April 4th, 2012

Alain Pinel Realtors Launches Newly Redesigned Website with Onboard Informatics Lifestyle Content

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Manager

Alain Pinel Realtors (APR) has launched their newly redesigned website, apr.com, showcasing many new enhancements including expanded property search capabilities, as well as a modern and sophisticated look.

The site’s expanded property search offers refinement options such as school district search, most recent listings, and keyword search. Also featured are an open house search of all MLS-listed properties in the Bay Area, an international property search which offers the ability to find homes worldwide, and an agent/office search which helps consumers find the right agent and/or office for their needs.

Lifestyle search, provided by Onboard Informatics, helps consumers locate their ideal communities and properties based on type of neighborhood, and proximity to entertainment/dining, the arts, shops/services, transportation, and schools. In coming months, census data will be added to all community information on the newly redesigned site, as well as point of interest data to all maps, using Onboard data as well.

Expanded property detail pages now include school ratings, community information, real-time market statistics, property history, area amenities, and social media sharing tools. Community overviews feature local market statistics, unique photos, custom descriptions, and local area demographics. A full gallery of APR’s past campaigns showcases a collection of the firm’s award winning images and branding. And, a buyer and seller toolbox provides site visitors with mortgage and cost of living calculators, rent vs. buy comparisons, and other helpful tools.

“The rapid pace of innovation at Alain Pinel Realtors continues to pick up speed with the recent introduction of a powerful new version of apr.com. Our new site puts an unprecedented amount of information and resources in the hands of the online consumer,” said Stephen Skinner, APR Vice President of Technology. “The site now includes industry-leading search capabilities including lifestyle search, property keyword search and the ability to search for homes based on school district information. The new apr.com makes a strong statement about our ongoing commitment to provide the best online technology and marketing tools to our consumers and agents.”

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About Alain Pinel Realtors

Alain Pinel Realtors (APR) is the largest privately-owned and independent residential real estate company in California. APR was ranked the sixth largest residential real estate firm in the United States based on its closed sales volume in 2010, and has been consistently ranked in the Top 10 firms in the country. The firm has nearly 1,400 agents in its 32 offices throughout the Bay Area. Celebrating over 20 years in Bay Area real estate, APR was founded in 1990 by CEO and President Paul L. Hulme, and is based in Saratoga, Calif. For more information about APR, please visit our website at apr.com.

About Onboard Informatics

Onboard Informatics connects leaders in the real estate, publishing, and technology industries to data-driven innovations that empower informed decisions, enable human engagement and accelerate business results. We use our expertise in data management as a springboard to bring data to life – creating innovative products that help customers (1) understand what’s happening – in local markets, on the web, with their own listings; (2) talk about it and show it to others; (3) manage their business more effectively and (4) get better business results.

Tags: Alain Pinel Realtors, lifestyle search, new real estate brokerage website.

March 30th, 2012

Injecting emotion into a sale from the get-go

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Manager

The visual image of must-haves for a home looks like this, not a pile of numbers.

Inman columnist David Fletcher of ementoru.com posted a fabulous suggestion to sellers: listen to your clients” emotional needs and put them at the front of your efforts.

“There is only one reason prospects do not want to see a home the second time: they have not seen a home they can picture themselves living in that satisfies their emotional needs – like convenience, safety, fun, pleasure, and pride of ownership.”

He suggests using a “lifestyle checklist” and having the client rank the importance of certain characteristics – a sunset view, near the bus stop, etc. – to ensure you are directing them to places that have the must-haves they will not compromise on. Many times, they become unearthed toward the end of a sale, so why wait?

David Fletcher gets it. We know from the 2011 NAR Profile of Buyers and Sellers that people are compromising on price first. Only 4% compromised on the quality of the neighborhood; 2% compromised on the quality of schools; and 1% compromised on distance from schools. Compare that to the 18% that let price slide to get the things they need to have the pride of ownership that the home search is all about.

A Technology and ‘Pen and Paper’ Hybrid

Using a checklist during the sale to identify must-haves is great, but your website can act as a virtual checklist for a lot of these questions. Not only is this something that can increase efficiencies for the broker and the agent, but it is a response to what today’s buyer is doing: shopping around for at least two weeks on average before contacting an agent. Consider the Internet’s rise in selling houses over the past ten years; 40% of buyers find the home they ultimately purchase online, compared to just 8% in 2001.

David suggests that MLS data is important but can’t provide the most important information you need to make a sale. This is where I have to disagree.

Innovative data in our industry has become more sensitive to buyers’ needs. Our Lifestyle Search Engine incorporates millions of data points to help guide buyers to ideal neighborhoods – and potentially homes within – that meet their needs. Answering quality of life needs and thresholds of importance up front, can save a lot of time and allows buyers to say, “they get it.”

Although the Internet and the agent are the two most important factors for a buyer during the transaction, NAR says “real estate agents are ranked as the most useful resource”  with the local know-how and market understanding that the Internet simply can’t provide.

If your brokerage’s site proves to understand the intuition of their search, they are more likely to look to you as a local resource that will understand which emotional levers to push while you are doing what you do best.

Online Lifestyle Search isn’t just a neat engagement tool; this information consumers are putting in upfront can be passed along to agents so that they can reach back out with listings that fit both their preferences for lifestyle and housing characteristics.

In essence, a lifestyle checklist could be on pen and paper the way David suggests, or it can be a support tool to that up front. And what better way to have a consistent multi-platform experience than to sync your website with your irreplaceable in-person knowledge?

Tags: lifestyle search, real estate apps, real estate search process, real estate technology.

February 15th, 2012

Expanding Home Sales/Market Data

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Manager

Did you know…

• We add an average of 450,000 sales transactions every month?
• Our Home Sales Trend analysis can show you how the market is performing all the way down to the neighborhood level?
• We add an average of 100,000 new home sales weekly as part of our Property Search Engine?
• Each property within our AVM is run through multiple valuation engines?

Get in touch today to learn more about getting this content on your site.

Existing client? Contact the Product Support team or your Relationship Manager if you’d like to discuss best practices to make the most out of having this content on your site.

February 9th, 2012

Top hoods within the hottest markets

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Manager

We know that metro areas like Chattanooga, Binghamton, and Peoria are showing strength. But what is it like to actually live in these places?

Last week Inman News (along with content from Onboard Informatics and other data/information providers) looked at strong real estate markets to watch in 2012. Price appreciation/sales, strong job markets, and affordability among other factors churned out ten solid metro areas that are a good bet for buying, selling, and living.

As Lifestyle Search is one of the core pillars of Onboard’s expertise, we’re all for lifting up the hood (pun terribly intended) on these shiny cities to see how the parts work together underneath. Outside of giant metro areas, with stereotypical footprints left in our mind by the Back Bays, Park Slopes, and Castros of the world – it can sometimes be difficult to see the DNA of a community. That’s where Lifestyle Search comes in.

Within the Top Markets to Watch, 2012

View A look inside the top 10 RE Markets to Watch, 2012 in a larger map

Just for fun, I ran Inman’s top 10 metro areas through a handful of our 40 lifestyle attributes:

• Areas with high presence of households with children, low crime, and high GreatSchools scores to find the Best Neighborhood for Families
• Using the density of golf courses, driving ranges, and golf sporting good stores to come up with a Best Golf Neighborhood
• Looking at the highest density of eating and drinking establishments, entertainment, convenience to everyday needs (various retailer density) and more to find the Best Neighborhood for Young Singles
  

In many instances, you’ll see our neighborhood definitions don’t align with how Google defines an area. The invisible boundaries that characterize these places can sometimes wrap around a handful of streets, like the six block area around the Downtown Farmers Market in Des Moines.

One note: our neighborhoods generally cover the urban core of cities and may not represent the entirety of the city’s

Restaurants, bars, shopping, and movie theaters line the Soncy section of Amarillo. Meanwhile, the Route 66 District is smack in between three golf courses/country clubs.

geography. In some cases – specifically Cedar Falls and Bloomington areas for this story – neighborhood-level data was unavailable, so we looked at place-level data instead.

Seeing how millions of data points and demographics play together to spit out aggregate ‘best places’ is wonderful not only for my own selfish navigation of American cities:

• It can help those contemplating a move make the most of their dollar
• It can give relocatees a clear view of their new area
• It can orchestrate results that can answer quality of life, family, and leisure needs – the real benefits of an ideal move

I hope you enjoy exploring the Inman Top 10 and drilling down into the neighborhoods that’ve worked to stabilize those markets.

Let me know if you have any questions about how Lifestyle Search works and the many possibilities for creating amazing UX on your site!

January 31st, 2012

Real Estate Markets to Watch in 2012

By Jackie Berg, Marketing Manager

We may still be a few years away from a full-scale national rebound, but some micro markets are showing fantastic signs of strength with symptoms such as:

• above-average price appreciation
• strong job market
• high rate of sales (in proportion to population)
• home affordability
• low foreclosure activity
• below-average share of distressed sales
• low vacancy rate

In collaboration with Inman News and other real estate information providers, Onboard Informatics contributed local market information to outline top cities with highest proportional transactions, fastest-rising prices, and fastest-rising transactions.

Year-over-year sales changes were one of the factors we looked at in assessing hot real estate markets. Rank order goes from left to right.

Inman looked at housing, economic, and demographic area in metropolitan areas to come up with an overall list of markets to watch. Here are the top 5:

1. Raleigh-Cary, NC
2. Wichita, KS
3. Rochester, NY
4. Des Moines, IA
5. Chattanooga, TN/GA (metro)

Click here to read on for the full list and details about each market.

Are there any local markets this report missed? Let us know what you’re seeing.

Tags: Inman News, markets to watch 2012, top markets 2012, top real estate markets 2012.

January 9th, 2012

CTMLS selects Onboard Informatics to launch Listings360°insight Advisor

By Kim Cipriano Prior, SVP, Marketing and MLS Market Development

Onboard Informatics announces that CTMLS (Connecticut Multiple Listing Service) has chosen Listings 360°insight Advisor as a new business tool and member benefit.

The Listing 360°insight Advisor business intelligence system tracks and reports real estate listing activity across virtually all websites where CTMLS listings appear.  Real-time information and dynamic reports are revealed to CTMLS staff, Brokers and Agent members via individual, secure portals.

“Effectively promoting listings to online buyers is a top priority for real estate professionals, yet as an industry we have been unable to validate the impact. Without comprehensive tracking and activity reporting, it is impossible to measure or modify results at the MLS, Broker and Agent level.  While we do receive reporting data from a handful of our syndication partners, it is only an incomplete picture of what’s happening with CTMLS broker’s listings on-line.  Without question, this product will empower our brokers to make better, more informed decisions for marketing the online performance of their client’s listings”, says Cameron Paine, CEO of CTMLS.

Listings 360°Insight Advisor enables CTMLS, Brokers and Agent Members to view comprehensive online activity – tracking information from CTReal.com (CTMLS’s consumer web site), CTMLS’s proprietary member system, publisher sites and member sites (agent and broker); information is transformed into on-demand, real-time reports through well designed, individual online portals.

“We’re excited to further extend our longstanding partnership with CTMLS building upon the immense value of their existing member tools”, says Jonathan Bednarsh, COO and President of Onboard. “Cameron and his team are an innovative group – thoroughly dedicated to providing the highest level of member value and support. With a number of common values between us, we’re looking forward to fun and excitement as we forge ahead”

January 4th, 2012

Windermere Real Estate Uses Neighborhood Navigator

By Kim Cipriano Prior, SVP, Marketing and MLS Market Development

Seattle-based Windermere Real Estate has revamped its website,Windermere.com, which now offers “a streamlined user experience requiring few clicks to access information and listings,” the company said.

Onboard Informatics is happy to to contribute to the better user experience by providing a customized version of Neighborhood Navigator to help display local community, school, amenities and market information at the neighborhood level.

In addition to the “Discover Your Neighborhood” feature, Windermere.com will also include the ability to save listings and searches for registered users; listing detail pages with more multiple listing service data fields; search results integrated with Bing maps; expanded buyer and seller tips; a new agent and office search.

What a great launch to the new year!

October 20th, 2011

Recent Enhancements to Lifestyle Search

By Colleen Staunton, Product Manager

We have recently made a number of enhancements to our Lifestyle Search Engine. The product has generated a good deal of positive reviews from our clients, including BHG Real Estate, Coldwell Banker, Exit Realty, NY Daily News and Prudential Fox Roach, that have implemented the search engine and from end users who are using the application on client sites. That being said, there are always ways for a product to be improved and these recent enhancements have addressed the needs of our clients.

First, Brokers are now able to submit custom boundaries to the system. Previously, a home buyer could use the Lifestyle Search Engine to search within either a state, county or metro area. Based on their criteria, i.e., “are schools important,” “does the area need to be fun and hip,” etc., the search engine would recommend neighborhoods, zip codes and/or city/towns that matched the criteria. This helped consumers narrow down their search for homes by focusing on those areas.

Some brokerages may have a very specific market coverage that can’t be defined by just a county or metro area. In these cases there was concern in highlighting areas to consumers where the broker did not actually have any listings. Brokers want to highlight their listings and showcase the areas only in their market.

We have now changed this where Brokers can also allow a search only within their market area. The broker no longer needs to worry about having to show neighborhoods, zips or city/towns where they do not have listings. The product works in the same way, but now, only those areas fitting the criteria the user entered will be returned. This ensures a smooth user experience where home buyers can search for local areas and listings on a broker site.

Secondly, we have two smaller enhancements that will help developers as they work with the API. One is the increase in the number of attributes that can be submitted to the system in each request. The maximum has been increased from 10 to 20. The other is the number of results that are returned for each child geography. 10 results within each child geography were previously returned, but developers now have the ability to display up to 20 within each child geography.

We hope that these enhancements will help those clients that are currently using the product. If you would like to discuss these further, please contact our Support team at support@onboardinformatics.com.

September 15th, 2011

Onboard Powers Bloomberg/BusinessWeek’s Best Places to Raise Your Kids 2011

By Stacey Ret, Director of Marketing

Communities that are small, affordable and family-friendly with good public schools, make the list for Best Places to Raise a Family

If you have children, you want the best house in the best neighborhood that your family can afford, and it’s not always about the number of baths in the home – although 2+ bathrooms can certainly help bring peace to your household during teeth-brushing time! You evaluate the schools, the safety of the town, the recreation available to all of you – heck, some of you may even want to know where the closest Trader Joe’s is (or is that just me?).  Luckily, BusinessWeek has evaluated over 5,400 communities nationwide utilizing Onboard’s comprehensive community data and demographics to bring us a list of the best places to raise a family.

This year, they shifted their focus from  large urbanized cities to smaller towns with populations of 50,000 or less.Considerations included: town’s median income relative to their particular state’s median income, school performance, number of schools, crime statistics, cost of living, as well as job growth, air quality, ethnic diversity and access to recreational amenities – all of the qualities you would want in a community for your family.

The cities are listed in alphabetical order, by state, and in the CT/NJ/NY tri-state area (where we are located), the following cities top the list:

Best place to raise kids in Connecticut: Kensington

Nearby city: Hartford
Population: 8,479
Median family income: $90,189
Runner-up: Portland

Best place to raise kids in New Jersey: Ridgefield Park

Nearby city: New York
Population: 10,675
Median family income: $84,544
Runner-up: Bergenfield

Best place to raise kids in New York: West Seneca

Nearby city: Buffalo
Population: 43,575
Median family income: $69,188
Runner-up: Lancaster

To read the full list, click here: http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20101214/the-best-places-to-raise-your-kids-2011/slides/33

Tags: Best Places, Clients, community information, data, lifestyle search, neighborhood data, real estate data.

September 13th, 2011

Prudential Fox and Roach, Realtors partners with Onboard Informatics to integrate Lifestyle Search

By Stacey Ret, Director of Marketing

September 9, 2011 – New York, NY. Onboard Informatics, the premier data and technology services provider to top-tier real estate, media, and technology companies, powers Lifestyle Search for Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors. Lifestyle Search, a dynamic home search tool that helps real estate brands create a unique and comprehensive search experience on their sites, allows consumers to find their “best place to live.”

In a recent survey, conducted by Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors, 73% of respondents answered “yes” when asked whether lifestyle search would be a valuable tool to home buyers during the home search process. The Lifestyle Search feature, powered by Onboard Informatics, allows visitors to the Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors website to search for a home in the Greater Philadelphia region, based on neighborhood criteria that is important to them – family friendly, quality of schools, proximity to arts and culture —all prior to searching for a physical home.

“Neighborhood search is a missing link in today’s online home search process and the lifestyle search fills that void. Today’s consumers are used to having a variety of options to find their home and a lifestyle search complements the traditional search perfectly in helping them find their home” says Rajeev Sajja, Vice President Online and Sales Associate Technologies at Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors.

The Lifestyle Search Engine combines millions of data points with battle-tested analytics to determine the places that best match the user’s input.  Using a sliding scale, consumers rank the importance of the criteria – whether the area is family friendly; fun, hip, and trendy; is convenient for commuting; quality of schools; and nearness to culture activities. The engine finds the best matching neighborhoods and ranks the results, providing the consumer with a targeted list of places that fits their criteria.

“In additional to helping our online consumer, it also helps our sales associates with their buyers and sellers” says Rajeev Sajja.

“According to 2010 NAR’s Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, only 6% of home buyers are willing to compromise on the quality of the neighborhood during the home buying process, and only 3% on the quality of schools – Lifestyle Search tool meets the evolving needs of the consumers,” stated Marc Siden, CEO, Onboard Informatics. “Consumers know what they want and this tool positions Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors as a neighborhood expert.”

Tags: lifestyle search, Onboard Informatics, Real Estate.