the buyfolio blog was dropping knowledge yesterday.

in a short bulleted list entitled “how to succeed in nyc real estate?” the buyfolio staff highlighted with precision infrastructure changes mark david & company is implementing with the relaunch of our website.  it’s a very exciting time and this article reiterated that we’re on the right track and continue to operate ahead of the cure.

you can choose to lead, follow, or get out of the way.

peep it.

Q: How to succeed in NYC real estate? (Part 2)

by BF STAFF on JANUARY 9, 2012

A: Embrace the right technology.

Whether you’re a broker or a brokerage, if you ignore the real estate tech evolution you’ll be well on your way to extinction come 2013. And no, we’re not talking about signing up for a Twitter account or combing Facebook for potential leads. You’re going to have to dig deeper. You’re going to have to get a little dirtier.

In December we compared specialized real estate technologies to one-stop-shop solutions. Specialized technologies prime businesses for success because they are so focused and powerful. One-stop-shop technologies, in their attempt to deliver everything to everyone, only deliver mediocrity. They can’t push you ahead.

Our New Year’s gift to you? A guide to the specialized NYC real estate technologies that will allow you and your firm to stay relevant and succeed.

Buyfolio for your Buy-side: Listings data and information are now commodities. Customers are coming to the broker later in the home search process, after they’ve already seen tons of inventory and think they know the market. Brokers have less time and fewer opportunities to share their knowledge, show their expertise, and add value. They also have a tougher time fitting into the customer’s already formed home search process. As buy-side brokers struggle to find ways to add value, they are getting fewer referrals and lower commissions. Buyfolio enables brokers to be part of their customers’ search, no matter where or when they do it. It gives customers the advanced search, collaborative, and organizational platform they want and need, all while improving the brokers’ workflow. To top it all off, Buyfolio now offer lead conversion tools. We built the thing and even we can’t believe how much it’s helping brokers connect with customers, close deals, and get referrals.

RentJuice for your Rentals: Rentals have unique challenges: rapidly changing inventory that is usually sent through stale email blasts, burdens on brokers to take fresh photos and advertise properties manually, and all of the tenant screening/paperwork to close a deal. RentJuice speeds up this entire process for brokers and rental property managers by putting it online in one application. Their real-time listings database is a free product for every real restate professional – which includes the lion’s share of open and semi-open listings in New York – and their premium product makes it easy to advertise, show, and close those units. Listings departments can even outsource all of their data entry to save thousands of dollars. Launched in New York just last year, they have thousands of active agents and are marketing about almost all of the rental listings in the city, including the exclusives available to all REBNY members. The product is super-slick and easy-to-use. Finally, a smart way to rein in the rental market.

UrbanDigs for your Analytics: When it comes to the always critical question -”how is the market doing?” – UrbanDigs provides the often elusive answers. Through intense data analysis and algorithms, UrbanDigs has proven that hyper-local measures of supply and demand trends can help brokers sustainably grow their businesses. Tapping into UrbanDigs’ data trove helps brokers educate their clients and customers on what is happening in their segment of the market. The result? Quicker price reductions and more loyal and confident buyers. Focused entirely on the Manhattan marketplace and built by a broker, the tool allows any broker to become an expert as new exclusive listing opportunities and buyers roll in. Rumor has it the company will launch a new comps tool for brokers in Q2…something this market needs!

WordPress and Virtual Results for your website: We know it’s hard to hear, but your website is stale and yes, it’s overdue for an upgrade. WordPress is the web platform that should be the backbone of any modern website, including yours. The folks at Virtual Results are helping lots of NYC real estate firms with this very task. We’ve seen a lot of their work recently and we like it. The beauty of WordPress is in its flexibility – it allows you to easily “plug-in” a variety of widgets and themes so you can always take advantage of the newest website technologies, blogging, video, etc. WordPress websites also provide much better SEO than your current web solution. (The blog you’re reading right now is powered by WordPress!)

This post will be around in a year, but will you?

Dig in and good luck in 2012!