One of the most difficult aspects of shopping for real estate online and from a distance is getting a true feel for a house. Simply put, photographs lie.

Not so with video. And so I found myself at a home a week or so ago filming video of a property in which one of my clients was interested.

What you see below is the first snippet. What was intended as a pause ended up being a stop and I needed to shoot a second video. Which actually was for the best, as I can’t post that video online because it mentions the address of the property and I’d hate to be accused of advertising someone else’s listings.

Production quality was good but not spectacular (it was a first attempt) and the audio is almost as bland as something George Lucas wrote (”I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”)

Still, at the end of the day my client got a much better feel for this particular home, which made making a decision from 2,000 miles away much easier than without the video.

Looking to buy in the Phoenix real estate market and looking for similar service? Use the contact form at the top or give us a call. I do ask that a buyer broker agreement be put into place before I’ll shoot video, but I think the added value’s worth it.

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No, we’re not going to break into an ad for Match.Com or eHarmony or another one of those online dating services. You’re on your own there. Rather, here are a few rather rhetorical questions borne of actual questions and situations over the past month …

If you believe the best value you can find is a short sale (and it’s probably not, but that’s a different story for another day), and your agent refuses to show you short sales, why are you working with that agent?

If you have time to look at homes on a Sunday and you want to look at homes on Sunday, why are you working with an agent who doesn’t work on Sunday? (Actual quote - “My REALTOR doesn’t work Sundays so I don’t want to call and bother him, but I want to see this house so I called you.”)

If you’re working with an agent to find a home in a given area, why are you using the search on another agent’s site to find a home?

Put another way, why aren’t you searching on your agent’s website instead of mine if you already have decide they’ll be assisting you? And if they don’t have a useful homes search on their website and can’t meet your needs, why are you working with them?

This last one came up twice yesterday … anyone who wants to do is welcome to use the Phoenix Homes search here. But I do sell real estate for a living, as some of you may have come to realize. I don’t think it’s inappropriate to ask for the chance to earn your business, especially when it’s clear a need of some sort’s not being met.

I’m just saying …

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Arizona statute mandates that all real estate agents complete 24 hours of continuing education every two years in order to keep their license active.

This, of course, is woefully inadequate - a feeling only reinforced over the past week as I’ve been completing online classes to meet the requirement.

It’s not a question of whether the classes are worthwhile, though some of the material ought to focus more on the consumer and less on the agents. Rather, it’s a question of whether canned material reviewed biennially is any match for the real life education to be had in the online real estate world (which, admittedly, is not frequented by all.)

Just as the best part of my initial training came during happy hours at Rock Bottom, my continuing education has less to do with Arizona’s Commissioners Standards but with the changes sweeping the real estate industry. Real estate bloggers are giving voice to every day scenarios, to different perspectives on the MLS, on marketing, on how to best serve the consumer.

Many of those folks have descended upon San Francisco the past two days for Inman’s Real Estate Connect conference.

Granted, there are those whose main purpose is their own glorification. (Note to dear old Voldermort: your absence in no way diminishes the conference. If anything, it serves as proof that there are many who do as much with more significant results.)

There are more important things in the grand scheme of the real estate world than a blog, to be sure. But if personal experience is any guide, and the level of education received in this world is any indication, having an agent who does maintain their constant continuing education in these type of forums ought to be a prerequisite.

Just two cents from the peanut gallery.

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By this time tomorrow I’ll be shivering in San Francisco (forecast high: 60 degrees, only 45 degrees less than it is here) for Inman News’ Real Estate Connect Conference.

I’m far from alone … maybe not so on the shivering aspect … but otherwise. This is a semi-annual gathering of some of the top real estate agents in the nation. For the more tech-savvy crowd, there’s the Bloggers Connect conference on Wednesday. And for the rest are two days of informational sessions.

I’m still unclear what I’ll be adding to the proceedings, at least specifically, but I’m on deck for Thursday to speak on “Tapping the Global Real Estate Market.” The extent of my knowledge is using the words “Canada” and “hooped” liberally here in the blog, but I’ll need to find a way to elaborate to fill the 45 minutes.

I’ll be trying to post when I’m there … the notion of posting in advance sounded great until next week’s closing was moved to this week, giving me three closings while I’m on the left coast. Should be interesting to say the least.

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The transition is underway.

Last fall, the Arizona Regional MLS announced an agreement with FlexMLS to provide MLS services for the Phoenix real estate market. What once seemed deep into the future now is upon us - the transition from the beast that is Tempo Marketlinx is just two weeks away.

For the general public, the most notable change will be a switch in the automated searches now available in what’s called “Client Gateway.” Instead, clients will have access to a “listings portal.” It looks like the vast majority of data on properties previously marked as Favorites, Possibilities and Rejected has populated over to the new system.

Outside of a new platform, the biggest difference I see is in the delivery of listings. If I’m looking at things correctly, there will be one daily e-mail sent with updates as opposed to the multiple updates put into place some time ago.

Currently I have a few dozen clients receiving these updates. Other agents have a few hundred, depending on how often they cull their lists. (Updates have set expiratioin dates so if it becomes apparent a client is using me for listings but will be using someone else to purchase their home, the listings get shut off. Sorry, but it’s a business.)

I’m not seeing that functionality on the new system though the rest of the contact management system looks fairly slick.

Sometime in the next week I’ll put together a post with screenshots and notes on what to expect during the changeover. As long as ARMLS doesn’t start smoldering like its cousin in San Diego during Sandicor’s changeover a month ago, I’ll be happy.

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