The Montrose Gold Team Blog: Google Wave to Revolutionize Real Estate?

Lots of posts on the Google Wave subject. Let's roll with it. I always thought a Round Robin active rain post would be neat where a situation is started and you add a couple paragraphs, and then the next guy adds a twist in the tail and someone else jumps in knowing how to handle, steer around this situation and then someone adds another twist as a participation of the audience exercise..jumping in if you think you have something to add. Tried one, flopped. No one jumped in or it was not on the opening screen long enough.

Thanks Andrew. Sounds fun to me. I actually haven't had time today to even finish watching this video, its 1:20 long. But looks like it will prove to be a powerful solution for much of what we deal with daily. If not, at least it will spur on the next innovation. I find it exciting not scary as some do.

Google just blows my mind time and time again.  I'll have to set some time aside to watch the whole video. 

Andrew- Pretty cool idea.  I think that could get really interesting.

Chris, I watched this video when I signed up for an invitation to Google Wave and it was worth the 1:20 for the most part! I just got my invitation yesterday...now all I need to do is accept it and start Waving! :)

Leilani

I wanna catch the wave! I hear some great things about this and can't wait for web 3.0. Some of my peers haven't even made it to 2.0, lol!

David - Thanks. I plan to watch tonight after everyone goes to bed. Leilani - Thanks and glad to here you made it on the invite list. I need to sign up, but figure they will probably have mainstream within a couple months. Let me know what you think. Wave on! Renee - Thanks. Yeah, technology excites me too... I say bring it on (especially when its free or cheap!)

Hey Chris

I certainly agree. It is very impressive and you can increase productivity many fold. The two challenges are 1) Not everyone has a Wave nor can get one yet making it difficult to use it as a true productivity tool. 2) It does take some time learning how to use the tools provided with in the system. I know many people that have just given up on it because of its complexity. 

To finish my thought: I believe that within a few years most realtors will be using Google Wave. 

Warm wishes

I'm looking forward to google wave, but still waiting for the invite.. Hope I can catch that wave.

Google keeps coming up with cool stuff all the time. I'll watch the video.

What?!

Another "revolution" for the war torn Republic of Real Estate ??

I thought the RRE was just taken over by the Twitteristas-- who won control in a bloody victory over the Facebook Rebellion-- who had ousted the forces lead by General Plain'o Email ?!

Good grief.

I will personally stay on top of the technology, but why do I have this sneaking suspicion that one day about 10 years from now when the word "Twitter" brings up about as much name recognition as "Pet Rock", I will be saying to some of the older agents:

  "You know, guys-- according to the experts, all of you were left behind with your 'dusty clients' about 9 years ago-- what are you still doing here?"  

Wow I will check it out.  I think how far in the past I would be without AR. Pity all the agents that don't know about AR.

I've been playing a little with the Wave...  It is a cool tool, but the problem we face is that everyone shouldn't be involved in the whole process.  So, there owuld have to be multiple waves going for each deal.  Might as well be email... 

It is cool to play with though, and I think parts of thedeal could be good on a Wave...  The search, especially for out of town buyers... maybe even financing if they don't mind having the agent in on it.

Hey Chris, way to go nice article you even get featured. I am excired for Google Wave also.

I've heard about wave, but had no clue what it was all about.  I'm a going to watch the video.  Thanks for the great blog and comments!

Thanks Chris for sharing... you're helping us all keep up with what's happening out there!

This sounds pretty interesting.. Google is taking the world by storm. Great products all around. Now if I could only keep up with them :)

Sounds like another interesting Google development. I will have to go in thisw holiday and see how it works.

Matt Johnson - Thanks - agreed until everyone has "the wave" it won't be as productive, but it appears at least in the demo that they have made it pretty easy to use.  Easy to use and easy to master are two different things.  They do appear though to allow you to stitch in people and/or their comments from other apps (but this would require more investigation regarding security).

Joan Whitebook - Thanks - I think there was a place to sign up for invite on the blog.  I will probably just wait for it to go public (unless google calls me!  haha)  :-)

Tim Wilson -  Thanks for the feedback.  "Revolution" is probably slightly extreme as is "dusty client", but if the blog isn't catchy or interesting enough to get read what good does it do?  I actually agree with you about the twitter comparison to a pet rock.  I personally describe twitter like a stock ticker (you have to be constantly watching or analyzing the stream) and facebook like the Wall Street Journal more of a daily or weekly reference.  I think just being aware and willing to stretch to the level we are each comfortable is what is important.  I actually don't think there is anything wrong with "dusty clients" or "dusty realtors" as long as they are both happy!  It's bad but a reality that I cringe when a client tells me they don't have email, or sometimes even a fax.  But I still get the job done.  We need to be able to communicate however or clients want us to.  We pick our clients.

Sherry Chastain - Thanks.  I too am excited about this and AR.  Being fairly new here I haven't even figured my way around here fully.  One step at a time and sharing helps.

Lane Bailey - Thanks.  I agree security or limited access and permanent record keeping (print out or electronic backup) are probably also important.  But from what I understood in the demo, the "wave" is made up of a hierarchical tree structure and different people can join or be limited to viewing just the stuff from that node downward, but not upward... so my thought is you could create essentially a sub-wave of the appropriate docs and control access accordingly... but I might of misunderstood.

Brandi Laffins - Thanks and your welcome.  Enjoy with an open mind!

Barb Fischer - Thanks and your welcome.  Just remember to take in what you can use and don't sweat the rest of it.  Trust me I understand that we can't do everything or especially know everything.  That is what I like about sharing and active rain.

Roland Woodworth - Thanks.  Yeah Google is pretty much the powerhouse.  Wish I still owned some stock!  As I said somewhere else, I think they need to walk a fine line to not become too much of a monopoly or people will reject them.  I was thrilled to hear this Wave effort is open source (shared) and they developed a protocol that allows other developers to build their applications on top of it.  To me this API (Application Programming Interface) is what is so exciting.  If say Realfast (contract software) integrated this or used this for contract distribution.  Or another example might be a Real Estate Photographer who is assembling a virtual tour of a composite of photos, the realtor could collaborate with the photographer in real time to coordinate the order and/or narration of features.  Or....  I guess to me the coolest parts are the playback feature and the "apparently" seamless stitching of comments, photos, doc revisions, etc.

THANK YOU ALL! - woo hoo - my first blog to get featured on Active Rain...

Hey Chris, good article on the Wave.  I think in time, this could be a good tool to use in your arsenal.  Is it a real estate revolutionizer?  I would have to say not any time soon after playing with it for the past 2 weeks.  So far, without many extensions available, you need to either be a genius programmer, or just enjoy it as a glorified chat.  I am sure once it comes out of beta & is available in full form it will have a lot of useful features that will come in handy for folks  But, until then, it remains something that the verdict is still out on with those that have the invites.

This could be the start of something big! Thanks for the excellent post!

Here is the link to get invited if you are interested: 

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/

I just requested mine and told them they had to let me in so I could better answer all your questions and comments.

Jeremy Blanton - Thanks.  I agree it will take time both to evolve and get accepted, but the concept seems a great one.   If it is a revolutionizer it will be because it is adopted by say Realtor.com or Realfast or our MLS systems, etc.   I agree in its native state and particularly now in beta "revolution" is a major stretch but "revolution" IS a cool word.  And at worst I think its a good start.  To me it is kindof a "glorified chat" but one with a logical (actually hierarchical) structure with pertinent history and "REPLAY".  I love the replay feature!

Kyle TX Buda - Thanks.   Its only as big as we make it.  Will this be IT.  I am sure IT won't at least by itself, but look at how email has evolved over the years, the Application Interfaces have gotten more user friendly and feature rich.   I think the same will happen here. 

Hi Chris. I have been playing with the Wave and so far to me it's not as great as it could be. I hope they offer more functionality but then it is free. ~ Lana

Hey any of you experienced AR bloggers. When you switch between HTML and WYSIWYG editor it seems to break embedded objects like youtube videos. To get it embedded I had to save it then edit it as HTML. Then I went to add the links to the signup and Q&A forum and then it broke the embedded object. It wrapped it in a paragraph within the HTML code. I had to go back into HTML editor delete the object and re-insert it. I probably could of just deleted the paragraph delimiters... Anyway. Someone that has been through this that knows a better way please share. Thanks Chris

Thanks Lana! I just signed up to their list. Maybe I can play soon. It is definitely preliminary, but it is a very neat idea... the collaboration of communication (with history playback).

It's amazing to see the rapid development of networking and communications. I'm sitting here shaking my head wondering how to keep up with it all. Thank goodness for Active Rain!

I keep seeing a lot of good things about this, when are we going to get to play?

Hello Chris and thanks for the great information about Google wave.  I heard about this but wasn't really sure what it was all about until I read your blog.  I signed up using the link you posted.  Thanks again for the information.

Chris,

There's always something new to learn!

Loving this "me too" biz . . . we'll soon be on our boards, riding the wave. 

I am checking on this feature now. However you should always diversify to get good SEO and exposure. Web 2.0 properties will be important still.

Re: Posts #10, #18

Chris,

  Thanks for letting me kid you a little bit about another "if you are a Realtor, and you don't sign up for 'X', you will be out of business within 3 years!" entry...    :-)

  The truth is, I think this looks like a really promising tool, and I definitely appreciate you taking time to share information about it!  And I agree 110% with your entire reply in Post #18.  

Thanks again for your help! 

 

Chris, great information.  I still need to research and implement this new tool.  I have bookmarked your post for reviewing later.  Thanks again.

Chris,

Thank you for sharing this great stuff. As an older agent who saw benefits of the web, but had that site that couldn't compete with the big boys UNTIL ACTIVE RAIN, I now know staying in the loop and being open minded is the key. Try all the new stuff. Give it a chance. Who knows? It just might work. And ... it's easier from the beginning than trying to catch up!

Every time I turn around there is something about google wave.  Hey we roll with the punches....

Patricia

I'll look forward to seeing Google Wave sometime soon. It sounds like it could be very interesting.

Looks as though Waving will be the next big thing....i have not signed up as of yet but the vidieo really shows you what is possable with this new tool.  Thanks for your insight on the wave into RE

My head is spinning and I have even watched the video. I may be a baby boomer, but I know that the world is moving in real time. Thanks for the video.

To answer your question about switching from html to wysiwyg....when you switch between tabs it will break down the embedded code for some reason.  The only way around this is to make sure you add your html embedded videos as the absolute last thing.  I know it is a pain, but that is the only thing.  If you switch back to edit something later, you will have to go back & embed the video once again.

Thanks Jeremy. 

Yeah it seems to wrap it in a new <p>  <p/> bracket. 

So do most of the fancy formatted posts just use a different editor and cut and paste.  My question then is.  If I insert pictures into say a NVU html editor, word, publisher or swriter document and paste them in, will it work or do I similarly need to "upload" the photos last directly into the blog to ensure they get the proper "relative" link from the blog. 

I also could of sworn there used to be a save or save draft button, but I might be thinking of blogger or wordpress.  Anyway, you basically have to publish it before you switch back and forth as well... correct?

If you know I would love to be "enlightened".

Chris

I got an invite yesterday and we're setting up radio station sales meetings on it.

Of COURSE this will be cool for RE too...

We have a couple of invites left.  We have most of them slated for our developers and support staff, but we'll email you one for this amazing blog post.  Good job!

 

Chris - Once again we wave goodby to the old and hello to the new ... tecnology is evolving at break neck speed and if it were'nt for AR many would be left on the recieving end of the wave.

Chris:  I am sorry... but I find it more that a little "interesting" that you would write a post which includes a video... and then find out that you have not watched all of the video.  Maybe it's just me, and maybe I'm just a grump today... but how can you write about something you have not seen ?  Just my three cents here...

Jeremy Blanton: With this being open sourced and an early developer release, I expect you will see a lot of developer suppport for this.  YOU don't need to be a code guru, rather wait for the code gurus to do their thing then we take full advatange of the technology.

I've been using Google Docs for a few years now and it utilizes similar features as Wave. Very cool for anyone needing a home in the clouds for your docs. Anyone can be linked/invited to collaborate on the documents that are posted there and everyone sees the latest version. you can even see someone editing a document while your looking at it.

 

Also---has the abaility to go back in time and see every chage that was made and it documents who made the change.

Wave of course takes this up a few more notches. I could see an entire regional MLS system being built around a platform that stands on Wave. Real time updates and collaborations by the entire Realtor community online. Pretty cool stuff!

 

I'm in...

Hi Chris -- I've seen a colleague demo it and I recently got an invite so I am going to play.  I think the hype is way larger than this Beta product at this time, but the potential is huge, but perhaps years off until the product matures and gets field-tested and improved over the next several years.

Great cooment Chris. I would be excited to see the product after the Beta test.

I have the product but have not gotten up and running with someone else who has it. The videos are cool and I think it will become the norm for doing business.

another new thing to look into. thanks!

Looking forward to getting an invite and will let you know how it helps my business! Thanks for the post!

I just signed up and hoping they give me an account. Thanks for the info.

I've had my wave account for about a month. Been to busy to really play around with it. When I got it not too many folks were on so there was not that many to wave at.

Thanks Everyone! I am in. (actually not on my laptop and it is late especially once I finish responding to all these comments.) I typed them up in Notepad first and was debating about dumping them all in or doing them in groups or one at a time. The scrolling back up and trying to type down here is a pain, so I just opened up a notepad window and went down the list (up actually so I am in reverse order to hopefully the last unanswered comment.) I will do 5 at a time and see how dense and massive that looks....

Missy Caulk-Ann - Got mine today. Just created a little note and played with the formating options, tried adding a widget but had no definition of what they meant by that. Probably a chunk of HTML code, but it asked for a url which threw me a bit. Anyway, I attached a photo no problem, added a yes no maybe widget that was predefined. EZ to extend to survey widgets... that would keep tally of number of people rated 1-5 for example and then you could look in to see who (if appropriate)... Time is always the problem, though.

Dave Sulvetta - You are welcome and maybe I will ride a wave with you on the inside. I am Chris.Ormsbee@gmail.com

Laxson Associates - Did you request it. Brian said they didn't have too many left. But I don't know what that means exactly.

Debi Braulik - Debi - There is always something new, take it at a pace that works for you. Some new things suck (like windows updates or some free application or driver that screws up your system and need backed out).

Cheryl Ritchie - Cheryl - I have it on my desk top and am running in Chrome. I have had trouble with Chrome for our MLS system and a few other frame oriented applications. What are you using? If you want to connect I am waving as Chris.Ormsbee@gmail.com

That didn't format like I wanted... oops.

(Its letting me fix it later in edit mode though)

Ted Tyndall - Thanks and I am anxious for that as well, but since they accepted my request and invited me today, I am going to play around and will share my other ideas as time permits.

Chris Olsen - Agreed it is more of a toy at this stage both because it is in Beta and because availability and/or probably capacity is limited at this point. But I think Chris Brunner is right it will be the Gurus or other developers that take this foward at hopefully a quicker rate. Who knows, but it is a cool concept and a step in the right direction to make collaboration easier using the Web (?.?).

Alan Castleman - Alan - I actually haven't played with Google Docs much yet. But my partner and i need to collaborate and I need the cloud type space. I will check it out while playing with Wave. If you want to try to search me out I am chris.ormsbee@gmail.com.

Chris Brunner - Hey Chris - How did you get that to highlight or be directed at Jeremy in your comment? Thanks and Exactly! The application development on top of the API is what will really make it powerful. Imagine for Realtors (from an object oriented perspective) classes of people and things we deal with: Prospects, Active Clients, Former Clients, Homes, Listings, Realtors, Lenders, Appraiser, Surverys, etc. Each could have a pre-defined set of "access" to the commonly shared data which could also be "templated". Then the application could manage the interaction and probably even the access to playback and edit or markup capabilities.

I'm not quite sure if they have provisioned for this, but imagine even if they didn't if a "wave" isn't public then the application could be the "author" and control the access of the participants.

But you are right the Gurus will figure it out. I just hope we are left with useful pieces that don't cost an arm and a leg. I could see integration to Open Office.org set of applications with probably an add in (like a tool bar) or the new hyper-action feature of IE 8 when you select something, to interact with a wave.

Karen Anne Stone - Don't be a grump Karen. Just kidding! You can if you want to. I don't see any problem with writing a blog after watching 40-45 minutes of a 1:20 minute video. I only wrote about the concepts and the tools they had demonstrated to that point and I mostly am talking about potential benefits or efficiencies and I posed my post title as a question. So you can decide. I'm just throwing my two cents out and I do have probably more qualifications than most Realtors to make these comments due to my background (albeit very dusty) as a CAD CAM Application Developer for 8 years in Denver at Auto-trol Technology, where I left as a Senior Software Engineer. We did a lot of design, coding, testing, and feedback there, so I know a little bit about how this stuff works or should work. My technical background usually just frustrates me because I know it could or should be better than it is. Anyway... I appreciate your concern and your feedback and cheer up, this slumpy market has to end sometime. :-)

OK fine, the bulk comments aren't working..

Kathy Culow - Thanks Kathy. I agree we are always changing out old for new, whether it is hardware or software... Usually it is kindof painful, especially if we prolong it... For example. I have an old underpowered laptop that is slow slow! But I have a valid license for MS Office Pro on there and its XP. My other laptop and main desktop are Vista (yuck) and I didn't buy Office I am transitioning to Open Office tools (Free), but I am trying to juggle it all and in many ways it would be easier to cut over cold turkey.

Brian Jambor - Thanks Brian I am honored. If Real Estate doesn't pick up soon, maybe we could talk... I do have a very dusty degree in computer science from 1986 Colorado State University, but I have a "young" and open mind. :-) BTW I love Picasa too with the Face Recognition stuff.

Candice A Donofrio - I just got in today after asking to get in late last night. If you want to try searching me out I am Chris.Ormsbee@gmail.com for this Wave playing anyway.

Joe Pryor - Thanks Joe. My head is spinning too. Not just with this even, just everything we as Realtors are trying to deal with at the moment, but I am a nerd at heart so fresh tech is comforting to me in a sick kind of way (I think its an excuse to procrastinate from things I should be doing.)

Michael Larson - Thanks and your Welcome. Time will only tell if it will truly be useful and perform and/or how society will adopt it. But it does seem to be a slightly different paradigm than many of the current web 2.0 properties that are primarily associated with people rather than a collaborative group of people and a Blip, Thought or Wave of content that seemingly would be subject or topic specific.

Christine Donovan - Thanks Christine. I think it will be interesting but probably most useful integrated into existing or new tools. Like even here on Active Rain it might be a neat way to reply to comments. And I could see where it would be a great "Training Platform" where the Educational materials were put up and the trainers and students could all collaborate, or a mind mapping application with "virtual collaboration" and more ease of defining each "node" in the mind map.

Patricia Aulson - Thanks. Actually I hadn't heard too much about it, but I kindof live in a vacuum. I heard about it on the radio on the way to work. Googled it out of curiosity and watched about 45 minutes of the video and decided to "throw up a blog" I figured since it was about google it might get more noticed and thus I might. Lets keep rolling. Thanks again.

Linda Powers - Thanks and your welcome. I agree with you totally about Active Rain. I have been working (by myself) trying to get noticed on my own hosted blog sites for about a year now and in less than two months I have been able to at least get noticed on Active Rain and found on Google searches. The cumulative "google juice" or "SEO" power of Active Rain is Awesome. But for example I could see where Active Rain could use this kind of thing within its post comment managment. Then I could pop pertinent comments in by each person and everyone could replay the conversation.... Cool Idea!

Joyce & Terry Thomas - Take your time. I would say no big hurry here at this stage unless your just a "geek at heart" like me. (I have a BS in Computer Science and wrote applications software for 8 years out of college...)

Tim Wilson - Tim, No problem, trust me I don't take those kinds of things too seriously. I have thick skin, my partner and I are always joking around and my kids are always telling me how "Dumb" I am... So its not a problem. I appreciate and respect alternative viewpoints and/or debate anyway. Thanks again.

Independent Brokers Realty - IBR, I am no SEO pro, do you have any idea how a "Wave" would rate if public. My assumption is probably pretty well if someone was searching on Google, since its their baby project. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Carla Muss - Thanks Carla - The internet is totally a "me too" kind of place. haha. This will give a whole new meaning to Board of Realtors.

Vanna Slackhasone - Vanna, So true! More than any of us can all absorb or even know about. This video is old. I just happened to find it the other day. Looked interesting and I guess I was procrastinating by choosing to watch it.

Andy Chaudoir - Andy, Thanks and Your Welcome. If you want to hook up to play around I am waving as chris.ormsbee@gmail.com for now anyway.

James Lyon - James, at this point I think it is mostly play (beta only and invitation only), but I am intersted in playing around a bit to brainstorm. I have a few product ideas up my sleave and it might help with development. My gmail is chris.ormsbee@gmail.com that is my Wave Acct. I put the link at the bottom, so if you sign up they responded to me by the next day. I just got in today about 2:00.

Vickie Nagy - Vickie, I Understand the overwhelmed feeling. It is hard to keep up with everything and its questionable as to what is important. The pros say if its not making you money its not worth doing. Not sure I agree totally, but at this point I am having a hard time keeping up with AR comment replys. But I definitely don't want to ignore you. Thanks again for the input.

Anyone with a tip of how to manage comments and follow proper etiquette.   Ideally it would let me stitch my responses into the comments so the communication threads were more apparent to the people who join in later.  I have been overwhelmed by these ultra long comment strings and just said, I can read them all, so I kind of skim down... But I really don't want to ignore anyone.    Tips and suggestions gladly accepted.   The wave approach would be very cool for this problem I am having right here.  Then For example Tim Wilson and my corresponding communications could be grouped together in a mini thread, more like a message or bulletin board, but with a better presentation where you get like this little comment box interwoven through the stream as it evolves. 

Thank you all again...  If I know I will get feedback I WILL BLOG.  I don't like blogging to no-one and only being offered interesting viagara sales links as feedback for my efforts. 

Active Rain is Awesome that we have all of you/us that are willing to take a moment and put in your two cents...  Thanks.  Tomorrow I will be taking the day off and giving thanks for what I do have and a huge meal.  I  may not even go online.  We will see. 

Everybody have a very Happy Thanksgiving!  And be careful out there.  Please don't drink and drive and don't drive after too much turkey either as Thanksgiving is the deadliest holiday based on total number of auto-fatalities, but not because of alcohol (based on percent caused by alcohol it is the lowest or safest holiday).  So it must be the Triptophan in the Turkey.   

Who knows?  Give thanks for what we do have even if it isn't enough qualified buyers.  Like family, a roof over your head, your health etc.

Anyone with a tip of how to manage comments and follow proper etiquette.   Ideally it would let me stitch my responses into the comments so the communication threads were more apparent to the people who join in later.  I have been overwhelmed by these ultra long comment strings and just said, I can read them all, so I kind of skim down... But I really don't want to ignore anyone.    Tips and suggestions gladly accepted.   The wave approach would be very cool for this problem I am having right here.  Then For example Tim Wilson and my corresponding communications could be grouped together in a mini thread, more like a message or bulletin board, but with a better presentation where you get like this little comment box interwoven through the stream as it evolves. 

Thank you all again...  If I know I will get feedback I WILL BLOG.  I don't like blogging to no-one and only being offered interesting viagara sales links as feedback for my efforts. 

Active Rain is Awesome that we have all of you/us that are willing to take a moment and put in your two cents...  Thanks.  Tomorrow I will be taking the day off and giving thanks for what I do have and a huge meal.  I  may not even go online.  We will see. 

Everybody have a very Happy Thanksgiving!  And be careful out there.  Please don't drink and drive and don't drive after too much turkey either as Thanksgiving is the deadliest holiday based on total number of auto-fatalities, but not because of alcohol (based on percent caused by alcohol it is the lowest or safest holiday).  So it must be the Triptophan in the Turkey.   

Who knows?  Give thanks for what we do have even if it isn't enough qualified buyers.  Like family, a roof over your head, your health etc.

Chris,  this is some really neat stuff! My wife and I both watched the video and were just fascinated.  It looks like it could really streamline communication and let us work more effectively.

Hi Chris - just got my wave invite last night and did a search here in AR and your post hit the #1 spot.  Congrats BTW on your 1st .  As for editing as Jeremy said the HTML & WYSIWYG have to be saved before you can move back and forth.  I usually just indicate where in the post I want my video's with a <PUT VIDEO ON SUCH AND SUCH HERE>.  Save it then go back and open the HTML page.  That way I can find where it goes and past it easier.  OR what I also love using is scribefire (scribefire.com for firefox) a wonderful editing tool where you can grab the HTML - and drop it where ever...

Google knows how to stay creative and inventive to remain the leader. Wasn't there a program on the company on MSNBC or something chart and discussing how scary it is the amount of information this company has on individuals. They probably know more about my husband than I do.

thanks for sharing moer information....i need a class just to understand it all