Guest Blog: HRG's Sue gets Hooked on Homes

Hello Readers,

It's been an exciting start, for the whole Home Renovation Guide team, here at our new offices with the Zookeepers. Now that I’ll be exposed to a multitude of new listings, I’m slightly worried that I'll develop a home buying bug. Working at Home Renovation Guide these past years, I’ve looked at gorgeous renovations and am pretty sure that it’s instilled a constant desire for redecorating my home. But, who doesn’t love a good before and after makeover?
It will be interesting too to examine the connection between buying and remodelling from more of a real estate perspective now that we're with Zoocasa.

I've looked at renovating as a step towards building your dream home but not so much as a resale tool or as a compromise to buying a less than perfect house. I've written tons of articles about how to start your home renovation and the key things to keep in mind is usually either ROI or resale value. I've heard over and over again that you should consider the rest of the neighborhood when it comes to that big project and of course to choose classic designs and neutral colour schemes, which can suit many personalities. This is also a good rule to follow when prepping one's home for sale. I'd say that the most useful strategy to take when it comes to creating a home that is appealing to the maximum number of prospective buyers is to get a home stager.

You might have heard about the usual tricks like renting swank furniture to spruce up the space or have cookies baking in the oven when for showings in but there are many staging rules that can also help beautify your home. Getting rid of clutter and a fresh coat of paint works wonders in both cases. In fact I've heard of stories where the homeowner takes their house off the market because they loved their restyled home staged look so much. If you are interested in other décor ideas or tips for home improvement be sure to check out Home Renovation Guide’s article library. For any room in the house and the outside too, we have articles that cover basically anything you can think of.

Stay tuned to the Zoocasa blog as I'll be sure to pass on some more reno and decor tips here again!


Susan Hu, Editor
Home Renovation Guide & Home Interior Guide

We're Multiplying

Good News,

Our family is rapidly expanding! As of last week, the animals at the Zoo have officially doubled their numbers. Some, including Saul Colt, have noted that birthrates tend to spike nine months following the cold-winter months. Here at Zoocasa, we do things a little differently and much faster. That is, we have increased our numbers while there is still snow on the ground. We have done this the old fashioned way - through the purchase of two exciting home-savvy websites!

With excitement, I announce that HomeRenovationGuide.com and HomeInteriorGuide.com are the newest members of the Zoocasa family. As our new team members are still getting settled into their offices, there has already been a bit of a buzz about their move into the Zoo. As you may know, HRG and HIG are North America's top online resource for anyone seeking to find the right person or product for any home improvement project. HRG and HIG have set themselves apart from anything else on the market with their outstanding commitment to customer service and their engaging content. Up until now, Zoocasa.com was primarily a technology based team. We can already see how these skill from the HRG/HIG team are complementary to our existing focus. As Butch Langlois, General Manager of Zoocasa puts it, "Providing renovation guidance [and content] as part of the overall search process will enable home buyers to make optimum purchasing decisions."

I warmly welcome our nine new team members. I single out Mark Mark Bordo, our first VP of Sales & Business Development and Sue Hu, our new content Editor as people you will be hearing a lot about on the Zoocasa blog. To start, Sue will be Zoocasa's guest blogger this month! I am pleased to welcome her as she will be giving us some insights on how to best stage a home for an open house. Stay tuned for more!

There is really never a dull moment at the Zoo.

Until next week,

Vanessa

Zoocasa is Now 1,000% Faster!

Hello All,

If you've been on Zoocasa.com recently, you already know that we have become 1,000% faster overnight! You can now move from listing-to-listing with lightning speed.

Clustering listings has allowed us to vamp up our speed. You might be asking yourself "What the heck is clustering?" Sitting at my desk today, while snacking on some grapes, I came up with a fruit comparison to explain the changes on our site. I have not seen any other tech blogger use fruit to explain map clustering and knew that the Zoocasa Blog was the place for this first.

Apples, like home listings on the old Zoocasa map, are individual spots. If you are faraway, you see the whole tree and all of the individual apples on it. That is a lot of info. On our old map, we only showed you 25 listings at a time, because showing you all of the individual listing spots would have made the site really slow.

We know that you want more than 25 listings at a time. So we moved to a new system, one more similar to grapevines than to apple trees. With grapes, when you stand back, you see bunches. Only as you look closer do you see each individual grape on a stem. Now, when zoomed out, listings on the new Zoocasa map show up as bunches. This makes the site faster, as we are not trying to pinpoint every individual listing from miles away.

Now we give you big blue dots, that represent a bunch of listings in a general area. The blue dots tell you how many listings are in that area (way more than 25) without having to point out each individual spot. Only as you zoom in, do you see each individual listing on the map.

According to your feedback, you are really liking the new system. If you have not had a chance to try it out, go to Zoocasa.com and plug in your favourite city now. Let us know what you think and the next time you reach for some grapes, be sure to think of Zoocasa's great new design!

Happy house hunting,
Vanessa

Sell Your Computer and Buy a Better Phone!

Real Estate, in the future, may not need computers. This is bold statement, considering the digital direction of business today. This said, Internet access will be increasingly necessary. As more agents, homebuyers and homesellers have access to the Internet through their netbooks, smart phones or other mobile devices - a harddrive computer could become obsolete.

Allowing for this growing mobile reality, are all of the the online data storage capabilities and services at our finger tips. Many of these mobile tools, like Zoocasa's new iphone application, are free. Free online email providers, such as gmail (Google) or ymail (Yahoo) allow email accounts to be stored and accessed from any Internet enabled device, without the need for a computer. Google Docs effectively replaces programs such as Word, Power Point and Excel, not only for document creation, but also for storage. Agents using Google Docs to share folders with clients, allow for both parties to upload relevant documents, and keep them together in one easy to access location. Imagine a seller uploading their RPR, to the same folder their agent has already populated with the appraisal, listing contract and other required documentation. No need to email. Wouldn't you prefer having all of your transaction documents in one online folder, easily accessible to agents and clients, from anywhere?

Online calenders and contact management systems, push data to your smart phones and are hosted by providers such as Google or Mobile Me. These ensure all of your relevant data is on you in live time, and not back at the office on your hard drive. Sellers, do you want a better way to keep track of showings on your property? Just access the Google calender your agent has set up and shared with you. On that shared calender, you can keep track of feedback the agent has posted for you to review. Or what about when a buyer requests additional visuals on a home while you are in the car. Now, agents have no need to go back to the office and attach bulky photos in an email. Just include the link to your online photo sharing account and save everyone time! No more too-large files to email or download.

With a shrinking market for computers and an increased amount of mobile access to the Internet, the world of real estate is changing. Such mobile internet access is making this world more convenient for the agent, buyer and seller. They can now work, search and market real estate from the field, where the homes are!

Jessica Stoner
RE/MAX Alpine Realty (an iREALTY office)
Broker/Owner
Cell: (403) 678-8006
jessicastoner@remax.net

Find the Right Home...on your Phone

Hello,

This is Jessica again, the December guest blogger, at the Zoo. An agent has just asked me about my Blog post entitled "The Future of Real Estate is...On Your Phone". I want to take a second to point out how mobile real estate applications work for both agents and buyers.

Tech savvy or not, agents and buyers know that real estate does not happen on living room computers alone. To find the perfect home, one must venture out into the neighborhoods. Free mobile tools are available to make this hunt far more effective and believe it or not, fun. For potential buyers, sellers and agents, get setup with the free mobile tools available to you and be prepared find the right home or neighborhood when you least expect it. Like Zoocasa's new iphone application, these tools work with your phone to help you learn more about a nearby listing, or a neighborhood while driving by.

In keeping with the virtual real estate approach, I encourage agents to provide these mobile-solutions to their clients. With the Zoo application in hand, home buyers can pull up listing info on the spot.Wherever you are - while doing your last minute shopping or taking a detour on the way to visit family - you can check out information about homes you stumble on. In live time, in a format designed for your phone.

As we head into the holidays, you may be away from the office, with family and friends, in shopping malls and on ski hills. Be sure you use the free real estate tools and mobile applications available to you. These applications will keep you connected while you are are out of the office (as you should be) during the holidays!

Jessica Stoner
RE/MAX Alpine Realty (an iREALTY office)
Broker/Owner
Cell: (403) 678-8006
jessicastoner@remax.net