Friday Facts February 18, 2011

FRIDAY FACTS
February 18, 2011

FOLLOWING ARE SOUNDBITES FROM THE INMAN CONNECT CONFERENCE HELD JANUARY 12-14 IN NEW YORK CITY.

Websites should be built for the user. Give them only that. Make it easy. Don’t make them think. You have about 3 seconds to get them engaged. You need a simple, well-designed, professional home page.

Someone who gives a phone number takes precedence over someone who gives and e-mail address because they’re ready to deal with you NOW.

Watch your social media. Tweeting, “I’m showing this listing that’s perfect for a single student at NYU” would be a Fair Housing violation.

Marketers will begin to realize the value of attention, not just reach and impressions.

The information overload has resulted in a lot of talk about “curation”, and those who can separate art from junk. Some will be automated; some will be powered by humans.

Evernote is the new post-it. Sync it to all your devices.

A panelist from Zillow noted that in New England, more than others, addresses aren’t displayed. It’s a mistake because the consumer wants the address. Mapping is a popular way to search. The Zillow app is GPS based and without an address, the listing doesn’t appear. With an address there is 5X more property search, 6X more page view, and 6X more e-mail contact.

Realtor.com says that one of their most popular categories is “sort by # of photos”.

In 2010, 41% of buyers found the house themselves and 37% found the house through a Realtor.

Bigger ads don’t create dumber buyers. Most buyers know what’s going on. Pricing properly is critical. Look at your CMA and take 10% off. Watch the delinquency rates in your market (by county – can access on the NY Fed website) and let your seller know.

98% of people who fall 3 months behind never catch up. Nationwide, 7.6% of all property is 90 days behind, 12.9% of those properties over $1 million, and 14.8% of those over 4 million.