Heat up your real estate search capabilities

Now that the winter months and cold weather are upon us, there is nothing like warming up your online real estate search capabilities and virtually canvassing the hottest New York City neighborhoods from the comfort of your home or office! By starting your morning with Agorafy and a warm cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, you can best Mother Nature and stay ahead of the competition while saving time and money. With our open, online real estate marketplace, you have access to a powerful search tool that enables you to sort and filter the latest on market, verified commercial and residential listings throughout the five boroughs. Whether you want to know what's happening across a selected borough or would prefer to filter down to a singular neighborhood, street, or block and lot, we have you covered. Use our platform as your initial, go-to resource to research market data and property information and get a clearer snapshot of current market conditions. Then, quickly target and select the right commercial or residential space or property that meets your needs by reaching the listed direct contact. But, don't stop there. Agorafy's open platform also allows you to broadly market your available spaces and professional experience to interested real estate professionals and the public, which helps everyone to connect and close deals fast! Bolstering your winter search capabilities can help defrost your seasonal business pipeline during the traditionally slower autumn and winter months. National Association of Realtor's (NAR) chief economist and senior vice president, Lawrence Yun, PhD recently commented on the real estate market's autumn and winter slowdown. Yun noted that currently, "The economy is growing, jobs are being created, and interest rates are still unimaginably low. Naturally, home sales are expected to rise. But the typical business activity of a real estate professional will be falling as the autumn approaches." Yun continued by adding that, typically, dips in real estate activity follow the start of the school year. Figures tend to fall again in November and December due in large part to dark, cold weather. Normally, increased activity does not return until March, April and the summer months. Therefore, we all need to keep an eye on economic conditions but also seek out alternative means of improving results over the winter months. This week, in fact, NAR released the October 2014 existing home sales figures. According to NAR, "Existing-home sales, which include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, are based on transaction closings from multiple listing services." Among other things, existing home sales data can be a good indicator of general consumer demand in the U.S. housing market. The October 2014 numbers stood-up well to rebounding September 2014 figures, as well as in comparison to year-over-year data, signaling a positive move for the nation's economy. But, like Yun explains, seasonal considerations should also be kept in mind when reviewing such data or when reading media reports. Let's continue to watch the numbers and see where they take us in the housing market's recovery. Regardless of the indicators, however, sometimes real estate professionals need to buck trends and meet our own goals. One way to improve individual business results is to review your business's real estate technology capabilities, to ensure that you are saving time and money. In particular, take a good look at your online marketing presence and reach. When doing so, please know that Agorafy provides you with an open, online real estate platform that lets users broadcast their available listings and professional experience to a large, captive audience. You can also quickly research the NYC real estate market and connect with colleagues, clients, and the public. That way, you can devote less time to scrambling and searching for information and more time on serving your clients and closing deals! During these bad weather months, let us canvass the streets and do the legwork for you. At the same time, let us provide you with the platform to broadcast your listings and professional experience to the world. When it's cold outside, go to the perpetually hot online real estate marketplace - agorafy.com. Visit us today and start searching properties, marketing listings, and highlighting your professional expertise to active searchers! Richard Du is the founder and CEO of Agorafy, New York, N.Y.