Blog of Craig's Arizona» Technology Archives – Blog of Craig’s Arizona

Apple iPad and the Future of Real Estate

Craig — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:42:42 +0000

It’s no secret that I use Apple for my technology. In fact, I get calls from agents that are making the switch from PC to Mac and it’s always fun to talk to them about it. Recently the questions have been around iPad. From a previous post, I predicted that the iPad would be a game changer for the Real Estate industry (and several others).

To put it simply, I was disappointed while watching the iPad annoucement. Since then, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to it and the continued rumors flying around it. But before I get into my thoughts on the topic, I want to reflect on my iPhone story.

Me and my iPhone

I was an early adopter of the iPhone, I still have the 1G iPhone at home, as a backup to my current 2G and it is destined to become my daughters learning toy with some great apps that I found. I remember how happy I was with the first iPhone and what I was able to do with it. Shortly after getting it, my wife and I were in Hawaii and using the iPhone to locate restaurants and get directions way back when.

Then came the iPhone 3G, I was of the mind set to do every other iPhone. Yah, right. I was at the grand opening of the Arrowhead Apple story shortly after the release of the 3G and they had a stock when everyone else did not, so I gave in a bought the new one. I’ve been happy with it and got one for my wife. It was a great improvement over the 1G and has proven to be valuable.

We’ve skipped the 3GS for the time being and starting to look forward to the 4G.

So what’s my point?

It was exciting and fun to be one of the early adopters of the iPhone, but in the end, it wasn’t worth it. The second version (3G) was the best choice, at that point the app store was maturing and apps were becoming very useful. My three most used apps are the Mail, DayLite Touch and Billings Touch. Only the Mail existed on my first iPhone. I now use my iPhone so much that I charge it 3 times a day when sitting at a desk.

While the iPad is cool, I think I will try to be disciplined to hold off until the second generation. This will give the developers time to build some really cool apps and for Apple to add come really cool features (camera, multi-tasking).

What’s my Wish List?

These are some of the things I would like to see that would really make me excited about the iPad:

Market Circledevelops a Daylite app that is more like the Desktop and less like the touch.
That we can get an PDF reader that works with forms (Smile on my Mac, I’m thinking you can do this one).
FBS works to develop an iPad centric CSS for the FlexMLS system (pretty please, I’ll even beta).
That a Wireless provider gets around to simplifying the contracts. I’d love to have one contract that allows 3 or more devices to access data at one price.
Signatures, come on, this one we really need Apple….
For the reader, I like to annotate books, highlight, take notes, etc, and I want to be able to share that with my desktop computer.
ZipForms to step up their on-line system to work on the iPad (major challenge to this one since I don’t know the state of JAVA on the iPad).

Is this really all that bad?? Let me know what you think, post a comment.

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I love Game Changers and I see one coming

Craig — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:26:42 +0000

I don’t write about technology too often, generally my readers are more interested in Real Estate than in my take or use of technology. But I love game changers and I see one coming up in just a couple of weeks. Apple, in my opinion, the leader in game changing technology is rumored to come out with a tablet computer. While not a new concept and not really their first attempt in this arena (the father of the Palm, the Newton was the first attempt). I see this as something that is going to have huge, HUGE, impact on real estate as well as several other industries (namely medical).

Apple’s Recent History in Game Changing

The most obvious recent device is the iPhone. This has helped me out quite a bit. I can read email, look at property and take notes all while on a call. And when I’m not on a call, I can listen to music! I also have access to all of my documents from my office while on the move and have access to my CRM using Daylite Touch. I’ve got it all. I used to say, I’m sorry, I’m not at the office right now, I can get that to you in about 4 hours. Now the only time I say that is when I need to use ZipForms (which requires a PC with Internet, hint hint ZipForms, you need an app for that!!!!). So paperwork is moving faster, projects are getting done faster and I’ve got more ME time to enjoy life.

Briefly, before that was the iPod, I probably don’t have to tell you how that changed the music industry and how people can enjoy their music so much more now!

Rumors are a flying around

I don’t have some special access to Apple or some internal source, I’m just like you, a consumer and it’s not secret that I use Macintosh a lot. I’ve got a background in Computer Science and I know a good computer when I see and work with one and Apple is stable and compensates for my poor artistic skills very nicely. Here are just some of the rumors flying around that I am excited about:

First and for most is that Apple doesn’t announce what they are working on until they are ready and the Tabletcomputer is no different, they may not be working on one. I seriously doubt it, but rumors are flying that on Jan 27th, they have a major announcement to make and there is a lot of speculation that it will be a Tablet.

The iPhone has seen a sub-sector development of medical hardware and apps and as a former Paramedic, I can see the advantage of using a Tablet in the medical field, so I see this as being very probable.

There was a very small and brief rumor that I’ve lost track of (if you find it, please comment with the link below), where Apply filed a patent on handwriting recognition without a pen or styleless. Think of it, you are pretending to write on the screen and it picks it up. No worries about losing a styleless or anything. This will be huge for documents and data entry. Since I haven’t see much about it, I’m sure this will be the one thing missing that I really wish existed right now.

Real Estate

I’m really surprised at how little the Real Estate industry has taken to these rumors, but I guess I shouldn’t be since we seem to be 10 years behind the tech curve. I can see my office actually disappearing now. All of my documents will be stored encrypted in a cloud, I can answer the phone, look up, create a document, sign off on it, email/fax it all from a Tablet. Then I can return to eating, listening to music and reviewing the latest listings all without moving anywhere.

So what is missing, well, probably not a lot. ZipForms, who has an interface to create contracts, offers and other documents may find some challenges if Java doesn’t run well on the Tablet, and allowing signature input. eMail will already exist, many MLS run over the web so they should be good to go. CRM programs will adjust to the new size, interface. Rumor exists that it will have 3G connectivity for anywhere Internet access and possibly could work as a cell phone as well. I do expect new applications to come about as we become more mobile, but I think we have everything we need so far with minor adjustments.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to the Apple Event and am ready to hit the buy bottom after it is done.

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ARMLS Adds Accessibility Features

Craig — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:48:15 +0000

The first house I purchased in Phoenix was from a couple where the wife had a below the knee amputation. I had met with them several times during the transaction and the discussion of the work that they did to make the house more accessable was surprising to me (in time, cost and effort). They were hoping that the buyer would be able to use those accessibility efforts, but they were happy that I was the buyer.

Fast forward a “couple” of years when I’m the chairman of the ARMLS Committee and I receive a call from an agent wanting to add Accessibility Features to the database. I have a flashback of this couple of their desire to sell to someone that needs accessibility features in a home. The agent was Michael W. O’Donnell and he was motivated to make this happen.

We (ARMLS Committee and ARMLS Staff) worked the Michael to help him achieve his goal and helped him build a task force of other agents equally motivated and knowledgable on the topic. While it is a long and challenging process to make such changes to ARMLS, Michael was very patient and willing to do what was necessary.

Their recommendations were well received at the Committee level and from the Board of Directors. Nearly 5 months later, ARMLS has announced the roll out of Accessibility Features and from what I’ve learned, we’re one of the first in the country to have this detail in our database. I wish to extend a congratulations and job well done to Michael and the Task Force.

The new Accessibility Features field has the following selections to choose from:

Zero-Grade Entry
Door/Access 3′+ Wide
Hallways 36in+ Wide
Hard/Low Nap Floors
Bath Roll-In Shower
Bath Raised Toilet
Bath Grab Bars
Bath Roll-Under Sink
Bath Lever Faucets
Ktch Apps Low/Secure
Ktch Low Counters
Ktch Roll-Under Sink
Ktch Modified Range
Ktch Low Cabinetry
Lever Handles
Tactile/Visual Mrkrs
Closet Bars 15-48in
Ramps
Stair Lifts
Remote Devices
Exterior Curb Cuts

Definitions

Zero-Grade Entry: entrance to home does not have a step, sill or elevation change greater than 1/2 inch Door/Access 3′+ Wide: minimum 32” wide clearance – clear width (not frame to frame)
Hallways 36in+ Wide: minimum 36” wide clearance – clear width (not frame to frame)
Hard/Low Nap Floors: hard surfaces such as woods, linoleum, tile, stone, with minimal carpeting, beveled transitions, no sills, ledges, or sunken rooms or showers
Bath Roll-In Shower: shower floor at the same level as the bathroom floor, with no ledge, sill, or runner
Bath Raised Toilet: toilet or commode that is either 17” or 19” from the floor to facilitate transfer, and/or is adjustable up to 30” to accommodate various height requirements
Bath Grab Bars: steel or aluminum bars at/in shower and toilet areas to steady or brace user for support or balance
Bath Roll-Under Sink: space for knees (wheelchair user) that is at least 24” in height and approximately 30” in width
Bath Lever Faucets: lever-style handles replacing ball or knob style for ease of use
Ktch Apps Low/Secure: microwave and oven installed so that they are approximately 31” from the floor, and have side-hinge doors
Ktch Low Counters: work surface no lower than 28” and no higher than 34”, and no more than 24” in depth
Ktch Roll-Under Sink: space for knees (wheelchair user) that is at least 24” in height and approximately 30” in width
Ktch Modified Range: burners are single row or staggered to eliminate reach-across
Ktch Low Cabinetry: cabinets installed lower to permit opening and access at or near 34” and not exceeding 48” from the floor
Lever Handles: single bar type lever on doors, spigots, appliances absence of knobs and circular pulls on cabinetry; loop handles shaped like the letter D, permitting hand to insert into handle
Tactile/Visual Mrkrs: multi-sensory identifications, with light, sound, or touch markers to communicate status of appliances, thermostats, alarms, doorbells, etc.
Closet Bars 15-48in: installed to allow seated access; installed at heights of 15” to 48” above floor level
Ramps: secured, non-slip ramps to allow navigation of elevation changes with grade no greater than 1:20 or 5%
Stair Lifts: mechanical, motor driven assists to permit wheelchair occupant access to multi-floor homes
Remote Devices: remote controls for lights, fans, appliances (kitchen and other), thermostats, alarms, and automated door touch pads.
Exterior Curb Cuts: external to home – neighborhood has ramped sidewalk areas at crosswalks and intersections to permit wheelchair users to cross streets, access mailboxes, etc.

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Why is a Lockbox so important to Selling your Home?

Craig — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:47:07 +0000

Yesterday, a couple of local newspapers (Arizona Central, East Valley Tribune ) reported on thefts from people posing as Real Estate Agents. Shortly there after, local agents started blogging about the article. Some comment on the merits of the situation, the do’s and don’t of the situation. Others comment on what they do to prevent this situation. I’m going to put my 2 cents in now.

I’m a big fan of the blue box digital lock boxes. For several reasons, and I’m active in giving GE feedback on how to make the system even better, just ask them. One of the reasons I like the lock boxes is how they work. In order to open them, you have to have a digital key, which you can only get by being a member of ARMLS, which you can only be a member by being a Realtor®, which you can only be if, blah, blah, blah, the list goes on for quite a while. It takes alot to get that magic key. Okay, once you have it, you have to remain in good standing, because each night, your key has to connect to a central server to get authorization for the next day, so at any given day, your authority can be revoked for disrupting the rules of the system.

Part two of my love of the Blue Box is that it records entry of each agent in the home, the date, the time, and who they are and that is something we can check up on. So if a theft is reported, we can start checking with agents to find out who and what. It also provides accountability.

There are strict rules around who gets to use the keys and how they can use them, any violations are taken very serious and it doesn’t take much to lose the privilage of the system. This is the reason why so many agents are speaking out for their wide-spread use.

The reason agents don’t use them is simply cost, they are expensive, but a cost that is worth it. As the other bloggers are posting, you should use only the Blue Box, not a combo box unit. Or, you should use nothing at all. Keep in mind that if you don’t use a lock box, access to your home will become a barrier that many agents just won’t deal with.

As an additional step, you should ask that your agent field all calls for showing your home. This way they can validate the agent calling to set up an appointment and help set the stage for protecting your interests in selling your home. I require all agents call me prior to showing a home, mostly so I can make them aware of anything about the home and for me to take an additional step in tracking that agent and activites with the home.

WeMAR Latte n Learn Social Media

Craig — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:05:55 +0000

I moderated a WeMAR Latte n Learn session this morning with 8 other agents. The purpose of the session was to share thoughts and ideas on Social Media. I provided my insight and experence of the past year and half to two years of social media and the value I find in it. I’m writing this post to record some of the items I mentioned and allow those that attended an opportunity to continue the discussion.

The three major social chanels that I recommend are:

In addition, some of the additional sights that I contribute to include:

www.yelp.com
www.amazon.com – Book and movie reviews
www.brightkite.com – A location annoucing service

Other channels you may want to explore:

www.activerain.com – Realtors sharing information
www.myspace.com
www.trulia.com – Clients and Agents site

There are tons of sites and applications that you may want to consider, these are some that I will use:

www.ping.fm – annoucements made to several social channels at once
twhirl – twitter application
www.tweetgrid.com – twitter search application, web based
TweetDeck – twitter/facebook application

Blogging is another source of communicating with the world at large, giving your clients and future clients a way to get to know you before they contact you. Wordpress is probably the most widely used blogging software and you can set up a blog using www.wordpress.com if you don’t want to do a lot of work setting things up in your domain.

Words of advise:

Clients will google you, so you should monitor your on-line reputation
Don’t post personal information that you don’t want the world to know (full date of birth for example)
Do help those around you, announce up coming activities that may be of interest or information that is helpful
Contribute on other blogs (comments) to help direct traffic back to you and your blogs
Don’t over focus on your job, show you as a human as well
Spend the right amount of time doing Social Media, don’t spend too much time and get hooked in all day

I think that hits the high points of today, if you were there and you want to add, please comment below, the more the merrier.

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The end of the Fax Machine!

Craig — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:26:35 +0000

I’ve opposed the Fax Machine for a number of years, considering it a Dinosaur of the business industry. I still run across quite a few people that use it and have to be prepared to recieve faxes all the time. I maintain a eFax line from Accessline and receive about 20% of my documents through that method. For the most part, documents are flying around through the Internet (either eMail or File server).

The new way to Sign

This weekend, I worked with one of my out of state buyers, he didn’t have a fax machine or a scanner and didn’t want to go to Kinkos to do the work, so I set him up on DocuSign. This little service allows me to put PDF files on a file server, mark the spots that need to be signed, initialed, dated, or other information. Takes me about 20 minutes to post the files, mark the spots and send the package off.

On his side, he gets an eMail, registers, picks out his signature and then works through the documents, signing and intialing as needed. All rather easy stuff. And he loves it, he can be anywhere that has internet and take care of documents as needed. No waiting until he gets home or to a fax machine.

I love it because it’s fast, the documents remain legable (unlike a document that has been faxed 4 times), and the turn around it very fast. We were done with the offer in no time at all. The great part is that I can invite several people to sign the documents in a row, so I can send an LSR to the Buyer then the Mortgage Agent to be signed, then if the listing agent wanted, I can forward the Offer directly to the Sellers to sign off. Everyone can work with the documents.

It’s great when not everyone is in the same location, it speeds up the process greatly and my clients really are enjoying it. It’s really the way to go my clients that like to work digitally. They can download the signed copies when they are done for storage. All the more reason why my fax machine isn’t even plugged in anymore (yes it drove my wife nuts once because she was trying to fax one day when I wasn’t home).

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WeMAR Introduces Latte & Learn

Craig — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:44:25 +0000

Leave it to the creative minds at WeMAR to come up with a new learning environment, the Latte and Learn. This seems like a natural fit, even though I total dispise coffee, it’s amazing how many times I find myself in a coffee shop meeting with clients, agents, or friends. It is truly been a good meet up and why not sit around with laptops and help each other out, after all, they have Wi-Fi.So for the inagural WeMAR Latte & Learn session, the topic will be Social Networking, something that continues to get a lot of attention both by those that use it and those that don’t. Space is limited to 15 agents which helps create a positive learning environment, too many and all you get is a bunch of little groups and not really a great discussion. You can also get a 10% discount on that nasty flavored water that everyone enjoys so much. Check out the flyer and if you can make it, let Melody know. I’ll be there to share my knowledge and pick up a couple of new things.

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ARMLS Training at WeMAR

Craig — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:06:10 +0000

One of the intentions that Bob Bemis (CEO of ARMLS) has made that I am very supportive is getting ARMLS out in the valley, instead of everyone having to come to Tempe, he wants to have opportunities throughout the Valley. I can only assume that this announcement is a result of the intention. ARMLS will be conducting training at the WeMAR Glendale Office on Friday January 30. If you are still struggling to work with the new FlexMLS system, I do encourage you to take advantage of any training that exists. I recently learned of the Saved Search sub-menu that will allow you to see changes since the last time you ran a search and I’m glad I learned/found it. It’s helped me with the Relationships with my current clients.

Here is the flyer on the class. armls-wemar

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Designing an Opt-In System

Craig — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:29:21 +0000

Today I’m going to talk a little technology, I’ve been working on new stuff for my wife’s new websiteand one of the things that came up on the enhancements is an opt-in system. I’m going to walk through the design that I’ve come up with and some of the sites I used toward making the enhancement a reality.

The site doesn’t have the enhacement yet, but here is the story that we’re going to follow for Joe, the typical user:

Joe decides to opt-in to updates, specials on the site, clicks on the opt-in button.
Joe is directed to a form where he will enter his first and last name, email address and accepts the opt-in.
Joe’s email address is validated by format and sent an email asking to complete the process (double opt-in).
Joe clicks the link in the email to verify opt-in and presented a success page.
Joe receives a personalized email welcoming him to the system.

I’ve chosen to use a double opt-in system to prevent spam bots from using this site to overload innocent user email boxes. I’m also using a hash system as a verification to prevent a smart hacker from just randomly approving email addresses.

How does the hash system work. Well, I have the email address of the person signing up, so I will pass them a hash key to them in an email as part of the link. When they click the link, the hash will come back to the system and if it matches the email they signed up, they’re added to the database. If it doesn’t then we show a regret screen and don’t add them. The hash would be hard for person or computer to guess what it is for an email address preventing forced additions to our database.

I’m also partial to personalized permission marketing, so instead of just asking for an eMail address, I ask for their name, that way I can speak to them by name. As we interact with them, I can enhance the database with additional pieces of information as we grow our relationship. Okay, enough of the marketing discussion, back to technology.

My skills in Ruby on Rails development is still pretty weak and since this site was already built using php, we’re going to continue to use php for this enhancement. I also use a MVC model, so it will be easy to add new functionality.

I will first create the table I will be using to store any information that I gather, it will contain an id (for future switch to RoR), first name, last name, email address and other little bits of information that we want to gather. Easy to do in MySQL.

Then I add a new file to my site for the subscription controller. As Joe is interacting with the opt-in, he will be working through the controller and seeing what comes from the view. We create a basic form that will ask for the information that we’re gathering. After submission, we verify all the important pieces, email is the most important part right now. Once verified we send Joe the email (another easy task in php). We show a screen letting Joe know to check his email to verify his opt-in.

The email will have a link that will connect back to the subscription controller with some verifible information, at which point we add him to the database and send him another email welcoming him.

Typically, I surf the web looking for tidbits of code to use as examples of how to flow through the process, my inspiration came from this post. Stop by soon to see how the opt-in project is going, we’re still in development, then testing, then we go live.

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Quote that made me pause

Craig — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:00:38 +0000

I’ve been a subscriber of Signal vs. Noise by 37 signals ever since I watched the first presentation of Ruby on Rails at OSCON 2005. Recently a post really spoke to me, from a technical and business perspective, which was probably the point.

Overall the entire post was great, but this was the quote that stopped, drew me back to read it again, and ponder it’s meaning.

“Training is a tax you pay for a lousy hiring environment…Marketing is a tax you pay for being unremarkable.”
-Robert Stephens of Geek Squad in A Geek’s Guide to Great Service

The first part, I can probably argue with to some level until the cows come home. That’s my nature, to argue. I’m also an advocate of training. I live in a world that changes, rapidly, I have to learn new things and I assume, even expect those around me to keep up with the changes. New employees will have to be trained on either environment that they will be expected to contribute in. It’s only part of the hiring process. But that’s not the point, I discounted that part of the quote, it’s the second part that is true.

Marketing is a tax you pay for being unremarkable. This probably spoke even louder to me just for the simple fact it was 37 signals that was sharing the message with me. A company that is remarkable. They have developed their entire business to be different, remarkable. Even their blog adds value to those that follow it. And as someone that reads a lot of technical and business books (for fun at that), I study remarkable companies, Southwest Airlines, GE, Apple. I learn as much as I can, trying to find some lessons that I can apply to my life and my businesses.

With the current market that my businesses exist in, I find myself thinking more about marketing, and getting the word out about my services. How can I let the world know about me and my services? Just as I’m trying to figure it out, here comes that quote, Marketing is the tax for not being remarkable. I realize that I’m having to pay a tax and I would prefer not to. I want to be remarkable, I want people to seek me out, but I have failed at that, or at least partially. When I create a system or solve a technical problem, I draw lots of attention, I’m remarkable and am considered as someone that thinks out of the box. But that is not true of my Real Estate business.

Where am I failing, how can I improve? These are tough questions. When I code, I can try lots of different things, benchmark results, try different angles, all in a matter of a couple of hours. When I help someone buy or sell real estate, I don’t have that luxury. I have to be more conservitive to protect them and their interests. Does that mean that I can’t be remarkable? No, I think I can find a way to be remarkable.

I’m already remarkable in the fact that I check and double check the details of the transactions, I’m almost annoying with my questions on anything that seems out of place. Title agents know that I am reviewing the HUD-1 with a microscope. But those things are already expected of the agent, therefore not really remarkable. I will tour homes that my clients may be interested in purchasing, taking additional photos, giving them impressions, in hopes of saving time later, again, they appreciate the extra work, but not really remarkable.

Maybe I’m remarkable because I am always trying to better the service that I provide my clients. I’m always asking what more can I do to help? I maintain the relationship long before and after my services are needed. Those things aren’t really getting my clients advocating my services, yet, but I keep trying. Until I can find a truely remarkable service, I will have to pay the tax. Someday, I will find a way to be exempt from that tax though.

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