the believerThe believerhttp://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009-10-14T20:59:15ZSquarespaceCEO at a large construction company starts blogginghttp://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/10/14/ceo-at-a-large-construction-company-starts-blogging.htmlMagnus2009-10-14T16:22:05Z2009-10-14T16:22:05ZI'm impressed. The CEO (Per-Ingemar Persson) at Veidekke Sweden, one of Swedens largest construction companies, has started to blog at http://per-ingemar.se/.
The first entry has the 'Why starting to blog?' (translated to english, using Google Translate). A highly relevant question if one start doing something that few (none?) others in the same position are doing.
Per-Ingemar says:
"... It is therefore particularly important to increase communication with both employees and suppliers in the sector and the customers we have been privileged to work with. Both by getting bring our thoughts and ideas but also to get feedback on how we can improve on to get satisfied customers and dedicated employees, and how we can become more attractive to our suppliers as partners. I think the blog is such an instrument that can serve these purposes."
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]]>Augmented Reality Real Estate Valuationshttp://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/9/26/augmented-reality-real-estate-valuations.htmlMagnus2009-09-26T13:01:52Z2009-09-26T13:01:52ZJoel Burslem who writes the blog Future or Real Estate Marketing has a great story about a French residential brokerage firm that has developed a valuation tool using augmented reality technology.
]]>Fasticon launches a new HR web-service at Business Arena Real Estatehttp://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/9/22/fasticon-launches-a-new-hr-web-service-at-business-arena-rea.htmlMagnus2009-09-22T05:08:24Z2009-09-22T05:08:24ZIt's not to common that a new IT system is launched at a Swedish real estate fair, but it happened at Business Arena Real Estate (a event with 1500 delegates in Stockholm on the 16-17th September).
The company
Fasticon, a leading management consulting firm for real estate companies on the Swedish market, has over the years increased their services in the area of Human Resources. For example, providing services for recruiting and replacement.
The solution
Their newest offering is 'FastiKompetens', a web-based system for competence management.
It has been developed in close partnership with StockholmsHem(a large municipality owned residential property company) over the last year.
The aim of the solution is to make it more visible, for both the employee and the management, what skills are present within the company, what is needed, the plan for training and a list of preferred courses.
Each employee has its own 'page' with the CV and competence plan.
The aim has been to create a system that both is easy to start using and specific for the the property industry. The technical development has been done by the IT consulting firm Sajtkonsulterna.
Next step
The system will go live at the first client on the 1st of October and the plan is to add new clients in the beginning of 2010.
]]>Is Hemnet going for commercial listings?http://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/8/16/is-hemnet-going-for-commercial-listings.htmlMagnus2009-08-16T11:35:36Z2009-08-16T11:35:36ZYesterday I stumbled upon an interesting article in the magazine FastighetsMäklaren (Issue 1, 2009, just in print). It was an article about Hemnet (the leading residential listing service in Sweden) where it was mentioned in one sentence that Hemnet is creating a listing service for commercial properties.
According to the page above it is supposed to be released in the autumn using this logo.
This could also explain why there currently is a navigation at Hemnet which only has one choice; 'Residential'. I guess they will be adding 'commercial' in the near future.
To be released in September?
According to the agenda for the 'Storhusseminaret', arranged by Mäklarsamfundet (The Association of Swedish Real Estate Agen) in late September, there will be a presentation by Eva Sjögren and Andreas Löwgren from Hemnet on the topic "Launch of Hemnets kommersiella.se".
Interesting development
It will be interesting indeed to follow how Hemnet will be approaching the market of investment properties. Which, according to me, differs greatly from residential listings. The main difference is that (as of today) it is not too common to use any of the listing services around. Especially not for larger investment portfolios.
In Sweden there are two listing services for commercial properties. The mentioned service Kommersiella.se has been around since 2001 and Objektvision was released in 1998. The latter is the biggest and owned by Alma Media which also runs the site Bovision which is competitor to Hemnet in the area of residential listings.
Update
Carl-Henric Borg, CEO at Hemnet, confirms (over Twitter @HemnetVD) that they will release a commercial listing site later this autumn.
Interesting, very interesting.
]]>Hemnet.se launches an iPhone applicationhttp://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/8/4/hemnetse-launches-an-iphone-application.htmlMagnus2009-08-04T19:06:48Z2009-08-04T19:06:48ZThe pick of the season among real estate listing services is to launch an iPhone application (1, 2, 3 and 4). Yesterday it was Hemnet, the leading Swedish service, turn to put their services to the table.
First impression
Impressed! Not bad at all.
You're able to search both using the built in GPS or by choosing any municipality. Easy to use map. Multiple photos. Save listings to 'My Hemnet'. Calculate monthly costs. Able to contact the agent through a call or email.
However, the best thing is the ability to take your own photos from the open house and store them together with the listing.
Room for improvements
The search is a bit confusing in the beginning. Took me a while to find the detail search page (first do a search, then click 'filter') and understand what types of listings that are presented.
But the biggest disappointment, after 15 minutes of hard search on the Internet version of Hemnet, was to understand that their is actually two different 'My Hemnet'. One on the Internet version and one on the iPhone. The highlighted listings are synced but not the photos I've taken on a listing. Confusing and takes away the benefit.
One functionality that I don't understand why they put into the application (both versions) is the register of building suppliers, removal companies, storage and so on. There are 'yellow pages' services doing this much better. Instead I would like to see more statistics and tools for handling the process of buying a home.
Finally, the video from Hemnet showing their new iPhone application.
]]>Increasing online presence in the Swedish real estate industryhttp://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/7/10/increasing-online-presence-in-the-swedish-real-estate-indust.htmlMagnus2009-07-10T10:50:51Z2009-07-10T10:50:51ZI've updated my page 'the list' with a few more real estate focused blogs (and Twitter feeds) in Sweden. A few highlights:
]]>GPS - the killer app for mobile services in real estatehttp://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/6/29/gps-the-killer-app-for-mobile-services-in-real-estate.htmlMagnus2009-06-29T16:09:26Z2009-06-29T16:09:26ZIn the real estate industry there is a saying that it's all about 'location, location and location'. If that is true, then the possibilities are endless when GPS functionality is coming to the mobile devices.
Here are a few examples of the applications that have been released over the last 6 months.
Layar
This is a very impressive solution where you point your mobile phone's camera on the buildings and get information about apartments for sale. You've to see the video below.
From the Techcrunch blog post: "Layar is a so-called ‘augmented reality browser’, an application that turns you mobile phone’s camera viewer - only on Android-powered phones for the time being - into a full-fledged information portal and local business search engine. It essentially puts an information overlay on top of your camera view, bringing digital data of various sorts into play whenever you’re looking at or for something in the real world.
Imagine being on the look-out for a great new place in a street nearby your current apartment or house and seeing all the real estate listings, with some details and pricing included right from your mobile device as you’re walking down the street. Imagine watching status updates your friends pushed to social networks roll in with location information attached to them (e.g. ‘Tweets Nearby’). Imagine finding information on ATMs, public transport etc. in a city you’re visiting just by starting up the camera on your mobile phone. And thanks to an integration with Google Local Search, how about being able to look up contact information and reviews for businesses (e.g. restaurants, bars, etc.) in your direct neighborhood with one-click dialing capability?"
"Taxi Madrid is an useful tool for taxi cabs travelers to calculate routes, distance, time and fares on map.It will use GPS to determinate your actual address and calculate all the taxi ride cost to the point you want to go." From the blog.
Those where just a few teasers on what could be done using the GPS functionality in mobile devices. More examples could be found in the Wired 'Inside the GPS revolution' article.
I believe there will be great efforts to create location based applications for the real estate professionals in the near future. Just wait and see...
]]>The new Hemnet - version 2.0 or 1.4?http://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/6/10/the-new-hemnet-version-20-or-14.htmlMagnus2009-06-10T19:30:10Z2009-06-10T19:30:10ZIn the web industry the use of term '2.0' comes with a large responsibility. There has to be a significant update.
Therefore, I was a bit disappointed today when the indeed anticipated 'Hemnet 2.0' version was launched. (Hemnet is the largest residential search engine in Sweden, more here.) I was expecting more. (So did 100s of people on Twitter.) Anyway, let us go through the new version.
Faster and better search
In the earlier version the search was divided into three different pages. In the new version it's done direct on the starting page.
It's also easier to do changes to the search options and start an new search when the search bar is always on the top of the page. (However, it would have been great if you were able to minimize the search bar if needed in order to scroll less.)
An improvement is that the search parameter 'size of land' has been added.
Better 'account' The biggest improvement has been done to the functionalities in the account area 'My Hemnet'. You're now able to easier create 'default' searches, save listings of interest, get updates through RSS and see changes done to a listing.
More data One thing the new services on the market (like Booli and Boliga) has forced Hemnet to do is to be much more transparent about data like number of days on the market. Over the last weeks this data has been added to Hemnet and this continues.
The graph below displays a specific listing (in blue) in comparison with sold (red) and listings (green) regarding number of days on the market (Y-axis) and asked price in million SEK (X-axis).
You're also able to see the price for listings in the area that has been sold.
The not so good
First impression isn't great. The starting page, with all flashing banners about Hemnet (?), is very confusing. Nothing new with the map (or have I missed something?). The usability and design has lot to ask. It is confusing how to find the detail statistics. And so on...
However, the biggest disappointment is that Hemnet is not able to make an overall better solution. The possibilities are endless with their position and all their data.
To sum up
A great initiative to make improvements, but in my book it isn't a version 2.0.
More a version 1.4.
Additional reading Is found here (all in Swedish): 1 (article at IDG), 2 (OhSoHighTech), 3 (MKSE), 4 (Norén), 5 (Bostadsknarkaren) and finally the press release 6.
]]>A debate on Swedish search engines... on Twitter!http://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/5/19/a-debate-on-swedish-search-engines-on-twitter.htmlMagnus2009-05-19T20:56:50Z2009-05-19T20:56:50ZTwo weeks back I wrote about the pressure on the 'old guys' on the Swedish residential search engine market. And the temperature is climbing.... with just 9 days to the release of the new version of the largest service, Hemnet, the debate is sparkling among the contenders... on Twitter!
The starting point was that Per Johnler (CEO Fastighetsbyrån, one of the largest brokerage firms in Sweden, andChairman of Hemnet) wrote at @PerJohnler that "Interesting with all the new residential sites. It's great with choices..." (my translation).
A post that two of the founders at Booli (a start-up in residential search), Peo Nilsson (CEO) and Anders Kyhlstedt (Marketing Manager) was quick to take action on since the statement is 'quite' different from the 'normal' reaction among brokers. According to Peo also were different from the chat those gentlemen had when Booli was introduced and Per demanded that all listings from Fastighetsbyrån should be removed from Booli. Which Booli refused.
Per himself hasn't responded to the question from the Booli team. However, Fastighetsbyråns Johan Vesterberg (Press Officer) took the role as spokesperson for Fastighetsbyrån (Not Hemnet).
Booli push hard for their offering of a market channel for all brokers and 'their' listings
FastighetsByrån hasn't finalized their strategy on how to handle all the new online channels
My reflections 1) The market for residential search engines on the Swedish market has changed a lot the last two years and I convinced it will change even more the upcoming two years. How will be the winners? I bet for the ones who are most eager to adapt to the new market.
2) It will be very interesting indeed to see the Hemnet's new version (due in 9 days) and if their strategy will change with a new CEO and Chairman.
3) I believe Rudolf at Disruptive has a great point in comparing with the music industry. In the long run, you can't protect yourself against change. You've to adapt. It hurts, but the alternative isn't better.
]]>Great video explaining different aspects of the cloudhttp://www.thebeliever.se/smart-use-of-internet/2009/5/19/great-video-explaining-different-aspects-of-the-cloud.htmlMagnus2009-05-19T20:42:29Z2009-05-19T20:42:29ZConfused over the cloud? Don't understand the difference between the cloud and a SaaS solution?
