Rudy Bachraty’s Real Estate Blog

Fast Company Magazine mentioned Trulia’s Layar augmented reality application as one of the Top 5 to watch.

According to Fast Company:

Trulia for Android

The real-estate search site uses Layar’s Reality Browser to overlay listings on top of a Google phone’s camera view. Scan a neighborhood’s available properties and even connect to the realtors.

For those of you with an iPhone 3GS, it’s available for you to download in the Apple Itunes store.

What is Layar? Augmented reality.



We'll have a more detailed blog post discussing how Trulia and Layar are working together soon.....

Over the last two weeks, I had the pleasure representing Trulia at 2 real estate bar camps - #rebcden in Denver, Colorado and #rebcphl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If you’re not sure what an rebarcamp is, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Essentially, it’s a gathering of like minded people who have a passion for real estate, marketing, technology, social media, blogging and more. Throughout the day via various breakout sessions, attendees share their knowledge, experiences, tips and strategies with each other. It’s about learning, teaching, listening, sharing, educating and gaining ideas that can help them in business and in life. It’s all about building quality relationships.

Kristal and Vali by @tboard

#rebcden

Rebarcamp Denver proved to be a huge success. Kristal Kraft, Vali Wimberly and their Denver team organized and set the stage for a smooth flowing, faced paced day of learning and sharing.

Jeff Turner wowed the crowd with his opening presentation - “I cut my own grass” - His metaphor for using what works for you in social media. There are many tools that can get the job done, but you have to decide which ones work best for you.

The wall #IRL - Wanna talk about something? Just add your topic and time to the wall

Lorelle VanFossen a.k.a. @lorelleonwp talks about blogging and Wordpress -  “Blog, Sweet Blog”

Had super conversations with Brad Hanks, a fantastic real estate and technology speaker/educator about Linkedin strategies and talked with Lorelleonwp about Woopra website analytics - already had an account and started using it more thanks to Lorelle’s class.

I talked about “The Art of Tru” - Tips and Strategies on how to best use Trulia

@tboard and @jerseydebmadey

To follow my activity at #rebcden, just click this Twitter Search  - Trulia #rebcden

#rebcphl

Kim Wood, John Lauber, Bill Lublin and the whole Philadelphia bar camp crew did a fantastic job bringing everyone together - congrats on a well done event guys!

Kim&John by Kim

The evolving day schedule….Photo by Kim Wood

#Twitterqueens on the scene

The opening ceremony presented by Kim and Bill

Always enjoy sharing great conversations w/ @julietjohnson

Candid Camera - @realtyman, @zipvogreg, @wolkia, @jamesshiner

Photo by @zipvogreg

I had a “presentconversation” where I shared real life examples and case studies of “How Trulia Uses Social Media”

Saying goodbye to friends at #rebcphl

To follow my activity at #rebcphl, just click this Twitter search - Trulia #rebcphl

I’m a fan of new technology and love testing new products and services. At #rebcphl, I tested Tweetmic, a new iPhone app that allows you to tweet your audio recordings directly from your iPhone. To put it through a real world test, I interviewed various attendees of bar camp and asked them to share one social media tip under 20 seconds or so. To listen to them all, click this twitter search link under the hashtag #trulia tweetmic - really great stuff!

It’s always great seeing old friends and making new friends. The ReBarCamp movement is something special and just seems to grow in interest and attendance with each one. If you haven’t attended one yet, go for it. The amount of information you can learn in one day is invaluable. At the end of the day, it’s about giving more than you receive. It’s all about relationships. Cherish the ones you have and nurture the new ones you make.

Hope to see you at the next one…… #rebcboston, here we come…..

P.S. - Trulia is helping host the 1st annual anniversary for #rebcsf on August 4th along with the innaugural San Francisco crew including Andy Kaufman, Brad Coy, Todd Carpenter and Ginger Wilcox.

Mike Price from MLBroadcast has written a fantastic post which I think every real estate company should read called - Scouts of the New Frontier: Social Stewards & Custodians of Community. It’s a type of post I have been wanting to write for some time now -the reason every company should have a spokesperson. Ok, so maybe the word “spokesperson” is a little old school or web 1.0 but the point still stands. Your company should have an easily identifiable and accessible face and voice both online and offline that your fans and critics can interact and communicate with.

The Front Lines of Conversation

The reality is that the new frontier is most certainly upon us. Conversation is what drives relationships. And when building and maintaining the reputation of a brand, it is absolutely essential to build trusting relationships everywhere you can. This includes on your own site, blogs and the most popular social networking sites like Twitter, facebook and Linkedin. People are talking about you and your company whether you like it or not. If you do not have a dedicated person to participate in these conversations, your are missing the boat.

Those Who Get it

By being proactive and engaging others you are being real. Now your company no matter how small or large has a voice and face that the consumer can identify with. In addition to the companies Mike Price mentioned, here are some companies who have people on the front lines. Just look at Active Rain who has 3 Community managers - Rich Jacobson, Brad Andersohn and Bob Stewart - they all do a fantastic job. Let’s not forget Glenn Kelman of Redfin who has two official hats - President & CEO and one unofficial hat as the Social Media Maverick for his growing company. Then there is a new wave of social media brand management on the Brokerage level evolving being led by Sherry Chris and her outstanding team at Better Homes and Gardens. On the hybrid blog/brokerage level, Greg Swann of Bloodhound Blog and Lani - first name only required - of Agent Genius successfully serve as the voice and face of their companies/brands. Last but not least, on the blog/mortgage level, we have Brian Brady of World Wide Wealth Advisors, America’s self professed #1 Mortgage Broker getting sh%$ done everywhere you look and Todd Carpenter of Lenderama who is now getting into the real estate trade show business. They all get it. They all do it. When it comes to representing your company and brand, first impressions matter. Make them count.

Represent, Represent!

I represent Trulia and everything we stand for. It’s quite an honor and I love it. We are all about creating the best user experience for both consumers and real estate brokers and agents. We strive to help you connect with each other in an efficient way. Our entire team is passionate about what we do. We are here for you.

It’s all about relationships!

Building and maintaining relationships with agents, brokers and consumers is part of what I do on a daily basis. Whether I do it via email, phone - yes, I still use the phone, text, IM, blog comments, in person or by smoke signal, at the end of the day, I hope to have answered your questions, informed you more about who we are and how we can help you and your business and ultimately, made a meaningful connection. Being the social butterfly that I am, I crave people’s opinions and and always look forward to getting to know people I meet. So if you have any questions or comments about Trulia and what we’re all about, just google me or follow me here.

So what do you think,  should every real estate company and brokerage have a dedicated Social Media “spokesperson” to represent their company? Does yours?

I originally posted this post on our Trulia Corporate Blog where we had a some great comments and Poll.