During the month of July we ran a promotion for our Canadian members to win a free Apple iPad.  With the purchase of each Spotlight Ad for Point2Homes.com during the month of July, an entry was made into the draw for the iPad.

I’m pleased to announce that Karen Kenyon of Nanoose Bay, BC has been selected as our lucky winner.

Karen shares, “I have been very impressed with the Spotlight Ads, not only because they get your listing great exposure, but vendors love the feedback about the web views.  Spotlight Ads are the best value for your advertising dollars.”

Karen’s feedback echoes what many of our members feel when using Spotlight Ads as an integral part of their listing marketing.

Bummed out you didn’t win the iPad yourself?  Don’t be sad.  Because of the premium placement on Point2 Homes, your listings potentially received far more views than if you hadn’t used a Spotlight Ad.  You still win!

With Point2 Homes Spotlight Ads your listings appear at the forefront of millions of eyeballs, featured right front and center on one of the highest traffic consumer search sites for listings.  That exposure is a valuable boost to your listing marketing.

For more reasons why you should use Point2 Homes Spotlight Ads read this post.

Congratulations Karen on winning the Apple iPad!  I am sure you’ll have tons of fun with it and find it very useful for your real estate business.

Stay tuned for more great giveaways and promotions from Point2 in the future!

The Apple iPad has been available in Canada now for a couple months and no doubt, as was in the US, many real estate professionals are looking at the various options to see if it will work well for their business needs.

In fact, since the iPad was released in the US back in April, there has been a lot written about using this device for real estate.  So, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel and write about it here.  Instead, I’ve created a collection of links to some of these articles, tips, tricks, and lists of apps that might be able to help you put the iPad to good use in your real estate business.

• 10 iPad for Real Estate Tips & Apps
• iThink iNeed iPad for Real Estate
• The iPad and Real Estate: What You Need to Know
• iPad for Realtors – Part 1: Apps – It Will Be How They Find You
• iPad for Realtors – Part 2: Facebook and Google
• 5 Ways iPad Will Reinvent Real Estate for Agents in the Next 5 Years
• Is iPad a real estate tool or toy? (requires INMAN News membership)
• Apple iPad for Real Estate Agents

There are probably many more blog posts and articles about using the iPad for real estate that I have missed, so feel free to share any that you’ve come across by adding the links in the comments below.

I know that I’ve learned a lot about the Apple iPad from these other real estate specific experts.  Where before I had my doubts about the iPad being useful for business, after actually seeing and playing with an iPad I can definitely see the potential for use in real estate.   (Also, it’s great for playing games!)

I haven’t personally spoken to any real estate agents using an iPad, so I’d love to hear your feedback about how you’re using your iPad for your business.  What Apps are you using?  What do you find works great?  What doesn’t?

**Contest is now closed.  Stay tuned for more great giveaways from Point2 Agent.**  Don’t have an iPad yet?  Well, if you’re in Canada, we have good news for you.  You still have a week to be entered into a draw to win a brand new Apple iPad (16GB Wi-Fi + 3G) during our special promotion.  All you have to do is purchase a Spotlight Ad for Point2 Homes before July 31 (that’s just 5 more days, folks!) and you’ll be automatically entered into the draw.  Full promotion details can be found here.

Consistently one of the highest traffic consumer search sites for listings, Point2 Homes views continue to grow each month.  If you use Point2 Agent or have your listings syndicated through Point2, your listings are already appearing on Point2Homes.com.

That’s a perfect start.

Want more?  If you want to have your listing at the forefront of millions of eyeballs, then it makes sense to feature your listing right front and center.  Point2 Homes’ Spotlight Ads provide you with this ability.

Premium featured placement for your listings on Point2 Homes can be yours for just $25.  Your listing will be displayed prominently, in front of many thousands of potential buyers, for 30 days.  That’s less than $1 a day.  Can you afford to?  Can you afford not to?

Here’s what one of our long-time members Norm Fisher has to say about his experiences with Spotlight Ads:

“…You’ll likely double the number of detailed views your listings receive on Point2Homes. I spend most of my advertising budget online and Point2 spotlight ads deliver the best return on a cost per click basis.”

In addition to Norm, many of our members have had great success using Spotlight Ads to advertise their listings.  You can too.

You can purchase Spotlight Ads for any of your listings very easily.

View our quick tutorial to learn how.

**Contest is now closed.  Stay tuned for more giveaways from Point2 Agent.**

Right now, our Canadian members have even more reason to purchase Spotlight Ads during the month of July.  We’re giving away a brand new Apple iPad.  In order to receive an entry into the draw, you must purchase a Spotlight Ad for Point2 Homes during the month of July.  The more you buy, the more entries you receive.

For full promotion details please click here.

Alright, alright, I’ll stop shouting.  But just in case you haven’t been subject to the media bombardment surrounding Apple’s newest tech toy, the ‘bigger-than-an-iPhone-and-smaller-than-a-laptop’ gadget has been causing quite the stir among technology lovers everywhere.

Reminiscent of Star Trek’s PADD (Personal Access Display Device), the iPad has been proclaimed as “the best way to experience the web, email, and photos”.  This may be true, but I was hoping the newest Apple wunder-gadget would have a few more of the things that most people consider essential in a personal computing device.

No USB port?
No multitasking?
No camera?
No SD Card Slot?

I mean, c’mon…when held captive, Dr Arik Soong was able open every lock in an entire San Francisco prison using nothing but his PADD! Alright, maybe that was in space, on television, and about 150 years in the future. But still… no camera?!  Even my bulky laptop has a camera in it.

Call me a Luddite, but I’m pretty content with my current technology setup.  Perhaps I will be more inclined to pull out my credit card when version two or three comes along – or when the elements I consider a necessity are included.

But that’s just my opinion.  The bigger question is:  How will the iPad fare in the eyes of increasing tech-savvy real estate agents?  The iPad has the potential to be a game changer for real estate.

Just how, you ask?  Here’s just a few of the benefits we spotted…

- Real Time Access – make appointments, check your email, or make VOiP calls anywhere
- High def video, pictures, and virtual tours of properties
- Digital listing presentations
- Bring up neighborhood goodies from the likes of Google Street View, Yelp, or Zillow
- Possibilities for future killer apps are almost limitless. Custom mobile-CRM anyone?
- Go paperless – take care of contracts on the fly. Faxes are so 1980.

So what do you think?  Do you plan on investing in your very own modern day PADD?  Will you pre-order or brave the mobs when the iPad hits store shelves and give ‘the best online experience ever’ a try, or is this just another case of too much hype and not enough substance?