Dave Griffith's Blog

I received this article and just felt it was to exciting to not pass along.  Ken works for Coldwell Banker Corporate and put a lot of thought into this one.  The links throughout this article will give you insight into the future of technology that is available today.  Take advantage of any and all that is out there and remember to call me when you have real estate needs...Thanks, Dave

You just saw the best real estate commercial ever on your new mobile (with your mobile's high-speed broadband and built-in projector , you can't even remember the last time you watched your old  SED TV), so you click over to the real estate brand's Web site to take a look at what's on the market in your area.

Your friends are constantly talking about all the cool things they can do on this brand's Web site.  Even though you were just on the site last week, you can't believe all the new features.  Every day there's something new on the site!  What first catches your eye is that the site allows you to use your mobile's on-screen keyboard or simply talk.  Being a "traditionalist," you start to type. And when you see that you can communicate with the site in your choice of 46 different languages, you realize that you should be practicing your French for your upcoming trip to Québec.

You can also listen to your choice of music while you search for properties (thanks to the brand's satellite music partners XM and  Sirius ). You smile to yourself.  How clever those marketing folks are.  They know all too well that if you're bopping along to your favorite new band, you will spend more time on their site! 

You play around with the  discovery search for a while, and then start to type in the attributes you want in your dream property: bamboo floors, cement countertops, energy star qualified , etc., but you change your mind and decide instead to use the site's whiteboard feature.  While other brands' sites allow you to search by the attributes of your dream home, this brand allows you to search by drawing [or cutting and pasting elements of] your dream home.  You can draw a floor plan, elevation, or even a specific feature (like the windows in the house on the cover of this months'  Architectural Digest ), and the site will show you homes which are a match (including any other criteria you've given).  If you enable your mobile's built in camera to monitor your facial expressions, the site will even automatically adjust the properties it shows you based on which homes you like and don't like .

That's it!  Your dream house!  You quickly click over to the home's Web site .  There, you spend a half-hour exploring the home's virtual open house (coming soon to OpenHouse.com ), zooming in and out on the photo-realistic 3D virtual simulation of the house and its property.  You're so excited, you conference in your best friend to take a look at it with you.

After checking out all of the home's networked appliances, electronics, and systems, you decide to explore the neighborhood .  You now know more about your new neighborhood — safety, schools, taxes, prices, restaurants, traffic, pollution, etc. — then you do about where you live now.  You love that you can “slice and dice” the data to generate visualizations to instantly see trends in the information that's most important to you.

You start to send directions to the house to your car when you notice that the agent listing the house is available to speak with you live via a voice call, IM, or video.  After checking out her video profile, you have a video call with the agent.  Because she can see your entire search history on the brand's Web site, she has an immediate understanding of your priorities, and what you may have missed in looking at your dream home.  She just happens to be at the house, lingering because of the inviting signature scent of the brand that's been diffused throughout the house, so uses the video share on her mobile to show you some of the home's more interesting features.

Thanks to the latest transaction management software, you close on your dream house in only five days.  And while you loved using the brand's Web site, you can't help but envy the surface PC in your agent's office! What's more, the soothing signature scent of the brand in the office reminds you how easy and relaxing the entire process was.

You are probably aware that a buyer's market (which is the type of market we currently are in nationwide) can increase the average time homes stay on the market and force sellers to make price concessions. In this environment, we need to take advantage of all the tools that I can offer you. One tool I believe can be leveraged to greater effect is the "Special Financing Program" being offered by Coldwell Banker Mortgage. The program is an interest rate buy down strategy that can provide financial benefits to buyers and sellers, serving as a viable alternative to a sales price reduction.

The program is simple and straight-forward:

1. The seller agrees to buy down the purchaser's interest rate
2. The seller provides a credit to the buyer for 2.25% of the agreed upon sales price in lieu of a price reduction
3. Coldwell Banker Mortgage applies this money toward lowering the buyer's interest rate, thereby reducing the monthly payment

The program can provide a strategic advantage in your marketing efforts and can differentiate your listings to help attract more buyers

If you would like more information on this program please give me a call.  It could make a difference in your home selling or just sitting on the market.  I have special marketing materials that I can utilize to help make your home sell.