News
WHAT’S HOT IN CRE SOCIAL MEDIA
August 29, 2011
| We know you’re probably lying on the beach, soaking up the last rays of summer sun. In fact, it’s highly unlikely you’re even reading this unless you're wired, hooked up to your CRE news intravenously. So if you are, we think there’s a pretty good chance you’ll have a healthy ‘app’ etite for today’s conversation about apps, technology, twitter, blogs, and more. | |
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| We’ll start with a warning: Beware BlackBerry users. You’ve had a good run, but the iPhone/iPad/Android hipsters have won, and that’s who CRE app developers are serving. Marcus & Millichap chief information officer Rick Peltz (snapped in the firm’s Encino, Calif. HQ with database manager Mark Varghese) tells us BB users among M&M’s more than 1,200 agents have dropped to 500 (and falling). The firm’s app serves as an extension of its broker bio pages, made more dynamic 18 months ago so they can be updated on the fly by the agents and include closed deals, new listings, news, and contact info—all searchable content. Users can search the app by property type or location (even through the phone’s location—it’s all very CSI) and text or call the agent on the spot. By December, nearly 3,000 had downloaded the app. | |
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| We also spoke with JLL digital director Scott Hays, who joined the firm the week its app launched in April. He tells us more and more Web traffic is coming from mobile devices, perhaps because the iPhone is more couch and lunch-break friendly. The JLL app has been downloaded 6,100 times—all iPhone users, though the firm is looking at Android, too. It’s an extension of JLL’s website, featuring its highest-traffic segments: research, news, video, its green blog, and people finder. Just like the M&M app, it’s made for clients but pH-balanced for brokers, who like to use it as a sales tool. Next step: availability in other languages to reach JLL’s global markets. (What about 3D, Scott?) | |
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| Of course, not every CRE company goes the DIY route. Todd Kuhlman n’s Blyncc App Development, for instance, has licensed its real estate brokerage app to NAI Latter & Blum (34 minute, six second average visit and over 1,000 downloads), among others. Todd (above at the NAI Convention with NAI Latter & Blum’s Karl Landreneau, who starts a three-year run as CCIM prez in October) launched his company with Henry Kirk after the pair met doing tech training for CCIM members. Blynnc also has its own app, TheAnalyst (for the iPhone and iPad), which offers calculators for environmental risk, distance and area, amortization, IRR, lease versus own, loan amount, 1031 exchange, and investment analysis. They all require five to 10 fields of info and then create a multi-page pdf you can email, print, and load into Dropbox. Coming soon: competitive lease analysis for comparing up to three leases. |
