Real Estate Technology

As a top real estate team in the U.S. it has been crucial for us to stay on top of the ever-changing real estate technology trends in order to better serve our homebuying and selling clients. To help us maintain our edge, we research and write reports on the latest technology to buy or sell a home.

If you’re thinking of selling your home in the next twelve months, Stephen would love to tour your home. Call today to set an appointment.

Stephen FitzMaurice, Realtor
4% Max. to Sell a Home
Cancel Anytime Policy
Licensed Since 2003
503-714-1111

If you’re considering buying a home in the next twelve months, Kami Price, buyers specialist would love to hear what you’re looking for. Call today to set an appointment.

Kami Price, Realtor
Represented Hundreds of Buyers
Licensed since 2004
503-773-0000

Virtual Home Staging – A New Way to Sell Homes

August 14, 2023

Each year we write a report on home staging, how much it costs, what kind of ROI to expect when you hire a professional stager, and more. We’re turning our attention to virtual staging now, a newer way to sell a home that’s quickly growing in popularity. Along the way, we’ll show some real life examples of virtual staging we’ve ordered for our clients (and we always provide this service – if desired and it makes sense for the home – at no extra charge). See everything we do for our home selling clients here, along with our lower than average commission charge. While there is a bit of controversy in the staging industry about the authenticity of virtual staging,...

Zillow to Boost Homes for Sale that use Zillow Products (demoting others)

June 2, 2023

Zillow is in charge of the American home selling experience. Major news from Zillow this week. For those who need a quick update, Zillow is the number one home search site in America by a large margin. There are data crunchers out there suggesting that Zillow has over 50% share of all home buyer searches in the country. We run a top 10 most visited home search website report every year. In the 2023 report we conducted, Zillow.com had grown its traffic substantially from 2022 with over 300 million visitors a month. No one else is even close. Second place went to Realtor.com with 124 million visitors in a month, a drop from 2022. So not only is Zillow #1,...

Top 10 Visited Real Estate Websites, 2023 Report

February 17, 2023

In the modern world, home sales are an online affair. Nearly every home in the country is sold as a result of online home search traffic, either by a home buyer on a public website like Zillow, or by a real estate agent searching their local online MLS system. I’ve been tracking these trends year by year (licensed since 2003). In our local area is has become important to list in multiple MLS systems with every home we sell, to reach the broadest number of connected agents. We also pay extra to feature our client’s homes on the top websites so they get more views, more tours, and then finally more and better offers. It is very important for me...

Top 5 Websites to Search for Homes For Sale in 2023

January 9, 2023

We’ve written about the benefits of Real Estate Technology and all the ways it shows up in the world of real estate today. From virtual staging to photography and 3D tours and more, improved home search technology is here to stay. Of course, another facet of this growing and ever-evolving industry is home search websites. With over 95% of people using online search tools for their home search journeys (and 41% making this their first step), according to the National Association of REALTORS®, it’s clear to see integral home search websites have become in the real estate industry. With this in mind, it’s important to know where to turn when your considering making one of the biggest financial decisions of...

Which 3D Home Tours Sell Homes Faster and For More Money?

September 2, 2022

It makes sense that in this day and age, 3D home tours on real estate listings positively impact home sales. But just how much they do may surprise you. In this article, we’re looking at national studies to shed some well-supported light on the subject of real estate technology. While professional photography, virtual staging, and floorplans are all important tools be to considered and used when selling a home in modern times, we’re focused on the rise of 3D virtual tours here. After reading, we think you’ll agree that 3D home tours should be standard for every home listed by today’s real estate agents. What are the Types of 3D Tours Used to Sell Homes? What 3D video tours accomplish is...

Top 10 Real Estate Websites By Traffic, 2022 Report

March 9, 2022

As a top 1% real estate agent in the U.S. with over 2,000 sales in Oregon and Washington, knowing which real estate websites get the most traffic is a huge deal to me. We pay extra on the top real estate websites to feature our client’s homes, push them to the top, obtain more branding, ultimately get more views on their homes so they sell faster. Every year I put out a report on which real estate websites are getting the most visitors. It is fascinating to discover each years winners and losers. Let’s take a look together: Top 5 Real Estate Websites in 2022 Monthly Visitors Average Visit Duration 1. Zillow.com 255.5 Million 6:20 2. Realtor.com 136.7 Million 5:55...

A New, Dynamic Portland Real Estate Map

November 22, 2021

Ever feel like you’re searching for a needle in a haystack while sorting through real estate listings? You know what you want. You know what you don’t want. But how do you find exactly what you’re looking for with so many options and when the market shifts and changes daily, sometimes hourly? We have the answer: our new dynamic Portland real estate map. In this article, we’ll show you what it does and what you can expect from it. But before we get to that, let’s first understand how VestorFilter™ has helped us create this amazing new and easy-to-use Portland real estate map. Here’s the most exciting part of the real estate map: Icons change size based on actual sq....

Professional Photography and 3D Tours Sell Homes Faster and for More

September 10, 2021

It might feel like a no-brainer to state that professional photos and 3D home tours help homes on the real estate market sell faster and for more. But that might surprise you is just how much more and just how much faster. I’ve been selling homes, licensed since 2003, and my team has completed over 2,000 home sales. Not only will I bring national studies to the table in this article, but I can speak from significant personal experience on the subject. Not all professional photography and not all 3D home tours are the same. I also hope to help bring some useful distinction to both. You might be surprised to learn there are 4 different categories of professional real...

What I Love About This Home – Zillow Section Removed

June 9, 2021

My real estate team in Oregon and Washington sells a lot of homes, a few hundred each year. We do everything we can to give our client’s homes an edge online. For us that means two things, first, we pay extra to top real estate portals (like Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com, etc.) for higher positioning. Second, we check all the boxes and do whatever is necessary to fill out the listing so it looks fantastic and carries with it all of the important home details. That’s why we were shocked when the Zillow editable description section, “What I Love About This Home,” suddenly disappeared on all our client’s listings. MLS descriptions are limited. Zillow’s “What I Love About This Home” was...

Sell your Home with Virtual Staging

April 5, 2021

Given the pandemic, home buyers are increasingly turning to the internet to vet homes before seeing them in person. But while this trend may have intensified due to Covid-19, it didn’t start there. Why see a ton of homes in person when you can filter them by searching online? Prospective buyers, especially millennials, increasingly look toward online photos in their home search. In fact, according to inman.com, 44% of millennials surveyed indicated that they would buy a home solely based on its online photos. Virtual home staging presents a more affordable alternative to traditional home staging, focusing on drumming up online interest. Today we’ll take a look at how virtual home staging works, what it costs in Portland, and how...