Condo Blog - A Non-Corporate Blog From CondoDomain HQ

A small collaboration between Erica Farthing our Director of Social Media, a local video editor & myself (Founder, CEO, Broker & now cameraman) we slapped together some pretty neat client testimonial videos.  Check them out and let me know what you think.

We also have a series of them posted on our Main Website & of course on Facebook as well.

Kevin & Karen, Brookline, MA

Sarah Kasper, Back Bay, Boston

Carlos Febres-Mazzei, North End, Boston

With lots of talk on real estate becoming more and more transparent these days (and even blogs focusing on the subject at hand here, here & here), many ask, “Ok how do I do this.”

Here @ CondoDomain we have spent quite a bit of time researching and trying new techniques to tranparent-ize our business & our local industry to our consumers & “followers”. (Twitter play on word)  Facebook was our first true push at it…and here is our stroy.

*** Side Note:  Yes, it has really started to pay off recently, but I am not going to make any claims of a good ROI as of yet. ***

When we first started to ‘Expose” ourselves on the web - both business-minded and personally, we were very conservative.  Not as conservative as a corporate profile to enter the space…but conservative for us as an innovative, edgy company.   We were not sure where the boundaries were between a ‘professional marketed image & brand’ vs. our very outgoing young personalities and opinions.

The best way to really to explain this is to track back to some of the steps we took.

1.  We created a mini “off-site” forum on the social media platform called “Facebook.”  We branded our online-platform forum - Boston Real Estate Exposed.

Result: Some local ‘facebook’ traction and I personally received many  “friend requests” as the group organizer.  Most requests were industry peers as I really was not an on the street broker, but I “felt” the traction.

2.  We opened Dallas, Charlotte & Atlanta and added the “Real Estate Exposed” groups for those cities as well on Facebook.  Now some groups have had more traction in their city compared to others…but I am getting to my point here as now I was approaching 2,000 friend requests from again - industry peers.

3.  The next step was to add some advertisement on our blogs to let our blog readers know we also have a Facebook group, after all they were all web 2.0′ers.  This immediately boosted our Facebook status and we started to see a more comfortable and open social group now communicating with us on FB and off FB through email.

Result:  Awesome move….lets keep this going and get all of our team involved.

4.  We told the team here in Boston what was going on and asked them to explore taking their personal Facebook page to the next level and join in to these groups so now users could actually speak with our real agents & team members.  This was funny as I researched companies using Facebook and it seemed like corporate america was banning the site and here we are telling eveyrone to get on it.  Awesome!

This meant letting in individuals who we don’t necessarily know so they can learn about all of us, who we are and gain the trust & transparency they all want.  (We wanted to ‘keep it real’ BUT for some of us, we did have to remove some of the college keg-stand photos…well, not those, but you know what I am talking about!

So…we all opened up our Facebook profiles in Boston - Jessica, Tommy, Erica, BL and myself - totally exposed!

Result: The social experiment - a success.  Friends of friends reading up on the Exposed groups and getting an introduction to Jessica or Thomas who are our Boston agents & now daily Facebook users.

CondoDomain is now open in 8 cities nationally and we have asked all of our agent/brokers to crack open their Facebook profiles and let these users in.  We are still balancing between the Web 1.0′er and the Web 2.0′er.  Meaning, our Facebook groups are still only promoted on our blogs and really have not been pushed across our main site where all of our visitors land.

I mean, we aren’t ready to horrify our ‘Empty nester” buyer who is moving in from the suburbs looking to buy a $5M brownstone in the city and who may have not heard of Facebook yet…but I do think the time is coming and coming soon.

So what are our next steps:

Well, Erica Farthing who is now leading our Social Media marketing and has jumped in to other Social networks like Twitter & other community builders AND has tapped our client database of all of our 2008 clients.   She is currently in the process of interviewing our clients and showing them our new tools & networks to see if they would have reserached our firm or used our forums & groups to help them in their search for real estate or a real estate agent.  Once we compile the data we will certainly post it and let you know our next steps.

My assumptions is that we will somehow integrate our social media efforts into our main website & search pages.  I don’t think it will a forum like TruliaVoices, but more of just a 3rd party intergration of our members & past clients.

Find Us On Facebook

CondoDomain Fan Page (Corporate Fan Page)

CondoDomain Wants You (Agent Recruiting page)

Individual CondoDomain Agent/Broker Links - Here

Our “Real Estate Exposed” Pages:

Atlanta | Baltimore | Boston | Charlotte | Dallas | Philadelphia | San Diego | Washington D.C.

Other posts we have written on Facebook

So the past few weeks we have been looking into some re-branding for CondoDomain.  Our websites and business model have been great to us thus far, but in interviewing many of our clients the past few weeks, we have found some MAJOR LEAGUE gaps in our BRANDED EFFORTS & MARKETING SCHEMA and need to resolved them immediately.

Link to our Boston website is - http://Boston.CondoDomain.com

Some constructive feedback from our clients include:

1.  They were unclear what we were at first:  Ad website?  Referral Site?  Actual Agent/Broker?

2.  Many did NOT know that we gave a cash refunds back to our clients until AFTER they purchased?  (Oh my god…talk about bad design on my part!).  These clients bought a condo with us and were not expecting anything and then we showed up with a huge cash check and they flipped out.  Crazzzzy!

3.  Another group of people found out about the refund after being on the website for more than 3 days.  This is something I feel that should be conveyed  within the first 3 seconds!

4.  Most said once they found about the refund they did not understand it?  Did not get buyers brokerage or that commissions were paid by the seller.  We need to educate better on how traditional brokerage works!

5.  Almost everyone said that we have the best product (website) & service (people) available and they did not know it until after the fact.  All mentioned that we need to do more advertising and make it known our business proposition as its “one of a kind”.

So what to change/modify/implement?:

1.  Branding & Logo: Maybe the “.com” at the end of our logo makes people think we are more of a website rather than a real live, local, “people on the ground” company.  Remove the “.com”?

2.  Messaging: Obviously a more clear “educated” message to our audience / buyers. (a)  We are local brokers.  (b)  We are a niche specialist working with buyers only in major cities.  (c)  You get cash back when you buy with us.  (d)  Its not only free to use a buyers broker, but, actually using CondoDomain will save you additional thousands by letting them help you.

3.  Website (1.0): Crisp’en up the site to a more Web 2.0 template that conveys all of these messages.

Marketing Guru’s,  Brand & Identity Specialist, Web 2.0′ers -  We would love your advice & feedback.  Feel free to leave a comment or email me directly!

Thank you!!!

DOJ says NO MORE OPT-OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This mean now that all of the ignorant real estate brokers whom cheated their clients in the past - can not do this anymore!!!  Imagine listing your home for sale with a broker who “Opt’ed Out” of having your listing pushed all over the Internet via other real estate broker’s websites…crazy and pathetic for any brokers whom cheated their high-paying clients whom which they hired you to market their home!

via Inman News…

The Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors have agreed to minor modifications to their proposed settlement of the government’s antitrust lawsuit against the Realtors’ association, paving the way for a final judgment in the three-year-old case.

The government says the settlement, announced in May, will give consumers access to multiple listing service data on homes for sale similar to that enjoyed by Realtors. After wrapping up its review of public comments submitted during a 60-day window, the DOJ proposed leaving the settlement virtually unchanged.

But in its response to comments received from the industry, the DOJ shed some light on how it expects the agreement to be enforced: by NAR. The government also left the door open for future antitrust action concerning NAR’s Internet Data Exchange, or IDX, policy.

In its September 2005 lawsuit, the DOJ alleged that NAR’s policy on “virtual office Web sites,” or VOWs, violated antitrust laws. The policy alleged suppressed competition from real estate brokers who gave consumers access to multiple listing service data on a par with that enjoyed by Realtors through password-protected sites.

By allowing brokers to withhold their sellers’ listings from VOWs, NAR restrained VOW brokers in their ability to compete with traditional brokers, who often provide information on MLS listings by hand, mail, fax or e-mail, DOJ lawyers said.

By blocking VOW brokers from allowing their customers to review the same set of MLS listings that traditional brokers can provide to their customers, NAR’s rules “restrained VOW brokers from competing in a way that is efficient and desired by many customers,” the DOJ claimed.

The proposed settlement requires NAR to modify its challenged VOW policy, making it clear that brokers can operate VOWs “without interference from their rivals,” and that traditional brokers cannot withold sellers’ listings from display on VOWs.

The proposed settlement would also allow brokers to operate referral VOWs, which allow prospective buyers to search for homes online, but directs them to other brokers or agents when they are ready to see a home in person, negotiate a price, enter into a contract, and close the deal.

Existing referral VOWs have established relationships with Internet companies and developed “significant numbers of potential buyer leads,” the DOJ says, and the proposed settlement prohibits MLSs from standing in the way of VOW brokers referring customers to other brokers for compensation.

Continued @ Inman News

Washington, D.C.–Existing home sales increased 2.6 percent in from the second to the third quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Nationwide, sales of existing homes, including condos and single-family, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units in the third quarter, up from 4.91 million units in the second quarter, according to NAR. This number, however, is lower year-over-year by 7.7 percent compared to the 5.46 million-unit pace in the third quarter of 2007.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says conditions continue to range widely. “A pattern of sharply higher sales in areas with large price declines is well established,” Yun says.

“Affordability conditions have consistently been a major factor in driving sales. Historically during recessions, buyers have responded to incentives and it’s important for government to keep that in the forefront of stimulus decisions,”  he says.

In the condo sector, metro area condominium and co-operative prices—covering changes in 57 metro areas—showed the national median existing-condo price was $210,800 in the third quarter, down 7.1 percent from $227,000 in the third quarter of 2007. Sixteen metros showed annual increases in the median condo price and 41 areas had price declines.

Continued…

Search Condos For Sale Nationwide

It’s the network - that’s keeping us on FIRE!

CondoDomain is one of the fastest growing real estate businesses right now and we are doing it in a down market!  We are still on a push to get our pre-existing 33 U.S. markets open in the upcoming months.

Currently we are open in:  Atlanta | Boston | Charlotte | Dallas | San Diego| Washington D.C.

Up next:  Baltimore | Philadelphia

After that —  its up to you!

Contact Brian-Logan Reid about our web-based buyers brokerage and how you can open your own market!

As some of you know I have been on Twitter for a month now.  I felt it was my duty to jump on this West Coast bandwagon and join in on the fun.  After all - we are a leading ‘web-based’ company in a very “Social” vertical (Real Estate) right?

So about a month ago I was getting a ton of “Twitter Pressure”.  It was very similar to the “Facebook Pressure” I got last year from close friends & industry peers.  Well, if you checked out my Facebook lately, I am obviously 100% addicted and about 2,000 industry friends FAT.

Thanks to Erica Farthing, our Director of Social Media, Facebook has been such a great addition to our Social Media campaign.  In fact when big corporate companies arbanning Facebook, here @ CondoDomain we encourage everyone to have it

So, Twitter here I come….

So what is Twitter? Below is an awesome “Twitter in plain English” video that I came across last night.

CondoDomain Facebook Pages:

Facebook (CD wants you)

Facebook (Fan Page)

See all of our personal Facebook profiles here.

CondoDomain Twitter Pages:

Twitter (Follow Tony)

Twitter (Follow Erica)

I had a great call last night with longtime friend and peer Joe Ferrara - and as always, he got my wheels turning.

I am putting this out on the wire (blog-o-sphere) and hope for any and all ideas & suggestions on proven marketing & PR advice for our new message.

Let’s put all the B.S. aside, all the disgruntled comments from the traditional real estate folks and let’s just talk basics.

At CondoDomain.com we have a pretty unbelievable story to tell.  No we are not curing cancer or saving the planet (I wish I was…but unfortunately I am smack-dab in the middle of the real estate world right now), but the point being is that we are offering a surreal “Too good to be true” kind of product & service.

The Basics:

1.  CondoDomain is a real estate broker, just like RE/MAX, Century 21, Coldwell Banker or any other real estate brand out there. We all claim to be better than one another or have more market share, etc, but bottom line is that we are no different than then mega-brands.  The point here is that any agent that works for one of these firms is just a “person” and that “person” is whom creates the value in the transaction.  So no matter if you are working with RE/MAX or CondoDomain - the better agent will create more value for you - and therefore provide a better service and get you a better deal.  Agree?

2.  Niche:  As a firm we specialize in 1 vertical.  We ONLY work with buyers and we concentrate on urban living which mainly consists of condominiums.  Buying a condominium is different than buying a single family home, that being said, we feel we have an advantage as our ‘agents’ deal with this all day long.  Also, ONLY working with BUYERS allows our “agents” to concentrate on solely that.  Most traditional real estate agents spend the majority of their time marketing themselves to drum up clients/business.  After they get a new client (buyer or a seller) they need to adjust their perspective on how they are going to help them (i.e.  market a new listing or help them find a new home).  At CondoDomain we just work with buyers, 100% of the time, so all we do is tour properties all week long and see up to 10X more listing than the average “top real agent”.  I would put this way up on the list as a major advantage for CondoDomain to serve you as a buyer’s agent, no?

3. Business model:  Without drilling into details or boring you with how our internal systems work, our business model ‘affords’ our team members/agent to work with buyers for a set flat fee.  When we started this business it did not make sense to us that if we helped a buyer buy a home and they spent more money, we got paid more?  Actually, our exact opinion was this is “ass backwards”.  As a buyer’s agent aren’t we supposed to try and help our buyers get the new home or condo for the lowest price possible?  Therefore we implemented the “flat fee”.

Because of how the traditional real estate model is set up & for still operating, we are still compensated a commission based on the percentage of the sales price.  So we simple accept the commission at the closing, subtract our fee due to the firm (which is the exact same for every transaction) and then cut the remainder of the commission back to our client.  Sound fair?

Summary:

To date we have had VERY FEW thought-out rebuttals to our business model.  Most traditionalists classify us as a “discounter” and just write hateful things to us about the model - whatever!    Does anyone out there who does not agree with our model have a “thought out” response to a flat fee based buyers agency?

Our goal as a company, beyond the obvious of helping buyers, is NOT to ruin the real estate industry, but rather provide a very sensible and viable option to consumers.

So…

We are operating a company called CondoDomain that provides a dominant web-based information portal that includes more ‘local’ RE data on one site than any other single source.  We have local real estate agents whom we believe are some of the very best in the industry for calculated reasons.  And we work with every single one of our clients for the exact same set fee and REFUND them back any remainder of the commission.

My guess is that if we were lucky enough to tell every buyer in our market about our business model, 8 out of 10 people would choose us.  So….HOW DO WE TELL OUR AWESOME STORY?

More information visit our website @ www.CondoDomain.com

If you missed the Boston Real Estate Special on FOX25 - Check it out here!

It’s the battle of the ages in Boston real estate. The old, historic brownstone versus the new, luxury highrise. Which would you rather call home? FOX25’s Keba Arnold takes a look at how the real estate market in Boston is changing.

As previously ‘blogged’ about in recent posts (here & here), the FOX25 News special aired lastnight and Jessica Quirk stole the show!

So, what did you see in this super-speed 5 minute segment:

Brownstones:

Mary Kelleher of Gibson Sotheby’s: touring one of our all-time favorite clients ever: Sarah Kasper, as they, browse through a listing at 12 Claremont Park.

Amy Jacobs of Otis & Ahearn also toured Sarah through that beautifully renovated brownstone they showed located at 690 Tremont Street in Boston’s South End.

Highrises:

On the flip side - my uber-hip clients John & Valerie Hattersley, whom are moving into the city from out of town checked out the stylish-lofts @ 285 Columbus in Boston’s Back Bay whom were graciously introduced to the project by President & CEO of Boston Residential Group - Curtis Kemeny.

Last but not least John & Valerie were accompanied by longtime friend and colleague Joe Laurano of The Marketing Group of Boston through the new “volumized” FP3 Lofts over near us in the Fort Point Channel neighborhood.

End result - a total hit. Our client Sarah Kasper ended up purchasing her brownstone unit she always dreamed of…and for John & Valerie, they got their eye’s set on a Loft…right here in downtown Boston!!!

Thank you all who helped put this great piece together. The people at Fox called last night to wish us luck and thanks us all. So thank you!

Listing/Development Breakdown:

12 Claremont Park (SOLD)

690 Tremont Street (South End - just 2 units left!!!)

285 Columbus Lofts (Back Bay - handful of units left!!!)

FP3 Lofts (Seaport District - now open for building tours)

45 Province (Midtown - now in pre-sales)

Any questions on any of these properties feel free to call us anytime. You can either ask for me, Thomas or our new movie star Jessica Quirk!

More on the Bosotn Condo Blog | Boston Condos

PRESS RELEASE:

CondoDomain.com is pleased to announce the launch of their web-based buyers’ brokerage business model in the San Diego, CA and Washington D.C. marketplaces.

The Boston based company is now operating in six cities as they expand into their pre-existing 33 markets as a buyers’ brokerage helping buyers search, tour, buy and save thousands via the company’s commission refund policy.

“We are in a wild market at a wild time right now,” noted Tony Longo, the firm’s founder & CEO.   “We are witnessing traditional real estate companies cut back, reduce staff, and in some instances close their doors.  Our ability not only to stay alive, but to continue growing is directly connected with our technology-centric business model and our savvy, value-oriented clients whom choose to work with the firm.”

As the appointed City Vice President and natives of their prospective cities, real estate brokers Cleve Shirley of San Diego, CA and Khalil El-Ghoul of Washington, D.C. will now run all of the real estate operations and work with local buyers looking to purchase in San Diego and Washington D.C.

At a time of increased economic concern, CondoDomain.com offers consumers a choice and a way to save money when they need it most. On average, CondoDomain.com clients have received more than $13,000 in commission refunds at closing.

Shirley and El-Ghoul will run the San Diego and DC operations with commitment and passion for their markets and will now strive to become a valuable resource for buyers in this new Internet home buying era.

Search The New Sites:  San Diego Condos | DC Condos

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About CondoDomain.com
CondoDomain.com is a web-based real estate brokerage based in Boston, MA. The company is expanding nationwide to offer its buyers’ brokerage business model in more than 30 cities around the U.S. Currently operating in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, San Diego and Washington D.C.   CondoDomain offers an innovative flat-fee business model allowing the majority of the commission to be refunded back to the buyer. By combining up-to-date MLS feeds, new construction buildings, FSBO, Foreclosures, Lofts and Auction listings all on one site, CondoDomain has become one of the most popular and user friendly real estate websites available. CondoDomain.com offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee to all of its clients, ensuring a professional, efficient, and pleasant transaction. Visit www.CondoDomain.com for more information or feel free to dive into our blogs at www.CondoDomain.com/Blog.

Press Contact:
Erica Farthing
Director of Social Media
617.849.4993
erica@condodomain.com

We have done a small upgrade on our social media & third party marketing platform.  We thought we would share some of with you some of the tools we have implemented in our cities.  The companies/media sites we have leveraged include:  Squidoo, YouTube, Inman, Zillow, Technorati, Outside.in, Facebook, blogging and affiliated wiki’s & publishing platforms.

Atlanta Condos Site

Squidoo | YouTube | Facebook | Atlanta Condo Blog

Boston Condos Site

Squidoo | YouTube | Facebook | Boston Condo Blog

Baltimore Condos Site

Squidoo | YouTube | Facebook | Baltimore Condo Blog

Charlotte Condos Site

Squidoo | YouTube | Facebook | Charlotte Condo Blog

Dallas Condos Site

Squidoo | YouTube | Facebook | Dallas Condo Blog

DC Condos Site

Squidoo | YouTube | Facebook | DC Condo Blog

Philadelphia Condos Site

Squidoo | YouTube | Facebook | Philadelphia Condo Blog

San Diego Condos Site

Squidoo | YouTube | Facebook | San Diego Condo Blog

Whoa! What is going on out there in this real estate world this month?  Hot off the press today some major movement in the discount real estate brokerage business, & mainstream real estate media verticals.

Redfin - which announced a few weeks ago to layoff a big % of their staff has rolled out another adjustment to their offering plan for buyers and sellers in the 8 markets that they serve.  Today they announce: Redfin Upgrades Online Brokerage Service on their very nicely new fresh designed website.  Great work guys.  Looking sharp!

Zillow - (via the Sellius Blog and Inman News ) announced that the real estate media company Zillow has chosen to give up all but two of its state real estate broker licenses as a cost cutting measure. (It kept Washington and Texas). On October 17, 2008, Zillow CEO Rich Barton publicly announced the layoff of 25% of its workforce.)

Zip Realty - Zip Realty adds 551 real estate agents in an aggressive recruting effort and boosts sales.  ZipRealty Inc. managed to trim third-quarter losses to $1.7 million as the company added 551 agents and took advantage of continued turnover of foreclosed properties to achieve double-digit growth in sales and revenue from a year ago.

From the street level it looks like all these major movements to innovate this stale traditional industry is taking a beating because of nationwide market declines.  In short, Redfin tacks on is giving less commission rebates back but offering up more services and dedicated time to their clients.  Zip is taking the old old OLD tactic of add more agents and get more deals - yikes.   And Zillow who really stands separate from the pack as an ad based business is a clear impression that there is less $$$ being spent in the industry at this current time.  Will all these companies survive … absolutely, and we are a big fan of all of them.

CondoDomain.com - (A little “self love”) -  Little’ole CondoDomain.com still sits quiet in the pack (even though we are yelling as loud as we can)  on the sidelines.  Bootstrapped to the max, operating in 4 markets (soon to be 6 this week), our mini-Redfin web-based buyers brokerage business model is trending in the opposite direction.  Possiblly hte markets we are in?  Maybe our cheap flimzy business cards and marketing material?  Who knows, but we are excited to be growing in a time like this.  A little birdie told me that San Diego & Washington DC will have a CondoDomain website & buyers brokerage business model there veryyyyyy soon.