Getting excited now...

VirtualAgent® 2012 our new generation patented selling system is looking gooood! We are changing the real estate paradigm.

Imagine...

1) a marketing budget of around $3.5 million a year to attract buyers to your home;

2) capturing accurate property requirements and contact details of around 90% of the active buyers looking for a property at any given time;

3) giving the most serious buyers forward notice and exclusive pre-release inspection of exciting new releases;

4) keeping buyers engaged over extended periods by providing them with up-to-the-minute commentary on the SA and Adelaide property market, including an accurate weekly report "from the trenches";

5) providing advance notice of new properties that suit your requirements 24/7, whether the agent is sick, away, busy or even heaven forbid, slack!!!

6) only having to provide your details once and then the entire Toop&Toop Team goes to work to assist you in finding your new dream property;

7) have the ability to manage your own registration at all times - turn it on, turn it off, select what you are interested in from a menu of services; and finally

8) control the way you want to be kept informed - SMS, email or even the old fashioned way - a phone call!

Over the coming weeks we go live on our all new consolidated database, we launch our all new 2012 website, and VirtualAgent will begin appearing at our weekend inspections...keep an eye out for our team with iPads, this is no off the shelf program I assure you!

Why would Toop&Toop bother spending all this money and resources on VirtualAgent?

Simple. If we can get buyers to want to register with us because they get special services, advanced notice of properties, and we know who they are, and we then provide an easy way to communicate.. we will have an enormous advantage in selling properties. Pretty basic logic. Know who the buyers are, what they want, then deliver it to them.

As a buyer, how do I participate in the trials? Go to www.toop.com.au and go to "register as a buyer", fill in your requirements, subscribe to the services you want and let me know what you think.

I am so excited, this new technology is a real estate agent's savior in tough times. There are lots of iPad applications out there, but I assure you there are no other agents in this country with this level of technology. Field trials are well underway.

As we say, when it's time to get serious, it's time to get Team Toop...call us if you are serious about selling.

Anthony Toop

Follow me on Twitter:
@Anthony_Toop

VirtualAgent® is back....

Years ago Toop&Toop won the innovation award at both state and national levels in their respective Real Estate Institutes for our selling system we called and branded VirtualAgent®.

Remember in the late 90's and early 2000’s coming to a Toop&Toop Secure Inspection seeing barcodes, registers and scanners? The system checked who you were and registered you at the Secure Inspection. This system achieved many things, it registered buyer requirements, had an intelligent matching system that operated in the same way that buyers think - and earned us the rights to a Patent -  and it knew who was walking into your home. This ground breaking technology was the very earliest adopter of a commercial use of SMS, back when SMS's were virtually unheard of.

So, we developed world first selling technology that essentially acted as a virtual real estate agent. It captured information, it chalked it intelligently against the property listings and it auto broadcast updates.

VirtualAgent® has recently seen companies trying to purchase our registered name and this system has been copied in various parts all over Australia.

Anyway that is the old news.

Today's news is we are in field test mode of VirtualAgent® 2012, and I am so pumped about how we will again leapfrog the current technologies and set all new standards in marketing.

Think about this for just a second. We spend around $4million a year of our money and clients’ money attracting buyers to look at our clients’ properties. In a traditional agency around 95% of the respondents are attracted once and that is it.

Imagine you’re time poor or hate shopping – imagine a system that puts the perfect house in the palm of your hand… or maybe being invited to view a property on a Thursday night before the public has even heard of the property. Every agent in the world carries on about their wonderful databases! But VirtualAgent® is not about just a database, it is a publishing and tracking system, and it is awesome. Unlike buyers on public portals, we know our buyers well, we track their changing needs and can contact them individually – this is powerful.

Toop&Toop are about to change all the rules again when it comes to efficient fast selling outcomes, and it is all about leveraging technology, and leveraging everyone's marketing dollars to capture all buyers in this market.

Very exciting times, we are on to selling in tough markets.

VirtualAgent® is back!

Remember ..."when it is time to get serious, it is definitely time to get Team Toop."

Anthony Toop
Follow me on Twitter: @Anthony_Toop or call 0418 824 188

RP Data Market Report

As I mentioned on the Weekly Market Update, here's a link to this month's RP Data Market Report for those of you who want to take a closer look.


RP Data Market Report - May 2012




Anthony Toop, Managing Director.
www.toop.com.au
© Toop Real Estate Group

Stressed sellers... Relax, there are things that can be done.

There are increasing numbers of sellers who have had their properties on the market for months, while some have called it a day and decided to simply stay put. On the other hand, have you wondered why some people’s sales are happening quickly?

Interesting thought processes are going through the sellers’ minds at the moment. Some sellers are still waiting for the return of the good times, hoping for some sort of magic reinstatement of a price peak, which was a feature in the market of old - they were the days!

Sadly for those of us with property, the market HAS changed. The cold hard reality is that the boom is old news. Any loss in equity has occurred, whether you are selling or not. Future gain will occur from today’s base, today’s actual market price...the price that you would have achieved if you did sell. Withdrawing your property from sale simply allows the reality of the market to be crystallised later, it doesn’t change the facts.

The great news! Unlike previous markets that I have worked in, this time there are many active buyers, interest rates are at historical lows, there is almost full employment and there is no oversupply of property. The missing piece seems to simply be CONFIDENCE! Irrespective of whether we have bottomed out or not, my view is we will bounce along for a few years now as the economies around the world sort themselves out and every one gets their act together. Just steady as she goes, a NEW NORMAL!

Real estate historically wasn’t so easy, we have all forgotten just how much pain there was in the late 80s and 90s. Today’s market is just fine - tight and considered, as it always used to be.

So let’s give you some local confidence. The facts are that serious sellers are selling quickly. There are plenty of sales taking place. A positive and proactive committed sales approach gets results.

Toop&Toop have teamed up with our suppliers and we are contributing to help fix this problem for long term non-sellers.

Toop&Toop have put together a “long term seller package” that will optimise your chance of selling before June 30th. If you have been on the market for months and have been unsuccessful - providing you are serious about selling - call one of our team, we may be able to help you. We have very cost effective high powered selling options available.

Results...we all want results, so let’s team together for a focused effort of getting your sale before the end of the financial year. Waiting for the next boom may be a very long time coming, however what we do know is that sales are happening for those who manage to get the marketing, the attitude and the pricing right.

So relax, and let’s see if we can help. When it is time to get serious, it is time to get Toop&Toop. Call us now.

Anthony Toop
Follow me on Twitter: @Anthony_Toop or call 0418 824 188

Now all we need is a change of leadership... "and property owners will have begun a new cycle."

So much focus on the Reserve Bank this week… and what a week for property owners. That 0.5% rate reduction on Tuesday was music to our ears, and whether the banks played good guys or not, this is a win for every one involved. Those banks holding onto some of the spoils will hopefully start lending again – so that too will be a great result.

What you didn't see in the press is the impact the idiots running our country have on our property. Every time there is an election, the property market stalls. We were essentially in election mode all of 2011 - and again this week we have been plunged into that same mindset. Add constant public displays of Government incompetence to an entirely new, poorly timed and possibly unnecessary Carbon Tax (being introduced by a totally dysfunctional government) and little wonder the market is floundering.

So...Toop Tip #1: immediately go to the polls, get a clear mandate sent from all of us; #2: put a hold on the Carbon Tax IMMEDIATELY  (revisit this when the effects of the global financial scene are known and stable); #3: create a real stimulus by focusing on investment in long term generational type infrastructure projects to provide a future for our kids; #4: support other big projects like Roxby by simply getting out of the way in a responsible but supportive way; and #5: get our leaders focused on the future and stop squabbling about the past.

Anyway, I have never been a political animal, but I am ashamed of the way we are running our amazing country and today, it is directly impacting on all property owners. I believe the impact of such hopeless leadership is more profound than interest rates and should be talked about when discussing property market conditions.

So if you agree with me, how do we leverage this theory/belief?

An election will trigger a positive property outcome. If you combine falling interest rates and low supply of new stock with falling values, it adds up to the bottoming out of the market. If we get an election with a definitive change in direction, I believe the international issues will become less important and Australia will get on with things immediately, and property owners will have begun a new cycle.

Bring on a real election!

In the mean time, Toop&Toop are totally forward focused and we are all over this market, introducing more innovation and rebuilding the business for the future. We are totally results focused for our clients...so if you are serious about selling, we want to hear from you right now!

Anthony Toop Follow me on Twitter: @Anthony_Toop or call 0418 824 188