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