Altos Research Real Estate Insights

Altos subscribers: Get your AltosXplorer mobile link by logging in to your account and selecting My Xplorer, Xplorer Mobile from the menu. Then send the URL to your phone. That's it! (You will, of course, need a phone with a web browser. And it'll need to have javascript enabled. My Blackberry did not have javascript enabled by default, FWIW.)

Get your AltosXplorer link for your mobile phone browser.

On your phone, you'll be able to select market area, city, zip code, and any of a bunch of different statistics. Want to take a peek at condo inventory trends while showing properties to a buyer client? Just a couple of clicks and you're at the data.

Simple formatted AltosCharts on your mobile browser. Rock on.

Lead Contact Form Goes Mobile Too!

Many of our realtor subscribers like to use the data to reach new clients. What do you do when you find yourself engaged in a conversation about the market with a someone? Well now you can say, "Here, let me send you a report, you can check for yourself." The AltosConnect mobile lead-sign-up form is super handy. Pop in their name and contact information and they'll have a local market report in their inbox before you're even done with the conversation. How cool is that? We rolled this out a couple weeks ago. Lots of positive response.

To get the link to the mobile version of your AltosConnect contact form widget, sign in to your account, select My Connect from the left hand menu, Save and Preview the widget, and enter your phone number. Again, that's it! Bookmark it on your phone and you'll always have access to your Altos database.

Give both features a try and let me know how they work for you!

This blog has been frustratingly silent for too long. The ebb and flow of running a company and my personal creative juices combined for an extended drought. I have not been totally silent, however. Here are a few of the things that I've been up to, and some things to look forward to:

Twitter, for all its virtues, has clearly detracted from my blogging output. Why articulate a full, reasoned article when you can blurt out a 140-character idea? I'm only partly kidding. The good news is that Twitter has proven help me weave surprisingly deep relationships with the same people who read this blog, so I'll continue. If you concur, make sure we're connected on Twitter. I'm @mikesimonsen

For more complete thoughts, I've started publishing over at AgentGenius. For readers not familiar, AgentGenius is a forum about and for the real estate professionals. The articles I'm writing over there are tending to be about how realtors can use market data when working with their clients. I have a lot more to write for them.

That brings up another channel for my creative output the last few months: Real Estate BarCamps. Since January we've been in New York, Seattle, Virginia, Los Angeles (also Atlanta by way of RE Tech South). Next week we're in Phoenix and Portland. Upcoming are Denver, Charlotte, Chicago, Philly, and Boston. If you're a real estate pro and haven't found your way to these free events yet, I highly recommend them. We lead a session on Using Real Estate Data in Your Marketing. It's been very well attended and very enjoyable. Lots of other goodies on technology, social media, marketing, and the future of the real estate industry at these events. Find your way to one.

At any rate, I have a personal goal this month to get the publishing pace back up. Stay tuned.