Real Estate Blog Pro

Daily digest for 18 May, 2008

loftninja: I'm listening to 09 Meditations.wma at MyBloop.com - try it at http://mybloop.com/go/N73712 loftninja: This message confirms that I've connected my Twitter account with MyBloop.com without a problem.

Daily digest for 14 May, 2008

When Will Flickr Webimager Get an Update?

The Pro really likes the Flickr Webimager and its about time it got updated. Its a great tool for saving bits of the web and info without having to download entire web pages or copy and pasting text.  Real Estate bloggers could find it very useful for things like keeping track of one's personal linkages, if only it worked the way it was intended. Remember several months back when i mentioned it as a cool hacking tool? Well, despite the numerous other screen shot grabber gadgets and gizmos out there these days, Flickr Webimager still remains as my favorite for many reasons. I'll tell you why:

• Its lite and rests in your systems tray (unlike most others which are embedded in your browser)
• it can be used to create bitmaps of images on the web (which you can turn into jpegs in photoshop)
• you can adjust the size of your captured image right within the window
• you can modify the image using Microsoft Paint by exporting it

I'll even go as far as to say that I use it every single day, for all sorts of things!  The problem that I have with it is that you can't find who created it, its never updated and worst of all, it doesn't even do what it was created and intended to do. Namely, allow you to upload screenshots consistently to your Flickr account. The process usually goes like this:

1. Create a screenshot
2. Attempt to upload the screenshot
3. Go through the whole process of allowing WebImager access your Flickr account
4. Upload one screenshot
5. Then get error after error stating that your Flickr account can't be verified.

I can hardly believe that the creators of WebImager intended for us to only be allowed to upload one damn image.  In order to upload more than one image these days, you have to actually save the photo to a folder (which subsequently requires you to press a button which reads "Open" instead of "Save" when attempting to save it) then open it with photoshop or similar program and save the image as .jpeg, .gif  and the like, then upload it to Flickr.  Too much work for a Web 2.0 tool.  Its impossible to track down a forum, it hasn't been updated since its creation (i don't believe) and the Pro thinks it should be.  Has anyone else had the same or similar problem?


Technorati Tags: Flickr WebImager, Flickr, problems, Web 2.0, tools

Keep Track of Your Real Estate Life with Jott

 
Looking for a quick way to keep track of yourself?  Sure, all Pros need little help finding themselves from time to time.  In the world of Web 2.0, taking care of yourself is the name of the game!  Well, today this Pro stumbled upon a new tool that is sure to keep you in check.  Its called Jott and its a voice powered, hands-free way to send messages and to do lists to yourself.  Every real estate agent at one time or another gets the cart before the horse....well, with Jott, this actually works to your advantage. 

Ways that i think this application will prove useful:
Reminders
-call important clients
-leads that you acquire in passing
-important addresses that you want to remember
-deadlines
-paperwork
Information
-phone numbers that you shouldn't forget
-important details about property
-keeping track of new listings
-epiphanies while in the field (ahh...i didn't know Mr. SoandSo owned that too!)

The possibilities are endless....that's why this Pro felt it might be a good productivity related tool to pass along.  Got any cool tools or tips you'd like to pass along to real estate pros such as yourself?  Do so...there's a big blank comment area below, just waiting for your insight!  Good Luck Pros!

powered by performancing firefox

Viewr Adds a Lot of Updates

Remember way back (last July) when Viewr was coming on the scene?  Well, Pro just received word that there's been yet another hefty update over at Viewr and this one is HUGE!  The site now can now do Rentals, Vacation Rentals, Holiday Apartment Complexes (European term) and Multi Family.  The site is geared towards a global view of real estate- or as they put it, "People, Places and Property."  Viewr is becoming more and more customizable, allowing an agent to express as much or as little of their personality as they see fit.

There's very little limitation to what this site can do- and where it can cover!   For example, there are Cave Houses in France, Spain, Turkey, Greece and others. Many of them are associated with a kind of peoples called Troglodytes.
Check these out:
  http://www.viewr.com/search.property.html?vlsn=1000731
  http://www.viewr.com/search.property.html?vlsn=1000725
  http://www.viewr.com/search.property.html?vlsn=1000729

  As with all Web 2.0, the user determines. Everyone gets a My Viewr account management interface that allows the user to customize many aspects of how their listings are presented.  Agents can upload a picture of themselves (if they wish) and a branded logo of the company which they represent.  Give it a whirl, Pros!  Lemme know what you think!

Coming soon:  Pro will let you in on a secret regarding a certain Viewr contest that you're sure to digg!


Technorati Tags: Viewr, real estate, tool

powered by performancing firefox

Virtual Tours, Newsletters and Resources on the Fly! Now that's Pro!

Wanna create Virtual Tours like a PRO?  Integrate them into your blog or website?  Lifehacker told us last week about this kick ass new website called Mapwing and let this Pro be the first (ok, second) to tell you, It Kicks Ass. 


Mapwing simplifies all of the hassles involved with creating real estate VR tours.  No stitching of panoramics. No learning code in order to embed the 360 pano thingy.  None of that crap that you have to pay web designers bizillions of dollars to do for you.  Just follow the instructions to the T and you'll end up with a terrific looking floorplan with integrated Virtual Tour.  In the end you'll have the option of embedding it within your own website or emailing it to your clients! Its the perfect blog marketing tool.


Create newsletters on the Fly with Letterpop [found via Lifehacker] This is an AMAZING tool!  Look at the newsletter that I created for my father's surveying equipment supply company in South Carolina here.  This is perfect for real estate agents because you have so much flexibility with how photos and text can be displayed, you can have multiple pages and instantly email the newsletter to up to 500 people.  Give it a whirl!

A hefty list of blog resources can be found over here at Daily Blog Tips Blog.  You should definately subscribe to this blog's RSS because it always comes packin!'


Technorati Tags: newsletters, resources, links, virtual tours, Letterpop, Mapwing

powered by performancing firefox

Google Notebook Adds Search and Real Estate agents Catch On

Today Lifehacker  tipped us off to a helpful new feature on Google Notebooks- you can now search the content of public notebooks.  Check out the content that comes up when you search for "Real Estate."  Google Notebooks are the perfect tool for compiling researched content or publishing content for the public.  Real Estate agents are becoming quite saavy in the podcasting arena and tools such as this have become a powerful way to broadcast. 

If you are using Firefox, the Google Notebooks extension makes adding content to your personal notebook a breeze!  Your notebook can be accessed through your gmail account and you have a choice of keeping your content private or sharing it with the world.  Go gettem Pros!

powered by performancing firefox

A Blog Stocking full of hacks, tools and tips and buttons

Long time no blog, Pros!  I must apologize for my lack of post-age, as I've recently taken a small break from real estate, focusing more on collaborative art and photography projects (including a book!! I will surely keep you up to date). I know, I know it was very un-Pro to have not tipped you off earlier.  I promise to be more Pro in the future.

So...right to business:

Found a few great resources to exploit in your never ending quest to save time.
250 Free Office Templates and Documents




Addthis.com offers a great tool for simplifying your social bookmarking life.

Also...here are a couple of great posts regarding Hacking your email in 99 ways [IT Security] and a variety of posts about real estate podcast marketing  and podcasting [RSS Pieces]

powered by performancing firefox

Some Mobile Phone Mania to Keep you Productive, Pros

Gmail goes really mobile!  Go to  gmail.com/app  to download that new application that is bound to free up some of your time- and its free.  Now you'll be able to get all of your glorious  email (real estate related, of course) in two clicks...unless you are like me and happen to be so behind the times that your phone has basically become antique (my phone =Treo 600).  So, if you don't have a rotary dial on your celly, chances are the new mobile Gmail will save you time.
If you are living in history, Learn more about Gmail for mobile devices.  You may remember Pro telling you about Google Calender mobile a few months back.  Well...I'm just reminding you.  Pretty soon, maybe none of us will even need homes...just a place to sync our crap.  Then we won't need real estate agents, i suppose.  And I guess this blog will be pretty stupid at that point too.....hmmm. 


Now that you have all that free time...why not save more time by refusing to enter contact info from the mountain of business cards you've collected.  As mentioned before, there's a handy tool out there called Scanr that turns your camera phone into a heavy duty, light weight rolodexing machine.  Lifehacker discovered it today and gave a few tips on how to utilize this paperless beast.

Go gettem Pros!

Technorati Tags: Scanr, Gmail, mobile

Viewr Goes Live! Get your Video Egg On, Real Estate Pros

Could it be true? Viewr is live! The next highly anticipated real estate tool is finally available for your blogging and listing pleasure, dear real estate blog pros. We heard about Viewr back in July, with an update a month or so back and let's just say that the suspense has killed at least one of us.   With Viewr, agents will have a place to blog about their properties (or whatever else) and upload video content via  Video Egg software.  So far, the Pro likes it!

Viewr has a "global view on real estate" and the maps to prove it.  The (oh so very Web 2.0)interface is smooth and easy to use (so far). You can save your searched and your favorite listings.  It could be a good friend to a lot of you aspiring Pros out there.  Give it a whirl- set up a blog...see whats out there.  For god's sake, have fun for once!  Maybe real estate isn't such a drag afterall...just maybe.

Viewr


Technorati Tags: Viewr, Web 2.0, tool, real estate, New

Real Estate Blog Pro in Top 35 Real Estate Blogs

...and you know what that means. REBlogPro ain't crap!  Nope, BiggerPockets (blog for real estate investing for real) counted the Pro amongst what he believes to be the Top 35 Real Estate Blogs in the universe.  That's HUGE!
Some of the others that you may find to be of interest:

360 Digest

Altos Research Real Estate Insights

Blog Arizona

Bloodhound Blog

Bubble Meter

Building an Empire

Counter Intelligence: The Real Estate Cafe Weblog

Creative Real Estate Investing

Curbed

Fliperati

HousingBubbleCasualty

Inman Blog

Landlord Schmandlord

Matrix

Mike’s Corner

Mortgage Fraud Blog

My Real Estate Investing Venture

Property Grunt

Real Estate Blog Pro

Real Estate Investing for Real

Real Estate Marketing Blog

Real Estate Tomato

Realty Thoughts

REI Blog

Seattle’s Rain City Real Estate Guide

Shaun’s Real Estate Adventures

Tales of a Seattle Real Estate Investor

The Foreclosure Report

The Future of Real Estate Marketing

The Housing Bubble Blog

The Landlord Blog

The Real Estate Bloggers

Triple Mint

Urban Trekker Blog

Zillow Blog
SellsiusBlog

Thanks BP!  Your blog rocks the spot too....!!! 
You guys be sure and stop by Bigger Pockets and show some love...you know, like good Pros.


Technorati Tags: top real estate blogs, real estate

Outside.in Is a Great Tool for Collecting and Sharing Local Info

The Pro has spent the last hour or so playing around with this cool new tool called Outside.in, which collects information pertaining to local community news, blogs and goings on....uh, and there's a lot of real estate stuff too.  You can use it (and contribute as well) to stay up to date on changes in the hood or inform your neighbors of your next open house. 

Good ole Curbed mentioned it today and got us going.  Its pretty decent so far!  Outside.in is putting the "i" in realty, if you ask me.  If you ask them...

outside.in is designed as a bridge between information space and real-world space -- a place to see in a single glance all the interesting things that are happening around you.

I know, I know...sites with forums and bookmarking and maps and such are all over the place these days.  So what's one more gonna hurt- right?  Well, so far it looks like there could be something a little different that may prove to be useful to some of you real estate blog Pros out there.  Give it a whirl and let this Pro know what you think.
I took the liberty of trying out a new polling tool from Polldaddy (which is pretty cool and terrifically easy to use).  Try it yourself on your blog if you like.  It's easy as 1..2..3



Outside.in
Polldaddy

Technorati Tags: Outside.in, local, tool, real estate, community

Anothr is Another way to get your RSS Feed Fix- this time via Skype

For those of you Pros that use Skype [free internet telephony program], there's now an RSS feed aggregator called Anothr which is yet another way to get your RSS feed fix.  As RSS has become the real estate rage, those of us/ you who are ahead of the game (and are using Skype for your business) will appreciate being able to use the program as an instant messenger and RSS feed reader as well.  Time is money! Save some...


[DownloadSquad] Anothr: RSS aggregator for Skype

Technorati Tags: Skype, RSS, Anothr

20 things that the Average Person Doesn't Know About Windows XP

There were a few of these that I was completely unaware of.  My guess is that the same wlll be the case for many of you real estate bloggers.  Check this out from Real Tech News


Technorati Tags: Windows XP

Firefox 2 Tip: Instant Calculator

A nice tip from Lifehacker for all you Pros that have begun using Firefox version 2.    If you type in your mathmatical formula into the search box (Cntrl-K to get there in a hurry) and you'll get an answer quicker than you can hit an equal sign.  Great tip!


Technorati Tags: calculator, firefox, google, tip, trick

Want to learn college level computer language and computer how-tos for FREE? sure you do...

Free-Ed.Net will serve up all the computer mumbo jumbo you can stand and won't charge you a penny!  Check it out for all of the fundamentals and introductions to computer stuff you never thought you'd care about, until now!  They have online classes and tutorials that will get you closer to technical insanity....enjoy!


Technorati Tags: education, tools, classes, free

Curious about what others are charging for rent in your area?

Probably.  And this tool will tell you if you are helping someone charge too much (or too little)...or rather, more than others in the area. Rentometer gives you a visual representation of your rent versus the regional median.  How snazzy is that?  Well...Pro predicts that it could be a pretty useful tool in NYC, if only they made it work in about 30 different languages and steered clear of information taken from brokers.  NYC real estate can be a dirty game.  Hope this helps you in your area, Pros!
[Link via Lifehacker]


Technorati Tags: rentometer, tool, rent, NYC, real estate

Technorati Tags: rentometer, tool, real estate, local

Plotzz will be (yet another) next BIG THING in real estate

At least thats what the hope is....in fact, I can't wait for the next BIG thing to happen. Its like i'm stuck in a real estate world filled with little things that at times seem to barely even happen at all. That's where Plotzz will come in (I assume).  This will be exciting for i've grown tired of being/ becoming the Pro at little things.  Plotzz is VERY  web2.0...all the way down to the reflective logo effect shadow  thing that  has become so popular (as seen below). 

But what the hell is it?  Who knows.  I suppose online real estate has evolved into a game of "who dunnit" or "who will do it first?"  I suppose we have Zillow to thank for making real estate into something more like Clue.



By the way, I've had an update on Viewr and it's looking pretty interesting.  Too bad I can't tell you more about it.  I suppose that this is suppose to be fun, somehow.  Perhaps its the most fun that anyone can really have in respect to real estate.

On that note, if anyone out there is having other types of real estate fun, DON"T TELL US!
 Please respect our right to depression.

If any body out there has tips for aspiring real estate blog pros, spill it!  But don't tell us too much, whatever you do.  We might not know how to handle it.


Technorati Tags: Plotzz, new site, real estate, web2.0

Google Reader Launches New Interface

You real estate blog Pros out there may enjoy this new (friendlier) interface on Google Reader.   Personally, I find the Reader to be a helpful tool for staying up to date on real estate this and that via RSS.  Here are a few of the changes:

• Expanded view and list view
  
• Simplified sharing functionality
  
• Improved read-state management
  
• Infinite scrolling
  
• Unread counts
  
• Mark all as read
  
• and a bunch more...
  

Check out the new Google Reader here



Technorati Tags: google reader, news

Listpic puts a spin on Craigslist

Ever want to see just the ads on Craigslist that have pictures in them?  Well, Listpic helps you do just that.  Give it a whirl.   Listpic claims to not have anything to do with Craigslist, but it sure does do a good job of mimicing- even the URL is similar. Love it! [Link via Lifehacker]

listpic

  see it. buy it.

Technorati Tags: Listpic, craigslist