Tag: luxury

3 social media apps made for real estate that luxury brokers love

Anne Ewasko Leave a comment

Agents now have apps specific to the real estate industry that mimic social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Luxury brokers have already jumped on this wagon, and you should, too.

Building and managing relationships is a crucial component of success in our business. These real estate-specific apps skillfully combine social media and property searches while building relationships with current and new customers. It’s another way to get your listings seen and for you to be seen as the go-to agent for your area.

REAL Messenger, 1060 and Ri.la are the trending real estate apps to keep your eyes on in 2023.

REAL Messenger

The REAL Messenger app is one of the hottest developments in real estate technology, and luxury agents are salivating. The platform offers a private community where buyers, sellers and agents can connect over exclusive pocket listings.

Users of the REAL app spend an average of 41 minutes perusing properties. The app feeds high-end properties based on location, and users can examine properties anywhere in the world. This allows luxury brokers to showcase their properties to a broader audience, which increases their clientele and sells their listings faster.

Pros:

• Free
• Self-branding
• Available on iOS and Android
• Search for specific amenities (for example, only kitchen pics)
• Includes a variety of listing ratings: value for money, quality of the home, and quality of location.

Cons:

• Can use only one filter at a time
• A limited number of locations
• Not user-friendly (no tutorial or user instructions)
• Search returns sometimes with unrelated results (ex., select bathroom pics and get a few plus unrelated pics).

1060

The 1060 app is just getting started and is one to keep an eye on. The app lets you view an infinite stream of properties in short-form video content. By resembling the video-sharing website TikTok, 1060 advances the concept of the high-end mobile listing beyond Real Messenger. The 1060 videos are brief like those on TikTok, under 60 seconds — just enough to provide a private preview of an exciting new property.

Real estate agents wanting to appeal to a younger, more active audience will find this platform helpful and exciting. The app enables agents to be more effective by providing a dynamic algorithm and system for generating leads through interactions with uploaded content. The app also is intended for zero-effort content, with agents able to capture videos on the spot, add music and post.

Pros:

• Free
• Includes property search
• User-friendly, with a TikTok-like interface
• Multiple search filters, such as number of rooms and price
• Available for Android and iOS devices

Cons:

• Does not have a website version

Ri.la

Ri.la makes promoting a property and finding a property as simple as browsing Instagram. The platform is user-friendly, informative, engaging and a great lead-generating tool. It encourages interaction, networking and lifestyle matching, while providing a range of crowdsourced on-market and off-market listings.

Verified agents can post their properties on Ri.la in minutes by uploading pictures, sharing content and establishing free connections between buyers, sellers and renters.

Pros:

• Free
• Realtors are verified for added security
• User-friendly, with an Instagram-like interface
• Crowdsourced content
• Browse for homes by neighborhood

Cons:

• Available only on iOS

How are luxury brokers maximizing these tools?

These real estate apps serve as private clubs where luxury brokers and agents showcase exclusive pocket listings to their high-paying clients and reach new customers. Agents can easily create captivating and effortless content showcasing their properties, share upcoming events and open-house dates, and generate leads from curated posts on these platforms.

Bottom line

Using real estate-specific social media apps can boost your business by expanding your market reach to sell more properties and engage new customers. Building these relationships via a social media platform can turn these new customers into lifelong clients. More sales and more clients means a better bottom line. Check them out and see how far you can take it. The sky’s the limit with these apps.

Anne Ewasko is a veteran Realtor in the Chicago area and a longtime techie. Visit her at anne.luxhomechicago.com.

Win over luxury consumers with digital storybooks

Anne Ewasko Leave a comment

When it comes to selling a luxury property, we aren’t just selling a home. We are selling a dream. In order to sell that dream, we need to create a compelling story with our luxury property as the main character and present that story in an engaging digital storybook.

Creating the home’s “story”

Finding that right buyer can be a challenge for a luxury listing. You not only have to cast your net globally, but also create a story that will capture the imagination, stir emotions and give the consumer that special feeling to motivate them to take action and make a purchase. Affluent consumers spend more on products that have a compelling story and are relatable. Luxury homes are no exception. Your special buyer wants to dream of themselves living in that particular location, in that luxurious home and having that lifestyle that comes with it. Creating the narrative for this is key to capturing them.

The digital storybook

New technologies have come along to engage in meaningful interactions. Using digital tools is redefining what makes a story compelling. These aren’t your traditional e-brochures that are modular in which you have to scroll through images, find the text, then a video, then a Matterport, etc. Those can be very difficult for people to piece together and, frankly, can be quite boring. Good digital storybooks are sophisticated presentations with interactive media that create a tale to connect all the information that is meaningful and relevant — this is exactly what luxury buyers are looking for and what luxury sellers expect.

Keeping them engaged

Affluent consumers have higher expectations for their experiences on their smartphones, and for millennials and Gen Z, mobile devices are the first screen they go to. Younger consumers scroll through their feeds more quickly, making it difficult to capture and retain their attention. Agents often lack the technological finesse to create the right experience to engage them. Hiring a professional company will help bridge that gap.

Studeo

I found one company that stood out. Toronto-based Studeo has captivating designs that are artfully presented and wreak of luxury — it’s like having your own ad agency working for you! It’s great to see a company that cares as much about design as they do the technology. There are a multitude of sophisticated layouts to choose from that can be custom-branded. A wide array of media can be embedded, including Matterport, cinemagraphs, YouTube and Vimeo videos, etc. It’s easy to use: Just drag and drop, and you’re done. They take care of the technical details.

Content is always key. Studeo assists you in developing a strategy and creating emotional content that will resonate with your targeted buyer. With the right combination of media and content, your property will tell its story and provide an incredibly immersive experience for homebuyers.

Their software works across every device and is seamless when shared on every channel of communication that you use. You can showcase your storybook to the world and engage sophisticated audiences. The storybooks are interactive, and consumers can go at their own pace.

Studeo can also provide and host custom property domains with analytics to measure clicks, the amount of time users spend on a specific page and general time of overall engagement.

Grow your business

Not surprisingly, digital storybooks increase engagement. The power of these storybooks is that emotional response you can get from your audience, which will boost your business and completely change the game for you. Having this tech tool in your arsenal will not only help you find that buyer for your luxury property, but also win you more luxury listings when sellers see how effective they are.

Anne Ewasko is a veteran Realtor in the Chicago area and a longtime techie. Visit her at anne.luxhomechicago.com.