June 2009

deLuxe Hotel

The Portland Hotel deLuxe pays homage to Hollywood’s golden era and is the most unique of all downtown Portland, OR Hotels. This was a time when staying in a hotel was always memorable and the promise of adventure was never far away. A time when studio chiefs demanded the finest service and the most gracious accommodations. Now it is your time to experience the same service.

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Portland Japanese Garden

Nestled in the scenic west hills of Portland, Oregon, the Portland Japanese Garden is a haven of tranquil beauty which has been proclaimed one the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japan.

Powell’s City of Books

Powell’s City of Books is a book lover’s paradise, the largest used and new bookstore in the world. Located in downtown Portland, Oregon and occupying an entire city block, the City stocks more than a million new and used books. Nine color coded rooms house over 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles.

Each month, the Basil Hallward Art Gallery (located upstairs in the Pearl Room) hosts a new exhibit, as well as dozens of author events featuring acclaimed writers, artists, and thinkers such as Roddy Doyle, Susan Sontag, Robert Olen Butler, Annie Leibovitz, and former President Jimmy Carter.

The City’s Rare Book Room gathers autographed first editions and other collectible volumes for readers in search of a one-of-a-kind treasure.

Every day at our buyers’ counter in the Orange Room, we purchase thousands of used books from the public. Powell’s purchases special collections, libraries, and bookstore inventories as well.

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Apizza Scholls – Best Pizza in Portland

The best pizza in all of Portland (and, perhaps, the best pizza west of NYC), can be found at Apizza Scholls.

Everett St. Bistro – Best Brunch in Portland

Formerly the Italian café, Torrefazione, this busy corner has been transformed into a casual yet refined French bistro complete with stamped tin ceiling, cheese and charcuterie menu available to go and a menu full of old-line French favorites. Well-heeled Pearl dwellers dig into breakfast classics like quiche and scrambles, a long lunch menu with light salads and sandwiches and a dinner menu featuring dishes like peel and eat shrimp and meatloaf with mushroom gravy.

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McMenamins Edgefield

Historic Edgefield is one of the truly remarkable destination resorts of the Pacific Northwest. It is a world of relaxation that seamlessly blends Oregon’s natural beauty with
McMenamins’ signature whimsy: historic buildings of all sizes artfully restored and rich with cozy interiors, tranquil ponds and dazzling gardens, great food and drink, plentiful entertainment and surprising recreations. Encompassing a lush 74-acre parcel of farmland at the mouth of the spectacular Columbia River Gorge, Edgefield is a 15-minute car ride to or from the center of downtown Portland.
Edgefield Logo Tee Shirts

The stately main Edgefield building (circa 1911), with over 100 European-style guestrooms and hostel accommodations, is a national historic landmark. Each spacious room is furnished in charming turn-of-the-century decor. There are no televisions or telephones in the rooms, encouraging tranquility as surely as do the rocking chairs on our verandas. But if knowing the latest news and information is a must, we offer wi-fi around the Black Rabbit Restaurant, the Library and in many of our event spaces. You could surf the web as you join us in the Black Rabbit Restaurant for breakfast.

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10 (or 11) Biggest Real Estate Website Mistakes

I love real estate. I love Sunday afternoon drives through neighborhoods I can’t quite afford. I love perusing the Homes section of the newspaper, looking for houses and brokers that I know. And, I love monthly housing reports, no matter what the news. What I don’t love are real estate websites, which are, collectively, among the worst on the web.

The National Association of Realtors recently disclosed that 77% of all real estate searches begin online. This new statistical insight, combined with the truly awful nature of real estate websites, has driven me to put together this list of the 10 biggest real estate website mistakes. In full disclosure, I have also made a decision to focus my business on real estate websites, because, quite frankly, it’s a mess out there, and it’s time someone did something about it.

1. Flash-based websites

   I say this with love: Real estate brokers are suckers for Flash. I understand why, I really do. After all, back in 1999, when I started designing websites, I did so in Flash. It’s pretty. It moves. It fades. You can make really neat menus with it. And, if I didn’t know any better, I’d probably ask for a Flash website, too. However, I do know better, and you should now know better, too.

   The most consequential issue regarding Flash-based websites is that they are SEO (search engine optimization) unfriendly. In other words, Google doesn’t like sites that are Flash-based and, generally, doesn’t rank them highly.

   So, if you’re looking for a site that is highly searchable (as all real estate brokers should be), stay away from Flash, and stay away from designers who want to sell you a Flash site. This goes for Flash designers who also claim to be SEO experts. They aren’t.

2. iPhone incompatibility

   iPhones are to cell phones what iPods were to mp3 players. They are game changers that people don’t understand until they actually own. And, with 14 million of them sold in 2008, your website better be iPhone (and smart phone) compatible. And it really better be iPhone compatible if your business depends on people driving around and spotting your properties, because those same people are going to try to pull up your information at the moment, on their iPhone. If your site doesn’t work, your potential client is unimpressed and moves on.

   Oh, and Flash sites don’t work on iPhones…another reason to stay away.

3. Homemade websites

   Homemade websites are obvious to the trained eye, and uncomfortable to the untrained one. Either way the customer leaves feeling unimpressed with both the site and the person the site represents. Yes, homemade websites are the most affordable option at onset, but, when you factor in the number of potential clients lost because the broker doesn’t seem to care enough to make a good online impression, one could argue that homemade websites cost much, much more than a solid and professionally designed site.

   When real estate brokers wonder if they should build their own websites, I urge them to think of FSBOs. Sure, anyone can build a website, just as anyone can sell a house, but that doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing, and it almost certainly means the return they’ll get won’t be the return they deserve.

4. No social media integration
   

   Like the iPhone, social media is easy to ignore if you don’t get it. And, like homemade websites, just because you have a Facebook or Twitter account, it doesn’t mean you’re using them correctly.

   Social media is a perfect and free way for brokers to distribute their listings to the masses. What’s more, it allows brokers to portray themselves as experts in the real estate field, communicate with their clients, network, and learn from other brokers who are also using social media to its full potential.One of the best returns on investment a business can get is training in social media. It takes no more than a day (in most cases half a day), it is expected by those younger than 35, and will open the business up to an entirely new world of exposure.

5. Guestbook

   I am blown away by the number of real estate sites that still have guestbooks. Guestbooks? Are you kidding me? They didn’t work in 1998, and they don’t work now.

6. Template Services
   Like homemade websites, template sites can easily leave clients with a bad taste in their mouths. Often template sites produce holes (a “Testimonials” button that directs you to a page with no testimonials can do tremendous damage), have warped images that are pushed or pulled to fit in a pre-existing form, and are full of needless tools (see “Guestbook” above). What’s more, they are usually provided by companies that house thousands of real estate sites that are coded in exactly the same way, making each one nearly invisible to search engines and making each site “cookie cutter” broker.

   If you’re looking to standout online (and all brokers should be), template sites are not the way to go.

7. Bad/Small Photographs
   The National Association of Realtors recently published a survey that revealed photographs to be the web feature buyers find “most useful” (putting them ahead of detailed property information, btw). Translated, this means good photographs are imperative to getting a buyer away from their computer and into the their potential home.

   Obviously this means photos should either be taken by a professional, or by a broker who has some decent photography skills and a good photo editor. Most brokers seem to know this. What they don’t seem to know is how to display these photos (photos they may have even paid for) online. The greatest crimes I tend to see are photos that are too small (people like BIG photos), or photos that are warped to fit into a prefabricated space (see “template services” above).

   Brokers need to learn how to resize photos appropriately and they need to make photos the focus of their websites. Listen to the people. If photos are the thing that gets them through the door, then make sure your photos look good and are the feature of your website. It’s that easy.

8. Registration requirement

   Here is where I will give the broker some leeway, as I do understand the importance of leads in the real estate industry. However, as an internet consultant, I do have to recommend to all of my clients that they get rid of any and all registration requirements. The reason I would really suggest this for brokers is because people can easily go elsewhere to look at listings, so, you should do everything you can to keep them on your site. This means getting rid of registration requirements.

   People really don’t like registering with websites. They don’t like the time it takes to fill out a form, they don’t like providing their e-mail addresses (thank spammers for that), and they don’t like the possibility of an overeager broker contacting them when they are just casually looking online for homes. Instead, your goal should be to provide them with a comfortable place they can count on to view the latest and greatest listings without having to login or fill out a form.

   If your site is good enough, if it provides not only listings, but information, personality, and fun tools, you will be the person they turn to for representation when the time comes.

9. Cluttered and Long Front Pages

   You don’t have to put everything on your front page. In fact, it’s best if you don’t. People still aren’t crazy about scrolling, so they’ll often miss much of what’s below the viewable window. What’s more, search engines, like people, prefer links. Break it up. Your site will be better for it.

   If you have an agency “page” (something like http://www.windermere.com/allisonschubert), don’t use it as your website. Instead, write a nice bio and provide a link to your actual website.

10. SEO unfriendly

    Really, this is a culmination of all of the above, but, it’s so important, it deserves its own ranking. If your site is in Flash, if it is a template, if it is homemade, if you are not naming your photos, if you’re putting too much information on a page, if you are not properly naming your pages, or if you’re hiding content behind registration requirements, you are putting up roadblocks between your site and Google.

    If you want people to find you, you need a clear path. What’s more, you need to put a treat at the end of that path. This is why original content (think blogs) and social media integration are essential to high search engine rankings.

11. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should (Bonus)

    In the late 90s and early 00s, the web was new. Coding was new. Every html tag was fun and exciting. You wanted something to blink? Oh, we made it blink. However, blinking, believe it or not, is incredibly annoying to the typical web surfer. And, as it turns out, that’s the case with much of what we web designers/coders can do. This is why we’ve lived and designed by the mantra, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”.

    Remember, content is king. People are visiting your site because they are looking for information. That information should be presented in an attractive, easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate manner. Navigating your website should not require any form of learning curve. This is another reason we’re anti-Flash (when it comes to real estate websites) and anti- those crazy interactive maps. Even if people can figure these tools out out, once they’ve played around with them for two minutes, they’re over it, and they’re looking for content. If your content is buried, they’ll find it somewhere else. So, give web surfers what they’re looking for, not what you think is “neat”.

There you have it. I’m hoping I didn’t offend any brokers out there, as it was not my intention. My goal, as a real estate enthusiast, is to educate and to change the way brokers think about websites, because, with 77% of all home searches beginning online, brokers need to realize that their website is the place where first impressions are made.

Portland Housing Market Update

From The Columbian:

After what one local real estate broker called a “gruesome” winter, pending sales of existing homes in Clark County are improving as low interest rates and incentives spur buyer confidence.

Pending sales in the county grew 17.4 percent in April, well ahead of the 6.7 percent national increase for the same month that was reported Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors.

“Our office is up about 50 percent from the first two months of the year,” said Gene Thompson, owner-broker of Equity Northwest Properties in Vancouver. “We saw a sharp jump in March, with April consistent with that for pending sales.”

Nationally, the number of U.S. home-buyers who agreed to buy a previously occupied home took the largest monthly jump in nearly eight years in April, the Associated Press reported. Home sales appear likely to head upward this summer, potentially to levels not seen since the stock market collapsed last autumn. 

234 Beethoven Ave. – Newton, Massachusetts

This exquisite Mediterranean estate home designed by John B. Scholz offers a countryside setting on 2.7 acres in White Oak Plantation. The residence features tasteful interiors with dramatic Grand Salon, handsome study, large entertainment area and stunning master suite. The spacious gourmet kitchen boasts a high end appliance package.

Amenities include Brazilian cherry floors, marble and porcelain tile, home theater, wine cellar and elegant patio. Enjoy gracious landscaping and private views across the estate grounds.

12 Mulberry St. – Charleston, South Carolina

Gorgeous home in Eagle Ranch Estates with Spectacular Views. Gourmet kitchen w-granite countertops. Large deck for entertaining Home theatre room, wet bar & game area and wine cellar on lower level. Bdrm on main flr. Master Ste has private deck. Bonus room over garage. 2 additional bedrms upstairs & main flr bdrms all have private baths.

Impressive wine cellar w/antique doors. Lrg lot has mature landscaping w/water feature & is completely closed. Seller is a licensed agent.

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