Archive for the ‘technology’ Category
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Jan
04
Posted by James Lupori
The Real Estate gods must have been connecting the agent subconscious yesterday. As I was writing about the influence of technology on the real estate industry, Ardell DellaLoggia of Rain City Guide was writing an extremely thought provoking post entitled: Open Letter to NWMLS and Local Agents. Ardell asks us to consider the functionality of the MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE which is the hallmark database used by real estate agents. In short, she believes the system is broken and it needs repair. It no longer adequately addresses the needs of the consumer or, for that matter the agents.
I agree. I believe that the age of agent-controlled multiple listing services are coming to an end, much like the Alaskan Way Viaduct here in Seattle. They are functional, utilitarian (if you have access), ugly and fatally flawed by an outside source (e.g. The 2000 Nisqually Earthquake). Those of you who have driven over the Viaduct know what I’m talking about: it certainly gets you where you need to go, but access to it is limited, it’s claustrophobic and your choices of exits are limited. One feels trapped. Knowing it could fall down at any moment isn’t comforting either! There is hope on the way and one of the cavalry is Estately.com.
Estately.com very well may be the future of consumer real estate services in terms of property research and statistics and agent referrals. It’s not yet ready to take on the multiple listing services; however, there are a lot of very smart people behind the scenes at Estately who may very well break the information log jam created by the real estate insiders.
Galen Ward, the CEO and co-founder of Estately deserves the credit for putting together a wonderfully functional system at Estately. As a Realtor who focuses-in on Kenmore, WA I was impressed with the ability of Estately to provide excellent real estate data for Kenmore. Additionally, if one wishes to work with a neighborhood specialist, Estately provides referral services.
As I mentioned above, large structures like the Alaskan Way Viaduct don’t last forever. Sooner or later an earthquake or other huge event breaks them. In the coming years, I believe the real estate industry is going to be broken apart and re-tooled by new technology and new business models that allow consumers a much wider range of options. This isn’t news, but we are beginning to see evolutionary services such as Estately more and more. Change is inevitable and I’m looking forward to what’s coming.
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Dec
30
Posted by James Lupori
BLOGGING
I began blogging in April as a means to advertise my real estate business. At that time it was simply a dollars and cents decision. I thought it would be less expensive than print advertising (which didn’t seem to be very effective anymore). What I didn’t realize was how blogging would fundamentally change my perspective about EVERYTHING! It started out as a high-tech way to convey real estate statistics and talk about the market (not too exciting). It has ended up being far more than that:
1) It has become the creative outlet I’ve always wanted: writing, interviewing, interacting, taking pictures, educating, journaling and philosophizing ALL IN ONE PLACE!!!!!
2) Blogging has made me smarter. Really!!! Just ask my wife. Strike that, just take my word for it!
3) Blogging forced me to incorporate a lot of new, useful tools and skills such as google, the “blogosphere” and social networking. We really are living in a hyper-connected world.
ITALY & ITALIAN
My wife, Virginia, and I first visited Italy in 1981 during a foreign exchange program in Kiel, Germany. My mother wanted me to visit our Italian relatives while we were in Europe as none of our immediate family had ever gone back to the “fatherland.” Needless to say, my family was wonderful. The funny thing is, it took us 25 years to return. In 2006 we went back for one month and discovered just how wonderful my families are (my mother’s family in Torino and my father’s family in Lucca). At that time we started learning Italian in earnest. We returned this last summer (August-September) for five weeks and during this visit we celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary in Torino. It was one of the proudest moments of my life. I was with the woman I love, in a country of unfathomable beauty, celebrating with some of the most joyous people on earth: my Italian family. Good times! Today, Virginia and I can speak and understand enough Italian to be quasi-functional. I’m glad my family is understanding……
MY READING LIST
I’m a NON-FICTION reader these days. This is ironic because I studied Greek, Latin and Comparative Literature in college. I love all sorts of literature, but there’s nothing I like more than reading about the anthropology of this or the economics of that. Hey, I used to like Classical music but now I listen to Korn and Marilyn Manson………things change. So, here’s my reading list for 2008. If you click on the individual book pictures, you will be taken to some interesting reviews:
I read some utterly fascinating books in 2008. As you can see, I have a penchant for reading books about “how people/organizations/cultures work. I can still remember being knocked-over by the late anthropologist, Marvin Harris’ “Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches” way back when. I was hooked.
TECHNOLOGY STUFF
ALL THINGS GOOGLE - Google has become the most powerful player in the world of the Internet. If you are not already connected with several of the tools Google offers, I highly recommend you consider using the following:
GMAIL - Easy to use and universally accessible, having a email account through Google is one of those basics we all should have.
GOOGLE READER - As a blogger, I scan a huge number of publications every day. This seemingly difficult, time consuming chore is simplified by setting up a Google Reader. Click here to learn more.
GOOGLE ALERT - If you want to know if your name or other important word comes up on a google search, set up a Google Alert. I have mine set to inform me when the words Lupori and Kenmore are referenced in cyberspace. As a result, I’ve made contact with some Argentine folks who are also Luporis. As it happens, their ancestors come from a town close to my relatives in Tuscany. Wow, who would have thought…….
Google has a huge number of tools. Go there and find out for yourself. By the way, most everything in Google is FREE!
FLICKR.COM
Flickr.com is a Yahoo product that allows you to download your pictures (and video) from anywhere in the world to your own, personalized site. There you can edit, organize and store your photography. You can also see literally millions of other pictures from around the world. This is an amazing tool if you do a lot of traveling as you can safely put your pictures into Flickr.com. If you lose your camera, your pictures will be on Flickr when you get home. For $25 a year, you can download an unlimited number of pictures. It’s free to set up. How cool is that????
HOW FORTUNATE I AM
I’ve been a very fortunate man over the years. I’ll be 50 in April and, other than the gray hair (which I blame on my wife) I feel pretty good. How many guys can say they look good in an apron (a red one at that)? My greatest strength and gift in the world has been my beautiful wife, Virginia. We’ve been together almost 30 years and we’ve done a lot of wonderful things together. How she puts up with me, I’ll never know…….but I’m damn lucky to have met her.
We are living in extraordinary times. I have a sense that adversity will bring all Americans closer together and in that coming-together we will find new strength and vision. My most sincere hope is that the coming year will bring you all good health, joy and prosperity.
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Nov
22
Posted by James Lupori
The National Intelligence Council recently submitted it’s “Global Trends 2025″ report to U.S. leaders in order to give them insight into looming problems and opportunities throughout the world. The report is compiled every four years and includes a huge number of stunning and, sometimes disturbing, global trends. Although the report is not intended to be a “crystal ball” analysis, it’s assessments are provocative:
It projects a “multipolar” global landscape, where the United States is merely “one of a number of actors on the world stage” and where the U.S. dollar will only be “first among equals” in a basket of international currencies.
Other trends include:
- A decline in Western Democratic Capitalism/A rise in State Directed Capitalism as in China
- Growing youth populations in the 3rd world, especially in the Middle East
- A decline in the influence of terrorist groups (a good thing)
- IMF & United Nations will lose influence
- Corporations and organized crime organizations will emerge as a challenge
- By 2025 clean, non-fossil fuels will be the norm
If you’re interested in reading the report (or skimming through it), just click on the icon below.
I’ve also included a NPR audio segment about the report which encapsulates it’s trends quite well. I believe it is incumbent upon all of us to try and understand the United States within the context of a more global perspective. Anyone who is being intellectually honest in these challenging times knows that we are not, nor can we afford to be isolationists. The better informed we are, as citizens, the more effective our leaders can move us into the future. Living in ignorance is not an option.
Click this picture to hear the NPR report on “Global Trends 2025″
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Nov
16
Posted by James Lupori
I recently received a brief update from my contact at King County, David Freed, regarding the progress of the Kenmore segment of the Brightwater Treatment System. At this time, the first tunneling machine has bored one mile to the east of the Kenmore Portal and is just east of the Bothell-Everett Highway in Bothell. The other machine has bored 3/4 of a mile west of the portal. I’ve tried to highlight their locations on the illustration below:
Tunneling, followed by installation of the pipes and tunnel lining are scheduled to continue through late 2010. Mr. Freed knows that I’m utterly fascinated with this whole process, so he was kind enough to provide me (and you) with a photo of a recently completed section of the Kenmore tunnel. This is very cool:
For those of you who are interested in knowing more about how tunneling machines work, just click on the picture below for an animated boring machine at work.
I would like to thank David Freed and his associates for providing us with information regarding this critical project. There are a lot of people working hard to upgrade the infrastructure of the area. For more details and pictures about the project, click on this link: http://kenmore.neighborhoodsundressed.com/2008/06/05/a-good-neighbor-a-huge-project-brightwater/ This is truly important work!
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Nov
03
Posted by James Lupori
Sara Palin’s ill-fated interview with Katie Couric has been beaten to death by the pundits, comics and the press. One of the most embarrassing moments for Mrs. Palin was when she was asked about what publications she read to keep up with current events. As you know, she was unable to name any. Arguably, this was a disaster for her reputation. She seemed uninformed or, worse yet, apathetic. In her defense, it’s obvious that her handlers failed to prepare her properly for the interview. What VP candidate would have allowed an interview with the press without reviewing the questions prior to the event?
But my point here is not to belittle Sara Palin. My point is that she could have avoided this whole situation had she simply set up a Google RSS Reader! Yes, dear friends, she would have come across as a well-educated, thoughtful and “hip” Vice Presidential candidate had she simply said: ”Why Katie, I’m glad you asked me that. I happen to have an RSS Reader in Google and I keep up with 20 publications each day. The best thing is, I don’t have to spend hours doing it!”
So, what is an RSS Reader and how do you set one up? Let me explain. On most Internet sites you will see this icon. Please click on it to watch a short explanation of RSS Readers:
RSS or REAL SIMPLE SYNDICATION refers to an Internet formatting technology that allows you to retrieve content from your favorite on-line publications, blogs or websites and to display them in your “reader.” This way you can create a dynamic “current events” platform to read about any or all of your interests. There are a several RSS feeders out there. I’m going to show you how to set up a Google Reader. Are you ready?
1) You need to create a Gmail email account. Just go to www.google.com and set up your address.
2) Next, select the “more” drop down menu and then select “reader:”
3) You’ll then click on the “add subscription” icon……….
Which opens up the address box and asks you for the address:
4) I like to use the Seattle Times website as an example because the RSS icon is easily found at the top of the page as depicted below. Now, click on the icon which will bring you to a page that displays RSS feeds for many different categories:
In our example, I’ve selected Food & Wine as one of my favorite subjects. Of course, as a Realtor (c) I’ve selected the RSS feed for real estate articles. The beauty of this system is that you can select any Internet publications (with feeds) to provide you with up-to-date information about virtually anything.
5) To acquire the address of the Food & Wine feed, simply right-click the subject. This will bring up a window with a URL address. Copy this address and then paste it into the reader:
Presto! You’ve now set up a direct feed from the Seattle Times which will place all the Food & Wine articles right into your reader. This is really cool! I do have some advice: Don’t put too many feeds in. I have about 20 publications in my reader. If I don’t purge articles for a couple of days, the reader may produce 700-800 articles.
I’ve met a few people who question the value of an RSS reader claiming that they don’t have enough time in the day as it is. My answer is that using an RSS feed allows one to stay informed in an increasingly complicated world by allowing the reader to select subjects in an orgainzed, concentrated way. You spend less time looking through magazines and websites and get right to the heart of the matter. Give it a try, what have you got to lose?
Picture courtesy of roque9
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Oct
20
Posted by James Lupori
How are you dealing with all of the technological changes in your life? Let’s face it, iPods, computers, telecommunication technology and other tools have literally transformed our world. I don’t know about you in your career but as a Realtor (c) it’s incredibly important that I keep up with a MASSIVE amount of information. I must also adapt to new communication technology (phone and computer) and I need to distill all of this “stuff” into a coherent package (or toolkit) that I can use to be effective in my work as a real estate agent. This very blog is the result of a huge number of technologies working together. Trying to keep up is like drinking through a fire hose. It wasn’t so long ago that things were……..different:
I went to high school in the early and mid 1970’s….you know, we had disco and high inflation (or stagflation..I can never remember which), the unpopular Vietnam War was raging on and we had any number of other crises from OPEC’s gas embargo to to Richard Nixon’s plumber’s union. I sure some of you don’t remember that there was even a “Cold War” going on. Basically, humanity was wrestling with some fairly complicated issues. Looking back, it’s hard to believe our troops in Vietnam couldn’t just email family and friends, the President had to call the Soviets on the “red phone” if there was a dispute or missunderstanding. We barely had VCR’s and video games. Computers were rare. In fact, my high school had a couple of small computers that only the most dedicated math geniuses could fathom. When I look back on it, it’s as if we were moving through time in the dark. How anything got done is a miracle……….
On a more personal level, I grew up in a small town in Utah. I went to a medium-sized high school and all my friends and I dreamed about was graduating, going to college and getting a place of our own. We were products of a world in which technology and communications was, by today’s standards, paleolithic. Through it all, we did have a number of visionary thinkers that tried to tell us a new age was coming. One of the most well-know was Alvin Toffler. His seminal work was entitled “Future Shock.” Written in 1970, I remember our history and social science teachers showing us a short film based on his concepts. Basically, Toffler addressed, head-on some of the very issues modern technology has brought our way: the problems of dealing with change, the creation of a throw-away society, the breakdown of borders, advanced technological shifts, the creation of alternative lifestyles (a interesting concept at that time) and a whole lot more. In short, Toffler believed that all of this change was going to ultimately have powerful affects on humans and that the very volume and velocity of change was going to cause political, social and family challenges………………………….OH HOW RIGHT HE WAS. For those of you who haven’t read Future Shock, I think it’s worth your time to revisit this provocative book and think about how you’re dealing with all the change coming at us every day.
On a lighter note, a good friend of my sent me a link to an interesting and helpful website: Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies. The site includes a free list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning. It’s truly amazing to me that a mere 30 years ago none of these “tools” existed. Think about it: we didn’t have the Internet, high speed communication lines, “on-line social networks,” email, (no voice mail either), home computers, document scanning, cell phones, iPods,…..etc. I hope you check out the list as you may come across a few tools that can make life just a little bit easier. Just click on the picture below to begin your journey. Have fun.
Technology pic by Lost in Scotland
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Jul
02
Posted by James Lupori
Those of you who have been reading my blog know that I’m a Realtor with Keller Williams North Seattle. I’m also a partner in a real estate marketing company called the ROCS Alliance. We have been creating a comprehensive program that real estate agents, from any company can utilize. These include computer/IT solutions; premium marketing materials for their clients; and ultimately provide systems that help agents develop successful businesses no matter what challenges the marketplace throws our way. The very blog you’re reading is just one of the most important tools the ROCS Alliance offers. ROCS agents want to be positioned as wealth determiners for our clients and drive them to the resources that make them successful.
