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Web 2.0 - What is it? - 08/27/06 01:10 PM
If you've read any news about the Internet you've probably heard the term Web 2.0 used and then overused. Bill French, a frequent poster on ActiveRain does a good job describing the technologies that often get labeled as Web 2.0 technologies. To me the concept of Web 2.0 is not a group of technologies but a group of ideas. Often these idea's have been enabled by technology but it's these ideas that will have a ripple effect through both business and society in general. To talk about Web 2.0 we have that start back with Web 1.0 or just the Web...
About 10 years ago … (11 comments)
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Market conditions in my cul-de-sac - 08/27/06 12:15 PM
I moved into my first house located in Bothell, WA about 4 years ago and paid $225k for my house. The cul-de-sac I live in contains 6 other houses. The one marked $426k on the map seems that have changed hands several times since I moved in. Several months ago it hit the market again with an asking price of $429k (I think)
Then about 2 weeks ago two more houses ($351k and $355k) also went on the market. Both of these houses sold pretty much immediately, I was told $351k had multiple offers the day it went on the market. $426k across the street despite being the nicest … (4 comments)
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Been a busy couple of weeks - 08/26/06 08:49 PM
I haven't really had much of a chance to post anything in my blog over the last two weeks. I love writing and have a ton of things I want to write about, but finding the time to sit down and articulate my thoughts 0has been pretty much impossible.
For those you who don't know, ActiveRain is almost like two businesses rolled into one. Our core business (the one that makes money) is our lead management platform for brokers, the secondary business (the one that doesn't make money, yet) is the ActiveRain Real Estate Network. We effectively employ 5 people, 3 1/2 of them … (2 comments)
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The Carnival has come and gone: Carnival of Real Estate #6 - 08/21/06 06:32 PM
This weeks Carnival of Real Estate ocurred over at the Pine Needle Lawn blog. If you haven't seen my previous posts about the carnival it's basically a list of the top real estate related blog posts that is hosted by a different blogger each week. There weren't any blogs from ActiveRain members this time around, but I didn't submit any myself this week. Hopefully next week a few of our members will submit their best posts, because we do have some very good bloggers on this site.
I don't know if I agree with the pick of the week, but I guess … (1 comments)
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Joel Burslem revisits ActiveRain - 08/21/06 05:59 PM
I just noticed that Joel Burslem's blog "Future of Real Estate Marketing" (a very good blog I might add) did a post revisiting his take on the ActiveRain Real Estate Network. He had originally reviewed the site probably about 2 weeks after we launched it, when it was just a skeleton of what it is today. Based on that he gave us some pretty low marks, proclaiming "ActiveRain is All Wet". In the 10 weeks since the site has morphed fairly dramatically from being essentially a real estate directory, to being a thriving community of real estate bloggers. The next 10 … (5 comments)
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Comments on real estate listings - Followup - 08/19/06 06:24 PM
A little over a week ago I wrote a post on how Zip Realty was now taking a semi Web 2.0'ish approach of allowing consumers to rate and provide comments on their real estate listings. My basic thought was that it simply wasn't going to work, for a couple reasons. A house unlike other products and services rateable on other sites doesn't stay on the market very long. Typically someone provides a review of a product/service after they have already bought/used it. In the context of a listing, if it's been bought it's no longer on the market making comments and rankings essentially worthless. It also opens a whole pandora's … (7 comments)
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Hats off to Ardell of Rain City Guide - 08/19/06 06:01 PM
I just wanted to congratulate Ardell DellaLoggia one the bloggers over the Rain City Guide for being selected as one of the Top 10 Women Real Estate Bloggers. I really enjoy her blogging style, she calls the issues like she see's them, no beating around the bush. Whether you agree with her or not her blogs create for great reading material about the real estate industry. If you haven't heard of her before I suggest you check out both the RainCityGuide.com and her other blog at http://www.searchingseattleblog.com/.
I'll have to try reading a few of the other bloggers on the top 10 list when I … (2 comments)
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Confessions of a technophobe - 08/19/06 12:16 PM
Well maybe I don't fit the definition of a true technophobe, but occassionally being in the technology industry, I feel like one. I don't have a "Crackberry", or an ipod, my cell phone is at least 2 years old (gasp), I rarely spend my free time reading about new technology, I went through a several year period of not owning a computer, and prior to ActiveRain I'd never had a personal website or a blog. The average teenager probably has more electronic devices on their body at one time than I do at home. Now, If I were to admit those facts during a job interview for a … (9 comments)
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The AOL of real estate weblogging - 08/19/06 12:13 AM
This morning I was looking at the latest blog posts people have made about ActiveRain using bloglines, one the many blog searches out there, and saw this post by Greg Swann of Bloodhound Realty (by the way he has a pretty good blog). In it he says on first investigation ActiveRain is "seemingly a toe-in-the-water experience for technologically-timid Realtors. My initial take, reported back to Jim, was this: "ActiveRain is the AOL of real estate weblogging...""
At first I was a little taken back being compared to AOL. They're the ones responsible for sending out millions of those CD's that were only good for … (11 comments)
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Carnival of Real Estate #5 - 08/14/06 11:52 AM
Just a heads up, the August 14th addition of the carnival of real estate is being hosted over at Brownstoner. For those of you that haven't heard about it, it's a way to highlight the best real estate related blog posts each week. Each week its hosted by a different real estate blogger and travels throughout the blogoshere, hence "carnival" being in the name. The carnival of real estate just started up about a month ago but I think it's a pretty cool idea so I hope it continues to gain steam.
ActiveRain got mentioned in two places in this weeks carnival, … (5 comments)
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Inman: Real estate technology takes off - 08/08/06 01:58 PM
Inman news just put out their first article of a three part series on "what industry insiders and participants expect will drive change and technology development in the next few years". The first article titled "Carpe diem: Real estate tech takes off", seemed to narrow the focus onto how these insiders see technology innovation being driven by consumers wanting and expecting access to greater amounts of information online. Where they find this information will affect who they work with when buying or selling a house.
A couple of quotes I found particularly interesting, and my comments:
Marty Frame, CIO Fidelity National Title: "There will be an evolution … (9 comments)
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Consumer feedback on listings at Zip Realty - 08/06/06 12:22 PM
Jessica Swesey over at the Inman blog writes, about how Zip Realty has announced a new customer home review feature as part of their listings search. The concept basically allows consumers to provide comments and ratings on the home listings provided through their site. You can rate homes on a variety of attributes such as curb appeal, neighborhood quality, and exterior appearance, as well as leave free form comments. Zip Realty requires a pre-registration to search for homes, and on principle I wasn't going to provide my personal information, to go check it out.
This is very similar to the idea of user … (11 comments)
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Genious viral marketing - Snakes on your phone - 08/04/06 10:42 AM
About 7:00 last night I got a call on my cell phone from my brother Kyle. I found this strange because this was the probably the first time he'd called me in the year or so since I'd entered his name in my cell phone. When I picked up the phone I heard a strange, yet very recognizable voice, Samual L. Jackson. The one way conversation went something like this.
"Hi Matt, this is Samual L. Jackson, you may know me from such films as Pulp Fiction, Star Wars and the Incredibles... I'm here to tell you about..."
The message went on … (3 comments)
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Guerilla marketing in real estate - 08/01/06 03:51 PM
I saw a thread on guerilla marketing in the ActiveRain forums started by Deb Hurt and I thought it would be interesting to bring some attention to it. MarketingTerms.com defined guerilla marketing as "Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources." In the real estate space where literally billions of dollars gets spent on advertising, sometimes its hard for the individual to get noticed. Luckily, often times creativity can be substituated for excessive marketing dollars.
Deb gave an example of how when she drives through to get coffee at Starbucks she pays for the person behind here and asks the barista to give them her … (15 comments)
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Matt Heaton
Bothell,
WA
More about me…
Timu Corp - CEO, ActiveRain - Co-founder
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My ramblings about growing ActiveRain, the real estate industry and something I follow very closely, credit markets. Why "The ActiveRain Addiction"?
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