My first public speech as a 'blogger'

Last week I did my debut as a speaker, in my role as a 'blogger', at an event held by the Swedish commercial property company, Brinova. (I've done too many speeches to remember in my 'day job' as Product Manager at Datscha). 

The event

The focus of the event was 'The future of logistics' (since Brinova mainly owns that type of properties). In other words, not the property market itself. Among the 150+ attendees there were people from all the large players like DHL, Schenker and to customers like IKEA. 

The event was, by far, the most tech-savvy 'property event' I've been to. Just to mention two aspects of it, it was live streamed over Bambuser (no quality to talk about but hey, they were trying), and they had the attendees to do polls using their mobile phones (for example what the last topic should be about).

My presentation

I was invited by Brinova's marketing coordinator Jonas Hallström (LinkedIN and @JonasHallstrom) to talk about 'Software as a Service' (SaaS) in general (not commercial real estate specific). An invitation I of course couldn't turn down. 

Here are the slides: 

(Great slides make no sense without the 'sound'...) 

... and from the Bambuser recording. 

(I enter the stage at 1h 29m.
Unfortunately, the sound doesn't work until 1h 58m, and hardly even then.)   

Sum up

Everything went great and I got lot of positive feedback afterwards.
It seems to have sparked quite a few conversations. 
Which was the assignment.  ;-)  

Huskolla - A new app for the Swedish residential market

Earlier this week I travelled with my family home to my parents place (Karlskrona) to celebrate Christmas (starting with a few days of remote work). To my surprise, the first thing I see opening the local paper (BLT); is a story about a new App (Huskolla) for the residential market! Brilliant.

In the photo: Fredrik Malmros, CEO Infotrader & Nicklas Platow CEO Rapparna.

Background

Even if I was surprised to see the article it came as no surprise when reading about who was behind it. The company InfoTrader has been around for over 10 years creating information services for, among others, the property industry. In cooperation with Rapparna, a newly formed app consulting firm in Karlskrona, they have started the company Huskolla AB which owns the app. 

Benefits

First of all the app is free to download from AppStore (an Android version is to be released). After installing the user is able to search among all single family houses and summer houses in Sweden (in total some 2 million properties) by entering an address or using the map. 

When clicking on a property an information screen appears.

The data includes: 
   * property name (id)
   * plot size
   * building area 
   * address
   * assessment value 
   * latest change in ownership (price & date) 
   * Residents name & telephone number  

In the menu to the right a number of extra services could be purchased: 
   * detailed property info   (75 SEK  ~ 8 Euro)
   * value approximation     (85 SEK  ~ 10 Euro) 
   * neighbourhood data (49 SEK  ~ 5 Euro)    
   * property boundaries (22 SEK  ~ 2 Euro)   See screenshot above.  

The data covers all single family houses and summer cottages in Sweden.
No commercial buildings or farms.

Of course, it also includes augmented  functionality.

 

My Thoughts

To my knowledge this one of the first services (regardless of App or not) that for the public makes it extremely easy to find the property name, size, assessment data and so on. (There are a number of professional services that shows more detailed info but also demands an agreement from the government to use.) There is a service provided by the Swedish Land Register, but it cost 50 SEK per report and has no mapping functionality. 

What I find most interesting is that the name and telephone number is displayed. I've never seen a service (for the public) that displays this data. However, as stated in the App it isn't the 'titled owner', instead it is the registered resident in the building (in Swedish 'folkbokförd'). In other words, this data is not extracted from the Swedish Land Register. 

It will be interesting to follow how this service (and other like it) will evolve in the future. The potential in apps will for sure unlock lots of interesting data. 

Live stream from the 'Kefren' property auction

Auctions of commercial properties are not common practice in Sweden. Even rarer are the ones live streamed (?) on the Internet, but tomorrow will be the last day of one of those. 

One of the largest deals ever ends up in a bankrupt

In 2006 the Danish property company Keops acquired two Swedish property portfolios from Kungsleden. The transaction was one of the largest ever pure property transactions in Swedish history (159 properties with a lettable area of 830 000 sqm).

The two portfolios together formed Keops IX, which was later renamed to Kefren Properties IX AB (The group's Swedish parent company). Earlier this year Kefren was declared bankrupt and the Properties is now auctioned via the Swedish Enforcement Authority by individual public auctions. 

High tech set up

Not only has this been the 'who-is-who' event of the year, but it has also been live streamed on the Internet! The url for today's five hours session is http://www.catellaproperty.se/sv/Kefren10.aspx or go to the Catella's (the broker) page to find the current link.  

Furthermore, FastighetsVärlden (the largest paper in the industry) has been live blogging (?) with an update frequency that is only second to Engadget at an Apple keynote. 

 

My thoughts

I'm really impressed by the set up from both the broker (the streaming) and the journalists (live blogging). For sure, both are making great use of the Internet.

The story behind Hemnet's mobile apps

During the web conference 'Webbdagarna' in Göteborg last week, Hemnet presented the story behind their mobile apps. 

The presentation is streamed via Bambuser.  
Part 1: http://bambuser.com/channel/stefanwaborg/broadcast/1989260  
Part 2: http://bambuser.com/channel/stefanwaborg/broadcast/1989330 

The representative from Hemnet is Anders Nystedt, Controller Hemnet (http://twitter.com/#!/enders). And yes, it's in Swedish.  

 

Take aways

The main points from the presentation where;

Hemnet 

• started in 1998
• four different versions launched 1998, 2001, 2009 and 2011
• 1,3 million unique web browsers per week
• 7 million objects are viewed every week
• average stay 10 minutes

Mobile app

iPhone

• launched in 2009 August
• 500 000 installations
• 140 000 unique users every week (and growing)

Android

• launched in 2010 July
• 125 000 installations
• slower growth

 iPAD

• launched in 2011 January
• 100 000 installations
• traffic as the Android

 Financing

• ad supported 
• especially from banks 
• 11 million ad views per month

My thoughts

Great presentation to gain insight in the statistics about the Hemnet Apps. 

QR codes used by a Swedish commercial real estate owner

This morning I walked past a construction site down town in Stockholm and something caught my eye.  

First I thought it was the fact that it was a construction site. Remember, I've a master in Civil Engineering, but then I realised what it was. Actually, two things, the billboard is used to: 

• ask for input regarding what services to put a street level
• promote using QR codes 

Ask for input

By using the QR code, or the printed url, one comes to a web page with a simple input form asking for tips. There is no list, voting or any other functionality. But at least, the company is trying to get input from the neighbours and people passing by.  

What is a QR code?

The QR code is that rectangle figure in the lower right corner that looks like a printing error. Each figure has a unique pattern which could be read by a QR reader. There are a large number of different readers and many of them available as apps for 'smart phones'.

The way is works is:

     1) launch the QR app

     2) point the 'camera' at the QR code

     3) the app scans the figure

     4) the app analyse the pattern and returns a URL link

In the example above, the link is http://www.wallenstam.se/om/projekt11/Bostader/Stockholm/Detalj/?ProjectId=4999  

My thoughts

First of all, impressed by the way Wallenstam is using new technology and social media in order to create buzz around a residential project. 

Secondly, I believe the QR codes could be of great use in the commercial real estate industry. Add them to posters in empty space locations that today (just) have a number to the broker/owner. The benefit of this is that it's easy for someone that walks by to use the phone to scan the code and then surf for more details. Furthermore, (this is the best thing) the link is saved in app and could be used when wanting to go back to the information.

Here is an article about the use of it in the US with a great quote.  

"Building owners love the idea, using technology in a very competitive market. Our only cost is paper and the time to put them up," Reuter said.