Digital Media in Real Estate – Leveraging the New Landscape

The following is Grant Braswell’s first article on NearSay.com, a new website providing neighborhood level information on the arts, real estate, food and more.

Within 3 blocks of the corner of East 10th and Broadway, you can find 2 Corcoran offices, a Halstead Office, an Elliman office and a handful of smaller brokerages.  The offices have listings in the window and a welcoming door to bring looky-loos in.  While this style of public outreach has long been standard, something in the offices is changing drastically.  Computer screens belie email chains and detailed search histories for online forums on refinancing and Tweets about open houses.  Agents are missing as they are now untethered and free to be productive on the go. So what is happening?

Since the first Cro-Magnon traded his pet woolly mammoth for another’s cave , real estate agents survived through a game of Who-You-Know, and keeping buyers and sellers Out-Of-The-Know.  Successful brokers built careers using dinner table networking, billboard ads, handshakes, and most hilariously in the film I Love You Man by using custom urinal cakes.  Their listings were viewed in store windows, in the newspaper, through word of mouth and by putting out the traditional ‘FOR SALE’ sign in the lawn or hanging from the side of a building. 

But today, with the emergence of sites like Trulia.com, StreetEasy.com, PropertyShark.comand Craigslist.com, the real estate industry has become a flurry of commotion and sometimes worry.  Those who emerged from the baby boom with a license and a toothy smile are now faced with the prospect of learning new tools to keep connected and having to work with customers who are equally knowledgeable on the history of particular apartment.  As well, the concept of listing exclusivity has taken on a more ambiguous feel as agents from other brokerages are repurposing another’s exclusive listing on their own website.  All of this can make brokers feel like control is slipping through their grasp.

Recently it was polled that 80% of all property searches now start online.  This massive shift from perusing handheld classifieds to surfing your handheld device has brought real opportunity.  For instance, early on The Corcoran Group foresaw the change in behavior and quickly developed a long term digital plan for providing customers with personalized tools to search and have access to more information than was ever before.  When searching for a listing on Corcoran.com, you will now almost always see pictures and a floor plan of the property, along with a detailed description (please pardon ‘Broker Speak’) and  information on the building like when it was built, it’s pet policy, if it is a coop or a condo, and more.  The property listing also offers direct ways to contact the exclusive agent.  Compared to a picture of the façade and 3 lines of small print it has come a long way.

Corcoran has also developed mobile software for iPhonesand Androidphones that allows you to search for properties, filter for open houses, and provides information about the area’s restaurants and businesses.  Most big brokerages have even embraced the new real estate websites, sending out company listing information willingly to StreetEasy and other apartment hunting websites to maximize the reach of its properties.   Some companies are even pushing for widespread use of video, though with the size of Manhattan apartments and the accentuated distortion of wide angles in video it is slower on the uptake by both consumers and brokerages alike.

Individual agents and teams have also had to modernize the way they interact and attract new customers.  With smartphones mandatory in this business (aside from a few old-timers who have assistants handle all the messaging), agents are now accessible by phone, text, email and in some instances carrier pigeon at all times (or is that the Twitter Bird).  Our team’s policy is to respond within 15 minutes whenever able as the best way to perform better than the rest is to provide supreme customer service.

Personal communication aside, there are a host of relevant websites and applications that have become tools for the modern agent.  You’ll find agents using Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, LinkedIn, NearSay, Trulia, StreetEasy, YouTube, Yelp and more.  These tools have provided a way to interact on a personal level, as well as offer advice to the public that pulls from our professional knowledge of the ins and outs of real estate and the neighborhoods we live in.

Agents and brokerages should not beware the digital transition, rather they should embrace it.   Transparency is the great leveler, and while connections and networking will never hurt your business, it is important to use the new tools available to interact with your clients.   Whether or not you want to be part of the digital conversation, the customers are already there.

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I was brought onto the Blumstein Team both as an agent, but also as the new marketing head.  Given the new landscape of the business, my previous career in online media was well suited for the task and since arriving we have been expanding our reach into all relevant touchpoints.   For a case study to delve into the tools available to brokers, and by virtue of my unabashed preference for simplicity and team promotion, I will use us as a case study for digital media use.

As the Blumstein Team has a more unique personality than the corporate Corcoran’s Pageallows, we developed an alternative website –  www.BlumsteinAtCorcoran.com.   This website provided an outlet to add some flair to our personal bios and provide links to our listings (and ultimately to our blog, keep reading…). But to interact better with our clients and potential clients, we started a blog that covers real estate market research and trends, updates on development and information on our team and the neighborhoods we traipse through each day.  We use WordPress to formally host our blog, B@C(the name is an homage to the digital transformation of our team, the Blumsteins at Corcoran).  The content is a mix of original articles and our own take on articles from online publications (which of course we link to).

A blog without full time editorial support team only takes you so far and since WordPress provides tools that can link multiple websites together through their RSS feeds we have expanded our footprint to relevant areas.   B@Cis forwarded to our Blumstein Facebook Page, where articles, videos and pictures are posted in our friend’s and client’s news feeds and can be commented on.  My personal Yelpaccount was a natural fit to connect to B@Cto provide reviews of neighborhood businesses.  Our blog and LinkedInprofiles are picked up by out Twitter accounts, WhatsRealNY(my own) and BlumsteinTeam(B@C, in shortform).  We also use YouTubeto post videos to the public (inserted in the blog) or to privately share a virtual tour when appropriate (kept hidden from the Youtube channel).   As well, we use Truliato connect with people searching for more information about NYC real estate, answering questions and posting listings.

Extensive use of the digital landscape may not be cost effective for everyone, but using the tools in a convenient and efficient way are a great way to increase your reach and strengthen your foundation as experts in the field.