Today is Dallas Day!!!  And I want to thank all of you who have put in so many long days, extra hours and hard work to help us get to this big day.

Special thanks to our core team here in Boston - Jessica, Erica, Thomas & Ramos.  Special thanks to our newest addition who made Dallas happen - BL!  Special thanks to our new tech-savvy, super innovative, Dallas condo brokers - Keith Smith & Gary Tole and an extra special thanks to our Boston web design and technology partner Dreaming Code especially Akshay & my main man Dan!   Oh and special thanks to all the freeware that we love so much and that actually helps this thing rock: Skype, Wordpress, FreeConfrenceCall, GoogleTalk, Facebook and all the other platforms we have embraced.  Thank you!

The Press Release:

September 10, 2008 — CondoDomain.com is pleased to announce the launch of their web-based, flat fee real estate brokerage in the Dallas, Texas marketplace.

This is the second market launch for CondoDomain.com as they expand into their pre-existing 33 U.S. markets as a web-based buyers’ brokerage focusing on urban properties and new construction condominium developments.

Keith W. Smith has been named the Southwest & City Vice President for the Dallas marketplace and will now be in charge of all of the real estate brokerage in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. With over twenty years of experience, Smith is a valuable resource for buyers in the Dallas marketplace.

“We are very excited to join the CondoDomain.com team and to infuse the local Dallas market with this new web-based buyers’ brokerage business model,” says Smith. “The Boston team has proved the business model to be an instant success. With the positive response from buyers, the flat fee model makes all the sense in the world for educated individuals looking to share in the search and compare process and to be rewarded by receiving a large rebate of the brokers’ commission.”

A web-based buyers’ brokerage company offering full, buy-side services for a flat fee, CondoDomain.com LLC has given back more than $300,000 in refunds to their clients in Boston so far this year. On average, clients have received more than $13,000 at closing. As an innovative and forward-thinking company, CondoDomain.com continually implements the latest technology components into their platform to bring all real estate-related data, without exception, to the surface so clients can get a transparent and complete view of each property.

Utilizing the cutting-edge search platform, site users are able to browse the entire website for Dallas Condos and luxury Dallas real estate. Here they will find every MLS listing, every new development and existing luxury building, foreclosure listings, FSBO (for sale by owner) properties and even upcoming auctions.

“Each market is incredibly unique. By partnering with passionate leading market experts like Keith Smith, we are growing our network and brand as a top-notch buyers’ brokerage firm in each city,” says Brian-Logan Reid, National Director of Real Estate at CondoDomain.com. “The timing could not be more perfect for us to roll out our alternative brokerage model, giving consumers a choice and an opportunity to save money during a time when they need it most.”

About CondoDomain.com
CondoDomain.com is a web-based real estate brokerage based in Boston, MA. The company is expanding nationwide to offer its buyers’ brokerage services in more than 30 cities around the U.S. Currently operating in Boston and Dallas, CondoDomain offers an innovative flat-fee business model allowing the majority of the commission to be refunded to the buyer. By combining up-to-date MLS feeds, new construction buildings, FSBO, Foreclosures, Lofts and Auction listings all on one site, CondoDomain has become one of the most popular and user friendly real estate websites available. CondoDomain.com offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee to all of its clients, ensuring a professional, efficient, and pleasant transaction. Visit www.CondoDomain.com for more information or feel free to dive into our blogs at www.CondoDomain.com/Blog.

Press Contact:
Erica Farthing
Director of Social Media & Public Relations
877-852-6636  | erica@condoDomain.com

• Dallas Real Estate
• Boston Real Estate
• Atlanta Real Estate

If your a member of Inman News please Join the Real Estate Trends Group

And

Vote for us Here

“This week, till Friday 6PM Pacific, the Trends Community Blog will accept nominations of Companies that you consider to be one of the industry premier Pacesetters in our industry. Companies that are creating and leading our industry towards change. Then over the coming weekend I will select among all the nominations the Top 8 finalists that will be posted next Monday the 18th. Next week all members of the Inman Trends Community will each have one vote to help determine which three companies are our medal winners for the title: Real Estate Pacesetter 2008.”

What are you voting for? Well at the core of this Olympic Race for innovation in the real estate vertical are these 4 attributes:

1. Innovative Web 2.0 company or user of Web 2.0 technology

2. The size, need and demand for the companies/services

3. The quality or uniqueness of their services

4. The potential impact of their services on the industry We belive we served these line items better than anyone else…read our presentation below.

We here at CondoDomain.com (http://condodomain.com – Boston is currently live @ http://boston.condodomain.com) believe we are not only at the cutting edge of the transformation that is occurring in real estate, we are also helping to reshape the entire industry. Headquartered in Boston, we operate as a web-based buyer’s brokerage company and offer full, buy-side services for a flat fee. After all, why should a buyer’s broker be compensated more if their buyer spends more? That’s backwards in our opinion!

I believe we are at the commencement of the decoupling of the ‘traditional’ real estate model. The old model of full, ‘bundled’ services of showings, negotiating, listing, etc. etc. etc. are beginning to be offered in an a la carte fashion to provide the ever increasingly web-savvy real estate consumer with CHOICES. While I do not believe the full service brokerage model will ever fully go away, I do believe that within the next 2-5 years, brokerages will begin to offer buyers a wide array of options in order to accommodate the various demographic and generational behavior patterns that are already emerging in the marketplace.

1. As an innovative and forward thinking company, CondoDomain.com continually implements the latest technologies. For instance, within a week of Google releasing their ‘Street View’, we implemented it into our site and our buyers and fans love it. One of the main components of our platform is to bring all data, without exception, to the surface so our clients can get a transparent and complete view of each property.

We are also finding and engaging customers through the various social aspects of web 2.0 - Facebook, LinkedIn, Trulia among several others - and we communicate with everyone through all means: IMing, Emailing, Video conferencing, Txting, mobile phoning (of course!) and yes even, believe or not, regular mailing! We make ourselves accessible however our buyers want us to be accessible.

2. As a web-based (virtual office) business, CondoDomain.com targets high-density cities because they attract a high population of young savvy professionals, middle-aged single and/ or divorced buyers, and empty nesters. We focus on these individuals because, on average, they make more money, they move more frequently, they are heavy Internet users, they are more educated and they are one of the fastest growing and highest spending groups in the industry. Focusing on this vertical, CondoDomain.com taps into the new construction condominium market, which has a much higher profit margin than the traditional re-sale market.

One of the biggest advantages of our company’s business model is the timing. With a rising inventory, condominium developers are now (finally!) marketing to the real estate brokerage community. The need to access buyers has become more important than ever. Evidence of this is shown by the increase of cash bonus incentives and commission structures marketed towards the local brokerage communities and their agents.

In 2006, there were over 1,000,000 sales of condominiums and co-ops. Many developers saw opportunity in the surge and began large-scale projects. Since then, the market has slowed, with pre-construction sales dropping in numbers and inventory increasing.

Experts expect buyers to take advantage of the over-saturated market, which developers are desperate to dispose of. Large condominium developers & marketing firms, like Florida’s largest private real estate firm, Fortune International, have created accelerated marketing programs with cash bonuses and commission fees up to 10%. Many of CondoDomain.com’s other clients - The Carlyle Group, MCZ/Centrum Properties, Draper & Kramer, Inc. and Crescent Heights - have all initiated incentive marketing programs to increase sales, which will supplement our company’s gross revenues.

The current economic conditions support our business model even further. What buyer is going to walk away from a $13,000 check at closing (our average client refund)? Refunds this size or more pay for years of condo fees, new furniture or closing and moving costs - it is a lot of money! The demand for our service is steadily growing because buyers realize that they can save a ton of money doing a lot of the initial research themselves; this is, of course, work that they are ALREADY doing.

3. Quality and uniqueness is at the core of our business model. Our website, which is our #1 sales agent, is one of the most up-to-date pieces of web technology in our industry and we know it is one of the best for condominiums and for real estate in general. We are a niche player and we only work with buyers making us just that much better at it. We know urban markets, we know condos!

4. Being an urban player, we play a significant role in the future of real estate. Most innovation and concepts start in city centers - in high density populations and then they spread out. In the not too distant future, we anticipate seeing suburban players taking our successful model and replicating it in their local markets.

We look forward to your feedback and brokers/agents interested in joining us in the next revolution of real estate should get in touch immediately!!

Brian-Logan Reid
National Director of Real Estate
http://boston.condodomain.com

Like what we have to say….please do vote and help us win this award! Thank you!!!

We sponsored the Blog Tour USA today and nabbed up some prmmmmeeeo real estate on the back of the bus for the ultimate nationwide blog party! Maybe finally this will get me on the A List or maybe Posh’D!!!

Our pals from Sellius Joe & Rudy is dedicating the back of the TourBus to Real Estate agents and Bloggers and have given a great prices to buy 1 sq/ft - $300! That is a bargain where I come from since I just dropped $800/ft on my new pad. Anyway this Tour starts in the big apple and ends at InmanSF. They will travel throughout the US throwing mega bashes all over. Rumors have it some parties have already been set up in Atlanta, Portland, and of course Boston.  I will most likely be joining Sellsius in Las Vegas to make the final few legs into Inman SF.

Hop on Board and Sponsor Today - there are limited spaces left!  (you can even pay pal - i did!)

Redfin comes to Boston today (as quietly broadcasted Tuesday evening).

Redfin is the first major online real estate brokerage to open for business in Boston, with coverage across Essex, Norfolk, Middlesex and Suffolk counties, which includes Cambridge, Concord, Lowell, Newton, Marlborough and Stoughton. Boston is the first East Coast market Redfin has opened as part of a national expansion effort that began with its February launch in Southern California.

Earlier this week we had Glenn Kelman, Redfin’s CEO - HANGING Upside down in our office and we received emails from local brokers stating we should have just left him there. Thats not nice! Anyway we look forward in seeing how Redfin does right here in our backyard. Welcome Redfin Boston.
Watch Video Here

More “MOVE’ing” news on REDFIN!!!

With a little pressure from MOVE.com giant (not surprised). Redfin changed its logo to avoid litigation threatened by Move.com (NASDAQ: MOVE), which holds a registered trademark over a symbol that, similar to the original Redfin logo, included a house within a circle. Hornall Anderson Design Works developed the new Redfin logo, which combines an image of a person, a house and a fruit-tree. Hornall Anderson also led the visual design of the new website.

“Beyond changes to Redfin.com’s visual design, we have made significant performance and usability improvements in this release,” said Redfin Chief Technology Officer Michael Young. “Building on the only site that offers comprehensive MLS listings, tax records, appraisals and property outlines, our charter has been to make the Redfin.com experience simpler, faster and available in more markets. Having done that, we can now look to add new search features and more data about each listing in future releases.”
ALL IN ALL - I think Glenn and his REDFIN’ers can thank MOVE for making Redfin and even better site!!!

‘MOVE over, Redin is here!’

We got notice today that “something wonderful was being cultivated in Soho.” The message was delivered via a little white box addressed to condoDomain.com. Inside the box was an interesting looking bag placed comfortably in a bed of grass. “Garden in a bag” a little tag gives you a preview of whats inside.

Ok…so we needed to do some digging before we opened this bad right? A few google searches later we find Curbed’s take on Soho Mews and the SOHOMEWS website. Although a nice shinny flash website, their is very limited amount of information…other than its located at 311 West Broadway and that the Sunshine Group is marketing the condominiums.

Well, Soho Mews: We understand Life’s Cultivated. We like lofts, townhouses and penthouses! So send us some more details!

Any others get this package…let us know what the surprise is so we know its safe to open!

As for Sunshine - so far so good…we are loving the creativity on this one! Although you do have some competition when Tony Goldman goes to market with his 25 Bond. Stay tuned….

by Kevin Ahearn, President of Otis & Ahearn, Inc.
Investor, condoDomain.com

Forget fashion ins and outs (who can keep track anyway?). It’s the ins and outs of home design that really have an impact on how many of us live. So, with a new year getting underway, check out some of the newest trends in condominium design, as spotted by expert eye Kevin Ahearn, president of leading Boston-area condo brokerage and marketing firm Otis & Ahearn.

Out: The traditional tub in smaller units – studios and one-bedrooms
In: Spa-like bathrooms with oversized luxury showers (rain faucets, steam options, seats).

Out: The commercial, industrial, stainless steel kitchen (except in lofts).
In: Kitchens that blend more seamlessly into the living area, with refrigerators hidden behind wood-paneled doors and dishwashers and microwaves tucked into fitted cabinetry.

Out: The half bath or powder room in larger units.
In: Plumb for it but give the owner the flexibility to use it as a home office. Let the guests wash their hands in the other two bathrooms. Most condos are occupied by couples and they find two bathrooms sufficient. They seem to have a greater need for computer work areas.

Out: The one big, walk-in closet.
In: Twin “his and hers” walk-in closets. No one wants to share.

Out: Using the kitchen simply for cooking.
In: The kitchen should contain a flat screen television plus a computer. Who knows when you might need to Google a recipe?

Out: Charcoal cooking on the terrace, patio or deck (forbidden by most city ordinances).
In: Gas lines plumbed from condo units out to the terrace for easy gas grilling and entertaining.

Out: Only granite and marble counters.
In: New ceramic finishes and glass tiles, which are easier to maintain and come in limitless colors.

Out: The breakfast bar.
In: Large dining island with dining chairs. Who wants to perch on a stool early in the morning or later, when enjoying a wonderful dinner?

Out: The big entertainment center.
In: Discreet, tucked away cupboard….or space specifically designed for wireless home theater.

Out: The understated entry.
In: Oversized front door. Entry with dramatic lighting and room for welcoming furniture. Everyone wants the “wow” factor.

Over all, says Ahearn, rather than sleeping and eating quarters, apartments are becoming multi-purpose activity centers, with areas designed for work, sophisticated home entertainment, gourmet cooking and spa-like relaxation. And this multi-tasking design is accented with a demand for drama: high-impact architectural features like innovative lighting, glass walled rooms and oversized windows. Apparently, it’s a harsh world out there: who wants to go out when you can stay in?