As our industry continues to struggle, I am certain that we need all the innovation and effective technology that we can find. I have built a very strong Internet presence through lots of hard work and late nights.
Perhaps because of that, I hear from many people who have never visited our area but are interested in comparing it to their needs. I have tried a variety of methods to help people understand the area. The Crystal Coast Living blog that I write is a good start for people, and my Crystal Coast, Saltwater on my feet blog digs a little deeper into the moving decision. Then for those who want to see what life is life on a daily basis, The Crystal Coast electronic village is almost a daily journal. I even have a site with lots of photos, information, and an interactive map of the area.
While these are effective at getting information to potential clients, there seemed to be something missing.
I recently found an inexpensive way to add another dimension to my information about the area and place some listings at the same time.
At Christmas my oldest daughter gave me a GPS logger called i-gotU. The device is under $70 and is essentially a GPS device that tracks you and has software to help geo-tag photos that you take and place them on a map which can be a Google earth map.
You can read more about my experience with the device at my View from the Mountain blog.
The easy way to understand the potential of the device is to take one of the 3D trips. I have figured out a number of tricks to make trip creation easier, but it still takes time especially if you are working the trip into your daily routine.
This trip covers Bluewater Cove and Cape Carteret. It show a few listings and many of the services and landmarks of the area. I find the 3D trip, which is the button on the right, the most rewarding. I have gotten some good feedback from potential clients so I have embedded one of the trips in my real estate website.
I have also added to my real estate website a link which provides a MLS view of the properties on the virtual tour.
You can also take the geo-tagged photos and post them to something like Picasa Web Albums. It gives you a very easy and quick way to show someone in another state a location that might impact their buying decision.
I think this technology is a powerful way to let people experience an area without traveling to it.
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