Masterkey Blog

Matches now available for everyone!

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:25:00 +1500

We launched Matches at the last Connect Event in December and now it's available for everyone. Follow these two articles to learn more about how Matches can help you do business faster.

Done in 60 seconds: From new lead to evaluating property

Knowledgebase: How do Matches work?

Release Notes

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +1500

Version V4.5.9.30 (04/02/2012)

New: Flagging Units: Users can now see flags to the left of search results when searching for units and can mouseover or open the unit file to see the reason for the flag.This is a new feature where red flags appear in search next to units that require action from a user. Currently this works with Leases that have expired (i.e. if the Contract End Date has passed).
New: You can now set sms and email reminders on activities. See how to do it.
"Rera Card Number" and "Rera Expiry Date" have been renamed to "Agent Reg. No" and "Agent Reg. Expiry".
Upcoming Date has now been added in advance search for leasing.
Minor chages and improvements in connection zone.
Various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version V4.5.8.40 (25/01/2012)

New: Users can now select or remove all portals in one go by a single click.
Unit card composer is now programmed to take in multiple email addresses.
New fields have been added on reservation and contract templates.
Warning prompts have been added, before a file is closed and auto-save when starting unit transaction.
Subject line has now been added to Matches preview screen.
Feed Burner links have been replaced on the Login Screen.
Various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version V4.5.7.27 (08/01/2012)

New:Premium customers can now include information from multiple units in a single template by using unit card editor.
New fields have been added on reservation and contract templates.
Zip Code has now been set as non mandatory on transactions.
Various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version V4.5.6.47 (26/12/2011)

New: Multiple image upload feature is now available in the system.
You can now track work order activities through activity zone.
Various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version V4.5.5.26 (11/12/2011)

New: Matches are now available in the system for premium customers.
Rent per annum has been replaced with Rent per month for Qatar groups only.
Various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version V4.5.4.31 (27/11/2011)

New: ‘Search All’ now searches both first and last name in all contact zones.
New: An activity is automatically logged when you send a unit card to a contact.
New: You can now see how many units you’re sharing per group in the Connection Zone.
Companies can enable or disable auto-correspondence emails for system generated leads.
Watermarks are now functioning on Dubizzle.com.
Several Report Builder upgrades including first-time use wizard.
Agent feedback tracking through activity zone.
Various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version V4.5.3.47 (13/11/2011)

New: New welcome email templates for new users are now available.
New: The new Matches functionality activated for beta tester groups.
Property Manager is now added to Quick Search drop-down in Portfolio Zone.
Masterkey Connect functionality has been upgraded.
Various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version V4.5.2.37 (23/10/2011)

New: Report Builder activated for beta tester groups.
New: Rich text editor has now been added on email composers.
You can now select Street in the field selection.
When adding a lead Referred By field now shows the user that is logged in. (All modules except CRM)
Renewal wizard has been upgraded with minor design changes.
Various bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Version V4.4.1.45 (09/10/2011)

New: Re-ordering images is now available.
New: Help and feedback link has been upgraded.
New: Removing unit cards is now possible in communication templates.
New: A limit can be set for the marketing description on the unit cards template.
Rent per month has now been included in the quick search.
Rent has been renamed to Rent per year in the quick search.
Last login (Time and date) has been included in the quick search of user zone.
General bug fixes and enhancements

Version V4.4.14.36 (29/09/2011)

New: Auto Correspondence is now available for Masterkey Premium customers.
General bug fixes and enhancements.

Version V4.4.11.34 (31/07/2011)

New: All new UAE groups will get UAE property database (3000+ properties).
Masterkey Connect has been upgraded to share more information.
General bug fixes and enhancements.

Version V4.4.9.31 (03/07/2011)

Contact Zone upgraded to view all your contacts in one place.
General bug fixes and enhancements.

Version V4.3.41.19 (31/03/2011)

Unit Zone's quick search has been upgraded to search by any location through auto complete.
General bug fixes and enhancements.

Version V4.3.40.12 (24/03/2011)

Retractable sidebar is now available in v4.3.
General bug fixes and enhancements.

Growing community: February edition

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:14:00 +1500

This month we have companies from Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates join our community. Help us welcome LS Keep Moving, L.Y.M Real Estate, IS Real Estate, Naseej and Castles Plaza by finding out how you can join forces to close deals!

LS Keep Moving	Brokerage	Qatar
L.Y.M Real Estate Brokers	Brokerage	United Arab Emirates
IS Real Estate Brokers	Brokerage	United Arab Emirates
Naseej	Developer	Bahrain
Castles Plaza	Brokerage	United Arab Emirates

Open Masterkey in multiple windows?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:07:00 +1500

One of the most requested features at the Q&A Sessions was the ability to open multiple windows in Masterkey. I want to share a trick with you that enables just that. For example, when you want to open Contact Zone, right-click on the menu item and then click on 'Open in a new tab'. This will open the Contact Zone in a new tab and you can open as many tabs as you like.

By switching between the different tabs, you can now access multiple Zones at once. The only thing you cannot open in tabs are the Unit Files and Contact Files. However the idea to have multiple Unit FIles and Contact Files is already submitted by Jaideep Khemani - vote for it by visiting our Feedback Forum.

Interview with Ghassan Ghellal: A network of agents

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:58:00 +1500

Gokhan Polat interviewed Ghassan Ghellal who is the Business Development Manager at Halcon Real Estate.

How would you describe the successful real estate agent?

I would expect four things from a successful agent: strong, specialized product knowledge; confident and clear understanding of the procedures, laws and regulations; great negotiations and sales skills; and finally, fantastic networking skills.

Why do you need to be a good networker as an agent?

You need to be a good networker with agents and clients. Every agent knows the best clients are those that come to you via recommendation, they trust you and are loyal to you. However you need to perform well to continue receiving these recommendations, and that is why you need to be a good networker with agents. If you have a good network of agents, you can ultimately have access to all the properties available in the market. This will help you in arranging viewings faster and thus giving your client what he is looking for before the other competing agents.

How come agents are skeptical towards working together?

The simple answer is trust. However there are two parts to this lack of trust. Fear that disclosure of property information is followed by the agent being left out of the deal, secondly not trusting the agent’s ability to perform their job. Many agents complain that agents are contacting them to arrange a viewing on a property prior to fully valuing the clients need. Trust can be enhanced as the industry matures and develops standard in practice and the quality of agents. Furthermore agencies need to come together to fight off unethical behaviors and encourage agents to work together to achieve best industry practice.

How do you begin building a network of agents?

To be part of any network, there needs to be common understanding. Putting a few guidelines for everyone who is part of the network to abide by is a good start. Secondly for a network to work it has to have a group of people with different skills. In relation to real estate this may be, that one agent specializes in a particular towers and always has listings, while another has contacts with high net worth individuals or perhaps buyers from their country of origin. Allowing an agent to clearly highlight their strong skills can help other agents find them when they need them.

Three day training for new customer in Doha

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:49:00 +1500

LS: Keep moving is the funky name of our newest customer in Doha. We just had a three day training program at their offices in the iconic Tornado Tower and judging by the pictures, they seem to be having lots of fun.

Has the Dubai market partially recovered?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:45:00 +1500

According to REIDIN's 2011 results, Dubai may be in a partial recovery.

Their YoY statistics show that popular areas such as Arabian Ranches and The Springs/Meadows have actually increased in value by up to 15%. If true, that would be a marked recovery for those areas and would indicate that prices have not just bottomed out but are on the rise.

REIDIN.com The United Arab Emirates Residential Property Property Market: Dubai Sales Prices (% YoY)

REIDIN.com The United Arab Emirates Residential Property Property Market: Dubai Rent Prices (USD/SQM)

Now contrast this to the Abu Dhabi sales prices.

REIDIN.com The United Arab Emirates Residential Property Property Market: Abu Dhabi Sales Prices (USD/SQM)

Original article posted on REIDIN's blog here.

New feature: Lightning fast image upload

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:19:00 +1500

No listing should be published without photos, because nothing better than photos will showcase the features you want to highlight. If your description emphasizes a great view, it pays to have a photo of the view.

To help you upload more photos, the image-uploader is now capable of uploading multiple images at once and labeling them. We’ve tested it and it’s true, you’ll be making updates to units faster than an agent posting party photos on facebook. Follow this guide on How to: Upload Multiple Images.

The idea to upload, organize and label multiple images started in the Masterkey feedback forum where 26 members of the community voted to have this implemented. If you have an idea to improve Masterkey or just make your job easier, share it with us in the Masterkey feedback forum. It’s a good feeling to contribute.

Growing community: January edition

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:09:00 +1500

This month shows that Masterkey works for you, whether you are a developer, property manager or a broker. We are pleased to have Manara Developments, Sloanes Real Estate, Universal OAM and Al Wesal Real Estate join our community!

Manara Developemnt	Developer	Bahrain
Sloanes Real Estate	Brokarage	United Arab Emirates
Universal OAM	Property Management	United Arab Emirates
Al Wesal Real Estate	Brokarage	United Arab Emirates

Why User Manuals Are Dead To The World

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:13:00 +1500

Today we were asked to provide our user manuals in a PDF or Word document. You may think that this is a reasonable enough request but after nine years of building software we've figured out a thing or two about user manuals: No one reads them. Ever.

When we look back over the years we've made several attempts to create comprehensive training materials or user guides. We've had everything. Simple how-to guides, extensive word/pdf documentation, training videos, entirely hand built custom websites... everything. At one point we even tried assigning a dedicated person to only this task.

The problem is, in all of that time I can probably count a handful of people that have actually used these materials. This works out to very little benefit to our customers compared to the hours spent compiling and updating Word documents that in the end become quickly outdated.

Little Benefit + Hours of Work = Bad Idea

The fact is when people need to know how to do something they always follow the same pattern.

They ask someone. It's always easier to ask your co-worked rather than search for it. Sometimes this works, sometimes it leads to the wrong answer, but we're human and we like to ask someone human. This is the same reason I've pinned 'Search Google' above my father's computer and the same reason why he ignores it. It's just easier to call.
They search for it. This usually involves Google or perhaps the in-built training system but is exactly where we want people to find the right answer. If rewarded enough times with the right answer, this will become the first place people will look.

So at Masterkey we now invest our time in making sure the right answers are found in when you search. We do provide great in-person training, but after that it comes down to search. A tremendous amount of time and effort was spent finding the right help tool and writing the articles themselves so that's where people should look.

If you are ever looking for help with Masterkey use the Masterkey Helpdesk. That's where we are and have everything you need to know about Masterkey. If you're writing your own user manuals, stop now before it's too late and try out uservoice, getsatisfaction or zendesk!