Have a read of the best articles on real estate sales tips and other areas of online real estate marketing:

• Real Estate Agent Branding
• Successful Agents
• Lead Conversion
• More on Lead Conversion
• Selling to Babyboomers
• Social Media and SEO
• Real Estate Sales Training
• Web Site Call to Action
• Social Media Strategy
• Increasing Leads Online
• Website Registration Page Improvement
• Chinese Real Estate Buyers
• Real Estate Niches
• Real Estate Agent Traits
• WordPress IDX for Real Estate Websites
• Mobile Apps for Realtors

Mobile MLS

The development of Mobile apps is big business today.  Given that home buyers are looking for homes on their iPhones, Ipads, and Android phones,  you must have a mobile version of your website for them to use. Your regular website might not be mobile browers friendly.  Currently, homebuyers are searching using the free Realtor.com app, Realtor.ca app, and the Trulia mobile app but that’s doing much for you.  You need your own custom app to keep your clients loyal   Discover the best ipad apps for realtors and apps for the new Apple  iPad 3 and iPhone 4S.

Are you searching for homes or condos via your mobile phone?  Download the MLS app for iPhone, Android, Windows 7 and iPad.  Collectively, the MLS app for all these phones let you search in the target city, neighborhood, or the latest listings for your favorite real estate brokerage or agent. All your MLS listing information is available including pictures of properties.  There are rival real estate apps including the  Zillow app  and the Trulia App and you can download those apps for free too. Newer apps are being developed now that allow realtors to add value for home hunters.

Realtor.com App

The REALTOR.com app is a real estate app for your Apple, Android or Windows allowing you to view the same MLS listings from REALTOR.com. You can peruse over 3 million homes for sale, rentals, and millions more property records and other types of real estate via your phone. The MLS mobile app is a free download so that you are free to find the real estate information you need whenever and wherever you need it. You can download on itunes, Android market, or the Windows Phone Marketplace.

MLS App for iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile Phones

REALTOR.com’s mobile MLS app uses the phone’s GPS functionality to show properties wherever you go making your active search on the road that much more productive.  This app makes it easy to save a home or condo listing  you’re interested in to your  REALTOR.com account,  or send it to your friends and family via email, Facebook or Twitter.

* The Realtor.com app for Apple ios phones and tablets has just been upgraded.    Home hunters can identify foreclosed listings and price reductions and app also features a new Nearby Recently Sold search on the home page.  Sold data may be available on the app as soon as 24 hours after closing.   The MLS app’s Area Scout feature is more prominent in the navigation and it updates a map with new listings as you travel  around a neighborhood.  The Area Highlighter has also been put on the home screen and it allows the user to draw a border around a specific area on the map to isolate listings within that specific boundary.

iPad 3 – Great Way to Surf the Web or View Home Listings No Matter Where you Are

The new iPad 3 will offer many new features however even the soon to be discounted iPad 2 is very user friendly.  If you have the iPad 2, you’ll enjoy the widescreen viewing of homes and condos. You won’t see video on the MLS app however viewing pictures is great. The iPad 3 will have twice the resolution of the iPad 2 giving users exceptional clarity of hi res photographs offered on real estate websites. MLS.com and most realtor websites however do not carry hi res photos because of the large file size and bandwidth concerns.

If you are about to buy the iPad 3, you’ll be pleased with its outstanding features. Even for real estate agents, the iPad provides an in person, multimedia tour of homes allowing the agent to provide  insight into the value of properties while you’re there with them in person.

Short Demo on how to Use the MLS App from Realtor.com

Do you have any questions about the MLS or Realtor.ca in Canada? In the news: Vancouver home prices are falling as are  Toronto real estate prices.  Live in Mississauga and need a Mississauga real estate agent?

Progressive real estate agents in Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Denver, or San Francisco, it’s very important to leverage the power of mobile real estate marketing. Some of the Mobile MLS apps allow customized, personal branding which allows you to impress your clients and inevitably reach more buyers via smartphones and iPads.  Power up your social media and SEO promotion with Realty Market Leader.

Top selling real estate agents often have a great brand image and when you’re working with people, you want to have the characteristics they like.  A good brand comes down to trust, competence, credibility, and a unique value offer and top agents must have projected that well enough to generate completed sales.

An agent with a bad brand image is one who appears to have the traits buyers and sellers don’t want to have anything to do with.  Normally, you can’t do much about your skin color, age, lack of hair, height, weight, brokerage, gender, or appearance, so compensating with strengths in other areas may help you get past people’s common prejudices. A strong brand can overcome consumer’s prejudices and launch your career through the glass ceiling that you thought could forever hold you back.

Relying on your photograph as your key branding tool leaves you stuck with consumer’s prejudices. Which of these agents below would you like to work with? Now you know about prejudice.  Your branding strategy can help you deal with all this and turn down the volume on prejudices/preferences that previously lost client opportunities.

What is the ideal Realtor Image? A face can say a thousand words, however an Agent needs to be more than a pretty face.

Strategic Brand Image Development for Realtors

If your branding consultant just talks web design and can’t articulate the fundamentals of personal branding and building your persona, then you need to find a consultant who can. The details of your personal realtor brand is composed of brand values integrated according to an effective strategy.  A brand only exists when it is focused according to the brand plan.

Some real estate professionals are using Facebook to boost their brand image and reach prospects and clients while others are developing flashy new blogs and websites.  A polished web presence is very smart, yet even that might not do it. There are plenty of agents who have lousy websites and still convert leads so there’s more going on here than meets the eye. In fact, you may have already faced this frustration, wondering why your website isn’t generating leads.

First of all, websites are a dime a dozen, and a blog or Facebook page can actually harm your brand image. Facebook pages are difficult to make unique so they make you look just another sheep in the pen. You need to look conforming to a certain degree but you have to stand out from the crowd in a relevant way.

Why can’t I just show one or two agents who really have the branding thing down? Because buyers are different genders, age, incomes, nationalities, race, and have unique personalities. You can’t be all things to all prospects so good branding may require focusing on specific market niches. You’ll need to decide on how to approach them.

You can focus on urban condos and lofts (end products) or you can focus on community involvement (personal affinity). You can also try to incorporate many brand values into your strategy, however you need an overall game plan. But first, consider the basics of your new powerful brand image.

Brand Values

• Top Sales
• Personable – friendly
• Attractive/Interested
• Helpful/Generosity
• Low Commission
• Experience
• Trustworthy/Honest
• Connected/Social
• Effective/Successful

These traits above are what you use to create your brand persona.  Your brand persona is what advertising people envision to create effective characters in ads. You have to embody the traits that home buyers and sellers prefer.

Think about what the most powerful images, words, and activities describe the ideal persona for you.  Your web design should revolve around those images, pictures, colors, and words.  Building your web design first is a mistake.

Perhaps this is one reason why real estate agents avoid unique web designs? If you don’t know who you are professionally, how can you decide on a design that represents you?

Look into MLS mobile apps can help you generate and convert leads. Home buyers are using their iPads, iPhones, Android phones to access home listings and find agents. They’re downloading the Realtor.com app, Realtor.ca app, and the Trulia mobile app but they could be downloading your custom mobile mls app.  Discover the best ipad apps for realtors and apps for the new iPhone 4S.

If you don’t like some aspects of open houses as a tactic to create buyers and to create new clients, you’re missing out on a key way to improve your business. The number of people searching for open houses may be limited and many of them may be dreamers rather than buyers, however a certain percentage are qualified buyers. That’s particularly true when they’ve had a chance to peruse your property listings online and like what they see. If they’ve come through realtor.ca, realtor.com, or the  MLS listings then they are interested.  It may be some work to convert open house leads, but over a full year, it is bound to pay off with some sales.

The quality of open house leads may depend on the quality of the MLS and your own website. If some visitors are a security threat and are unqualified time wasters, then your lead generation channel is not working. It’s time to review where you’re getting your leads from.

To increase the quality of your open house leads, advertise under high quality keyword phrases – be specific if you’re using Google adwords. If Google organic is giving you leads, rewrite your title tag, meta description and the copy in your pages to help you screen out poor quality leads. Describe the ideal buyer for that home and qualify who should come to the open house. Triflers will screen themselves out.

Triflers are a big problem in any area of marketing. You need to subtlely turn off triflers by asking something from them. Ask them to register for the open house or ask them for permission to contact you. Triflers generally don’t like phone calls or any kind of commitment.  Ask them about themselves. Ask them specifically what type of home and price range they’re interested in. Triflers don’t really know and will avoid the question.  Serious, intent buyers won’t mind  revealing some information — they’re on a mission to find their dream home.

Although open houses advertised via yard signs isn’t as popular today, the technique of using open houses to generate clients is still worthwhile.  The Internet and these mobile open house apps below can help you access many potential clients who are out and looking for homes. Refine your filter strategy and serve the relevant ones.

Open House Management Apps

Open House Manager and Open Home Pro are software applications which you can mange via your PC, Mac, iPad, or mobile phone. It was developed by  IUWow and you the agent can create Open House listings and share them with your current clients and new prospects by email within application. The problem with how most agents handle open houses is they don’t promote them enough and they’re never sure whether anyone will show up. If no one shows up, it is embarrassing since your client may wonder whether you are competent in marketing their home for sale.

Open House Manager

Open House Manager App for Mobile Phones - Android iPhone iPad

Open House Manager App offers these features:

- Intuitive interface simplies data entry for visitors.
- Custom questionairre design for email, phone number, checkbox and option questions.
- Synchronize visitor information with Apple’s Address Book or Microsoft Outlook 2003 & 2007 which can be uploaded to your CRM system!
- email marketing to potential buyers – notify them of price drops or other properties they might be interested in.
- Homeowner Email Report – send homeowner a report with the number of visitors and the comments on their house.
- collect visitor list  (including CSV formatted file).

Open Home Pro offers these features:

• Manage all of your leads from referrals to ones you meet at open houses
• Automatically followup with leads using new contact methods that get opened and read more than 2x the industry average
• Create beautiful listing pages for all of your properties that buyers can leave feedback on or get in touch with you with one click.
• Export any collected data to excel or a CRM like top producer with one click

Open Home Pro App for iPad, iPhone or Android

It’s time to leverage a great opportunity to impress your sales clients and generate new client leads with these mobile apps.  As a tech savvy agent, you’re creating the right brand image to give you market leadership.

It’s time to look at how MLS mobile apps can help you generate and convert leads. Learn more about the Realtor.com app, Realtor.ca app, and the Trulia mobile app.  Discover the best ipad apps for realtors and apps for the new iPhone 4S.

You can’t find a better example of the value of being a market leader than Apple and it’s popular iPad, iPhone and iPod products. I can still remember when Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy, a time when no one wanted their computers.  Jobs and company turned it around and Apple is now the world’s most valuable enterprise with a market cap of $460 billion, which is $8 Billion more than Google. Apple’s stock just rose above $500 a share and many believe Apple  iTV and the iPad 3 will drive shares to new record highs.

It is the iPad 3 that may be the key to their brand in 2012. That’s because it is clearly differentiated and popular and it lends so many benefits to business and consumer users. It is the product that is closest to consumers – and more specifically to realtors. Social media users might start to call their iPad their bff.

And it’s not like the iPad brand has reached its peak. It’s just starting.

Apple announced sales of 20.34 million iPhones in the last quarter of 2011, a 142 % unit growth over last quarter 2010. They also sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 % unit increase over last quarter of 2010 and they sold 3.95 million Macs during the quarter, a 14 % unit increase over the last quarter of 2010.  Apple makes its own products whereas Google only supplies the operating systems for mobile phones. Apple also sold 7.54 million iPods, however that it is a 20 % unit decline from the year-ago quarter.  Ipods weak differentiation from other competing products means its market leadership is vulnerable.

The Apple in NY - an Iconic Structure that Differentiates the Apple Brand

The key thing about Apple’s incredible success is that it’s introducing millions of people to the web in a new way. Now people are able to keep their web browser and favorite apps with them all the time. They can attach their iPads to their TVs and they can share their favorite websites with their friends and family members right away. The inconvenience of the PC, Mac, or laptop is gone which is why sales of traditional computers has fallen.

Apple has built the world’s most powerful brand. It’s a brand that has so many dimensions – a trait real estate agents should be developing for their own success. The Apple brand demonstrates conclusively that a strong brand can beat strong, well funded competitors (Google, Sony, Microsoft) who seemingly have every competitive and technological advantage. Google’s brand as you can see here is falling, probably because everyone assumed it would beat Apple. Now that it hasn’t, people are getting more confident and comfortable with Apple products. They’re continually so innovative that consumers don’t believe they’ll be obsolete anytime soon.

Top Global Brands

“Without the brand, Apple would be dead,” said Marc Gobe, author of Emotional Branding and principal of d/g Worldwide. “Absolutely. Completely. The brand is all they’ve got. The power of their branding is all that keeps them alive. It’s got nothing to do with products.”

What are the brand components that makes Apple so powerful? I think the products themselves do help. They were first to market and they’re still stylish. When you think of Apple though, you get images of creativity, flashy next generation products, family connections, internet connectivity, upward mobility, social connection, and technological mastery. Those brand values were available for Google to claim and exploit, but Google’s never been about family and social connections (which is why Google + is suffering). Apple got the early jump and it will be impossible to bump them out of the lead spot.

See the top apps for realtors now.

Real Estate Domination Models – Google or Apple?

Looking for conceptual models for your own realtor brand development? These 2 companies are great models for your brand strategy – Google with its informational ubiquity and Apple with its feel good warm and fuzzy feelings. Realtors are recognizing that Google isn’t providing the way it once did so being number one on Google isn’t enough anymore. Being king of the MLS isn’t going to do it either although top visibility and customer access to listings is vital. Your brand is the key to getting them to contact you and stay on as a repeat customer.

Your fellow real estate agents also have access to great web and mobile technology so technology will not convey an advantage in a few years time. It is very important that you adopt and leverage these new technologies since you always want to be an early adopter and market leader. That momentum carries on to generate sales and success for the rest of this decade.  What is your 5 and 10 year career goal?

Look at your sales career long term and you’ll see why new technology is important.  Recessions end and consumer’s behavior changes. The Internet and the recesssion has certainly changed how home buyers look for homes and what they expect from agents. Build your brand to appeal to these important, affluent, and tech savvy buyers and sellers. Using social media is yet another brand boosting tactic you need to integrate into your real estate marketing.

If you’re an agent and own an iPad, it tells your clients that you’re “with it” and these devices are just plain customer friendly. Make sure you get customers to your website to build customer loyalty. Your property videos will look great on the new high resolution iPad 3 screens.  You can save your ultra hi resolution videos on your iPad and show prospects on the iPad. Hi res video takes too long to download over wifi or cellular connections.

Learn more about the Realtor.com app, Realtor.ca app, and the Trulia mobile app.  Discover the best ipad apps for realtors and apps for the new iPhone 4S.

You should have an Apple iPad 3 just to show off to your real estate clients.  Talk about realtor brand differentiation, this is likely to make you more than memorable and with it. It’s more than functional giving you more powerful meetings and presentations to clients or new prospects. It is as cool as any mobile device gets and having the Apple brand rub off on you and your realty business is value added.  Since realtors have such personal contact with clients and since you’re showing expensive properties, it makes sense to go first class with the iPad 3.

The newest version of the wildly popular will have some excellent upgrades to make it faster, last longer, and the display will have phenomenal clarity.  The ipad 3 release date is sometime in March. The iPad 2 with wifi sells for $519 to $600, but no one is sure what the new iPad 3 price will be.

The latest version of the iPad will have some amazing features for both realtors and for homebuyers.

From the TV interfacing capability to the new SIRI virtual assistant app, the iPad 3 is becoming the most useful mobile device ever. If you’re an agent who feels little enthusiasm about these new mobile gadgets, consider that homebuyers and homesellers love them. They can take them to the beach, cottage, coffee house, grandma’s house, or their deck at home.  You don’t have to lug around a laptop.

When home sellers see that you’re internet savvy, it’s bound to make an impression.  If you can get your customers and prospects to use your website or apps, it’s another way to keep you relevant and top of mind.  Prospects with iPads and iPhones will see a certain sympatico between you and them. Don’t dismiss how powerful compatibility and shared experience is.  The more affinity you have with these affluent and technology happy people, the better.

Check out the iPad apps and iPhone apps you and house hunters can download.

iPad 3 Features

One of the neatest features of the iPad is the 2 way camera which allows you to video conference. That is tremendously useful for business people who need to arrange virtual meetings and make the meetings effective.  iPad 3 users can surf the web, check email, or get directions via Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.  Your clients will love playing high resolution property videos and pics, while having you right there to answer their questions. It’s just like being right beside on their own computer at home while their house surfing!

iPad 3 will offer a 178 degree viewing angle and a 9.7 inch, ultrahigh screen resolution of 2048×1536 pixels for stunning images and high definition video.  The ipad’s battery is expected to last longer than the current 10 hour capacity and with Siri, you can just speak your question and get a useful answer. Reports suggest the iPad 3 will run on several 4G speed networks such as  AT&T and Verizon in the US, and Rogers in Canada.

Check out the dedicated real estate SEO services of Realty Market Leader.

The growing use of mobile devices for viewing real estate websites and accessing MLS listings is growing strong. This graphic below shows growth in mobile visits to a real estate web site over time, and reveals an even stronger growth curve for the ever popular Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch devices. Add to this trend the fact that home buyers are accessing mobile applications created by Zillow, Redfin, MLS.com, Realtor.ca, and Trulia means the mobile real estate revolution has arrived.

Mobile Real Estate Access Trends - Growth of iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch is dramatic. This graph doesn't show mobile real estate app usage.

Realtors, check out iPad apps to allow you to be more effective when you’re driving clients around to homes. There’s no doubt that mobile phone developers are working on getting Applie iPhone’s SIRI app to search mls listed homes for sale and return all the listing details. Siri can speak so it could verbally tell you the details.

Find out more about new real estate apps for realtors and more comparisons of Iphone vs Android phones.  Vancouver real estate realtors are enjoying a high growth period with growth in new listings and can benefit from utilizing professional level real estate seo. From search engine optimization to content development and mls optimization, Realty Market Leader can make a big difference to your success.

The latest data on Toronto real estate and Vancouver real estate prices shows prices of resale homes are falling. The average price of a Vancouver property fell 2.3% or more than $10k, from $762,562 in January 2011 to $752,380 January 2012. Outside of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley, Kamloops, Okanagan and Victoria regions saw prices increase.  Everyone believes the so called Vancouver real estate bubble is going to burst, it’s looks instead to be a balloon with a slow leak.

The Vancouver real estate market has seen house prices rise 160% in the last decade  compared to 104 per cent nationally. The ratio of home price to income is 10, almost double that in 2001. Victoria price to income ratio is at 5.7 and the Toronto price to income ratio is 6.7.

Home Sales in Vancouver in January were the lowest they’ve been since 2002. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reported that  MLS sales in Greater Vancouver were 1,577. That is 4.9 % decrease compared to December 2011 where  there were 1,658 sales recorded.

Vancouver Housing Prices - New HPI Price Trend Indicator

New residential real estate property listings were the highest January total in Greater Vancouver since 1995, a 19.9 % increase compared to the 4,801 new listings reported in January 2011, and a whopping 253.3 % growth compared to the 1,629 new listings reported in December 2011. Housing starts in BC cities grew to a seasonally-adjusted annualized rate  of 27,000 units, a rise of 28 % from December and 8 per cent above January 2011 totals.

Although the BC economy is stable with growing exports, there is a growing glut of available housing so it’s a rare good time for real estate buyers in the greater Vancouver area.

Discover more about realtor.ca, and why you need a top performing real estate website with high quality blogging. Learn more about Real estate web hosting, and successful online real estate strategy.

Reblogged from Realtor.ca Review Real Estate Apps Android iphone iPad App Reviews:

Survey Reveals How Successful Realtors are Creating Better Results A new survey conducted by Active Rain suggests successful, rich real estate agents are using technology 6 times more than those agents making less than 35k per year. The survey identifies other best practices that agents who make more than $100,000 are using and those who make less than $35,000 don’t.  Of course, the results are slightly skewed by the fact that successful agents are able to spend more and access better converting lead …

Well, the expected slowdown in the GTA Toronto real estate market has started, but how will this pan out this spring? Toronto Housing Reports from TREB and CREA show a drop of 5% in home sales in January, yet prices haven’t really dropped. That’s because there’s so little housing stock on the market. Why won’t people sell their homes when it’s pretty certain that prices are about to drop? They don’t believe the market is about to fall.

TREB’s mid month report shows a good increase in new listings so it looks like the flood may be started. Ontario has had a very warm winter which has enabled more people to go house hunting and to think about the coming spring season.

Regardless of whether prices tumble or not, Toronto real estate agents are going to sell homes this spring.    The spring could bring an avalanche of new listings, in which case those agents with strong visibility on Google are going to find themselves with plenty of new clients.  Prices will fall and there will be a rush to get houses and condos sold before prices fall too much. A lot of experts have forecast house price drops up to 25% but even a 15% drop should get a lot of people wanting to sell this spring.

I was just watching a video featuring former Canadian federal politician Garth Turner. It was from 2 years ago where he discussed a complete collapse of the housing market, but after 2 years, it still hasn’t happened.  Turner says it will take 10 to 15 years to recover from this looming collapse.  2 years ago, the US economy was not doing well, but it is growing steadily and that should mitigate severe trouble in Ontario and BC.  The Vancouver market is a little nervous at this point too.

However, with Ontario’s economy cooling and the government preparing to cut back on its expenditures, the Toronto market may be a falling point.  Some pundits feel the market is about to collapse. The glut of new Toronto condos may become a factor during 2012 as well.

Regardless of price losses for homeowners, this spring brings it with it great opportunity for agents and brokers like yourself. There’s no time to lose. Get yourself well positioned for online visibility.

Canadian agents and home sellers should read up on realtor.ca and download the realtor.ca mobile app.  US home searchers, download the realtor.com mobile app.  Find out more about why you need to be the dominant agent website and leverage the Seattle MLS, San Diego MLS, Los Angeles MLS, Houston MLS, Vancouver MLS, Edmonton MLS, and San Jose MLS listings.