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 The National Association of REALTORS® has carefully considered how we can best support you, our members, in these uncertain times. NAR is here to assist you and your business with the Right Tools, Right Now.
Are you attending the AEI Institute in Colorado Springs?
If so, don't miss the Social Media Labs taking place Sunday & Monday. This is the perfect opportunity to learn about blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Second Life, YouTube, Google Apps, RSS, etc. Don't miss it. Sign up for lab session(s) today!
Connect with CRT
   
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| McKeever's Musings |
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If you haven't noticed, a new, yet familiar, name has bubbled to the top of this month's CRT newsletter: Mine! I have been fortunate in having been asked to be the new Managing Director for CRT, and I am greatly honored by this opportunity. Happily, Keith is still with NAR, but in October he took on a new role; he is now the Vice President for NAR's ITS Department, which handles NAR’s internal technology initiatives.
It’s been about 4 months since I took over this position, though it seems like only yesterday. And as with any changing of the guard, there is new vision, new direction, new insight and, most importantly, new ideas. So what’s new at CRT? Since joining CRT just over two years ago, I have been inspired by the group's vision and direction - so it’s safe to say those won't change all that much. We will continue to be the REALTOR resource for technology advocacy, implementation and information.
That leaves insight and ideas. In my time at CRT, I’ve realized that one of the challenges CRT has always faced is member awareness. Hopefully over the next year we will be able to get in front of our members more frequently, creating more opportunities for exposure for CRT and more value for the REALTOR. We have already established a two-day Social Networking track at this year’s upcoming Association Executive Institute, and have begun working on better branding and marketing messages through NAR media channels; in addition we’re supporting, through sponsorship and where possible assistance and speaking, real estate technology seminar intensives, such as
REBarcamp and Real Estate Tech South.
But I've saved the most exciting opportunity for last: at this year’s annual convention in San Diego, there will be two free all-day technology workshops on the day before the conference begins. These workshops will be available to everyone. One is REBarCamp, the other a dedicated workshop focused on an emerging technology (TBD). Obviously, since you are reading this, you know of CRT and our effort to help you - but these new workshops will hopefully let us reach out in a much more broad sense.
And as for ideas, well, that’s the fun part! Coinciding with the shifts within NAR, CRT has teamed up with NAR's Second Century Venture (SCV) fund. This means that we get to take our ideas, both the implemented ones (Variman, VieleRETS, etc.) and the conceptual ones (listing managers, social networks, and all our other hair-brained ideas) and see if there is a way to merge those into SCV’s strategy to promote and accelerate the real estate industry through both technology and awareness. Additionally, our relationship with SCV gives us the opportunity to evaluate the investments they have on the table, as well as to research and dig up emerging opportunities to suggest to them. In other words, if you want to pitch your idea, CRT is a good starting point!
As you can see, CRT is pretty much on the same course we always have been. I'm not a big fan of messing with something that has such a proven track record. The team is multi-faceted and adaptable, allowing us to handle many different challenges. And we are eager to take more on. We are always looking for insight into how we can assist in helping you understand the transition technology changes and how they are affecting the industry and in learning from you what CRT/NAR can do to push the industry and the REALTOR to the forefront of the digital era. CRT has always been, and is still, your 'no extra cost' member resource, and our team is here to work for you.
Chris McKeever
cmckeever@realtors.org
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| Ear to the Ground |
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It can be overwhelming, trying to keep up with the many advances in technology and particularly with social media tools. Yet it's important to keep one’s "ear to the ground" and know which tools are gaining in popularity.
Although individual experiences vary, if you aren't already an active user of these tools, here are some reasons why it's important to at least be familiar with social media.
1- Consumers are social beings.
A recent report by ComScore shows that social sites are growing exponentially. At the end of 2008, Facebook was one of the top sites with 200 million unique visitors.
All this activity is a sign of connections being made and information being exchanged on social media sites. While this might be just friendly everyday chatting, in the long run you are establishing a connection and building them at a comfort level that may help you to stand out from the crowd. Whether you are observing, friending or tweeting someone - are you part of the conversation?
2 - Your friends and competitors are on social media sites.
Talk about a sphere of influence...social media sites are a good way to cultivate your networking base by engaging friends and competitors. The way this works is that your social media connections have followers who are likely to "tune in" to what you are saying. Alternately, someone in your network may mention you in one of their social media posts. This expands your sphere of influence and increases the number of people who are paying attention to what you are saying or doing. Imagine, the next time you are helping a client relocate- you may know the REALTOR® to contact because of a connection made via a social site. That's not to say that you may not already have established that relationship via other mediums, but social media is simply one more opportunity.
3 - The media may be looking for you.
Yes, they too pay attention to what's being said through social media. Keith Garner, VP of NAR ITS, pointed out that this is an important point to consider as social media grows. More and more media outlets are looking to interview local experts with specialties in different fields. One way they go about finding such experts is by searching the web and looking at blogs, for example. Here’s how one real estate professional manages his relationship with the media; the Phoenix Real Estate Guy's blog page includes a tab called "press room."
As you can see, the tools we use to communicate are evolving. What works for you? Only you can decide where social media fits in your business plan. Most importantly, stay informed about what social media sites have to offer. Below are several resource links for your consideration.
NAR Social Media Resources & More
Field guides
eBooks
Find out more about all of the Right Tools, Right Now products and resources brought to you by NAR.
Ana Schmitz
aschmitz@realtors.org
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| Back to the Future with Home Automation |
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Home-automation technology from the 70’s is still in use and going strong, thanks to a low startup cost, and easy installation and administration. In its simplest form, the technology consists of control units that plug into an electrical socket and communicate over the home’s electrical wiring. These devices are as easy to set up as an off-the-shelf light timer, although setup becomes more involved as you add more complicated functionality.
The benefits to home automation are many, including security, energy savings, peace of mind, and the always popular cool factor. But this technology also offers particular benefits for REALTORS® and others in the real estate industry. This type of low-cost automation enables a REALTOR® to turn lights on and off remotely, and to monitor the property via remote-control video cameras and motion sensors. The devices can also be easily removed when the property is sold.
While there are many home automation technologies in the market today, X10 type devices allow scalable, low cost, automation. The name, X10, comes from a communication language that allows compatible devices to talk to each other. As stated above, these devices communicate over existing electrical lines, obviating the need for expensive and destructive re-wiring. The basic devices come in two types, a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitters send the receiver instructions like “turn on the lights” or “close the garage door”.
Each transmitter can control up to 256 addressable receivers. Since most homes average between 16 and 20 light fixtures, this would leave approximately 236 addresses for other applications. Light fixtures are one example but there are many other addressable appliances found in homes and businesses. In fact, anything that can be plugged into an electrical outlet can be controlled remotely, from a stereo to a microwave.
Adding a home computer into the mix increases the level of control. For example, many people have experienced the panic of “have I left my garage door open?!” Various X10 manufacturers offer products that would allow you to check that garage door remotely, either by checking a graphical representation of the door on a computer or via a network-attached camera that lets you actually see the door open and input a command to close it. In addition, much of the command-and-control software is available for mobile devices like smart phones and netbooks.
One thing to keep in mind is that the house or building will need an internet connection to enable remote control while you are away from the house. In some instances, such as an empty house, there are cellular options for internet connections.
More information about X10 and other similar technologies.
Ian Smith
ismith@realtors.org
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| Introduction to Wink |
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I have recently put together some basic interactive flash videos that will help members become acquainted with different technologies. To create these videos, I used a utility called Wink. Wink allows me to capture all of the activity on my computer by following mouse clicks and keyboard inputs. I create these videos by showing you the steps I have followed on my computer. The goal of these videos is that they will provide simple step-by-step guides to technologies that may be fundamental to members’ needs.
After creating the videos, I edited the frames and added text boxes to show what my computer was doing in each step, and what that step looks like on screen. In some instances, there are even additional steps that were not shown on screen. Each frame that is captured appears just like a screenshot, and adding text boxes and stopping points in specific frames allows viewers to easily follow along. In many cases, you can watch each step of the video in your browser and then follow the presented instructions to complete the task on your own computer.
I have tried my best to make the first video basic enough for most viewers to follow. That video shows you how to set up a Gmail account in Mozilla Thunderbird. This first tutorial is primarily intended to demonstrate the format of future Wink tutorials. While there is definitely a benefit in storing the data from your Gmail account offline, as well as in using Thunderbird to view multiple email accounts in one place, this video may not be useful for everyone. But even if this demonstration does not interest you, check it out to see what the format looks like. The first video can be found in a newly created repository on the CRT website. Whenever you see a blog post about a new tutorial, that tutorial will have been added to the repository.
In an effort to reach more members, many of these videos will be at a pace that is comfortably slow and very easy to follow. We hope in the coming weeks and months to add a number of demonstrations that we think will be useful to members. A few tutorials are already being created for Facebook, Twitter, Active Rain, RSS, etc. I appreciate any feedback and will gear future videos to the needs of those who respond. Feel free to contact me with tutorial ideas or needs.
Greg Stinton
gstinton@realtors.org
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| Making Google Your Online Digital Assistant |
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Like many of you, I am a big fan of Google Apps, especially Gmail and Google Calendar. Having an online calendar that I can access from anywhere has been a big boon to my productivity. But I also have use an iPhone, and that creates a problem that you may also have experienced: I have to worry about keeping the data in sync between Google, my laptop and my iPhone! Having to worry if my data is out of date is a hassle that I don’t need, so I have found a way to keep everything in sync; hopefully, you find it useful as well.
The solution lies in making Google your invisible digital assistant, always keeping you up to date. This can be done with tools that you can use to sync your Google data with your computer and smartphone. Much of the information you need to learn how to do this can be obtained from Google’s sync page, but there are also third-party tools out that that may serve your needs even better.
Let’s start by getting your Google data to sync with your computer. If you are running Windows, you can sync your Google Calendar data with your Outlook calendar via Google’s Calendar Sync. Currently, Google does not provide the ability to sync your Outlook contacts with your Google Contacts, but there are several third-party services and software out there that will sync both your calendars as well as your contacts. If that’s what you need, you might want to look at KiGoo or OggSync. If you are a Mac user, several options will let you sync your Google data with your Mac. If you have OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or later, you can use CalDAV to connect Google calendar to iCal without any additional software. If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can connect Google Contacts to your address book, again without installing any additional software. Granted, there are some limitations to CalDAV support, and if you don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch, the contact sync is not an option. You might want to take a look at Spanning Sync, which will sync both your Google calendar and contacts with your Mac. While it is not free and requires a software install, it is a more robust solution then the free options described above.
Now that your computer is set up to sync with Google, let’s do the same for your smartphone. One of the simplest ways to do this is to have your phone sync with the calendar and contact software on your computer. Unfortunately, this option has some limitations: if you cannot get to your computer to sync, then your smartphone’s data will be out of date, which is not a good position to be in. Direct syncing over your smartphones data service is a better bet, as it will make sure that your smartphone always has the latest data. If you have an Android phone, it is designed to sync with Google; all you have to do is enter your Google account information and your done.
For Blackberry users, Google has software that will let you sync your calendar and contacts. Google also supports the Microsoft© Exchange ActiveSync© protocol, which allows iPhone and iPod Touch devices, as well as Windows Mobile devices, to sync with Google’s Calendar and Contacts. However, Google’s implementation of the protocol comes with some limitations: you can’t have more than 5 calendars, and only your default calendar can be updated from your smartphone while all the other calendars are read only. If these limitations present a problem, you might want to take a look at NuevaSync, which also uses Microsoft© Exchange ActiveSync© to sync Google data with iPhone, iPod Touch and Windows Mobile devices. NuevaSync allows you full two-way syncing for up to 11 calendars. Another advantage of NuevaSync is that it’s service will allow you to sync your smartphones contacts against your Plaxo contacts if you are a user of Plaxo.
So, go ahead and set up Google to be your Online Digital Assistant. Once you have, you will soon realize how powerful and hassle-free it can be to have technology invisibly keeping you informed and up to date.
Andrew Tillman
atillman@realtors.org
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Copyright© 2009, National Association of REALTORS®
About CRT
Questions? Send an email to info@crt.realtors.org
CRT Report Editor - Jeanne Tillman
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