aside, the main reason I have issues with QR codes in real estate is the hype. Oh the freaking hype! It seems like every time some tool, technique or process comes around, the spin maters crank up the machine and start spewing how the latest gizmo is going to save the planet. I know I’m not alone in tiring of the QR code hype, I’ve had conversations with several in the industry that feel the way I do.

Here are two great posts that highlight some of the ridiculous hype:

QR Codes: You Don’t Need An Elephant To Tie Your Shoes

The Quite Ridiculous Use of QR Codes

In the name of fairness and balance, I should link to some “pro QR code” posts, but it’s hard to pin down just a couple of examples. Here is a link to 42,200 results in a Google search for “QR codes real estate”. Enjoy…

Maybe the cartoon below solves the riddle of why so many real estate agents are falling over themselves to embrace this latest fad…

Courtesy of Jeff Turner, aka @respres, on Flickr.  CC Licensed.

What do you think of QR codes? Will they really have a long-term impact on real estate marketing and communication? Can there possibly be any more hype? Is the hype good? Are you on the QR code bandwagon? If so, do your clients really care? Can anyone anywhere attribute selling a home to the use of a QR code? Help me understand this craze…

• How to Make a Home Seller Happy

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

Maybe Probably.

Right now, Foursquare has somewhere around a million users – and they are adding about 15,000 users per day.

My own experience with Foursquare when someone became the mayor of my house – at 4am.

And I just happened to be up and working in my office when it happened.

Wait a minute, someone can be the mayor of your house?

Yes.

But that isn’t really why you will be hearing more about Foursquare in the future — you will be hearing more about Foursquare (or Gowalla or other services just like it) because as the web becomes more and more mobile using smartphones, marketers are getting more savvy at something called location based marketing.

Location based marketing. As in, consumers notify you that they are “here” and you have a chance to market to them.

One simple example of how location based marketing potentially works:

Go to Downtown Gilbert and plan on going to Oregano’s for dinner. As you walk in the door, you “check in” on Foursquare. As you check in, you are notified that there is a Foursquare special for Joes Real BBQ for anyone who checked in at Oreganos where you get 50% off if you show your phone to them in the next 10 minutes.

Are you still going to wait in line at Oreganos (they always have a line, right?) when you could go across the street and save 50% on your meal?

I call it “customer stealing” – you can call it whatever you want.

But it is here.

And with the adoption velocity increasing at an increasing rate for applications like this — it won’t be long before businesses figure out the best way to market to you when you are in their immediate vicinity.

It’s early — and some of the smartest people I know say that right now Foursquare needs businesses more than businesses need Foursquare…

But it won’t be long before the tables turn.

So if you are a small business (or a big one for that matter) and if you are wondering if there is an ROI for Foursquare — go ahead and sign up for the Foursquare ROI Challenge and get your business set up offering your customers Foursquare specials.

It’s free in the month of June.

And start picking off those customers from your competitors across the street.

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

Fewer things drive me crazier than seeing lousy photos in a real estate listings and marketing material. 

The one thing that may be worse is a lack of photos.

I just don’t get it.

Here are two real life examples. There are hundreds thousands more. Just in Phoenix.

Example #1: There is a current listing in Paradise Valley, arguably the most expensive place to buy a home in Phoenix. This $5,500,000 home has one photo. One.

In the description of this listing, it directs the reader to view more photos and a virtual tour – by going to an expired listing.

Apparently someone just fell off the Clue Train as the public can’t view expired listings. You know the public. They are the ones that buy homes…

In a striking disregard for their client, it’s the same agent who had the expired listing. So basically this agent has photos and a virtual tour of one of the more expensive homes in Phoenix and for some inexplicable reason can’t transfer them to the new listing.

Granted, it’s only been relisted for 16 days. Maybe he/she has just been too busy to take the what, 5 minutes, that would be required to upload photos.

Example #2: This one comes from a current client, and it’s a story we hear a LOT. “Hey, this looks like a nice home, can you get me more photos?”

In this case, it’s a real estate agent that owns the home. Now I understand if John Q. Public doesn’t realize how much photos in real estate mean to marketing a home. It’s not their job to know this. But an agent? An agent whose own home is listed for 10 MONTHS but only has one picture available? Oh, they’ve dropped the price $80 grand over those 10 months, but they haven’t bothered to upload more than ONE photo?

Please. But at least this guy is only screwing himself and not his client.

The Data

Almost 25% of Phoenix home listings have 3 or fewer photos!

There are currently 50,668 single family homes and condos listed in the Phoenix MLS.

3,204 of them have no photos. None. Zip. Zero.
5,920 have only one photo.
1,398 have two pictures of the home for sale.
1,798 have three.

So at this moment in time, there are 12,320 homes listed for sale in Phoenix with three or fewer photos in the MLS. That’s almost 25%.

That is utterly ridiculous.

Our MLS allows us to upload unlimited photos. OK, not unlimited. The limit is 999. For all practical purposes, we can call that unlimited.

At a bare minimum, every home listing should have a picture of the front elevation, the rear elevation, the kitchen, the master bedroom, the master bath and the main living area. That’s six photos – at a bare minimum.

Let’s return to our trusty MLS search…..

18,075. That’s how many listings in the Phoenix MLS have less than 6 photos. 36% of Phoenix listings don’t meet the minimum requirement for photos.

Think Photos Don’t Matter?

Watch, just watch, the average person searching for homes. You’ll see the vast majority of them blow by any listing without a photo. They won’t even consider it. Now watch their frustration mount as they click “view all photos” and they see one or two pop up.

Yessir, frustrating potential buyers is a good idea.

There are 50 thousand homes for sale in Phoenix folks. If your listings don’t have photos, buyers will just move on to ones that do.

How does an agent submit a listing with 1, 2, 3 or no photos?

Beats the hell outta me.

Home sellers: ask demand to see the actual listing of your home in the MLS. Before it even gets to that point though, grill your prospective agent on how they plan to market your home.

Real estate agents: For the love of Pete, take photos. If you can’t / won’t, pay someone else to do it. This is fundamental home marketing. Do your job.

Photo Credit: Andrew Mason

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Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

Video blogging.

I heard Gary Vaynerchuk say in his Inman Connect NYC keynote that he thought the “.tv” domain would become the second most powerful top level domain (after .com of course). Beats me if he’s right, but I don’t think it’s a stretch.

Since that keynote, there have been several posts about Gary’s talk extolling both its virtues and flaws.

Personally, I see a lot of genius in what Gary says. Does everything apply to the real estate vertical? Of course not. But much of it can be modified, and real estate needs some help. Home buyers and sellers need help. For those that are better visual learners, video may be the best way to provide that help.

Video clearly has a place in real estate, and in the future of the internet. In March of 2008, 11.5 billion videos were watched online in the U.S alone. 

I don’t think the only application for video in real estate are home walk-throughs. Crappy as they are, The Streets of Phoenix series here has been well received — not by just real estate agents, but buy home buyers and sellers.

Will Phoenix Real Estate Guy TV be worth a damn? I have no idea. But it’ll be fun. Who knows where it will go.

Episode #1 is up. If you are so compelled, take a trip over to Phoenix Real Estate Guy TV and let me know what you think.

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

And I was not disappointed.

I thought @GaryVee’s keynote was the highlight of the conference, and I told Brad Inman later that they needed to bring him back and give him more time.

Like the full three days.

Here’s a video of Gary’s talk. It’s a little rough in the first few seconds, stick with it. The opening line, “The main objective I have here today is to make sure that I never see any one of your faces on a bus bench again” is a classic.

As Gary spoke, I observed some of the crowd for reactions. He’s a brilliant speaker — funny, engaging, all that jazz. But what is pure genius is his message. There was a couple sitting next to me and I could see in their faces and body language that they just didn’t “get it”.

I spoke to them briefly after Gary finished. Here’s how that conversation went:

Me – “What did yall think of that?”

Them – “He’s a good speaker and everything. But I don’t see how how it applies to real estate.”

Me – Stunned silence.

“Doesn’t apply to real estate”???  Are you f’ing kidding me?

Transparency is crucial. Personal branding is it. “The obnoxiously bad ROI of traditional marketing”. Creating additional revenue streams. How the hell does this not apply to real estate?

This IS real estate.

Oh well, it’s their loss. Sadly, it’s also their clients loss. Selfishly, it’s my gain.

Here’s one of my favorite snapshots of the event. Me and Gary Vaynerchuk. I’m the good looking one….

• Gary Vaynerchuk Live on Crush It Tour (Video). Win an Autographed Copy of Crush It!

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

But the most asked question we get is:

“Are there any photos available?”

Followed closely by:

“I’d like to see more photos please”

I don’t get it. Oh, I understand perfectly why the home searcher is asking the question. What I don’t get is why there are no (or few. Or bad.) photos of the home for sale.

Our MLS ((MLS = Multiple Listing Service: the database used by real estate agents and brokers to enter and search homes for sale)) allows unlimited photos to be uploaded. That is not to say that there needs to be dozens and dozens of photos in the MLS. There are only so many angles at which to shoot a bathroom. But is it unreasonable to expect photos of the exterior, all the rooms and maybe even a few of the surrounding neighborhood?

At this moment in time, there are currently 45,085 active single-family homes listed in the Phoenix area MLS. 2,970 of them have a grand total of zero photos. None, zilch, zip, nada. Another 6,201 only have one picture — that’s a full 20% of the home listings in Phoenix with one or less photos. 60% of the listings have six or fewer photos.

Why is this important?

It’s not rocket science folks. Lots of people search for homes on the internet. Depending on whose numbers you choose to believe, 80 – 94% of home buyers conduct internet searches for homes. Cliche as it may be, a picture really is worth 1,000 words. What follows is my advice, for what it’s worth, for each segment of the real estate purchasing population.

Real Estate Agents & Brokers

Have you ever watched a home buyer search for homes? Try it. Note how they blow past the listings with no photos. Virtually every buyer I’ve watched or talked to just ignores listings with no photos. Watch and notice what happens when they see the primary listing photo and it kindles their interest. See the disappointment when they click for more pictures and there are none? Know what happens in that situation? Yep, they move on to the next listing, rarely giving your listing a second thought.

Home Sellers

Don’t just ask, demand that your agent supply sufficient high quality photos to properly showcase your home. View your homes listing on several real estate search sites and work with your agent to ensure your home is represented as best as it can be. Curb appeal used to be the big thing. These days “web appeal” may be just as, if not more, important in getting your home sold.

If your agents balks at the idea of photos, find another agent arm yourself with a little data that supports the more photos the better. Here is a report and some data compiled by Point2 Agent, a leading real estate website provider that shows the impact the number of photos has on how often listings are viewed. And here is a graphical representation of that data, courtesy of Point2:

Home Buyers

Where you search for homes online can make a difference. While ultimately the number of photos is in the hand of the listing agent, different home search sites may display different numbers and/or sizes of photos. Realtor.com offers a miniscule 4 photos, unless the listing agent pays handsomely for more.  The Century 21 site seems to limit photos to six. RE/Max offers more photos, but they aren’t very large. Personally, I think an individual agent’s web site in the city you are looking in generally offers the best option for viewing home photos. But even that can vary greatly depending on which search provider the agent is using.

Also, while the importance of good photos seems obvious for the out of area buyer, try not to just ignore lists with few photos. The fact is, most people will be ignoring these homes. If you pay attention to them, you may be able to discover a few hidden nuggets. That’s hard to do if you are out of area, but you may want to keep a few of these in your back pocket and at least do a drive by viewing when you get to the area and are actually looking at houses.

I wish we could respond to every person that asks about listing pictures. But we can’t. I used to try to call listing agents but just got frustrated with the number of unreturned calls and eventually realized that if there are no photos in the MLS, there likely aren’t photos on the agent’s hard drive either. 

I don’t understand this few/no/poor photos mentality. At all. Digital cameras aren’t that expensive. Don’t know how to take good photos? Take a class. Take hundreds of photos and you’ll get lucky. Hire a professional. Do something. To ignore listing photos is to ignore your clients best interest.

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

But, if you are going to go FSBO, or go with a limited service agency (basically a real estate brokerage that you pay to put your home in the Multiple Listing Service while you do all the remainder of the work) then at least make sure you are spending your time, money and effort wisely. Let’s face it. Some marketing methods work, some may work, and some just flat-out don’t work — or the probability of them procuring a buyer are so remote that they aren’t worth the effort.

Here’s an example in the latter category received yesterday via email (names and MLS# obscured to protect the ignorant):

What you see above is the email in its entirety. That’s it, no attachments, no phone number, no nothing. Let me explain why this is a complete waste of time, and is not “marketing” your home effectively:

1. If I had a buyer interested in your home, I would know it’s available the second it went into the MLS. Therein lies the power of the MLS. I don’t really need an email asking me if I have a buyer. I know my buyers, and what they are looking for. Heck, my buyer had your listing before you sent this email if it was of interest to them.
2. But let’s say I am one of the lazy agents that doesn’t know how to set up good searches in the MLS to meet my clients needs. Then maybe an email asking me if I have a buyer for your home could be effective. However, consider this: If I am too lazy to set up a search, won’t I be too lazy to open up the MLS, log in, copy and paste the MLS number you provided into the system, and pull up the particulars on your home?

You see, your email that cluttered up my inbox (along with several others that day from actual agents who email flyers to hundreds if not thousands of agents in one fell spamming swoop) tells me nothing. Absolutely nothing. Do I have a buyer for your home? I don’t know. Where is it? How big is it? How much are you asking for it? Yes, I understand all that info is in the MLS, but if you are going to butt into my inbox, at least make it so I don’t have to stop what I’m doing, log into a system, and look it all up.

Normally, I would have clicked DELETE as swiftly as possible. But for the purposes of this post, I went into the MLS just to see what the deal was with this particular listing.

So now you’re going to get Jay’s bonus tips on ways not to sell your home!

Photos:  Photos are important. Really important.  These photos do nothing to help sell your home. Let’s face it, orange trees and cactus grow like weeds around here. If your landscaping is compelling, by all means showcase it. A photo of part of a tree (that needs pruning BTW) and a cactus are not compelling.

And then there is . . .

Pricing: Listing a home for $270,000 that comps at $200,000 (on a good day) is not conducive to selling your home. That foreclosure across the street? You may not like it, but it is your competition.

Again, there is nothing wrong with selling your own home. If you’re willing to take the time, understand marketing and want to take on the legal liability, go for it. But keep in mind, the Phoenix real estate market (and many other markets across the country) are not in the best of shape right now. If you really have no clue how to sell a home (and clearly some don’t) then you may want to leave it to someone that does this for a living. Will it cost you? Sure. But what is it costing you if you can’t sell your home?

• On Dual Agency

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

I love this guy. He’s passionate, and pretty freaking smart.

Some nuggets from his speech. There’s plenty more:

Smurf it up.
Stop crying and just keep hustling.
You have to do what you love.
If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, get out now.
The only way to succeed now is to be completely transparent.
We only get to play this game one time, one life.

WARNING: This video contains “adult language”. If the “S-word” and occasional F-bomb offend you, don’t listen. If you want to learn and think, then watch and listen.

Vaynerchuck will be keynoting at Inman Real Estate Connect NYC in January. That alone is worth the price of admission.

I think this is spot on and brilliant. Your thoughts?

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

It’s no secret that I’m a Seth Godin fan. Judging by the number of books he sells, the sold-out appearances and the general buzz about Seth, I am far from alone.

Seth has a new book out called “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us”. Many weeks ago I pre-ordered the book, joined Seth’s Triiibes.com social network site and waited for the book to be released.

In a move that isn’t all that surprising (given Godin’s outside the box marketing skills), a copy of Tribes arrived in my mail before the book was released. It was a free advanced copy. An included letter said:

Here’s an advance copy of Tribes. An early copy, for you, before anyone else gets one. Please read it and keep it. And when the one you paid for comes, I hope you’ll give that one away. In two weeks or so, when it arrives from the bookseller, take that second copy and spread the word. If all you do is file it away, I’ve failed.

So give it away is exactly what I’m doing.

Leave a comment on this post. It doesn’t have to be profound and deep. It doesn’t have to suck up, and it doesn’t have to convince me to pick you to get the free copy of Tribes. Next Saturday (Oct 25) Sunday, Oct 26 (my daughter wants to pick the winner and she’ll be back from a band competition on Sunday) at noon Arizona time, I’ll put the names of all who comment on this post in a hat and draw one. That person will get a copy of Tribes, on me and Seth Godin.

There is only one rule. You can’t keep it. Read it, add your name in the front inside cover and pass it on. Give it away however you want, but you have to give it away.

It doesn’t get any easier than this folks. Simply leave a comment and next Sunday a copy of Tribes could be jetting its way toward you. I’m half-way through and find the book very thought provoking. I’m sure you will too.

Update: And now, thanks to the generosity of Wayne & Pat Harriman, Realtors and runners of the wonderful Wallingford Wired weblog (how do you like that alliteration!) your chances of winning just doubled!. Wayne (quite possibly without Pat’s permission) has offered up their extra copy of Tribes to give away. So we’ll be giving away not one but TWO copies by random drawing! Thanks Pat & Wayne! (and I hear others may soon run similar contests…)

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

AgritopiaRealEstate.com is built on the WordPress platform, but it’s really more a web site than a blog. It uses pages instead of posts, and will be far more “static” than your typical blog. That means far less time required of me to maintain it. It will never remotely approach the traffic of this blog, but that’s not the point. I think with a little work I can get it to rank pretty well for terms like “Agritopia real estate” and “Agritopia homes for sale”. Time will tell on that, but there is no question in my mind that as Internet users become more savvy, they learn to refine their search terms — thereby, in theory, landing on a site like this dedicated to Agritopia real estate and nothing more.

The cost of this little experiment?

Domain name: $9.00/year
Hosting: effectively zero. I host Phoenix Real Estate Guy on MediaTemple, which allows me to host something like 100 different domain names for the same cost.
My time: approximately four hours for site creation. As I already had the Thesis theme customized and laid out, the bulk of that was spent taking and cropping photos.
Gas: Agritopia is very close to my home. I dunno, 3 bucks? 

It isn’t complete yet. The text needs work and there are a few things to tie up (like titling and captioning the photo gallery) but it’s 90% or so complete.

For $12 in hard cost and four hours of my time, even if it’s a miserable failure, so what?

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Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.