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Showing posts from 2009

OMS Map Explorer BETA now llive!

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Have a look on the dashboard on the OMS when you log on - there is a link to the Map Explorer BETA version. The Map Explorer (or GIS explorer as we previously referred to), allows you to plot all your listings on a Google Map. What's more is that you can filter on the area, property type, price or agent (and office for our national clients). Clicking on a marker will open op a bubble window with short property details including photo. There is also a hyperlink to open up the listing. This way you can easily view the listing, or, if the market is not on the property, adjust the precise location of the property on the map through the property location function.

OMS Active properties - case sensitive filter removed

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We've removed the case-sensitivity on the filter function on the active properties page. You are now able to search/filter for anything irrespective of the word case.

MyProperty full google map search is coming soon!

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We are working on getting a beta version of our NEW Google Map Search ready to launch on MyProperty South Africa. Here is a sneak preview.... it will allow you to filter for properties in certain price ranges and place markers on the relevant towns and suburbs. From here one can view properties in the requested area. The visual map search is excellent for people not knowing which specific suburb they are looking for property, and if they can afford property in a specific area.

OMS minor updates

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Virtual Tours correction We corrected a problem where some users could not delete Virtual Tours on properties. Property Visits You will notice that we've temporary disabled the property visits feature on properties. A much improved version of this will be ready tomorrow. For sale to Final sale correction We corrected an issue where you could not change the status of a listing from for sale to finale sale if you leave certain compulsory fields out. (The system didn't warn the user when compulsory fields like occupation date, registered date etc was left out and kept the status as is). New OMS status dashboard We've introduced a sleeker OMS system updates section on the OMS dashboard when you log in. This displays the latest updates from this product blog, remember to subscribe if you want the latest updates in a daily mail to you.

OMS: Sleeker property on show functionality

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We've improved the on show section on property listings. It is now quicker to add, edit or remove on show dates with the on show capture box displayed inline on the page rather than a separate popup box as per the screenshot below: We are also showing all historic on show dates loaded for the property, previously it filtered only for future dates. Note that on websites only the future on show dates are shown. Remember there is no need to delete any historic on show dates, keep it there for your own tracking purposes and future reports which will use these dates.

OMS enhanced spellchecker on property details

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We've enhanced the spellcheck on the property description, it will now spell check the property description, items included and excluded.

OMS Property module - updated description & brochures

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We've corrected a small bug on the property features section. With the recent updates we've noticed some properties having html tags like BR or SPAN appearing in the brochure description. We've corrected this - if you notice this on your current listings, simply open the description, remove the or other tag and save the changes. You can then go to the report section on the property and print your brochure, it will display correctly.

OMS small updates on stock report and marketing module

Stock report: We corrected a problem on the new stock reports where the Stand Size was showing incorrectly in the Building Size column. Marketing module, news section: On the page where news items is listed, when the browser window was resized a lot smaller, the edit and view links in the news section became unreadable. We corrected this and made the columns fixed sizes.

Show the exact location of properties on MyProperty with a marker

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Through the new property geocoding feature in the OMS you can capture the exact location of a property on a map, see our blog article on this . If you tick the checkbox option 'make exact location of property available on websites' you give permission to show the exact location on a map. Today we've launched the feature on www.myproperty.co.za that will now show this location with a marker if you've selected the option in the OMS. See below for a sample. By default we show the hybrid view (map + satelite) for properties marked this way. The address is also shown if you move your mouse over the market. If the marker is left unchecked only the suburb location is shown. view this property on MyProperty (now isn't it great for buyers to see how close to the beach this property really is?) We are getting ready to offer this same functionality on client websites.

Improved property notes section

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We have updated the property notes section. It now shows the full note details on the notes page (previously only showed the header). It is also quicker to add or edit a note now as this is done on the same page and not through a popup window that opens first. We are looking at more upgrades on this including a reminder checkbox with date/time setting.

New property statistics report available

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A new 'website detailed views' report is now available in the OMS. Simply open a property listing, go to report and click on the 'website detailed views' link. Two graphs are available: Detailed views per TIME FRAME where time frame is per month, per week or per day. A dropdown menu allows you to select your time frame. Total detailed views by website. This gives a breakdown of the detailed property views generated by website. Note it only includes Entegral powered websites (your own website if hosted through us, MyProperty, MSN Property and RealEstate.co.za) Note that due to recent upgrades on MyProperty and National Websites, statistics for these websites will only be integrated in the next 2 weeks.

OMS Brochures - standard 1 photo report update

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We have modified the standard 1 photo brochure with feedback received from you. The update will be available 2 December. We've moved the reference field to the top plus the study and pool fields will show either yes or no. The cost field will display the rates & taxes and levy entered depending on the following: If levy field is available the amount will be displayed here If rates & taxes is available and it is a for sale listing it will be displayed here (so won't display for rentals)

New property geo-coding launched

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Exciting news is that Geo-coding is now available in the OMS when loading new property listings or editing existing ones. The location fields now include a Google Map with a red marker that pinpoints the location of the property. When loading a new listing, simply enter the address, select the town and suburb and click on ' update map from address '. The system will then use the address (including street number) to pinpoint the listing. Should the marker not be on the property, you can always drag it with your mouse and place it on the property. Click on the 'Hybrid' view to show a satellite image and the zoom controls to get a more detailed view of the street/area as per the screenshot below: We have also added a new option 'Make exact map location & address available on web' . If you tick this you allow the system to show the exact location with address on your own website and portals like MyProperty. Please note: Updates will be loaded this week on

New brochure functionality including custom design offer

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Printing more customized brochures through the OMS is now a breeze. New functionality include: The ability to to show or hide an address on a brochure by simply selecting a checkbox; The ability to display a different agent on the brochure other than the original listing agent by selecting the name from a dropdown list; The brochure layouts have been redesigned completely plus they are a bit smaller in size too. As before, brochures are automatically exported in PDF format . We are currently working on a number of new brochures, including more customized versions for commercial properties. Want your own custom brochure designed? We are now also able to offer custom brochure designs to all clients and not just our national clients. This is ideal if you want brochures design in a specific layout and colour scheme. Please send through your proposed design in Word or other format to our support department. Our design & development team will then review and provide you with a quote. Cus

New: updated stock reports

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The stock reports received a major makeover. You can now set various parameters including: Select a specific Agent or All Agents; Group by a selected field and sorting by a selected field; Export to PDF, Excel,Tiff image or CSV formats; The reports have been restructured and now also includes: Days on market and Days to expiry (calculated from listings/expiry dates) An icon next to the listing showing listings about to expire and new listings loaded We are currently working on various other reports, including agent and office performance reports.

OMS updates this weekend - stock reports, brochures & geocoding

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We've been extremely busy the last 2 weeks with preparations in upgrading key functionality in the OMS, including some major database upgrades. We're getting ready to start loading the new functionality and changes this weekend. Here are some of the things we're planning to update: Brochures: New brochure functionality is being launched and new template brochures will be added over the next week. We are also now able to offer custom brochures at more attractive prices and faster implementation time. The brochures will be sleeker and offer functionality such as an option to show the property address or not. Geocoding: You will be able to geocode all your properties through the OMS. The exact location of the property will be displayed on a Google Map with the option to make this location available on portals and your website. You can even drag the marker location on the map! Stock reports: A much improved stock reports section will allow you to select a specific agent, or off

Step-by-step instructions on how to create your own Google Custom map for your real estate website

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Google Maps allows you to create your own custom maps with place markers and areas that can link through to specific pages on your website. The possible applications for this are endless, but as an example, you can create a map showing the Soccer World Cup 2010 stadiums and where you have properties available around the stadiums. Here is what our example looks like, it only took a few minutes to create. The map can be placed on most websites (and blogs as we demonstrated here): View Entegral Real Estate Sample Map 1 in a larger map Step 1: Get a Google account If you don't already have one, go here to sign up - it's free: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount Step 2: Create your Google map http://www.maps.google.co.za and click on 'My Maps'. Click on 'create new map': Step 3: Name your map Enter a title and description, and mark it as 'public' - since you want everyone to see your map Step 4: Insert a placemarker Zoom in to your location on the ma

Google Maps adds real estate options for USA - what about South Africa?

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Google has made it a lot more easier to find real estate listings on its map service by added the one-click 'real estate' option to its Google Maps in the USA. (it was also available previously but only through the search dropdown option). Read the official Google blog release here . This will put a lot of competitive pressure on USA property portals like www.zillow.com and www.trulia.com. You simply cannot discount the impact that Google will have on real estate search judging by the impact it had on navigation companies like Tom Tom and Garmin with their shares falling by more than 15% after the day of announcement of google navigation . Overseas I think it is starting to be a threat for MLS organisations, also read Matt Cohen's blog on this . We think it will be a matter of time before Google launches real estate search for South Africa on its http://maps.google.co.za site. Estate agents in South Africa should prepare themselves to disclose the physical location of their

Suburb changes in OMS

Please note that we have moved the suburb ' Kosmosdal ' from Midrand to Centurion (under South Africa/Gauteng province)

New - MyProperty fixes spelling errors on search

We've made the iSearch (intelligent search) feature on MyProperty even more intelligent. It will now suggest the correct area on a search if you've made a spelling error. For example if you search for 'dynfern' it will suggest the correct 'Dainfern' for you. Some other samples it will suggest the correct locations for (correct names in brackets): calrens (clarens) perel (paarl) pirtoria (pretoria) boxburg (boksburg) modchadjiskloof (Modjadjiskloof) putaditjaba (Phuthaditjhaba) Click on the links to view the actual results in MyProperty. As you can see, it is a quite accurate!

Google Maps launched in South Africa

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Exciting news is that Google Maps South Africa has been launched at http://maps.google.co.za Entegral attended the event at Helderfontein Estate in Midrand today. As with the USA version, it can pinpoint properties by exact address and provide driving directions. Google Streetviews is also expected to launch next year in South Africa covering some of the major cities ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Driving directions sample: (notice it even gives you the estimate time it will take) Search an address sample:

Partial searches now available on MyProperty iSearch

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We've added a cool new feature to MyProperty's iSearch (intelligent search). You can now enter part of the area and it will highlight all possible matches as illustrated below. Kempton property

Don't forget to list your on show properties for this weekend

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Don't forget to list your on show properties for this weekend - it attracts a lot of interest from visitors. Your on show properties are automatically displayed on the MyProperty website - on show section. Currently we have 100-200 on show properties listed every week with the figure increasing. To list a property for on show: - in the OMS open up the listing; - click on 'on show'; - add a new on show date, venue and directions and press save; That's it, within a few minutes your listing will reflect as on show on the MyProperty website. Did you have any success marketing your listings as on show and getting walk-in's as a direct result from that? Please tell us on our Client Testimonial Form .

New email platform launched - 10GB mailbox sizes and 100% uptime

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We are proud to announce the launch of our new email platform, PremiumMail : http://www.entegral.net/?c=products_email If offers industry best features including: - Massive 10GB mailbox sizes, never delete your email again! - 100% uptime . Multiple servers host your email! - Comprehensive anti-spam and anti-virus features; - More advanced webmail feature; - Optional custom branding of webmail interface for your business; - Advanced mobile features; The webmail has a very easy to use interface, powerful search function and functionality to manage your calendar, contacts, tasks and notes all online. Choose on of our packages and get started today or contact our support team! Users currently on our South African email solution will be upgraded to our new Premium Mail solution in the near future. Also check out additional options like the full archiving feature - it archives all your office's emails (in case you need more than the 10GB storage!). Our new PremiumMail solution is

Duplicate suburbs (Hout Bay, Western Cape)

Today we've moved all listings appearing under Cape Town/Hout Bay and Cape Town/Llandudno to Hout Bay/Hout Bay and Hout Bay/Llandudno . Since Hout Bay is a town on its own the incorrect suburbs under Cape Town were removed.

New online support launched

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We are proud to announce the BETA launch of our online support system on the OMS and Entegral website. The online support feature provides a method to chat directly to our Customer Service or Sales teams. You will notice a new support banner that says 'live support' - either online or offline: Click on it and it will open the following window and put you into direct contact with Entegral staff. The online support on the OMS is intended to resolve quick questions . You will still need to follow the normal support channels to request email accounts, new suburbs etc. We will evaluate the system over the next 10 days after which we will decide whether to implement this as a permanent feature. Now how about offering something like this on your own website for potential buyers and sellers? An easy way for them to get into direct online contact with one of your agents. If you are interested please email us! - note setup and monthly fees are applicable.

MyProperty paging issue corrected

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Many people complained about the way the paging works on the new MyProperty website . It used AJAX technology to update only the listings displayed when clicking on the page numbers in the search results (and not the completed page). This resulted in visitors viewing a property say from page 5, when the click the back button in their browsers it jumped to page 1 of the search results - which is frustrating. We have the 'view property in new window' link but maybe that link wasn't too obvious. We've therefor changed it back to 'normal' web pages in favor of usability. On a technical note: This is one of my biggest frustrations with Ajax technology. Most people are used to using the back button in their browsers so your browsing history is completely lost. We are however busy figuring this one out - rest assured we will find a solution.

New FREE agent portfolio sites

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Just when you thought you've seen it all! If you haven't already noticed, we've launched a new feature called - 'Agent Portfolio Websites' . It is free - and it is yet another industry first by the Entegral team! Your Agent portfolio website is like your own personal real estate website which is usefull if you don't already have one of Entegral's template or custom build websites . It features your profile (photo, logo, contact details and description), a contact form, featured property listings and links to all your listings per suburb and status. How to access it: Open one of your property listings on www.myproperty.co.za , you will notice a new 'visit my portfolio website' next to your photo. Click on it, this opens up your portfolio website. It is a unique address you can use to give to clients or include in your email signature. It is unbranded and when visitors search listings here, it only filters for your own listings! Link your domain! F

OMS GIS Explorer to be launched

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Great news today is that we are getting ready to launch the OMS GIS Explorer! The OMS GIS explorer allows automatic mapping of property listings on a Google Map . It furthermore has filter functionality to narrow down to a specific area, agent or property features (status, price, type etc). For our national clients this can for instance plot properties across the entire country for specific parameters you've set. Our aim is to integrate additional views e.g. - 'in which areas have I listed sole mandates in the last x months' or - 'identify areas where agents or offices need to focus on getting mandates' or - 'show my sold listings over the last 6 months' or - 'show listings in a specific area or specific radius' or - 'identify areas where I need to open franchise offices' The possibilities are endless. The GIS Explorer will be a great tool for agents and their clients to for instance identify matching listings per filter criteria and map loc

MyProperty website updates

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1. We've enabled your office website address on your office portfolio. This is pulled through from the OMS or from your feed if you use the OMS GRID import interface. This is a direct link to your website which will benefit your website SEO. If you don't have your own Entegral-build website check out www.entegral.net for details - it links with the OMS and is cost effective to run! 2. We've enabled AUCTIONS portfolio links on your profile. This will automatically compile a list of suburbs where you have auctions, with quick links for visitors. Tip: visitors can search for auction properties in MyProperty by simply searching with the auction keyword and area, e.g. ' cape town auction '.

Limited banner space now available on MyProperty

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Looking to market your business to a targeted real estate audienc e of over 100,000 visits per month? We've just released limited space on the new MyProperty website located at: www.myproperty.co.za Only 2 prime banner positions are available: Large banner : R5000/month - 160x600 pixels - one of 4 rotating throughout most parts of the site; Small banner : R1200/month - 160x160 pixels - one of 4 rotating throughout most parts of the site; To book your space (minimum 6 months), please contact our sales team: http://www.entegral.net/?c=contact

Thanks for your feedback on the new MyProperty website!

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We've received valuable feedback on the new MyProperty website through the feedback link located just underneath the search box. (You can still post your thoughts by clicking here ). We've also had lots of calls and emails from our client base in South Africa and Namibia . Apart from your own site , MyProperty is in most cases the site generating the most traffic and enquiries on your properties from the host of websites we export to . So suddenly making major changes to a long trusted website is not done lightheartedly! Various factors triggered the release of the new website with the 2 major ones being: - Keeping up to date with the latest web technologies including SEO techniques; - Allowing more rapid and ongoing improvements to be made on the website; When we released the website just over a week ago, it was not going to be the 'final version' for the next year or two . From all the feedback that we've received our team have been tweaking the new website r

Firefox image upload problem resolved - plus photo uploader update

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We've fixed a Firefox browser problem with uploading photos on property listings. An improved photo uploader was also loaded, the following updates were made: Faster initial download/install time for new users; Overall performance improvements including faster folder browsing; Improved photo rotation operations; Problems with support of cameras directly connected to the computer have been fixed; Handling files on network drives works faster; About the OMS property photo uploader The OMS allows you to load an unlimited number of photos to property listings. Best of all, you can select all your photos for a particular property listing to be uploaded at once - the system will automatically resize your photos!

Increase file upload size for documents in news manager

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We've increased the maximum allowed upload size for documents in the document manager for the news component. You can now upload documents (to be displayed as downloadable hyperlinks on your website) to just under 2MB (1910kb to be exact). About the OMS news content editor: The OMS news editor (available through the Marketing & Content menu / external news) allows you to load your own news articles to your website (if hosted by us). The built-in document manager allows you to upload files (e.g. PDF's) you want to make available as a downloadable file on the article.

Website reincarnation? New HomeQ launched!

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We came up with a great idea on Friday. While we've launched the new MyProperty website just over a week ago and our R&D team is busy tweaking it further as we speak, are we going to throw away the old MyProperty website completely? The new MyProperty websites was a complete redesign in many ways to cater for an ever increasing demand in traffic and new web technologies: we're doing the SEO differently, the site was build on Microsoft's .NET framework 3.5, we're now using SQL Server 2008, we're integrating with social networking apps like Twitter and Facebook and for the first time, MyProperty was a team rather than a one-man development effort. Although MyProperty still enjoys top ranking in Google for popular keywords such as 'Property in South Africa' , we thought it would be a great idea to still keep the old website alive, and enjoy the additional stream of top SEO referral traffic for property searches . Hence www.homeq.co.za was born! Nothing

More MyProperty South Africa tweaks: property tag cloud

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Today we've made some more backend tweaks on the new MyProperty website , and also enhanced the property tag cloud feature on the home page to include province links as indicated in the image below. Clicking on a province link or map area will highlight the particular province and display the most popular towns. We've also made a few SEO enhancements and making improvements on the database for faster property search results.

Did you know - fascinating facts about the internet

Over 31 Billion searches on Google every month - where is your real estate website ranked?

Improved export to Excel on Active Properties

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We have improved the export to Microsoft Excel function on the active properties screen in the OMS. The data layout in Excel is better and will also include all properties in the active listings view rather than the first or selected page (was a issue with some users).

Improved download library for OMS

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We've made available a much improved download library for our Enterprise (National/Group) clients. A 'new download library' link is available on the existing download library. We are busy transfering the files from the old to the new component. We will enable the new library tonight so all your offices/agents will be able to access the new component tomorrow. The improved download library makes it easier for file uploads, to create folder structures and to rename or remove files: More about the OMS Download Library: The download library is an integrated part of the OMS and allows sharing of files between offices and agents in a group. It is currently offered to our Enterprise/National clients.

MyProperty spam protection - no more unwanted enquiries

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With the release of the new MyProperty South Africa website , we've implemented a new spam protection feature on property enquiries . Whenever someone makes an enquiry on one of your property listings, they need to complete a CAPTCHA or 'challenge response' field. Only when they enter the alphabetic characters correctly, the enquiry form is sent to you (through email, sms and OMS entry) . Did you know? CAPTCHA stands for: "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"; Google recently acquired the company that first invented the Captcha technology;

MyProperty featured property rotation

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The MyProperty South Africa website featured property section gives estate agents excellent exposure to newly loaded property listings . It will rotate to new properties loaded every 60 minutes and take the last +- 10 properties loaded in the OMS or imported through our external interface. Be sure to load a couple of good quality photos and property description for your property to feature - the MyProperty engine is continuously tweaked to filter only the best quality properties on the home page.