June 28th, 2007 Bob
It’s still a raging battle of the giants when it comes to mapping platforms…at least it is in the geeky realms where I spend much of my day.
We’ve all heard of “Web 2.0“, the oft-abused phrase which is attempting to describe the new era of web businesses and websites. One of the cornerstones of the web 2.0 craze is something called a “mashup”. A mashup is simply when you take two unrelated technologies and smash them together to make a third, unique technology. A typical mashup could be made of these two unrelated parts:
- A map
- political affiliations
If you can find a way to map areas by the political affiliations of the people who live there, then you’ve got a “mashup”.
Take a look at Neighboroo if you want to see this example brought to life:
I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. If you take a map and then add real estate listings, then you’ve got another cool mashup.
The battle right now in the world of people who make these mashups is which mapping platform is the best: Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth?
It’s a great question as they both have their advantages. Google is pretty easy to use, but Microsoft has outstanding photography, and uses something called “birds eye” view to show you what a house looks like from an angle. I mentioned it a while back in another post about Cyberhomes.
But then Google just came out with something called Street View that allows you to literally stand on various street corners and do a 360. And it’s NOT animation, but actual video. Very cool
So the battle continues between Google and Microsoft. The winners will be all of us who are able to build cool mashups using this technology, and all of you who will use our mashups.
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June 27th, 2007 Bob
For anyone in the market for a Tudor, we’ve got the perfect place for you. 1301 Hudson Street in Denver has been restored to its original splendor–with every detail accounted for including:
- Period paint
- Classic custom mosaic tile
- Updated kitchen w/stainless steel appliances
- Updated bath
- 3rd bedroom with a fireplace in the basement
- Professionally landscaped private backyard garden area
Denver real estate has much to offer the savvy buyer. And this gem should be at the top of the list for anyone considering a Tudor in a cool Denver neighborhood.
Just take a look at these photos and you’ll see what we mean.
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June 26th, 2007 Bob
You’ve just got to take a look at this fantastic green-built home in Nederland. Architect Mela Breen and her husband Dave Good have poured their talent and their souls into this spectacular remodel.
With features that include:
- bamboo and cork flooring
- Energy Star systems and appliances
- recycled materials
- salvaged Redwood
- concrete counter tops
- on-demand hot water
Boulder real estate is about more than just homes on The Hill in downtown Boulder. Nederland is a gem of a town located a few miles up Boulder Canyon Road towards Eldora Ski Resort. This particular home is located on Hurricane Hill. And the views are just magnificent. Take a look at these photos and I think you’ll agree that Boulder county is home to some wonderfully dedicated and talented folks.
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June 25th, 2007 Bob
One of the perks to living near Denver is access to all the great food and cultural activities. I’ve written in the past about such great local spots as Rioja, and Sushi Den. But what would life be without good coffee?
I’m something of a coffee snob so I’ve tried them all. Denver’s best coffee by far is Kaladi Brothers. According to those in the know, they use an air roasting technique which accounts for some of the fantastic flavor. Whatever. As long as they keep cranking out those fantastic beans, I’ll keep buying them.
Some friends of ours recently returned from Hawaii with some of that famous Kona coffee. It was great, but I’d put Kaladi of Denver against it anytime.
Kudos! And keep up the good work.
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June 22nd, 2007 Bob
Do you long for the good old days? When everyone had phone numbers like “Pennsylvania 3-5-7″, and Trudy the switchboard operator gave you a cheery greeting as she connected you to Aunt Maude? Or, how about the convenience of paying all of your bills by writing dozens of checks by hand before this crazy “Internet Banking” thing took off? Oh, and do you remember when cigarettes were good for you! I miss Bogie and Bacall puffing away like chimneys in every movie.
Bad news for you nostalgic types: we’re asking you to put down your pens and pick up your mouse!
That’s right. Real-a-Save is the first real estate company to require 100% of its contracts to be signed with digital signatures.
Ok, now don’t pass out. If you really want to sign something with a pen, and then walk over to the fax and dial the number, and then wait for the fax to go through, and then collect your confirmation receipt, and then call me to see if I got the fax…well, we’ll let you. But we’ll also collect a digital signature for our records. And we’d encourage you to cut the chains to your fax machine and kindly put down your pen!
Starting immediately we’re partnering with a company called DocuSign to allow all of our clients to sign their contracts using a digital signature. DocuSign has a secure, intuitive, and 100% legal process for creating digital signatures. Our current Colorado real estate clients already love it. And so will you.
Why are we doing this?
- It’s more convenient for our clients
- It’s more secure. We can limit who gets access to your important documents using this type of technology
- We’re committed to being a green, paperless company
What is it the Bob Dylan said? The times they are a changin’. We think they’re changing for the better.
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June 21st, 2007 Bob
I took a little hiatus from trail-running over the past few years and I’m happy to say that I’m back. It’s my favorite sport/activity by far. Colorado has so much to offer in the way of wonderful trails to run that I’m at a loss as to where to start. The Boulder area in particular has many of my favorite trails.
My current favorite spot is the Flatirons Vista Trail over off of Hwy 93 towards Golden. It’s such a great spot. I did about 15 miles the other day and the time just flew by because of the sheer beauty of that place.
Like many folks who are in their late thirties, I’m noticing some changes. Especially in my knees. In order to avoid injury, I’ve been experimenting with a type of running that the Mexican Indians use. (I’m not quite at the barefoot level yet, but I’m consider trying it )These guys are famous for sending 50-year-old runners up here to kick the collective asses of our best 20-somethings. It’s also advocated by Dr. Nicholas Romanav as the “Pose” method. It simply involves landing on your mid-foot instead of the heel, and also using a different gait.
It seems to be working. I’ve done a bunch of 15-mile runs and I’m no worse for it.
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June 20th, 2007 Bob
For those of you who are interested in the home valuation website Zillow, there is a relatively new player on the scene: Cyberhomes.
This is the valuation tool from Fidelity, and it’s had a rough time of gaining traction on the uber-popular Zillow, but from a pure usability standpoint I give it high marks.
One thing I noticed right away was that a website with tons of money to burn has finally used Microsoft’s Virtual Earth Birdseye view in the proper fashion: they give you the photo w/out making you ask for it. Now, most people see an icon for “Birdseye” and it means nothing to them so they don’t click it. But it’s actually a pretty cool feature. A Birdseye view is simply satellite imagary that is taken from an oblique angle. Most satellite photos are taken from directly above the item in question, but Birdseye uses imagery that is taken from an angle, so you can actually see the sides of the house. Pretty cool.
Cyberhomes has comparable sales data just like Zillow as well. Give it a try. Just type in the address of any Denver real estate (or Boulder, or Ft. Collins…) and see current valuations and comparable data. Just remember that these sites area good place to start…they’re not the final word in home valuation.
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June 19th, 2007 Bob
Real estate shoppers have lots of new construction options in the North Metro area, especially around Broomfield. One of the biggest problems that resale sellers have at the moment is that new construction prices are so competitive that someone trying to sell a 15-year-old home has a hard time pricing their property.
Most people who decide on new construction go directly to the builder and talk to one of their sales reps. That’s just fine, and most builder sales reps are very honest people. If you take a representative with you to help in negotiations you might be surprised at how helpful it can be.
When you work in real estate for a living you get accustomed to asking for concessions and being a stickler for price–in essence you become a negotiator. The key to successful negotiations is not to simply ask for the moon and then settle for something much less, but rather it is a combination of attitude and experience, which results in a win-win for both parties.
Our culture is not a negotiating culture. We don’t go to the market and haggle with the folks at Safeway over the price of apples. We simply pay the asking price. So most Americans don’t have experience starting at one asking price and then working their way down. Or, throwing in various concessions that ultimately net a lower price. Real estate professionals do this for a living. We’re constantly engaged in some sort of back and forth with buyer and seller representatives. Now, it’s not as if we’re seated in a dark, smoky room for hours on end making offers and counter offers…that’s just not how negotiations work. But we rely on our experience (what sort of incredible bargains has this builder given in the past? Have we used building concessions, mechanical concessions, or financing incentives in the past with this builder?) to guide us in advising our clients in structuring an aggressive offer that the builder may accept.
So if you are considering buying new construction we’d advise bringing a negotiator with you. You might be surprised at what a bargain you get.
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June 11th, 2007 Bob
Colorado has pretty progressive real estate laws. For those East coasters out there I’m sure you will agree that the while the search process is much the same, the closings are worlds apart.
Some states require lawyers at a real estate closing. Now, this is no slight against lawyers but the real estate closing process is predictable, and Colorado is one of the many states which does not require lawyers at the closing table. The typical closing that we attend lasts from 3o minutes to an hour. But very rarely more than that.
We just came from a Denver real estate closing that took only 15 minutes. Now that’s a new record!
When the entire process is as streamlined as it is in Colorado there is the danger of too much trust. What do I mean by that? Well, let’s take the walk-through as an example.
Buyers have the right to walk through the property right before the closing to make sure that any repairs and changes that were part of the contract have been completed to the specifications of the contract. It’s important to have this last look before you sign the closing papers. Like Reagan said, “trust, but verify“. It’s good to trust the other party, but it’s entirely necessary to verify that what they say is true.
We’ve had closings where something as simple as the word “clean” had different meanings for buyer and seller. When the buyer’s expectations of a “clean” house are met with the seller’s concept of what it means to “clean” the house before leaving you can have a recipe for disappointment if not outright disaster.
So, while the process of buying and closing Denver real estate has never been more streamlined, there are still necessary precautions that customers should take. The walk through is one of the often overlooked protections for both parties.
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June 7th, 2007 Bob
One of the main arguments that the traditional real estate establishment is making against discount, flat fee, and online real estate companies like Real-a-Save is this:
- Yes, your companies might give money back to the consumer, but the consumer is losing money overall because you don’t know how to price their home.
Basically, traditional real estate (represented in this clip by Alan Dalton on the left of your screen) says that companies like mine do two things:
- We advise our buyer clients to overpay for homes that they purchase
- We advise our seller clients to sell their home for too little, ie. we list them at a lower price that a traditional Realtor would
So traditional real estate’s main argument against companies like mine is that the consumer ends up losing money. What?
This argument is so insulting to the average real estate consumer, and so flawed from a logic standpoint that it’s difficult to pick a spot to begin my own criticism.
Let’s start with point #1 from above: our buyers are overpaying for the homes they purchase. Let’s say that I represent a buyer to purchase a house in Denver. Traditional real estate would have you believe that our agents advise you to submit an offer at that is very high (just so it gets accepted), and that it doesn’t matter that our Colorado home buyers get an average rebate of $8,000 from us, because they probably overpaid by more than $8,000 to begin with. Good God. This argument assumes a couple of things:
- That you, the consumer, are a complete idiot.
- That I, the agent, am completely dishonest.
Traditional real estate is accusing you of being an idiot by saying that you’d be so clueless in regards to pricing, that only a “traditional Realtor” (read: a Realtor who charges 6% and does not give buyer rebates) has the incredible skill, honesty, and negotiating savvy to talk you into offering a lower price for the home you want to buy. Traditional real estate would have you believe that they have a corner on the market of pricing information data and that you had better use a traditional Realtor or you’ll never really know how much a house is worth.
Can you see the incredible dishonesty here? Can we all agree that the Internet revolution has brought one thing to the public: ready access to lots of information. Do you think you could go out right now and find out what homes have sold for in your area? I’m sure you are saying yes. All you have to do is go to sites like Zillow, Trulia, or your county records website to see recent sales in your neighborhood.
But you don’t even have to go to these places yourself. You simply have to know that housing data is available. Wouldn’t most of you want your Realtor to present you with recent sales data before you make an offer? Traditional real estate would have us believe that you don’t even know enough to ask for this information.
They’d have us believe that you are so unsophisticated that unless a traditional Realtor tells you that you should base your offer on recently sold information, that you are in danger of allowing a dishonest discount broker like myself write an offer that ignores this basic information. Are you that stupid, or is traditional real estate’s argument as flawed and insulting as I earlier suggested?
Let’s look at point #2: I’m dishonest because I’m not a traditional Realtor.
Where to begin with this argument? This suggests that the public image problem of Realtors is a recent development brought about by companies like Real-a-Save who are trying to lower real estate costs for consumers. Did you get that? Traditional real estate would have you believe that traditional Realtors were respected by the general public until companies like mine came along. Do you believe that?
In order for me to practice real estate with this level of dishonesty (forcing my clients to list their homes at below-market-value prices, and guiding my buyers to purchase homes at above-market-values) the vast majority of my clients would have to be complete idiots (see point #1). The truth is that most of my clients find me because they don’t trust traditional real estate, or because they’ve been through the buying and selling process before and they realize that there must be a better way than the traditional method.
The truth is that my typical clients know more than the average real estate customer. So point #2 is ridiculous on many levels.
The truth is that traditional real estate is terrified of the competition from companies like Real-a-Save because they know that we’re on to something. We know we’re on to something here as well. And all of our satisfied clients can attest to our own honesty and incredible cost savings.
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