Jan 12-16th, Marriot Times Square was the place to be - where real estate technology come together in the Inman Connect Conference. Household names in technology and real estate, and aussiehome attended for the first time. And what a conference. Incredible ideas, really affirming what we already do, but giving us so many new ideas too.

Highlights:

1. MOBILE - mobile internet and applications did not figure a year ago; today, real estate sites now have developed various applications for smartphones, and mobile traffic is 10%+ of all traffic to web sites.

Real estate is an obvious one here as people are out and about looking at property, taking mobile phones with them. Get ready for information on how to mobilise your site, and develop your own smart phone applications. (More info, read this BLOG post)

2. LOCAL- the web is turning local like never before. It's all about the 3 I's - "getting the right Information to the right EYES and the right INSTANT" - allied to mobile devices, people are contributing to and downloading local info (on restaurants, cars, bars, and yes real estate) like never before.

And this trend looks set to continue. Grooviest local app - check out FOURSQUARE.com - allows you to 'check in' where you are, earn points, being the MAYOR, and give (and read) tips, interact with people, make friends.

3. SOCIAL- social media is being used; it's not just a matter of twittering and facebooking, it's HOW you use it (and many abuse it).

Get to a course on how to use Social Media in real estate - we hold them regularly through REIWA Learning; and develop a POLICY and procedures on how you are going to use this most important networking tool.

For more information, and exclusive run down on these main themes, you MUST attend the  free LEADERSHIP CIRCLE on Feb 18th (see below).

Thurs Feb 18th, 4pm-6pm

Champions Club Room, Challenge Stadium

"Leadership Circle - the latest ideas from New York"

One Hour FREE seminar with Charlie Gunningham, followed by drinks.

- Charlie will be going through the main themes of the New York conference, how real estate agents are successfully using the latest technology, what is going to be hot in 2010, how results are driven, how to network online, save money, connect more easily

- CONTACT SARAH ASBURY for bookings 9389 5833, sarah@aussiehome.com

- PLACES LIMITED and almost BOOKED OUT ALREADY!

Newspaper headlines have been flying around recently touting "run away markets", "Perth market hot" and today’s "Perth median price soars over the $500,000 mark".

Have we not learned our lesson from the previous boom? The higher the rise, the harder the crash? Is the market running hot, or is this just print media's love for exaggerated headlines to help sell papers?

We thought we would cut straight to the chase, and ask some real estate Principals how they saw it. They are, after all, out there in the field every minute of the day.

Interestingly, rather than perhaps the predictable "it's all great, hurry up and buy/sell with me", we received some very level headed replies…

Let me first say that I own no shares in Facebook (more's the pity) and no real axe to grind either way in this tale. I just thought this might be of interest to anyone looking to brand and differentiate themselves effectively, potentially save some advertising dollars (who doesn’t want to do that?) try something new and maybe make themselves look pretty tech savvy in the process. It also has rather obvious real estate advertising implications...

Facebook Ads.

OK, I was initially sceptical of all Web 2.0, self-indulgent bloggers, twits and lamebookers.

About a year ago I put up my first Facebook ad. It was easy to do, and I aimed it towards 35-55 year olds who live in Perth and sat back and watched the results.

Now 11 months have ticked over (long enough time to measure results I feel sure), the ad has been served up almost 22 million times (22 million!) to my target audience and it has cost me a tad over $3500 (or $300/month for 2mn views/month on average). I humbly show you the stats (screen shot of my Facebook Advertising account below) and invite you to pore over the numbers.  [Note: $ values are US dollars]

Any advice you need setting up Facebook Ads, we are here to help you - please let us know (tel 9389 5833)