PlanOmatic Blog

A Match Made In Heaven

Well actually, it was a match made in Connecticut, but who can argue? Vintage lighthouses, a pristine seashore, and all the fresh lobster one could ever hope for. In a word, heaven.

Today, PlanOmatic, in conjunction with The Higgins Group, a market leader in New England real property announced the culmination of a deal that provides enhanced access to real estate marketing tools to the hundreds of dedicated agents in that brokerage.

The deal will provide significant discounts to Higgins agents on products ranging from online marketing presentation and 3D virtual furniture planners to iPhone applications for real estate marketing.

The economic environment of the past two years has dictated that firms evolve or die. Those firms who have proven themselves innovative and prudent will come out stronger.

PlanOmatic’s core business is built around the real estate agent, and that remains true today. Service to agents on a personalized, individual level has been our salvation, allowing PlanOmatic not only to survive but flourish.

As part of the corporate strategy for FY 2010, PlanOmatic identified several opportunities to capitalize on the strength of our reputation and forge relationships at the brokerage-level with organizations who’s culture and passion mirror that of PlanOmatic.

As such, it is with great pleasure that PlanOmatic announces the partnership with The Higgins Group and welcomes the firm as newest brokerage-level member of the PlanOmatic family. “We’re looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship.” said Aaron Rose, Vice President of Corporate Accounts for PlanOmatic.

The tour below showcases a Higgins Property:

If you’d like more details on the deal you can find the full text of a joint press release here. The Higgins GRoup can be found here. For more information on partnership opportunities with PlanOmatic, please contact:

Aaron Rose
Vice President of Corporate Accounts
303.658.0678

Life generally, is about perspective. The older – or should we say more mature – one gets, the more one realizes that virtually everything in life depends upon one’s perspective. Republican or Democrat? Wealthy or poor? Urban or rural? North or South? Mustard or mayonnaise? Reasonable, well intentioned people can disagree vehemently on a vast array of topics. What interests us even more is that even in instances where there’s a black and white right or wrong answer – mustard clearly trumping mayonnaise, for instance – people’s experiences – things like rearing, education and culture can still lead reasonable people to disagree, with integrity. That’s part of what makes life interesting, right?

That being clearly in mind, we offer you thing following:

In October of 2008, this home was listed for $3,795,000

This property – by any standards an exceptional home – was recently re-listed at $1,495,000. For you mathematicians out there, that’s a reduction of 60.61% in less than two years.

Here are the two perspectives:

Option “A”: The market is flooded with tremendous value. For the astute investor, the time has never been better to take advantage of record low prices and a Fed that’s promulgating a monetary policy of cheap money. From your perspective the deflation in home prices is cyclical analogous to the S&L Crisis of the late 1980s and subsequent crash in real estate prices. From your perspective, this deflationary period represents a natural market correction. If you’ve got liquidity, common sense, and the notion to dig a little bit, there are some seriously sweet deals to be had. It’s your heyday. You can buy Boardwalk and Park Place too! Pass go, get $200.

Option “B”: Disaster! Homes  prices continue their deflationary trend. Properties appraising in the millions two years ago are listing for pennies on the dollar. To make matters worse, the Fed’s resistance to raise interest rates gives lenders little or no incentive to lend. Furthermore, the recently expired home buyer’s tax credit, although a valiant effort, did little to move the market for high end homes, arguably the segment of the market in most desperate straits given the magnitude of the implosion of Alt A mortgages and Alt A derivatives. The bottom line? These are dark days. Sellers hoping to avoid tremendous losses aren’t listing. Lenders aren’t lending. The market is in gridlock.

Robert Frost said it all: These are the best of times, these are the worst of times.

What’s your perspective? We’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment below!

Our Agents Are Classy

Here at PlanOmatic, we’re very proud of our agent partners. Our agents are sophisticated, they’re knowledgeable and they work harder than we could have ever imagined on behalf of their clients. In short, we’re convinced that our agents keep it classy.

That’s why we’ve decided to unveil a new initiative here at the PlanOmatic Worldwide Headquarters. It’s called the Agent Showcase. Yes, we know it’s vaguely reminiscent of the glory days of The Price Is Right, but our marketing people tell us its got a nice ring to it and it tested off the charts among females age 75+.

In fact, the directive for the Agent Showcase came straight from the top – PlanOmatic Chief Executive Kori Covrigaru. Each week, Kori will personally interview one of PlanOmatic’s most successful agents. Don’t be fooled, this isn’t Walter Cronkite meets Suzie Q. Agent.

Certainly, the usual fare will be present. However, there’s a definite maybe that things could could range slightly, no strike that – drastically into the absurd. We’ll cover experience, expertise, and areas of specialization; thoughts on market trends, perhaps even some dialogue on recent legislation pertaining to the real estate industry. But don’t be surprised to find questions like “What’s your favorite song to sing in the shower?”, “If a fly looses its wings, is it called a walk?” or “Why do you suppose we drive on Parkways and park in Driveways?”

Basically, you simply can’t afford to miss PlanOmatic’s Agent Showcase. So, come on down. Stay tuned in. The first episode of the Agent Showcase is on its way.

No More 360 Degree Tours

In a press release dated August 2nd, 2010, PlanOmatic management announced the elimination of 360 degree virtual tours from their suite of products and services. Due to advances in technology and adaptations in user preference, PlanOmatic will no longer be offering 360 degree virtual tours.

An excerpt from the release is available below:

“Among the chief concerns associated with 360 degree tours is incompatibility with mobile devises. Typically, 360 degree tours are presented as a series of photos spliced together and integrated into a Flash based viewer. Many mobile devices do not support Flash technology. Devices such as the iPad and iPhone exclusively support emergent technologies such as HTML5.”

For the full content of the press release, click here.

Flickr User Wallyg

In 1920’s New York, many of 5th Avenue’s private mansions were destroyed to make room for an explosion of development of apartment towers. This Town Home – which is rumored to be the last remaining mansion on 5th Avenue – was just purchased by Billionaire Carlos Slim, a Telecom magnate from Mexico.

This 27′ wide structure is located  off East 82nd and 5th Avenue, across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Built in 1901, the mansion originally belonged to tobacco Barron Benjamin N. Duke. Tamir Sapir, the owner since 2006 put 1009 5th Avenue on the market in January, 2010 listed at $50M.

Mr. Slim closed on the property 7 months later in July. Price tag: $44 million.

Clearly, Mr. Sapir could have sold the property in January for $50 million had he called PlanOmatic. Alas, he did not.

Fundamentals Still Work

This afternoon as I was doing my [ever expanding] social media due diligence while eating lunch at my desk, I ran across an article (read it here) on Inman News written by Kris Berg. Phenomenal. Kudos to Kris for succinctly summarizing what I believe has become one of the most disturbing trends in the world of commerce universal: we’re so absorbed by keeping up with the latest social media and technological trends that we forget what got us here – the fundamentals people.

Here at PlanOmatic, we’re engaged in the process of selling real estate every day. In fact, we’re on the technological forefront of selling real estate – Oh gasp! We have the honor of working with some of the top producing agents and most prestigious brokerages across the United States. Our front row seat in the sales process has given us some interesting insight.

For instance, in our experience the old adage still remains true: 20% of agents are going to sell 80% of real estate listings. Typically, these are also the folks putting in 80% – no make that 120% of the hard work to get and market listings. There’s a reason the vast majority of our business comes from top producers. They know [and do] what it takes to sell listings. It’s not rocket surgery, it just takes execution.

Additionally, fundamentals are still important and let’s face it, we’re talking about a pretty intuitive process. Even in a recessionary economy, real estate is being sold; agents that connect with people personally and present their properties in the most appealing manner are successful.

Lastly, technology and social networks enhance – not make – successful businesses. When there’s hard work + fundamentals; when agents connect with people personally and when they deliver a relevant message to a targeted audience then the disciplined use of technology and social media can make a big impact on their business.

I’m sure these observations sound strange coming from the marketing director of a company that maintains a strict focus on new technology including helping real estate agents leverage social media. However, from PlanOmatic’s standpoint technology and social media is not an end in and of itself. They’re a means to an end; a method of delivery. When you really stop to think about it, PlanOmatic’s business is not technology. It’s not on-line real estate marketing. It’s not social media. PlanOmatic’s business is the superior presentation of real property. We make listings more appealing, compelling, and influential to a targeted audience: qualified buyers. Think about it. It’s true and that’s the fundamentals.

So get out there. Connect with someone. Invest in the presentation of your listing, and yes, use – wisely – social media and technological tools.

Thank you Kris for reminding us that it’s not only important to “skate where the puck will be”, but also to take shots in our existing – although imperfect environment. We’ll all do well to remember to balance time proven methods with a healthy, balanced jaunt with innovation.