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“91% of US citizens have their mobile device within reach 24/7. And they are checking their phones an average of 150x a day!”

Hold on for a sec…I need to check my phone!

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Or download the PDF

The post Research: The Digital House Hunt – Consumer and Market Trends in Real Estate appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

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Agent Evolution Releases WordPress Themes for Real Estate

Both the Curb Appeal and Turn Key themes are responsive, fully customizable, include multiple widgets and are for use with the Genesis Framework.

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Christmas has come early for us Dropbox users.

Dropbox now offers sharing with anyone! They don’t even need to have a Dropbox account.

By selecting “Share Link” from the right-click menu, you are given options to share via email, Facebook or Twitter. You can even copy the link to your clipboard.

This new feature is bound to revolutionize how real estate agents conduct ?their businesses. Sending large documents to clients will no longer be a challenge. Sharing listing photos with a marketing assistant just got easier.

This piece of technology could be the end of bulky email attachments for good. (A guy can dream, can’t he?)

Get the lowdown on this new Dropbox feature here.

The post Dropbox Just Got Better appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

WordPress has released a?free service that will help you in your quest to turbo-charge your website.

This new service is called Photon and it is part of the Jetpack plugin by WordPress.?Photon is a CDN for photos on WordPress.org websites.

For those not familiar with a CDN, it stands for “content distribution network”. Essentially, it is a bunch of servers across the globe that store identical copies of a website’s content. When someone visits that website, the server that is physically closest to that ?person will deliver the content. That makes for much faster load times as the data doesn’t have to travel as far.

Installing Photon on your WordPress website means that copies of your website’s photographs will be stored on servers across the globe. When someone visits your site, your web host will deliver the website files at the same time that Photon delivers the photos.?The end result is a much faster loading website.

While Photon isn’t a complete CDN (like Amazon Cloudfront), it does address a major cause of slow website loading. ?Best of all, it is easy to install and completely free.

The post WordPress Jetpack Adds Photo Service appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

So take a listen, it most certainly is NOT a boring conversation. In fact, we hit all the most important topics: what #RTB means to me, killer real estate video, online and offline storefronts that rock, not so hands-free driving stories, passion and more passion, Ironman training, and of course my favorite topic…..WordPress!

Listen to NikNik on Blog Talk Radio

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I am cursed with the need to be an early adopter. When new technology comes out, I need to have it right away. Such was the case last Friday when Windows 8 was released. I was downloading my copy at 6:00 in the morning.

Installing a new operating system the day it is released comes with anticipation and excitement. What new features will it have? How will it change my computing life forever?

It also comes with anxiety as compatibility issues and a lack of documentation is sure to plague the process.

Four days later, I have upgraded 2 computers and worked with Windows 8 for a few dozen hours. Here are my initial thoughts on the experience.

Purchasing Windows 8

Getting my hands on a copy of Windows has never been easier or cheaper. Microsoft is offering Windows 8 Pro as a download for only $39.95 through the end of January. They are also giving Windows Media Center for free during that same time period.

Without leaving the house, I had my copies of Windows 8 for a third the cost of previous versions.

Installation

As I mentioned before, I had 2 computers to upgrade and had 2 very different experiences.

Desktop
My desktop computer is a hand-built machine that was running Windows 7 Ultimate. All components are no more than 2 years old.

There were some bugs in the machine so I chose to do a complete installation. One that wipes everything clean and starts from scratch.

Installation was a piece of cake. Very fast and relatively problem free. Most of the hardware drivers were installed automatically. In the cases that the driver wasn’t added by Windows, the manufacturer’s Windows 7 drivers worked.

Reinstalling the software has gone smoothly, as well. No compatibility issues like when Vista was released.

This is not to say that the desktop upgrade was perfect. My network drive and TV tuner are still not working. May need to wait on those until new drivers are available.

Laptop
The laptop upgrade was another story. Getting the installation to complete on my 2 year old Dell XPS was difficult to say the least. It was little more than a paper weight for 3 days.

Finally, I found an online conversation where several people with the same laptop were getting the same error during installation. Luckily, one of them was brilliant enough to find the solution.

The fix was to get half way through the installation, force your way to a command prompt and delete 2 files using DOS commands. Needless to say, not at the computer skill level of your average real estate agent.

Once past that problem, the installation was a breeze.

Working with Windows 8

Using Windows 8 is very familiar, but yet foreign. Much like speaking to someone with a thick accent. Hoping to be adjusted quickly.

Modern
The Start menu that has been present in all Windows versions has been replaced. In its place is a new graphical interface called Modern. This has got to be the biggest obstacle to acclimating to Windows 8.

The Modern screen provides an easy way to access your most used programs, photos, calendar and emails. With time, this may be a favorite feature as it can be tailored to how you use the computer. For now, it seems clunky to have to hit the “Windows” button in the keyboard so much.

Apps
Windows is joining Apple and Google in the app game. Intended to change how you have traditionally bought Windows software, you now go into the Store from the Modern screen to buy apps.

Many apps are free. Even the paid apps are fairly inexpensive. So far, I find the Skype, Netflix and Hulu Plus apps to be my favorites.

The selection is limited at this point, but it should build over time.

Performance
Windows 8 is definitely a lot lighter than past versions. The installation download was tiny at 2 gigabytes. Start up is very quick. Overall, it seems much faster.

Nice Little Touches
Continuing with improvements seen in Windows 7, Windows 8 adds a lot of small changes that greatly improve the user experience.

Graphs showing how file transfers are going is useful. The notifications in the upper right corner when devices are added is cleaner than the old pop-up window that had to be closed.

Built for a Touchscreen
It is clear that the changes to the user interface are intended for a touchscreen monitor. In fact, many features are downright difficult to access with the Windows 8 gestures for touchscreens.

Opening the fly-out menu on the right side of the monitor is difficult with a mouse. This is even worse with a multiple monitor configuration.

The switching between apps and accessing their options menus are frustrating with a mouse but easy with a touchscreen.

Look into getting a Windows 8 mouse or touchpad from Logitech or Microsoft to make for an easier transition.

After only 4 days, I am still forming my opinion on Windows 8. Sometimes it takes a while to enjoy something new. One thing is for sure, most real estate agents will eventually use this piece of technology as Windows still holds a majority of the market.

The post A First Look at Windows 8 appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

Well, I have stumbled upon a great, free resource for you. At least those of you with an iPhone or iPad.

In the iTunes U app is a mini-podcast series from the University of Glasgow. The series is called Writing for the Web.

This course is brilliant and will change the way you write web pages, blog posts and even email campaigns. It teaches you how people read differently online than in print, how to set your tone and structure the page.

It is hard to believe that you can get such great writing advice in less than 30 minutes.

Watch the series and then go through your website page-by-page. Ask yourself the questions presented in Part 2 of the series. You will quickly identify how your web copy can be improved upon.

The post Get Free Advice on Writing for the Web appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

Much more flexible and powerful than the default “print screen” functionality, Snagit allows for small areas of a screen to be captured. It can also can scroll down the page to capture an entire web page.

This functionality has been great and worth the $49.95 price tag, but what has been added to the latest version (11.0) blew us away.

In the new version, Snagit has added video capture and advanced sharing.

Video Capture

The ability to capture screen video opens up a wealth of possibilities to the real estate agent.

Use it to create screencasts to educate your clients. Ideas for screencasts include:

• Provide a guided tour of your website and showcase the best features
• Show how to best use your IDX home search
• Create a listing presentation video that shows how effective you are online (website, social media, etc.)
• Walk people through your CMA report to entice website visitors to request a free home evaluation

Advanced Sharing

Once you have your image or video captured, you need to do something with it. In Snagit 11, a new set of share controls allows you to push your creation out to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Evernote. All platforms that are very popular with real estate agents.

Create one of the videos mentioned above, share it on YouTube and then embed it on your website. Your website visitors will be impressed.

If you have never tried Snagit, check it out with the free 30-day trial. If you are using an older version of Snagit, you owe it to yourself to upgrade. This software will change how you do business.

The post A Favorite Business Tool Just Got Better appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

For you newrds,

Shkoff is just Italian slang for eat wholeheartedly, or pig out! I don’t say it nearly as good @bitchinkitchen, but I don’t get all worried about it.

The post Shkoff Your Social Media appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

Uploading pictures to Facebook offers so many social advantages like the ability to tag friends and comment on photos. This allows your photos to be seen by so many more people than if it were anywhere else.

But what if you also want to have those same photos on your WordPress website? So long as the photos are in a public album, you are in luck.

Facebook Page Photo Gallery is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to add public photo albums to your website with a simple shortcode. All you need is the album ID.

Photos are displayed on your website in much the same way as a standard WordPress photo gallery.

This plugin is meant for those images on Facebook pages as they are public. There is a premium version of this plugin that offers some personal profile photo sharing abilities, Facebook Walleria Plugin.

Since you are using public photos, the album doesn’t even have to be from your Facebook page. It could be from a local event’s Facebook page which makes for easy community blogging for the real estate agent.

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The makers of Evernote have released a free mobile app called Skitch for iOS and Droid.

Skitch is a screen capture app that allows you to draw on the images. This makes for an amazing real estate tool.

Take a photo of a house and draw on it. Use the built in maps to add areas of interest to a community map.

Once created, the maps sync with your Evernote account. They can also be saved as a photo or emailed.

So quick and easy, it makes the investment in an iPad or Droid tablet worth the price.

The post Skitch for the Tablet and Smartphone appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

Out with a Buyer

It’s always been important to have the right tools for the job. As a REALTOR® you require detailed and timely access to property and market information. It?s also essential that you have the confidence your data comes from a trusted source. And only to make it more challenging, our industry uses many different operating systems and devices. But that?s beside the point; you just need it to work! That?s really where Realtors Property Resource® (RPR®) a member benefit of the National Association of REALTORS® comes in. In this two part series, I’ll share some real world scenarios in which you can start to take advantage of RPR in your business.

Here is the scenario?you’ve taken the time to listen to your buyer?s wants and needs. You?ve researched the area and compiled a list of homes to preview. Using the iPad, you decide to load a property report for each of the homes you?re previewing that day. As you drive towards the first home, you hand the iPad to your client. They?re able to pinch and zoom into the report, reviewing the neighborhood housing and economic stats. With a quick flick of a hand, they pan through home facts, photos, property history and even review the local schools, test scores and parent reviews. The property and market insight your client gathers on the drive over is not only useful but incredibly powerful toward helping them make a decision.

As you drive away from the first home, heading to the second your client notices a charming home for sale on the corner.? But this home wasn?t included in the list of homes you prepared. Your client asks ?How about that one?? and anxiously points and urges you to pull over. This is your moment to shine; the client loves the external view of the property, and wants to know more.

Using RPR and your iPad, you search the property address and start looking closer. ?Ah, the property is a For Sale by Owner?that?s why wasn?t listed in the MLS? you explain with the client.? While RPR does not display For Sale By Owner listings, the RPR database contains nationwide public records, lien information and foreclosure data, so you can find information on any property, whether its listed or not. Within a few minutes you?re able to review all aspects of the home directly from the iPad. You share the property characteristics, the backyard via satellite imagery, and even uncover the seller?s motivation. You?re able to tell the home has a distressed action, and looking at the mortgage data you see the home looks to be underwater. In a matter of minutes, you were able to satisfy your client with immediate information, and email them a comprehensive report on the home. You were also able to see the owner?s name and can reach out to schedule a showing with your client.

The post RPR: Access to the information you need, when you need it! (Part 1) appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

This inexpensive ($10) premium WordPress plugin allows you to create beautiful CSS3 buttons without any design skills or touching a line of code. Change button size, colors, fonts and text directly from the WordPress admin. You can even add icons to spruce up the buttons.

Want to see Max Buttons Pro in action? Check out ModestoMarathon.com. We used the plugin for all of the call-to-action buttons on that website.

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