Random articles from around the real estate web.
Congratulations to Smarter Agent and SIR mobile on creating a beautiful app.
SmarterAgent.com: Sotheby’s International Realty Mobile iPad App Makes the Top 10 Luxury Brand List
Great new beautiful web app from the guys at 1000Watt Consulting to share your real estate knowledge.
1000Watt Consulting: Nudge App
Realtor.com launches new Hyper Social Tools that lets you get recommendations from your satisfied clients and share them with the world.
Hyper Social Tools
Real Estate Tomato discusses the importance of realtors using Pinterest.
Real Estate Tomato: 6 Reasons Real Estate Bloggers Should Be Pinning on Pinterest
Drew Myers at Geek Estate points out some basic SEO skills for websites.
Geek Estate Blog: Alain Pinel Makes the Oldest SEO Mistake in the Book With their Website Redesign
RealBird Listing Publisher has a great tool for realtors to create excellent mobile websites.
Features
- Optimized for smartphones and tablets including the iPad that support HTML5 and CSS3
- Fully branded for you
- Your own vanity city domain name
- Shows all your RealBird listings
- Built-in inquiry tool for your visitors to schedule showing and request more information for any of your properties
- Single QR code for your mobile website
- Shows your profile with your photo, link to your website and blog
- Shows your social media icons linking to your social network
- Your clients can call you simply by tapping on your phone number
- Your recent blog posts are automatically shown under the “Real Estate News” section
Vanity city domain names
You can also register a vanity city domain name for your RealBird Mobile Site. Use it in print advertising for branding and for easy mobile access by your clients.
QR code
QR (Quick Response) codes are barcodes that can be printed on flyers and other offline media and they can encode a wide variety of information. The information can be a link to a website or your contact information or any type of messages that you can think of.
The RealBird Mobile Real Estate Website includes a QR code for your vanity domain name. You can download small or large versions of the QR code graphics and include it in your marketing materials: your flyers, sign riders etc.
Supported smartphones and tablets
Find homes for sale and homes for rent nearby or across the US.
Whether you are looking to buy your next home, need a handy apartment finder, or browsing real estate listings, Trulia’s top-rated real estate Android App can help.
“One of the best Android apps for finding a house to buy, place to rent, or to simply browse local real estate information.” – Best Android Apps Review
“If you, or someone you know, is in the market for a new place to call your own, then this Android app would be a good choice.” – Android Apps Review
+ Search nearby homes for sale, homes for rent, and recently sold homes
+ Customize your search by price, number of beds and baths, and more
+ View lots of eye-popping, full-screen listing photos
+ Access favorite listings and searches, save new ones to your Trulia account
+ Find open houses near you and easily add them to your calendar
+ Install our widget to quickly review new real estate listings
+ Find homes using voice based-search – just say the city, # of beds and baths, and more
+ Search for price reduced homes
+ Use QR codes with built-in scanner access
Real estate businesses today face challenging decisions when it comes to their mobile strategy. With the ever growing landscape of mobile platforms, companies must first focus on which platform best supports their business and user audience. Once a strategy has been implemented, they must then decide whether to develop a native, mobile or hybrid app. I recommend reviewing the pros and cons listed below before making that decision, as they will affect the scheduling, cost and adoption of your mobile solution.
Native App Pros
- Runs offline; no Internet required
- Integrates with phone features (e.g., camera, geolocation, compass, etc.)
- Allows users to personalize by setting preferences
- Generates revenue via downloads (typically $.99 to $4.99 per download)
- Provides one-touch access to service or content
Native App Cons
- Designed for a specific mobile handset only
- Requires implementation specific to handset OS, increasing QA and maintenance costs
- Requires users to install and update apps manually
- Is not indexed for search engine retrieval (found via app store categorization)
- Distributed on the phone’s marketplace (e.g., Apple Store or Google App Marketplace), which may incur additional fees (e.g., Apple App Store charges 30% distribution fee)
- Requires longer development and review time (e.g., iPhone native apps must be approved by Apple)
Mobile Web App Pros
- Runs in the phone’s browser; works across all devices; ensures cross-platform compatibility
- Uses the same base code to support all devices, including iPhone, Blackberry and Android
- Employs proven technologies, such as JavaScript and CSS
- Found through a simple web search
- Updates installed in real time (no need for Apple review or downloading updates)
- Allows publishers to keep 100% of the revenue
Mobile Web App Cons
- Cannot be deployed through the phone’s marketplace; therefore, cannot charge a fee in the app store
Hybrid App
- Combines native app’s marketplace process and integrated phone functionality with a mobile app’s auto-updates and web technology
- Is created using a native app with embedded HTML
- Includes Facebook and Google apps
