If you are located in Southern Ca., you are invited to come and join us in person for VREBC (Virtual REBarCamp) Meetup in Costa Mesa on Jan 4th, 2010 beginning at 9am. Http://tiny.cc/MErKY  Remember to put lunch requests in comment section!

Real estate related ideas surrounding Web 3.0 applications are starting to emerge, and as they do I get more and more excited about what the future will bring us. My mind races with amazing ideas of what could be. What will be.

So on a  trip between Phoenix and Orange County, while at about 30,000 ft, my mind starts to wonder… 

 … And this thought pops into my head;  about 20 years ago I remember visiting my cousin, Blaire LaCote, at one of his 1st jobs out of College at Autodesk ( he has since become one of the brightest young minds on the Internet, out of The Tuck Business School at Dartmouth, you can read more about him here), Anyway, he was working on a little known program called Auto Cad, which is now one of the preeminent ”Virtual Reality” type 3D Engineering softwares used today by millions of Engineers, Architects, and Builders. Why am I stating this? My thoughts around Web 3.0 are numerous, and on this blog tend to focus around Real Estate related information, so I started to put together this widely accepted software with currently used methodologies surrounding Virtual Tours, and pictured a  ”True” 3 Dimensional, Virtual Reality, HD Video tour through a listing. It could be accessed through any website, Internet devise, and even Smartphones to give tomorrows (and even today’s) discriminating Buyers an experience so close to being there, they would swear they were! Heck, you could even narrate it for maximum effect. 

To me, that’s what web 3.0 could offer. Along with the scary stuff like, digital footprinting, facial recognition identification (Think about Googles latest release, Google Goggles) and GPS location tracking, that can be used for purposes that are borderline illegal and unconstitutional.

 I believe Web 3.0 will be partially focused on Consolidation, Filtering of so much useless noise, anda  marriage of currently used applications to create a more useful and time specific enviroment, as I gave in the example  above. 

So think along with me here, and on Zillow’s Geek Estate Blog, as we explore this very interesting and controversial topic of Web 3.0 and more importantly, what will it look like? 

Tell me what you think?  

TheRECoach 

Web 3.0 Real Estate Office (Dallas / Ft Worth)

Now if you have been following my Posts on Zillow’s Geek Estate Blog on the subject of Web 3.0, you know that a well grounded group of experienced individuals are debating WHEN it will arrive and WHAT will it look like, but…

“Web 3.0 – A Post Intended to “Define” & “Design”, - Original Post Nov 2nd

Web 3.0 – Discussion #1 – “OMG, I Never Thought of That!”  #2 Nov 20th

Web 3.0 – A Series of Posts Intended to “Design” & “Define” – Question #1 Discussion #3 Dec 3rd

Web 3.0 – A Series of Posts Intended to “Design” & “Define” – Question #2 Discussion #4 Dec 10th

…Apparently someone thinks it’s already here! I was working on some SEO stuff surrounding Web 3.0 (My favorite new topic) and came across this ad on Craig’s List…

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Date: 2009-12-08, 1:37PM CST
Reply to: 

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Top 11 Reasons Agents are Joining eXp Realty
1. The Industry’s Best Residual Recruiting/Revenue Share Program
2. Our Amazing Integrated Web Solutions/SEO Group
3. Multiple Revenue Streams and Business Planning/Accountability Workshops
4. Collaborative Blogging Platforms – Be at the Top of Google Searches
5. Our eXplosive Lead Generation Programs
6. Low Split’s and Fee’s
7. Cutting Edge Real Estate Agent Tech Tools
8. Free Personal RE Blog Hosting & Free Business Cards
9. Green, Paperless, Low Carbon Footprint
10. On Demand RE Training by Top Facilitators from around the World via 24/7 Access to eXp Virtual and eXp University
11. eXp is at the Forefront of Sponsoring Local Social Events, RE Camps, Meetups & Networking Events!

Come Find eXp @:
• Website – http://exprealty.com
• Facebook – http://facebook.com/exprealty
• Twitter (Corporate) – http://twitter.com/exprealty
• Twitter (Agent Blogs) – http://twitter.com/expagents
• LinkedIn – http://linkedin.com/ companies/exp-realty

• Location: Dallas / Ft Worth
• Compensation: Commission
• Telecommuting is ok.
• This is a part-time job.
• OK to highlight this job opening for persons with disabilities
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
• Phone calls about this job are ok.

So I clicked!!! and damn, if they were not advertising themselves as …

“As more and more people flock to the web for information and services, the need to be at the leading edge becomes ever more apparent to garner viewer ship of the product or service. Real Estate is leading the charge toward the web 3.0 environment as consumers continue to look for better information and content [...]“

Now, they do have a few cool things going for them, and a Facebook Fan Page interface…. With 2 of my favorite Bloggers of all time as Followers….

Nicole Nicolay of MyTech Opinion.com & Mike Price of MLBroadcast, but…

…Are they really Web 3.0??? I want to hear from you. Tell me what you think, are they really Web 3.0?

The Coach!

Bus Development Rep for ”Pango Group”

At Pango Group, their unparalleled real estate expertise is based on a solid foundation of services, a talented and responsive staff, strong ethics, and hard work.

They are the umbrella brand for a suite of closing service companies which facilitate California based real estate transactions for discerning individuals and leading financial institutions across the United States.

Glen Oaks Escrow

American Trust Escrow

CV Escrow

CMG Escrow

TC Solutions

Pango’s level of Customer Service is unsurpassed, with an amazing 99.8% Customer Satisfaction rate from over 1,000 Customer Surveys per month!!!

Do You Pango!?

First let me say that I love doing what I do. My Clients are all fantastic, and (for the most part) are all friend’s of mine. I WILL NOT ABANDON ANY CURRENT CLIENT!!! but, that said…

I ran across an amazing company about 3 months ago, who at that time I knew as, Glen Oaks Escrow in Glendale Ca. They are now “The Pango Group” to highlight their entire group of companies including; Glen Oaks Escrow, CV Escrow (Coachella Valley), American Trust Escrow, CMG Escrow (in San Fernando), & TC Solutions a Transaction Coordinator outsource. They are the largest, independent, escrow/closing services company in California. From the moment I entered their “stylish” yet simple office complex I knew I was somewhere special, somewhere “Unique”! I was greeted with a smile and a “welcome”, offered a cup of coffee or bottled water, and was seated on a very comfortable couch as I awaited my meeting with Jeff Russell, the Executive VP.

I was there, in part because one of the RENet’s own Stacey Harmon of Stacey Harmon Enterprises (a long time Real Estate Agent and now Social Media Consultant),  was hired by them about a year ago to push forward their “Social Networking/Social Media” agenda. This in and of itself was impressive. I mean, what other Real Estate industry company (Let alone Escrow), has had the forethought, initiative, and budget to do something like this? I could probably count them on one hand! but that’s what makes these guys so unique, they get it! Rather than be happy with being #1, rather than being complacent, rather than cutting back the budget…They “Go For It”, they see the promise and future in SM, and in the Internet as a whole and create an entire strategy out of being “First to Market”. I LOVE IT!

After my tour of the campus which included; Operations, Sales, Accounting, and most impressively the Service Center, I realized that the entire company had bought into, and perhaps even lives by, the Pango mantra “Execution Through Grace & Kindness”! and it is certainly working…Have you ever heard of any company, never mind an Escrow company (whose soul purpose is to monitor and stand guard over “The most important transaction of your life”; Your home purchase), maintain a Customer Satisfaction rating of 99.8%!!! (as confirmed by an independent firm) and that is from an average of over 1,100 surveys per month…1,100!

So after 3 months of learning, listening, and networking … I JOINED EM! I am now an Ambassador for Pango Group, a Business Development Representative, right here in my own “backyard” of Orange County! It is my intention to introduce the Real Estate professionals (Brokers, Agents, Mortgage Specialists, Credit Unions and Banks, Title Companies et al) of The OC and beyond to, what I honestly believe to be, The Finest Closing Services Company in California!

The Finest Service, The Finest Products, The Finest People, and The Finest Value…Period!

I dare anyone to show me different!

So join me, right here at MyRECoach.com, as I/we learn all about this “Mysterious” world of Escrow. A world that has somehow been so important to so many, yet less than 2% of all Home Buyers can tell you WHY DO THE ESCROW COMPANIES EXIST? and more importantly, WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT? We will explore this together, and I will bring my “real life” experiences from the OC here, to MyRECoach.com, and help you to understand them as well.

 Thanks for tuning in…

The Coach

…or more to the point, what will it be?

I have suggested that Web 1.0 could be described in one word….Availability…meaning that in the beginning (sounds so long ago) websites were simply “Online Brochures”, they supplied visitors with information about what you do, where you do it, and how to find you.

Web 2.0 could be described with…Transparency…meaning the walls between you and your potential client were beginning to become transparent, they were able to see and understand so much more about you form your chat, your Tweets, your Facebook ect…They were also able to communicate with you through these same new technologies.

Now we begin to look at what Web 3.0 will look like. Why? Simple, if you are not ahead of the technology curve, you are behind and I mean WAY BEHIND! It was almost 3 years ago, when I suggested to some friends of mine in Real Estate to begin to look into Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Social Networking as a whole as well as some very cool tech tools like MLBroadcast, Trulia, Postlets, and many more. Now those things are either “mainstream” , “passe”, or have morphed into something even cooler In any event, if you are just now getting into these cool technologies, you are BEHIND! the best and brightest amongst us have already mastered them and have left you in the dust!

I like to think ahead, and thinking ahead right now means asking that question…What is Web 3.0 going to look like? I believe that the one word definition of Web 3.0 will be…Predictability…meaning that web presence’s will be riddled with predictability! They will know the answer before it is asked, they will provide information that the client didn’t even know they wanted, but they did! They will bring the client directly to the answer based on the actual need of the client, even if they didn’t even know it!

What does this look like in a practical sense? Follow along this scenario with me, I will use something very “common”, not really associated with Real Estate, so everyone can say “AH HA!” “I get what he means”

Our cars, our phones, and other electronic devices are equipped with GPS. This is a cool little feature that allows us to use our Navigation devices, set up map details, keep from getting lost, find cool lil stores, ect…but they are also leaving (creating) digital footprints of everything we do, everywhere we go. Our cell phone accounts have our ss# associated with them, so they can draw a clear picture of who we are from the information available via that ss#. Our income, our neighborhood, our education…starting to get it? The Internet now knows what I can afford, what I like to buy, what I drive, where I live, and with the GPS, now knows everywhere I go, and everything I do, via digital footprint. So if I am prone to buy Lexus automobiles, and I have an income of over $80,000 a year, and I drive down a particular street each day to get to work, and I buy new cars every 2.3 years, and I stop in at the Starbucks on the corner of 1st and Vine every weekday (See it, see it? Wait for it!) The local Lexus dealer will be placing advertising on the street I drive and in the Starbucks I visit 2.3 years after I bought my last car!

I can hear the skeptics amongst you right now, just as I heard the skeptics 3 years ago saying that Twitter, and Facebook were stupid kids stuff! The advertisements will be virtual in nature and specific to each driver, not just me. They will come in the form of holygrams..they will appear on navigation screens, and PDA’s they will come on my Starbucks receipt and the Guy or Gal behind me will get an ad for Irish Spring soap, because it has been 4.1 months since the last time he bought it at the Supermarket! SEE IT?

Now go back again and listen to Kevin Kelly’s YouTube video, and start to believe that WEB 3.0 = Predictabilty and start thinking about how you can use this to capture Market Share! There are some great ways to do it and we will be looking at them over the next 18 months to help you get started.

For now…Think! Use the Noodle! Have an open mind, and get ahead of the curve. Have any thoughts? leave a comment, love to hear them

Thanks for Listening…

The Coach

I would like to take a moment to revisit an older post of mine. After having a discussion with a colleague regarding what is next in the Internet? A simple discussion geared towards building a better web presence, I was brought back to this unreal, almost unimaginable theory by Kevin Kelly…(My interpretation)…

” The Internet will become a sort of “one being”, and the web as we know it will become it’s Operating System”…Imagine this people? An actual thinking, growing, learning “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI”! The Internet (From here on called “The One”) will have gathered Giga-Tera-Supercalafragalistic-Bytes of information, from and about, all of us! It will have developed a database so precise, that it will be able to service our every need, and not just from keystrokes, but from eventually, our thoughts. Experiments go on everyday on how to link a computer to our brainwaves, don’t be naive. Eventually, we will think what we want typed, it will transfer that to “The One”, and it will “intuitively” know where we want to go. What page of information we want to access. “The One” will be….

• Smarter -More specific, to the point of almost thinking for us.
• More Personalized – It will know each of intimately. This will come with complete “transparency”, our lives will be open to the world. (Homeland Security is already experimenting with this)
•  More Ubiquitous – It will be made up of our thoughts, our data, it will be part of us.
• It will be, a living “Digital Organism”, joining the current “6 Kingdoms of Life” as #7

Now my question to each of you is simple…Scary or Exciting? I think it’s time to start thinking about this again, and I will be writing more and more about this is the future. For now, what do you think?

Look forward to hearing from you

The Coach

Here are some things I think are important for your users IDX experience:
-    Easy to use for the consumer
-    Fast search results
-    Good interact map search that uses Ajax to display properties
-    Fully integrated solution – not framed
-    Consumer backend to manage saved searches and favorite properties
-    Simple sign up forms that do not bounce user to another page
-    Email alerts that have one link to new listings that are displayed on your site instead of the user having to click each individual property link
-    Detailed advance searches

Important website features:
-    Fully Editable pages and meta tags
-    Ability to pull in properties as content
-    Search engine friendly
-    Built for high conversions
-    Built in blog

Important Lead management features:
-    Lead Capture notifications
-    Agent lead assigning functions
-    Round Robin Lead assignment for teams or brokerages
-    Auto re-assignment of leads if agent doesn’t take action
-    Follow Up features and reminders
-    Prioritize leads by motivation or urgency
-    Easy exporting feature

The Coach

Here’s the final post in this series….to review…

“Glossary” Terms for Mortgage Menders! (A-C)

“Glossary” Terms for Mortgage Menders! (D-G)

“Glossary” Terms for Mortgage Menders! (H-M)

“Glossary” Terms for Mortgage Menders! (O-S)

and now (T-Z)…..

TALF—One of the lesser-known Federal government programs to solve credit crisis of 2007-2008-2009. Formally known as the the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, TALF was created by the Federal Reserve in November, 2008 to facilitate renewed issuance of consumer and small business loans at “normal” interest rates. The program supports the issuance of securities backed by student loans, auto loans, credit card loans, and loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. Under TALF, the Federal Reserve will lend up to $1 trillion to holders of certain AAA-rated securities backed by new and recent consumer and small business loans. The reasoning behind the program is that new issuance of the types of loans covered declined precipitously in September, 2008 and came to a halt in October, 2008. At the same time, interest rates on them soared. It was thought that continued unavailability of these types of credit could significantly contribute to further weakening of U.S. economic activity.

TARP–The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, commonly referred to as TARP, standing for “troubled assets relief program.” Popularly considered to be a bailout of the U.S. financial system, it authorizes the U.S. Treasury to spend $700 billion to purchase toxic assets, particularly mortgage-backed securities, and to make capital injections into banks. The Act was proposed by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson as an antidote to the freezing of credit markets during the global financial crisis of 2007-2008-2009.After being considerably amended, rejected once, and rewritten in the course of a frenzied week, the bill was passed on October 3, 2008. It was signed by President George W. Bush a few hours later, reflecting its emergency aura.

Too big to fail–The notion that the largest and most interconnected banks, or other businesses, must be saved when they blow up by bailouts, because their failure would present unacceptable systemic risk. The notion has been used to justify bailouts for some of the largest banks involved in the credit crisis of 2007-2008-2009, including Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs (GS), and insurer AIG. True believers in the free market system mock the too big to fail doctrine, believing that big banks and other institutions should be allowed to fail if their risk management was not effective.

Toxic assets—Assets held by financial institutions that are highly risky, usually overleveraged, backed by other assets of dubious value, difficult to value, and therefore difficult to sell. Examples would include collateralized debt obligations and subprime mortgages. Institutions holding large proportions of toxic assets find themselves in big trouble. Example: Lehman Brothers, which collapsed in 2008. Toxic assets present a serious problem for would-be purchasers because of their complexity and dubious value. Often having been repackaged several times, it is difficult and time-consuming for auditors and accountants to determine their true value, which may depreciate steadily as the ability of underlying debtors to repay declines. See also legacy assets.

Treasury, Department of—An executive department of the U.S. Federal government. The Department is administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, currently Timothy Geithner, who is a member of the Cabinet and confirmed by the Senate before taking office. The Treasury Department prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation, collects all Federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service, and manages U.S. government debt instruments. The Department is currently prominently engaged in various bailout activities, including the recently established PPPIC.

Wall Street—Generic term referring collectively to the major financial institutions and the most influential interests in the financial system of the U.S. The “real” Wall Street is in lower Manhattan and is the center of the biggest financial district in the world. Several major U.S. stock and other exchanges are headquartered on Wall Street and in the surrounding financial district, including the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ stock exchange, and the New York Board of Trade. When the general public wants to assess blame for the credit crisis of 2007-2008-2009, it commonly just refers to Wall Street as the root of the entire problem.

Hope this helped you understand a lil better

I Love My Job!

The Coach

Continued from March 31st….

Overleverage—Imprudent borrowing of too much money to add to existing funds to make an investment. Leverage increases the risk of any investment, as well as the potential rewards. Most large-scale financial blowups involve overleveraging and the assumption of too much risk.

Paulson, Hank—Final Treasury Secretary under President George W. Bush. Famous for proposing TARP, originally a mere 3-page document. The bill, which passed after being rejected once, ended up at over 100 pages. Its purpose was to purchase toxic assets, reduce uncertainty regarding the worth of other assets, and restore confidence in the credit markets. While most of the TARP’s original $700 billion has been spent, no toxic assets have been purchased. The latest plan for doing that is the Public-Private Partnership Investment Program. PPIF—Public-private investment fund, a fund of money used to buy toxic assets under the Public-Private Partnership Investment Program.

PPPIP—See Public-Private Partnership Investment Program

Printing money—Pejorative term used to describe the “creation of money out of thin air.” The possibility of this is based on the fact that the U.S. has a fiat currency system. That means that we use money which has been declared by the government to be legal tender to pay debts, goods, services, and taxes. Fiat currency works to the extent people trust it. It is philosophically opposite to the gold standard.

Public-Private Partnership Investment Program ((PPPIP)—Announced March 23, 2009 by the Treasury Department, this is the latest and most complex bailout program so far, designed to relieve banks of toxic assets. Using $75 to $100 billion from TARP plus capital from private investors, PPPIP hopes to generate up to $1 trillion to buy legacy assets. (Some have estimated that about $3 trillion of such troubled assets exist). PPPIP is characterized by five major features: (1) Financing comes from the Treasury, FDIC, Federal Reserve, and private investors; (2) risks and profit opportunities are shared between the government and private sector participants; (3) prices for the toxic assets are “discovered” via auctions to reduce the likelihood that the government will overpay; (4) 6-times leverage loans will be guaranteed by the FDIC; and (5) the private participants will manage the assets purchased (under “strict” FDIC oversight) until final liquidation. A broad array of private investors are expected to participate, thus creating a heretofore nonexistent private market for the toxic assets. The Treasury will provide 7% of the equity capital, private participants will provide another 7%, and the remaining 84% will come from 6-times leverage loans from the Federal Reserve and guaranteed by the FDIC. To start the process, banks will identify which legacy assets they wish to sell. The FDIC will analyze them to determine the amount of funding it is willing to guarantee. The assets will be packaged and auctioned by the FDIC (thus creating a market and a price), although the seller retains the option to refuse the highest bid. In a second part of the PPPIP, a similar process will be used to purchase legacy securities tied to residential and commercial real estate and consumer credit, partly using money from TALF.

Recession of 2007-2008-2009–In general, a recession is a broad slowdown in or contraction of economic activity over a sustained period of time. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment, investment spending, household incomes, and business profits all tend to fall during recessions. Many consider the shorthand definition of a recession to be two successive quarterly declines in GDP. In the U.S., recessions are “officially” declared by the National Bureau of Economic Research. By their reckoning, the U.S. has been in a recession since December, 2007. In February, 2009, a stimulus bill was enacted to try to pull the U.S. out of this recession.

Stimulus bill—See American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Subprime mortgage—A mortgage loan issued under standards that traditionally would have been considered inadequate to justify the loan. Subprime borrowers are more likely to not pay the loan back. Relaxed standards might involve loaning to borrowers whose credit ratings are low; do not verify their income with proper documentation; have a history of not paying loans back; have a recorded bankruptcy; do not meet usual qualifying guidelines; have a high debt-to-income ratio; are borrowing against a property of dubious value; are borrowing with little or no down-payment, or even borrowing more than 100% of the value of the property. Such loans can become toxic assets when there are too many of them, or when they are packaged together with higher quality loans into investment packages that are difficult or impossible to value. See also legacy assets.

Systemic risk—The risk of collapse of the entire global or national system of finance. The risk results from the interdependencies and linkages among the world’s largest financial institutions, coupled with the potential domino effect where the failure of a single institution can begin a cascade that could bring down the entire system. The risk is seen to be greatest among institutions that are too big to fail. Advocates of a pure free market systems approach do not seem to worry too much about this, basically saying, “Let ‘em fail.” They are in the minority at the current time, with governments and central banks providing bailouts of unprecedented size to avert what they see as risks of catastrophic failures. The impact on the world’s financial system following the collapse of Lehman Brothers is probably exhibit A against the free market system reasoning. The government’s failure to bail out Lehman is now widely seen as a mistake.

One More to go….Stay Tuned!

I Love My Job!

The Coach