lisacsmith perth wa

Weekend Trip Down South

lisacsmith — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:28:31 +0000

Explored different spots in the south west of WA this weekend. Based ourselves in Busselton, checked out some real estate agents, Chris Kemp at Acton was very helpful, and drove around and around and around.

Here are some highlights:

Online Real Estate Auctions Gather Momentum

lisacsmith — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:05:17 +0000

bid now on geewizauctions

I know my boss is just going to say I told you so, but he would be right. About four years ago Tony Wiles predicted online real estate auctions would become a popular way to buy and sell property. He proceeded to create www.geewizauctions.com, Australia’s online real estate auction site. I was intrigued at the time and came to believe in his vision. I could see it could work, I just knew that it was a massive project.

I have worked with Tony over the past four years helping him to develop the website and promote his new venture. This is not easy to do when money runs dry. Geewizauctions.com (I loved the name when he first told me, it was one of the few things we agreed upon!) was created by the IT gurus at Aussiehome.com and after thorough testing had a soft launch mid 2008. There have been three successful sales so far and very positive feedback from buyers and sellers alike.

My Google Alerts send me daily updates about real estate and I have noticed a considerable surge in stories about sites providing online real estate bidding services around the world. It’s not surprising really, the real estate industry couldn’t stay in the 20^th century forever. I am now seeing the future Tony had predicted back in 2005. Quite amazing really.

Bid Online

Propertyweek.com ran a story titled Pattinson teams up with estate agents for online sale which looks at UK firms offering ‘an ongoing Ebay-style auction that it claims will be more transparent and allow investors to access transactions without the hassle of attending sales in person.’ It quotes one agent, ‘the online auction will offer a new level of transparency in the auctions sector.. . . these have attracted a lot more tentative buyers who would otherwise think twice and who want the flexibility to make considered decisions outside the auction room.’

This sounds so similar to our initial press releases it’s not funny.

And although there is already an online auction platform for real estate in the US (realtybid.com which we discovered while creating geewizauctions.com), it hasn’t stopped other start ups from giving it a go as well. Globest.com reports about a New York based site called Bid on the City which claims to offer ‘real time bidding online or in person.’

The author goes on to say ‘what is already clear is that the site reflects a trend: no matter how you describe them, online real estate auctions are gaining traction’.

Online bidding is even being used for choosing your real estate agent. Journalgazette.net reports that sellers and buyers are soliciting agent quotes online via Doorfly.com another US based website. ‘Founders Tatum Hindman and Jon Coulter envisioned the site as a place consumers could find Realtors and compare qualifications.’

I’m sure there will be more updates in my inbox tomorrow.

So yes Tony, you were right, as always.

Sources:

http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=36&storycode=3140057&c=1

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090511/BIZ/305119949

http://www.globest.com/news/1391_1391/insider/178284-1.html

What is twitter generated traffic really worth?

lisacsmith — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:04:33 +0000

I recently twittered via @anreps about a new property for sale on ANREPS real estate website. The house had only been on their website for half an hour and had only had one page view when I sent a link to it via twitter. After two minutes I refreshed the page and there had been 22 visitors to that property page. I refreshed again a minute later and it had 37 visitors.

Now I realise these aren’t huge numbers, but it did seem quite impressive within the space of just a few minutes. I have read about twitter posts crashing servers because they can’t cope with the traffic, but that wasn’t going to be a problem here.

I was quite pleased that my experiment worked. But this was short lived as I thought about where the traffic had come from. And I was right. When I checked the traffic using bit.ly the majority from the US, with two from the UK and one from Israel.

So where is the real value? Don’t I want Australians to click on the link? Doesn’t it come down to wanting a potential client or buyer to view the website? Or is it positive just to have an increase in traffic to the site?

Going Organic

lisacsmith — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:54:24 +0000

Although I have enjoyed gardening for several years now, I have only recently become committed to organic gardening. It’s not that I didn’t like the idea or think it was worthwhile, it is only now that I’ve really started learning more about it.

I would prefer to spend much more time in the garden than I do now. My front and back yards don’t look too flash, but my vege patch does!

My Vegetable Garden

See more here http://bit.ly/cjeS9

In the patch: capsicum, chilli, beans, corn, lettuce, beetroot, broccoli

I haven’t been using much in the way of pesticides on the vege patch and I haven’t had too much trouble with pests, but I have used Roundup and similar poisons to try to deal with the considerable grass problem. But no more. I’m going cold turkey.

Wish me luck!

Private Sales on Realestate.com?

lisacsmith — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:12:43 +0000

There’s an interesting blog thread here about private sales on www.realestate.com.au

http://www.business2.com.au/2009/04/10/private-sales-now-on-realestatecomau/

It is based around the fact that some licensed agents are using their ability to add property to realestate.com.au and offer this as a stand alone marketing package, thereby listing private sale properties on what is an agent only site.

Whether you agree or disagree that it should be for agents only is not the point. It is the blatant abuse of the system by agents wanting a quick easy buck and wanting to enhance their profile on realestate.com.au

If agents are actually signing sellers up with a listing agreement they have a duty as a real estate agent as governed by the Real Estate and Business Agents Act. So if they are simply listing these properties and doing nothing else, is that in breach of the Act? Any thoughts?

My Mum used to say

lisacsmith — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:53:11 +0000

My Mum used to say I would sleep through an earthquake, and she was probably only half joking. But I woke up this morning before 3am with insomnia. But I’m putting it to good use. At least I think I am.

I am hoping a blog will help me tie all my different identities together. I don’t mean I have split personalities, just all the various personas I have out there in cyberspace, from a personal profile on facebook and my own website experiment at myvegepatch.com, to mostly business related tweets and updates on websites I work on professionally.

My work is in the real estate industry in Perth WA and I am passionate about both real estate and Perth. I enjoy gardening and growing vegetables, cooking, camping, diving and watching my hubby spearfishing.

I have become very interested in social media marketing and enjoy learning about the constant evolution of the internet.

Looking forward to learning more about blogging.