November 21, 2011

I am often asked by friends, family and other REALTORS® how my “holiday” was. Anyone who has been would never ask that question as from sunup until way past sundown, there is so much to learn, see and discuss with others, that coming home is the holiday. It usually takes a few weeks to sift through the information and get a grip on what the issues were and where the learning focused.

There is a lot that I could share with you but since I am often asked what decisions should be made around iProducts, Android and BlackBerry tools, I sat in on a few sessions to get some clarity.

Here are my thoughts.

Yes, there are probably 200 devices out there that you can buy but it is all about the apps and at this point the big time winner seems to be Apple.

This is not to cut out other devices but the reality is that most of the apps being produced by the technicians are for the iPad or the iPhone first; they usually then follow up with Android, Windows and BlackBerry applications depending on demand. If you choose a non-Apple product, you should do so with this in mind.

All of that being said: I do have an iPad and I love mobile computing. Here is a short list of some of the apps available for you as a mobile REALTOR® using an iPad.

REALTOR® Specific: REALTOR®.ca, FaceTime, Dropbox (put it on all your devices), Pages, PDF Expert, TweetDeck, Touchbase, Opera Mini (to view our present platform of TMLS), Skype, Prezi Viewer, Evernote, LightTrac, HootSuite (Syndicates your Social Media), 360, OpenHomePro, Docusign and Docusign Ink. My American friends would also have Trulia, Houzz and Zillow.

Lifestyle Specific: Calendar, Contacts, Messages and Reminders, and for iPad2 users: the Camera (though it is not great), Kindle (for readers), Accuweather, IMDB (for movie buffs), Yelp and Star3map.

I am happy to hear from you with any suggestions for other applications. Please bear in mind that these are the applications that I use, and some of them are new to me as well, since the 2011 National Association of REALTORS® Conference.

For REALTORS: You may be aware that tax guidelines allow us to attend two conferences per year. They offer a great opportunity to learn a lot and build a strong referral network amongst the 20,000 attendees from all over the world. I look forward to seeing you at the next international conference and in the meantime, be sure to save May 2 and 3 on your calendar for the Toronto Real Estate Board’s annual REALTOR® QUEST conference – you’ll want to bring plenty of business cards for networking, as this event attracts more than 7,000 REALTORS® from throughout Ontario.

A very wise person once told me that “successful people get results and unsuccessful people get excuses”. Since then I have tried to live life with no excuses. It is a constant challenge to keep that promise, and the “age” excuse is the one the keeps boiling to the top; it’s the easiest one to indulge….

No matter where I travel, when the topic of technology/change comes up, I hear “I’m too old to change” and they are usually younger than I am.

Don’t become Blockbuster

The sad reality is, if you don’t welcome change you could become the next Blockbuster Video. 10 years ago they had it all until the small upstart Netflix made the conversion from warehousing to online downloadable movies. Blockbuster watched their market share shrink and their stores close. Is that the business model that you would like to follow? Is that the life model that will guide your future? Are you ready to retire?

Today’s toys are tomorrow’s tools: The iPad launched in April 2010, the modern day cell phone in the early 1980’s, smart phones in 2000, the modern car is just over 100 years old, yet very few homes are without them today.

When change confronts us, lines in the sand are drawn but you would be aghast today if someone told you they did not drive a car, or have a phone number. We adapted and we learned.

Does age force that adaptation to stop or do we just feel overwhelmed and tired? There is no doubt that the amount of change has increased but is slowing it down the answer or is engaging new technology the solution…why not bring back that child’s sense of wonder?

Nobody in today’s working world was born into technology…we have all had to adapt. Each one of us will make our own personal decisions but we now live in a digital world and need to get used to it.

In my 50’s I found myself parenting my parents…the hardest job I undertook and was never trained for…but I did it because there were no options. Did I really believe it when I was promised that life would get easier as I got older? I was set up and fell for it!

What’s the ROI of change?

What was the ROI (return on investment) in looking after our parents and children? We do it because it had to be done…The ROI of change is engagement in the world. Not engaging is like saying you want to stop living, stop moving forward and hide…is that realistic?

Change is the only constant in our lives, no matter what age…embrace it, enjoy it, get used to it, and celebrate it. Stop using age as an excuse…

If you think you don’t like change, I know you will like irrelevance even less…

Reposted from the Trulia Pro Blog September 16, 2011

This is great news from the Canadian Real Estate Association. It is a free download from the iTunes store and also works (though is not as good) on your iPad. The best part is the GPS so it can be used on the move when you are sitting in from of a property to get the REALTOR.ca information.

Ottawa, ON – December 21, 2010 – The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) today released its REALTOR.ca app for the Apple® iPhone®. REALTOR.ca is the most visited real estate website in Canada, listing on average some 350,000 properties at any time.

“This free application brings Apple iPhone users the features and functionality of the REALTOR.ca website, as well as some interesting device-specific features” said CREA president Georges Pahud. “Consumers today expect portable information and REALTORS® across Canada are happy to be providing this service.”

The free REALTOR.ca app is provided at no cost to consumers by Canada’s 100,000 REALTORS® and more than 100 real estate Boards and Associations.

The app provides users with the features and functionality of REALTOR.ca and takes advantage of Apple iPhone device features, such as:

•Using the handheld’s GPS technology:
◦Properties Near Me – get up-to-date property information, photos and driving directions;
◦New Listings Near Me – recent listings in the area you’re visiting;
◦Open Houses Near Me – find open houses near your present location;
◦My Agent – Contact either your agent(s), or the listing agent for more information about a specific property;
◦Property Search – Search for houses and properties across Canada, and connect with REALTORS® to view, buy or sell a property;
◦Personalized settings allowing the user to set default language, unit of measure, how properties are displayed, and search radius for “Near Me” searches;
◦Interactive BING mapping is embedded to allow focus on specific neighbourhoods; 
◦Scheduled Open Houses can be added to the device’s calendar.

“When considering one of life’s biggest financial transactions, easily accessible, detailed information about homes and neighbourhoods, as well as access to REALTORS®, helps people make well-informed decisions” stated Pahud.

With the addition of the Apple iPhone app, REALTOR.ca is now available for two of the most popular handheld device operating systems, as the Windows Phone 7® version was released in November. A BlackBerry app will be released in February 2011.

A setup guide has been posted online at www.crea.ca.

CREA is one of Canada’s largest single-industry trade associations, representing more than 100,000 REALTORS® working through more than 100 real estate Boards and Associations. CREA owns and operates the REALTOR.ca website, Canada’s most visited real estate resource for property buyers.

A week later we had five offers that we were reviewing, almost all of which were conditional on Status Certificate Approval.

I called the Management Office direct for an update and I was told: that the cost for a Status Certificate had been increased to $130 plus HST and that only a certified cheque or Bank draft was acceptable.

I insisted that the Condominium Act  mandated Status Certificates at $100 and that no taxes were applicable and was chastised for my being difficult and was almost hung up on. I suggested that someone at their Head Office be called, as this is one of, if not the largest Condominium Property Management in Toronto, Del Property Management and that their information should be corrected otherwise they would be contravening the Condominium Act . A call back a few minutes later was very conciliatory…yes, I was correct that the amount was $100 and yes their were no taxes to be paid, neither GST, PST or HST…

When I offered to show up at their office with $100 cash I was told that was still not acceptable. Somehow cash is no longer legal tender? When I asked why, I was told that “cash provided too many opportunities”.  I suggested that this was a staff  issue and not an issue that a third party should have to make accommodations for and maybe a staff review would have been more appropriate. I do “righteous indignation” very well when provoked. Mea Culpa…

After 1/2 hour standing in line at a local bank and another 1/2 hour re-filling out the forms for the Status Certificate, I had to wait another four days for delivery. Then it was couriered to the Buyer’s lawyer in Oakville, Ontario for approval…and another 3 day wait.

There has to be a better way and I think I may have found it:

Conduit  allows Realtors, Lawyers, Owners, Mortgage Companies to order Status Certificates online and have them delivered to the purchasing party in a .pdf format. The Status Certificate still costs $100 as per the Condominium Act but there is a $25.00 convenience fee and HST of $3.25 on the convenience fee…a total of $128.25….and you can pay online with a credit card (no visits to a Bank to pick up a Certified funds, no couriers, no time doing pick up or delivery). This .pdf format can be emailed to a number of parties rather than only having one copy that really should be studied by a number of involved parties withing the approval period.

This is a great idea and costs nothing for the Management Company to sign up.

Check out the site, order a Status Certificate or two and let us know how it works or…if you have already tried out this service, we’d all like to have your thoughts below. Please let us know!

Rob Hahn  and Bill Lublin  in the same room is a recipe for discussion…they love to take polar opposite opinions and battle it out…sort of like watching a Tennis Match….with no one winning.

Then Dale Chumbley  piped in with a great story…as usual.

The scoop is yes, it is harder to get the eyeballs of the masses but like the weather, Real Estate is local and sharing information about a local issue is always really well received.

Don’t miss these great leaning opportunities when they happen in your area. Your thoughts?

I was recently interviewed by REALTOR Magazine for their June 2010 issue. I have since received a number of calls about this artricle and especially the “leaf bags”, that I distribute in Cabbagetown each year. If you are interested, contact Primo Promotions, who are my supplier and are great to work with…their email address is primopromos@sympatico.ca. Tell them I sent you!

The biggest misconception that I hear because of my business is that there seems to be a concern out there that resale housing draws HST. It does not. HST is only on New Constuction. However, HST is payable on any of the services that are used in the Buying or Selling of property. But again: RESALE HOUSING AT ANY PRICE DOES NOT DRAW “HST”, only the services that are involved.

For a full view of what is taxed, I’d like to thank Lori Nichol of Forest Hill Realty Inc. who forwarded me this great summary. To make it easy to view you can easily make it “Full Screen”.

If you would like it in .pdf format jusr click here.

For those of you who have not YELPED before…Yelp  is a website that is a repository of peer reviews, mashed with GPS . It uses the GPS to find you, allows you to search under numerous categories for whatever service you are looking for and once you start narrowing down your search offers up peer reviews to help you make your decisions.

That night we ended up only a few blocks from the Hotel we were staying at, ate in a very non-descript inexpensive Restaurant and had one of the best meals of the trip. We based our choice on the peer reviews and on leaving could have added our own views on the experience to the Yelp  web site with photos.

Now I am a confirmed Yelper. I have downloaded the Yelp app to my Blackberry and have a profile that you can visit, become my friend or leave a review of my work as a REALTOR. Check it out in your area and write some reviews to help build the content that will make it a more valuable tool as time goes by. Get out there and start YELPING !!

The man with the biggest TV wins….has been the marketing chant for Home Entertainment Systems…but at the same time…

Technology never slows and keeping up is a full time and expensive job.

A year ago I was given an Amazon Kindle  for Xmas and have loved being able to access my own library from the Amazon Bookstore  on a moments notice. Then came the Sony Reader  and other E-books…Recently, Apple announced it’s latest product the IPad .

I believe that the IPad  will be very successful… small screen format is the way of the future and these new tools are tools that provide content through Apps allow the owner to be more mobile…

The point of all this is that we are in the process of mobilizing my websites. The mobile version of www.RichardSilver.com  is already launched with Torontoism.com  and DowntownTorontoNews.com  to follow soon.

If you search www.RichardSilver.com  on your Blackberry  or IPhone  it will automatically recognize that you are using a smartphone  and will show you the small screen format. I would like to give a shout out to the team at MobilizeMe.com who have done such an excellent job with the participation of the webmaster of all three site.

Check out www.RichardSilver.com on your smartphone  and let me know your thoughts… Here is a sample…