I Just Called To Say...

Is a sales call free speech?

At what point is calling intrusive?

And finally - is there ever a convenient time to call someone to make a sales pitch?

This week, the National Do Not Call registry topped 200 million people, or about 66% of the population.

So, I think it's safe to say that people loathe being contacted and sold to while trying to eat dinner.

Of course, tech-savvy agents know this. Time was, the only way to immediately contact people was intrusively - either knocking on their door or calling them on the phone.

But now, technology has made contacting people less-intrusive. Text-messaging has surpassed phone calls on cell phones not because text-messaging is easier (although some argue it is), but because it's less intrusive.

E-mail and text messaging have made it possible to communicate and not irritate.

At DotLoop, for example, your clients can be notified via text message or e-mail that their offer has been approved or that their electronic signature is needed. It's convenient for them and it respects their time.

Besides, they may be busy trying to convince the sales guy on the other end of the line that they don't need replacement windows or vinyl siding.

A Porch, of Course!

Remember front porches?

Like bell-bottoms and vinyl records, they're making a comeback. Well, maybe not bell-bottoms - I really don't know for sure about those. I'm no fashionista.

But front porches - they're hot right now.

It seems people are tired of not knowing their neighbors. As new urbanists take hold of their neighborhoods and try to recapture the lost art of conversing with the neighbors and leaving their cars at home, front porches are back en vogue.

And it couldn't have come at a better time.

With the uncertainty surrounding almost all aspects of our daily lives today, it's good to know that you can still count on your neighbor and have an authentic conversation on your front porch.

Of course, here at DotLoop, we talk an awful lot about community, because we believe a house is more than just bricks, mortar, and copper wiring. Homes help build neighborhoods, cities, and lives.

And sometimes, it all starts with a porch.

Cellular Breakdown

Your cell phone may be killing you, and eggs are bad for you.

Or not.

Not sure if you heard the news (and if you heard it from your cell phone, you're really not going to like this), but it turns out that cell phones may cause brain tumors.

Or not.

The truth is, nobody knows for sure, but then again, nobody knew if ships would fall off the edge of the world until they tried, either.

This weekend, however, the cell phone industry is suing the city of San Francisco over its new labeling law, which gives consumers access to the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) limit of each cell phone at the point-of-sale.

It turns out the cell phone industry does not like making those numbers readily available to consumers who are enamored by their shiny phones.

I for one think labeling is fine - even needed - and that this lawsuit is about as silly as the first cell phones.

After all, information is power, and the more information someone has, the better informed their decisions are. It's just like the recent calorie labeling enacted in New York. Who wouldn't want to know how many calories are in a "low-fat" blueberry muffin?

The science of cell phone tumors is still up in the air, so, whether cell phones turn into the new asbestos or if they're as innocuous coffee, knowing the information can only be a good thing.

Who knows, maybe if home buyers knew more than the banks were legally responsible to tell them, our economy wouldn't be so unhealthy.

Real Estate Connect Recap

Putting a cap on this week, we thought we'd recap last week's Inman Real Estate Connect in San Francisco with a tally of some of the Innovator Awards winners.

As mentioned, DotLoop partner The Goodlife Team won top honors for being the Best Brokerage, but a special mention should be made to TechSavvyAgent, who came away as the Best Blog. Congratulations, Chris!

The other winners:

• Best Brokerage or Franchise: The Goodlife Team from Austin, Texas
• Best New Technology: ZipRealty’s Home Scan
• Best Web Service: Houston Association of Realtors’ Realtor Match
• Best Blog: Tech Savvy Agent (Chris Smith)
• Best Media Site: ProPublica Eye on Loan Modifications
• Innovator of the Year: It was a two-way tie between Sherry Chris, Better Homes and Garden’s CEO; and Dale Stinton, National Association of Realtors' CEO

Congratulations to all the winners! Keep on innovating and have a wonderful weekend!

From Scrolls to Scroll Bars

Does less paper equal less environmental damage?

Before you answer "of course!", think about it, because context is important.

As mentioned Wednesday, Amazon.com recently celebrated its 15th anniversary of selling everything from Tolstoy to trombones. Obviously, the retail giant has changed the way we buy goods, but with e-books now outselling traditional paper books, it's also completely changed the way we do our summer reading.

The knee-jerk reaction, though, is to assume that that's great for the environment.

But what about the environmental impact of creating a Kindle? Sure, less trees may be destroyed to sell the latest Dan Brown novel (which is a shame, really - that Dan Brown gets to keep making novels, not the saved trees), but how much energy goes into making a Kindle?

It's an interesting question, especially with the nearly monthly onslaught of new, better, and faster e-readers coming to the market (iPad, included).

That's not to say that this latest evolution in reading-from scrolls to scroll bars-is a bad thing; ultimately, any process that makes it easier to access information is a good thing. But before upgrading to the latest and greatest, think about the environmental impact of all your gadgets, or, recycle or re-sell your old gadget after you upgrade.

At DotLoop, we understand just how powerful a paperless transaction can be, not just in terms of saved time, stress, and gas, but with saved trees as well. With the average negotiation taking up to 100 pages of paper to complete, and no need for a specialized e-reader to finish an online negotiation, DotLoop certainly helps the environment.

No ifs, ands, or bytes about it.

Crammed Cells

With summer vacation in full swing, many of you no doubt have seen the station wagons and SUVs driving down the highways, bursting with suitcases and various pool toys.

You may have even seen Clark Griswold driving his family to Wally World.

As you pass him by, though don't blame an over-stuffed trunk for the weighed-down back tires.

Blame his smartphone.

As reported today, Android smartphones are getting weighed down by more and more "bloatware"- with many phone now coming pre-loaded with trial software and apps that users cannot delete.

Anyone who has to click the little 'x' on the "free" trail of McAfee virus-protection whenever they start their PC up knows all about bloatware.

DotLoop, of course, has mastered the art of giving both simplicity and power in one simple, online site. You won't find any bloated features here, just the most state-of-the-art site designed to streamline your negotiations and get your job done more effectively and efficiently.

After all, who wants to be weighed down with excess paperwork?

Windows™ Shopping

You might be able to buy a belated birthday card in case you missed Amazon.com's 15th birthday last Friday.

Of course, make sure you buy it over the Internet.

As Time reported last week, the online shopping giant fundamentally changed retail shopping all with a click of a mouse.

Interestingly enough, one of the first known online web purchases wasn't from Amazon.com and it wasn't a best-selling novel. It was a pepperoni pizza with mushrooms and extra cheese from Pizza Hut.

I remember ordering a pizza from my computer during my freshman year of college, marveling how futuristic it was to order from a computer.

Now, most of us purchase items we never thought possible online (eBay cars, anyone?); we often even keep our credit card information on-file for convenient, one-click shopping. That's how comfortable people are with shopping online.

DotLoop, of course, has taken online shopping one step further, allowing clients and agents to negotiate purchasing terms for real estate all with the click of a button. It has made smudged contracts and uncertainty about what was agreed upon a thing of the past.

You know, the past - waaaay back in 1994.

Pregnant Pause

Attention expectant parents: don't expect to have a baby shower and a house-warming party at the same time.

As you may have heard, banks are getting finicky with their lending, as even a flawless financial record seems suspect these days.

So, it would make sense that the next step to figuring out if you can really afford that mortgage is to see if there will be more mouths to feed at the kitchen table.

As the New York Times reported yesterday, banks are taking a pregnant pause when considering mortgage loans to pregnant couples.

It's a harsh reality and the banks aren't taking any chances. Kids cost cash. Maternity leave may not be counted as a full-time employment and is often considered short-term "disability" leave.

Fannie and Freddie guidelines allow for borrowers to simply get a note from their employer and doctor stating when they will be back to work, but of course, banks are naturally "picking and choosing what parts of the Freddie and Fannie guidelines they want to use and how they will interpret them."

So, now they are preventing you from getting your new crib just because you are getting a new crib.

And, while it's true that it makes sense financially for banks to try to eliminate as much risk as possible for a loan (in some parts of Europe, a borrower has to take a health exam; after all, if you're dead, you can't pay your loan back), for an industry that not too long ago approved NINA (No Income, No Asset) loans, this reeks of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Not to mention hypocrisy.

Of course, if you do happen to get your loan turned down because you are having a baby, it may be a great first-lesson to your child: banks are not your friends.

Duh Dot Com

Quick, what year was the U.S. Constitution adopted?

Difficulty: No Google allowed.

Do you remember this from high school? Or were you crafty enough to split hairs and use Bing to find the answer?

If you had to hunt for the answer on anything that required a computer chip, chances are you may agree with The Atlantic's article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

The argument goes that with everyone connected to the Internet 24/7, our ability to solve problems or even read a long novel is diminished when we are used to instantaneous access to information.

Last week, Forbes countered, arguing that the Internet is making us smarter, not dumber. Some go so far as to suggest that video games are making kids smarter, not dumber, which may be a stretch.

Either way, the argument is missing a key component, as most arguments today are: context.

We have a lot of information and can site stats, but do we know the story behind the stats or why these facts make up our world? Knowing the underlying connections and not just boatloads of information is what makes us smarter. So, the real question should be: is Google making us link our world together? No pun intended.

DotLoop is a perfect example. Whereas before, any negotiation's history was lost once the over-faxed, coffee-stained contract got blown around by the wind, with DotLoop, every step in the negotiation is tracked, giving the overall process context.

So, whether you are a technophobe or a tech geek, understanding the context of your world is what really makes you smart, not just memorizing superficial facts.

And for all those who like their facts, the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1787.

Top Prize For The Goodlife Team

As mentioned earlier this week, DotLoop partner The Goodlife Team was nominated for the 2010 Inman Innovator Award.

As mentioned now, they won! The Austin, Texas-based brokerage won top honors for the Most Innovative Brokerage or Franchise. Here's what Inman had to say about them:

The GoodLife Team, a boutique real estate firm based in Austin, Texas, takes an agent team approach to its brokerage. The small company has a focus on training and technology and is led by Krisstina Wise, principal and broker. The website features property, neighborhood and school details and information about area activities.

Congratulations to the forward-thinking, hard-working, and tech-savvy agents at The Goodlife Team. Keep up the great work!

Keep It Local

Local wins every time.

Just ask Texas.

Having put up with their shady practices for the last few years, fifteen homeowners have banded together to file a class-action lawsuit against Bank of America for their unfair, illegal, and highly unethical behavior throughout the current housing crash.

From foreclosing on a home that had already been sold, to foreclosing on a home that they did not even have a loan with (oops!), BofA has routinely crossed the line with home owners and sellers and has made the jobs of local agents trying to help home-owners and sellers exceedingly difficult, as reported by AgentGenius.com.

Take, for example, the story of the Floridian couple who had their home foreclosed on earlier this year. The home that they had paid cash for. As it turns out, BofA had the wrong address, which tends to happen when you're processing paperwork in a completely different state. Even a local Realtor could not convince that them they had the wrong home.

Of course, a lot of these headaches could have been prevented by taking a more local approach to banking. This current financial meltdown has unfortunately tarnished the reputation of the entire banking industry, which is sad because there are still a lot of good banks out there.

As any agent knows, in real estate, locally-focused wins every time. Great agents know their towns, neighborhoods and blocks better than anyone. A local approach allows business to transact between people, not ones and zeroes in far-off states.

DotLoop understands this as well; our system helps foster the communication between agent and client; indeed it offers even more transparency to the negotiation process (no illegible changes crammed into the margins of a contract).

After all, when it's all boiled down, even with using the latest technology to aid the negotiation, the home buying and selling processes still require a human touch, and a local approach.

Our-topia

Yesterday, CNN's Money.com announced its Top 100 Places to Live, and Nice, France was not anywhere on the list.

Upon further review, it looks like this was a USA-centric compilation, so I guess the lack of a Mediterranean local makes sense.

These lists are always kind of funny, really. What makes a place great to live in is just so subjective. I mean, if you hate snow, you'll hate living in the supposed "Best Place to Live" of Eden Prairie, MN with its 3.7 degree January temperatures.

And sure, low crime rates, high employment, and housing prices that won't take three generations to pay off all add up to a nice general idea of a great place to live, but what about all of the qualitative features of a community?

Friendly neighbors, a wide range of local restaurants, sidewalks? These are the things that make a place the "best".

Some things you just can't quantify and chart out.

Good News For The Goodlife Team

DotLoop is proud to announce that our partner The Goodlife Team out of Austin, Texas, has been selected as a finalist for one of the real estate industry's most coveted awards, the 2010 Inman Innovator Award.

It's no surprise that The Goodlife Team has been nominated. As a leader within the real estate industry, they have applied technology to everything they do, helping ensure an easy, efficient, and convenient negotiation for their clients and agents alike.

“Krisstina Wise and The Goodlife Team recognize that the modern consumer values convenience, ease of use, and transparency,” says The Goodlife Team’s Company Rep. “They also see that being able to work with customer's transactions online not only saves the company money, but creates a brand value that The Goodlife Team is fast, efficient, and easy to work with in what is normally a very difficult process.”

The winners will be announced this week at the 2010 Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco.

Just The Fax, Ma'am

The Internet is chock full of top-ten lists, enough to make a top ten list for that day's best top-ten lists.

Today's top-ten list of mention, however, comes to us from the folks at MSNBC who dedicated their list to Technologies That Should Be Extinct (But Aren't).

Interestingly, they mention DotLoop's old friend and home buyers' and sellers' fiend, the fax machine. The blurb even mentions the real estate industry as one of the main purveyors of its enduring, screeching noises.

"This endurance," says NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin, "is in part a testament to the failure of digital signatures that would allow us to e-mail certified copies of contracts and similar documents."

Now, that's about as silly as legwarmers. Anyone who has purchased a book through Amazon.com or a Mr. Mister song through iTunes has already used digital signatures. The ESIGN and UETA Acts ensure that contracts signed digitally have just as much validity as a traditional, smeared Bic signature.

As for the fax machine, well, those are about as outdated as Jennifer Grey's old nose.

LaHood Does Good For Neighborhoods

Here at DotLoop, we talk a lot about designing walkable, people-focused communities that offer amenities and connectedness with neighbors and businesses alike.

We think it's important that people feel connected to their communities and that, as home-owners, they have a sense of home that reaches beyond the end of their lawn.

That's why I'm so excited for today's announcement from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood of $293 million for new transit solutions for dozens of communities nationwide.

The investments include six new streetcar and rapid bus transit projects along with 47 additional projects to upgrade current bus services. This will be part of the Federal Transit Administration's Bus Livability Program. DotLoop is especially excited that our very own city of Cincinnati received investment to begin the Cincinnati Streetcar Project. A complete list of projects can be found here.

Says Secretary LaHood, "Our goals are to provide cleaner, safer, and more efficient ways to get around."

And no doubt do we need it.

As more and more urban cores revitalize, having safe, efficient, and people-friendly transportation options will be a component to creating livable, walkable, and connected neighborhoods.

Perhaps people will be able to get to know their neighborhoods a bit better once they look beyond their car's (La)Hood.

'Net Gain

The web, as we have all been told, is changing. And it's about time.

Here at DotLoop, we're all about simplifying, so it was with great pleasure that I read about Google Chrome's meteoric rise to the number three position in the Browser Wars between Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari, Mozilla's Firefox, and Google's Chrome.

Chrome more than doubled its users with the last year, and has strengthened the competition between the browsers.

Ultimately, that means a better web experience for all of us, as the competition by Firefox, Safari, and Chrome forces other browsers to become more and more compliant with web standards, which simplify the coding processes for web developers.

These simplified standards mean that web pages will show up as they're supposed to, and your web experience will thrive because of it. Hopefully, this will lead us to a web with no more outdated browsers and unsupported pages.

Thoreau was right: "Simplify, simplify, simplify!"

What the Helsinki!

For a country with a 100% literacy rate, it's no surprise that Finland today became the first nation to make broadband access a legal right.

As CNN reports, the legislation that goes into effect today was designed to force "telecom operators to provide a reasonably priced broadband connection with a downstream rate of at least one megabit per second (mbs) to every permanent residence and office."

So stick that in your sauna, Big Media.

Of course, we all know the real reason Finland is so keen on getting everyone up and running on the Internet. It's all a ruse to make Linux the number one operating system in the world.

Those sly Finns.