Lead Capture Technology: First the Internet Now Cell Phones

The Internet and now mobile…Will the real estate industry adopt mobile marketing applications in the same sluggish way that internet eventually became the norm? It has only been 10 years since www.realtor.com became the starting place for anyone looking to buy, sell, rent, and list properties; in those years the same people began carrying a cell phone with them eighty-plus percent of the time. Now with text messaging growing faster than any other form of communication in the world, the opportunity to capitalize has presented itself.

XAP Realty, a Los Angeles based real estate marketing company has created a lead capture solution to utilize the fact that cell phones are now carried by all buyers. The concept is extremely simple, www.xaprealty.com provides real estate agents, apt. owners, individual sellers, and property management companies with interactive yard and rider signs. The signs allow prospects to request the listing information of a particular property by sending a text message. The prospect is immediately sent the listing details including: address, price, beds, baths, acreage, MLS#, agent’s contact information, and more. Simultaneously, the agent or property manager is sent an email that includes the prospects phone number and the listing that he/she is interested in viewing. The service acts like an on-site assistant, reporting full property details and taking down new lead information 24 hours a day 7 days per week.

XAP Realty benefits realtors by capturing more leads using the non-invasive communication medium of text messaging. XAP Realty saves realtors time and money by providing prospects with the relevant information they need, and reducing materials. Last of all XAP Realty simplifies the process by providing prospects with an effective means of saving the listing information they require, thus making the job easier the realtor.

The question of whether realtors will stay on the cutting edge of technology remains unknown, however, with regards to cell phones XAP Realty interactive signs are already being used in a city near you.

Getting to Know the Area Part II

Again we look at the surrounding areas of greater Los Angeles, and hopefully become aware of all the different neighborhoods found in our megalopolis of Souther California. While there can be found only rich celebrity houses lining up the streets of these areas, there are also many apartment complexes needed for the students living in LA and thriving artists and professionals that live in West LA. Most of these cities are located in our Western LA (zone 3) magazine. This info can be found on frommers.com.

Beverly Hills is politically distinct from the rest of Los Angeles -- a famous enclave best known for its palm tree lined streets of palatial homes, famous residents (Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening), and high-priced shops. But it's not all glitz and glamour; the healthy mix of filthy rich, wannabes, and tourists that peoples downtown Beverly Hills creates a unique -- and often snobby-surreal -- atmosphere.

West Hollywood is a key-shape community whose epicenter is the intersection of Santa Monica and La Cienega boulevards. Nestled between Beverly Hills and Hollywood, this politically independent -- and blissfully fast-food-free -- town is home to some of the area's best restaurants, clubs, shops, and art galleries. WeHo, as it's come to be known, is also the center of L.A.'s gay community -- you'll know you've arrived when you see the risqué billboards. Encompassing about 2 square miles, it's a pedestrian-friendly place with plenty of metered parking. Highlights include the 1 1/2 miles of Sunset Boulevard known as Sunset Strip, the chic Sunset Plaza retail strip, and the liveliest stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard.

Bel Air and Holmby Hills, located in the hills north of Westwood and west of Beverly Hills, are old-money residential areas featured prominently on most maps to the stars' homes.

Brentwood is best known as the famous backdrop to the O. J. Simpson melodrama. If Starbucks ever designed a neighborhood, this is what it would look like -- a generic, relatively upscale mix of track homes, restaurants, and strip malls. The Getty Center looms over Brentwood from its hilltop perch next to I-405.

Westwood, an urban village founded in 1929 and home to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), used to be a hot destination for a night on the town, but it lost much of its appeal in the past decade due to overcrowding and even some minor street violence. Although Westwood is unlikely to regain its old charm, the vibrant new culinary scene has brought new life to the village. Combined with the high concentration of movie theaters, it's now the premier L.A. destination for dinner and a flick.

Century City is a compact and rather bland high-rise area sandwiched between West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. The primary draws here are the 20th Century Fox studios, Shubert Theatre, and the Westside Pavilion, a huge open-air shopping mall. Century City's three main thoroughfares are Century Park East, Avenue of the Stars, and Century Park West.

West Los Angeles is a label that generally applies to everything that isn't one of the other Westside neighborhoods. It's basically the area south of Santa Monica Boulevard, north of Venice Boulevard, east of Santa Monica and Venice, and west and south of Century City.

Special Promotion from Apartment Management

We want to hear stories from you, our readers, and we'll pay you to tell them. All you have to do is write a 1,500 word or less story about your personal apartment management experience.

We want to hear from anyone who can tell us about their experiences in the apartment industry; whether it was a first-time purchase night or a spur-of-the-moment purchase that changed your life. If you have a WWII era story, either from your own experience or parents, let us know.

We will be looking at all the stories sent in and choose one to be our Featured Article of the month. The winner will also receive a $100 American Express gift card for their submission.

Getting to Know the Area

While you are investing in real estate and looking for potential areas to live and work, it is good to know relevant information on the surroundings. As we reach out to LA and Orange County, I have decided to give some time to the lay of the land. I found a good site that tells a brief synopsis of the areas around center of LA.

The first area to look at is the coastal regions of Western LA (Zone 3) and Southern LA (Zone 2), where the residents of LA head to during the weekend, where tourists head, and the rich and famous buy luxurious homes on the ocean's front.

Here is a snippet from frommers.com

Malibu, at the northern border of Los Angeles County, 25 miles from Downtown, was once a privately owned ranch -- purchased in 1857 for 10¢ an acre and now the most expensive real estate in L.A. Today its 27 miles of wide beaches, beachfront cliffs, sparsely populated hills, and relative remoteness from the inner city make it popular with rich recluses such as Cher and Mel Gibson. Indeed, the resident lists of Malibu Colony and nearby Broad Beach -- oceanfront strips of closely packed mansions -- read like a who's who in Hollywood. With plenty of green space and dramatic rocky outcroppings, Malibu's rural beauty is unsurpassed in L.A., and surfers flock to "the 'Bu" for great, if crowded, waves.

Santa Monica, Los Angeles's premier beach community, is known for its festive ocean pier, stylish oceanfront hotels, artsy atmosphere, and large population of homeless residents (I know, that's an oxymoron, but it fits). Shopping is king here, especially along the Third Street Promenade, a pedestrian-only outdoor mall lined with dozens of shops and restaurants.

Venice Beach was created by tobacco mogul Abbot Kinney, who set out in 1904 to transform a worthless marsh into a resort town modeled after Venice, Italy -- hence, the series of narrow canals connected by one-lane bridges that you'll see as you explore this refreshingly eclectic community. It was once infested with grime and crime, but regentrification has brought scores of great restaurants, boutiques, and rising property values for the canalside homes and apartment duplexes. Even the movie stars are moving in: Dennis Hopper, Anjelica Huston, Nicolas Cage, and Julia Roberts reside in this pseudobohemian community. Some of L.A.'s most innovative and interesting architecture lines funky Main Street. But without question, Venice Beach is best known for its Ocean Front Walk, a nonstop Mardi Gras of thong-wearing skaters, vendors, fortunetellers, street musicians, and poseurs of all ages, colors, types, and sizes.

Marina del Rey, just south of Venice, is a somewhat quieter, more upscale waterside community best known for its man-made small-craft harbor, the largest of its kind in the world.

Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo beaches are laid-back, mainly residential neighborhoods with modest homes (except for oceanfront real estate), mild weather, and residents happy to have fled the L.A. hubbub. There are excellent beaches for volleyball, surfing, and tanning here, but when it comes to cultural activities, pickings can be slim. The restaurant scene, while limited, has been improving steadily, and some great new bars and clubs have opened near their respective piers.

Mortgage Frauds

In a recent article published in the LA Times by Lew Sichelmen, he paints a distressing picture of the ways white-collar, and now blue-collar, thieves steal millions of dollars from home buyers and investors who are unaware of the scams. Lately the FBI has reported a sharp increase in the reports of suspicious activity in the real estate market.

"The bureau will get more than 60,000 suspicious-activity reports this year, he said at a recent conference in Chicago. By comparison, it received a record 46,700 reports of suspicious activity in fiscal 2007, up from 35,600 in 2006." That is quite a great leap in the two years.

It is important to look at the details, and to watch for some of these cons. One is the old trick of an inflated appraisal to pay for the "incentives" that home builders are giving to buyers. These incentives are build into the appraisal without the notice of the appraisers. Also many are using con men to have the home buyers pay, and in the end the con man does not make the payments and the house ends up in foreclosure. Never be too careful who you trust with your home, especially in these crunching times.

"Broshears, the FBI's point man on mortgage fraud, estimated that the feds' investigation is likely to uncover $3 billion in mortgage losses."