| Low On Listings? You are not alone |
 WA real estate agents are experiencing one of the most challenging times in recent history.
Despite the fact property prices keep going higher, Scott Watters from Hegney noted that "property prices in Perth are increasing on very thin volumes" (AFR, Fri 28th May).
In fact, in the same article he mentions the stock of properties for sale is 45% below this time last year. Quoted in the same article, aussiehome.com director Charlie Gunningham said that web site traffic to WA's premier property portal had increased four fold since 2003, but the number of properties for sale had remained the same - despite a doubling of agency offices on the site. (Read the full article.)
Is help at hand? Read On... |
| The Agent's Suburb Ad |
 ... if you are a real estate professional and finding it hard to get new listings, you can at least take some comfort in the fact that you are not alone.
Due to input from our clients, we have instituted a new idea recently (we spoke of it in last month's enews) in order to help our real estate agents get more exposure for their services and expertise in their core suburb.
Called "The Agent's Suburb Ad", this new feature allows you to promote yourself in the 'for sale search results' in a suburb of your choice on the aussiehome.com web site.
The new feature is already proving so popular that some suburbs are already filled up (only 3 agents are allowed per suburb/month). Agents have even requested to be in line for some suburbs for the next 2 years.
Our clients are telling us that it is the Internet is where people are looking for properties these days (they can't wait for the newspapers). Often properties are practically sold the same day they appear on the Net. Today's quick, smart and savvy property hunter, uses the Net almost exclusively.
"The Agent's Suburb Ad" gives you a month's exposure for only $110. For an example just visit some popular suburbs such as City Beach, Claremont or Cottesloe to see the "early adopters" who already have extra exposure in their own core area.
CLICK HERE to find out more about the Agent's Suburb. |
| Sales & Rental Lists now online |
 Need to print out a sales or rental list for your office?
It's never been easier: logon to the aussiehome.com 'Client Zone', and you can choose a list of your office's properties for sale or rent, decide on the order for them to display and whether you want photos to appear or not.
The Internet is about saving time as well as helping find and disseminate information. |
| History of the Internet - Part 4: WWW |
 For those of you following our series of articles on the Internet: 1. the ARPANET in 1968 was the forerunner of today's Internet; 2. Ray Tomlinson invented email in 1971; 3. in 1983 Paul Mockapetris invented DNS. Now the 4th piece in the Internet jigsaw...
Unlike so many of the inventions that have moved the world, this one truly was the work of one man - Tim Berners-Lee. He designed it. He loosed it on the world. And he more than anyone else has fought to keep it open, non-proprietary and free.
The year was 1980. Berners-Lee, an English software engineer working in Geneva devised a piece of software that could link files to other files on his own computer.
But what if he wanted to add stuff that resided on someone else's computer? First he would need permission, then he would have to do the dreary work of adding a central database. An even better solution would be to open up his document - and his computer - to everyone and allow them to link their stuff to his. He could limit access to his colleagues at CERN, but why stop there? Open it up to everyone!
So he invented HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language), gave each Web page a universal resource locator (URL), and established a set of rules called HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol).
And on the seventh day, he cobbled together the World Wide Web's first (but not the last) browser, which allowed users anywhere to view his creation on their computer screen. In 1991 the World Wide Web debuted, instantly bringing order and clarity to the chaos that was cyberspace. Within five years, the number of Internet users jumped from 600,000 to 40 million. At one point, it was doubling every 53 days.
You'd think he would have at least got rich. But at every juncture, Berners-Lee chose the non-profit road, both for himself and his creation. While the rest of the world may be trying to cash in on the Web's phenomenal growth, Berners-Lee is content to labour quietly in the background at MIT, ensuring that all of us can continue to surf contently on every topic from aardvarks to zebras.
Next month: the next installment - the Rise and Fall of the Dotcoms. |
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