AT LONG LAST, THE MARKET FOR LUXURY REAL estate is coming back to life.]]>Prices for primary residences, which plunged at least 20% from the peak in 2007, appear to have bottomed. In some of the snappiest locations, scattered bidding wars are breaking out and prices are turning upward.
In Greenwich, Conn., realty brokers say, the final months of 2009 were almost record-setters for sales volume, as two years of pent-up demand was unleashed. Even the megadeal is back. In Beverly Hills, film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg just plunked down $35 million for an 8,700-square-foot home on six acres.
There's nothing like a stabilized economy and a huge rebound in stocks to send folks looking for the perfect manse. The return of hefty Wall Street bonuses hasn't hurt, either.
With all that in mind, and with summer just around the corner, Barron's sized up the market for upscale second homes, one of the greatest luxuries of all. We scoped out dozens of deluxe enclaves across the country, speaking with brokers, homeowners and others. Our conclusion: Now could be an excellent time to buy.
wo law firms, Beck & Lee from Miami and The Weston Firm in San Diego, have filed a class action lawsuitin Los Angeles federal court alleging unfair business practices by local business review and rating website operator Yelp.]]>The plaintiff in the suit, a veterinary hospital in Long Beach, CA, is said to have requested that Yelp remove a negative review from the website, which was allegedly refused by the San Francisco startup, after which its sales representatives repeatedly contacted the hospital demanding payments of roughly $300 per month in exchange for hiding or deleting the review.
Sounds familiar, you say?
You may be thinking of last year, when East Bay Express ran an explosive story, basically accusing Yelp of being in the 'Business of Extortion 2.0′, which covered similar ground. Shortly after reporter Kathleen Richards published the article, Yelp vehemently denied everything and called her piece inaccurate.
Social media is great at promoting social media experts but useless at promoting actual products and companies.]]>I hardly see any product or company discussions in my Twitter or Facebook streams. I see occasional gripes about airlines, cable TV service, and sometimes I'm asked to become a "fan" of a company on Facebook. But that's about it.
The fact that airlines lose luggage, are late, are rude, is not new, it's par for the course. Same for cable TV companies. Social media does nothing to improve airline service or inform me much about things I didn't already know about a product or company. As for joining a corporate Facebook fan page, one click is about the extent of that engagement.
Yet social media is great at promoting social media experts who say that they advise corporations on their social media strategies. Or maybe social media is not good at promoting social media experts because I don't see the results of their work.
Antitrust lawyer and Open Book Alliance leader Gary Reback has been called the "antitrust champion" and the "protector of the marketplace" by the National Law Journal, and has been at the forefront of many of the most important antitrust cases of the last three decades. He is one of the most vocal opponents of the Google Books settlement. I interviewed Reback a few months ago, and Google Books was one of the topics we discussed. In the column below, Reback discusses Google Books and its ties to Google search.Organizations relying on SEO (Search optimization strategies must consider this environment when determining how much, if any, to spend on such schemes.]]>This Thursday leaders of the international publishing industry will watch with bated breath as a federal judge in New York hears arguments over whether to approve the Google Book Settlement.
More a complicated joint venture among Google and five big New York publishers than the resolution of pending litigation, the proposed settlement once promised unprecedented access to millions of out-of-print books through digital sales to consumers and online research subscriptions for libraries. But with the passage of time and the ability to examine the deal more closely, the promises proved illusory. The big publishers, as it turns out, have reserved the right to negotiate secret deals with Google for the books they claim through the settlement (pdf).
Meanwhile, torrents of outrage rained down on the New York court - from authors whose ownership rights will be appropriated through the settlement's procedures, from librarians fearful of price exploitation by Google, from privacy advocates worried that Google will monitor the reading habits of library patrons, from libertarians incensed over the use of a legal procedure to effect the widespread appropriation of property, from digital booksellers concerned about Google's unfair advantage in the marketplace.
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The last six months have confirmed the anonymous executive's worst fears. Once upon a time, Google claimed it employed neutral, mathematically-based algorithms to prioritize search in ad listings. But last November Google admitted to the Washington Post that only search results from Google's content competitors are listed according to neutral algorithms. Search results from Google's own properties, like maps, news and books, are now listed first, the algorithm notwithstanding. Even more recently Google admitted that it changes the rank ordering of paid search ads to prioritize its own company messages.
A social conductor is an individual or organization that enables people to use their organization to achieve wants, needs and desires. The opposite is a social producer who uses people to create direct benefits to their organization.$20M is a drop in the bucket for Pepsi, which will certainly continue to spend advertising money in the traditional way. Having said that, thinking different for marketing purposes is certainly a great and timely idea.
Pepsi Initiates the "Conductor" ModelTime Magazine states: To Pepsi, and to companies around the world, the days when mass-market media is the sole vehicle to reach an audience are officially over. Instead of pouring millions of dollars into a Super Bowl commercial, Pepsi has started a social-media campaign to promote its "Pepsi Refresh" initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education.People can go to the Pepsi website refresheverything.com -- which can also be accessed through Facebook and Twitter -- to both submit ideas and vote on others they find appealing. Among those on the site now: "Help free healthcare clinic expand services to uninsured in rural TN" and "Build a fitness center for all students in Hays, Kansas community." Every month, the company will offer up to 32 grants to worthy projects.
"This is such a fundamental change from anything we've done in the past," says Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. "It's a big shift. We explored different launch plans, and the Super Bowl just wasn't the right venue, because we're really trying to spark a full-year movement from the ground up. The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers."
Brokers and agents have numerous local opportunities to stand out without spending much money.
]]>Cold turkey time is rapidly approaching for the US mortgage market as the Federal Reserve gets ready to end its mammoth $1,250bn buying programme at the end of March.]]>The prospect of such a large buyer moving to the sidelines means that the "artificial market" created by the Fed's hefty purchases - part of a monetary policy strategy aimed at reducing mortgage borrowing costs - should result in more normal mortgage rates, likely to be at a higher level.
The question is, how much higher? There is a great deal of uncertainty among many investors on exactly how to position themselves for the withdrawal of the Fed from the mortgage market. Many want higher rates, as it makes the investments more attractive. Yet the Fed wants to keep mortgage rates low to help home-buyers.In a survey of some of the 4,000 people attending a securitisation conference this week, 73 per cent of respondents expected spreads on mortgage-backed securities to go "much wider" when the Fed ceases buying mortgage bonds, backed by mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But the impact is hard to pin down.
A few years ago, the world crossed a threshold. For the first time, more than half the human race is living in cities. By 2050 the figure will rise to 70 percent. We are adding the equivalent of seven New Yorks to the planet every year.Things we know:This means the most important locus for 21st-century innovation--technological, economic, and societal--will be our cities. They present the most promising opportunity to make our planet smarter.
Cities bring together the systems by which our world works: education, transportation, public safety, and health care, among others.
We have the capacity to inject new intelligence into those systems. Enormous computational power can be delivered in forms so small and inexpensive that it is being put into phones, cars, and appliances, as well as things we wouldn't recognize as computers, such as roadways (to monitor traffic) or rivers (to monitor pollution and better allocate water use). The data captured by these digital devices--soon to number in the trillions--will be turned to intelligence, because we now have the processing power and advanced analytics to make sense of it all.
Our challenge is to apply this technology to improving the places we live. Consider the applications:
We share a common belief that trust is an important currency in today's world especially in the digital realm.Fascinating, though not really surprising given the amount of social media "spam" circulating around the internet. Useful, timely content and commentary will always add value. Spam clearly detracts.Trust, we are taught, is hard won. It takes a long time to establish trust yet it can be destroyed in minutes.
But is that really true?
I've been looking at the Edelman Trust Barometer reports and it shows that trust in businesses, in media both social and traditional, in NGOs, in governments, jumps up and down by large margins from year to year.
I've been particularly interested in trust in social and traditional media. In the latest report, trust in peers, which represents social media, plunged by 20 points from 47 percent of those surveyed in the prior year, to 27 percent. Trust in other forms of media also fell by large margins.
Details here: 3MB Edelman PDF, website.
]]>Imagine a brand manager sitting in his office developing a marketing strategy for his company's new sports drink. He identifies which broad market segments to target, sets prices and promotions, and plans mass media communications. The brand's performance will be measured by aggregate sales and profitability, and his pay and future prospects will hinge on those numbers.Brokers have a great opportunity to build AND own their marketing platform today, via a single entry system, blogs, a branded iPhone app and active cultivation of their clients via a pervasive CRM system, like Main Street.]]>What's wrong with this picture? This firm--like too many--is still managed as if it were stuck in the 1960s, an era of mass markets, mass media, and impersonal transactions. Yet never before have companies had such powerful technologies for interacting directly with customers, collecting and mining information about them, and tailoring their offerings accordingly. And never before have customers expected to interact so deeply with companies, and each other, to shape the products and services they use. To be sure, most companies use customer relationship management and other technologies to get a handle on customers, but no amount of technology can really improve the situation as long as companies are set up to market products rather than cultivate customers. To compete in this aggressively interactive environment, companies must shift their focus from driving transactions to maximizing customer lifetime value. That means making products and brands subservient to long-term customer relationships. And that means changing strategy and structure across the organization--and reinventing the marketing department altogether.
Ask any CEO who has overseen a corporate transformation what should have been handled differently, and you are likely to get this answer: "We should have--and could have--moved faster."]]>Such executives have a long list of regrets: They wish they had unified the leadership team right away. They wish they had engaged employees sooner and quickly drummed up support for the new vision. They wish they hadn't waited so long to test their assumptions and refine their key initiatives. And they wish they had generated some visible returns early on, to accelerate the commitments and reinforce the expectations of employees, customers, suppliers, and investors.
Any corporate transformation--launching the next major phase in an organization, executing a new corporate strategy to achieve breakthrough performance, enabling a new executive leader to take charge, or integrating an acquisition--is fraught with challenges. More than 25 years ago, I began chairing an innovative program that convened groups of CEOs and their executive teams for two-week sessions at Harvard Business School, where they collaborated with faculty members and noncompeting peers on solving their most serious challenges. They met again nine months later to share their experiences. Within a few years, a clear pattern emerged from the program: The biggest barrier to corporate transformation was getting organizations to execute their bold new ideas quickly. Since then, from my direct involvement as principal process architect in more than 25 corporate transformations led by new and sitting CEOs, I've concluded that many talented executives don't fully appreciate the following subtle but powerful insights:
Nick Lessins and Lydia Esparza pride themselves on meeting high standards for quality, but not necessarily for catering to the demands of their customers. They are co-owners of Great Lake, a small Chicago pizza shop that has seen the mixed blessing of great reviews.Brokers and agents are subject to more .com schemes today than the "internet euphoria" era in the late 1990's. No organization can be all things to all people. Chicago's Great Lake Pizza informs our thinking and strategy.]]>The couple wanted to start a business that reflected their values: a neighborhood shop that purchases top-quality ingredients directly from farmers, makes every pizza by hand and serves great food at affordable prices. They also wanted to make sure their business did not take over their lives. The 14-seat shop is open only four days a week and does not take reservations. Deliveries? Yeah, right.
Mr. Lessins makes every pizza by hand. "No man is slower," wrote GQ's food critic, Alan Richman. "He makes each as though it is his first, manipulating the dough until it appears flawless, putting on toppings one small bit after another. In the time he takes to create a pie, civilizations could rise and fall, not just crusts." Mr. Richman declared the Great Lake Mortadella pie one of the best pizzas in America -- and that is when the trouble started. The shop was mobbed, with lines stretching down the block and long waits. A condensed version of a conversation with Mr. Lessins and Ms. Esparza follows:
Whole Foods sought to change that. It began to sell information and narrative, along with the food. It told stories about where the food came from, putting up displays by the seafood counter with photographs and descriptions of the real fishermen who had caught it all--a genre that Michael Pollan, in The Omnivore's Dilemma, called "supermarket pastoral."]]>The profusion of provender--the array of colors and shapes, the gleaming fruits, fishes, and meats, the grains and cakes and ranges of artisanal cheeses and beers--is as much an apotheosis of America's abundance and reach as it is any kind of refutation of it. Whole Foods may aim to be a rebuke to the excess that comes of petrochemical might, unconscious gluttony, and corn-bloated immoderation. But it is also an imperial presentation of progress's spoils, like a king's Christmas feasts. The business depends on it, even if the brand image does not. The layout encourages impulse purchases. This is how a weekend grocery bill there can easily run to four hundred bucks.
Second: 2010 change and opportunity.
I have been traveling extensively the past few weeks. It is always interesting and useful to observe people, their activities and gadgets.
Hands down, iPhone and iPod Touch devices dominated aircraft, airport and holiday scenes. I did see a few blackberries (one family had a company blackberry and several iPhones) and one Droid.
The recent smartphone explosion along with the introduction of useful "tablet" or "slate" devices will continue to change the way in which people use, create and interact with real estate information.
Most importantly, it will change their expectations......
What does this mean for brokers and agents?
## A) MobileVirtual Properties is your trusted technology team - since 1995. Do you have the right people, platform and technology partner for 2010 and beyond?]]>The "killer app" - from a VP customer - for real estate buyers, sellers and professionals.
www.virtualproperties.com/iphone/
Our second major release in 9 months, your branded iPhone app provides essential website functions in a faster, easier to use application. Always on, this "app" can be accessed at home, work, on the go, while working out, dining, traveling - anywhere.
Our software makes sure the app is up to date with the latest property information and technology. It includes property comparison tools and unlimited use mapping services. Stop paying for maps on a per click basis.
Your organization must be in this space.
There will be competing devices, though it is not yet clear who will successfully challenge the iPhone infrastructure.
## B) "Tablet or Slate" computing and real estate
There has been no shortage of hype recently about these new devices. From my perspective, the real change will be to traditional laptop formats. Physical keyboards will certainly be available for some time, but, virtual keyboards (via touchscreens with "multi-touch" gestures) will take over the volume portable device space.
Many real estate firms have published traditional magazines, as a marketing and advertising vehicle.
This conceptual video, by Bonner Mag+ neatly summarizes digital magazine possibilities with emerging devices:
http://www.bonnier.com/en/content/digital-magazines-bonnier-mag-prototype
The video reinforces the benefits of high quality, well organized information. Our Main Street single entry cloud software generates timely media and text content for many publications in different formats, including html and pdf. Our clients do not need to add yet another vendor and platform to support these emerging applications.
www.virtualproperties.com/rt/ms.html
## C) Your Website
The iPhone app explosion is changing buyer and seller information convenience and access expectations. Does your website address these changing customer desires?
Accelerate your website with our Main Street cloud software's new customer portal tools. From lead generation to transactions and customer for life, Main Street manages your world in real time.
One vendor.
As everyone knows there has been a massive government effort to support house prices. Some of this has been aimed at limiting supply (modification programs, various foreclosure moratoria), and some has been aimed at increasing demand (tax credit, lower mortgage rates, loose lending standards).]]>Here is a quote from Secretary Geithner from a recent Newsweek interview by Daniel Gross:
Today, like 2,000 years ago, many seek notoriety at the price of embarrassment, a tarnished repu- tation, or even infamy. In 2007, a new Facebook group came under media attention: 30 Reasons Girls Should Call It a Night counted "nearly 150,000 members and a collection of nearly 5,000 photos of young women passed out on the pavement, collapsed in shrub- bery, peeing in bushes, and vomiting in toilets (or on themselves)."1 Most of the subjects had uploaded the photos themselves.]]>What is it that pushes us to seek fame by misconduct or publicity by sharing embarrassing informa- tion with strangers? How do we reconcile these desires with the apparent need for privacy that surveys keep finding so widespread among the American population? In short, what drives individuals to reveal, and to hide, information about themselves to and from others?