Flock Real Estate Group: Real Creativity
Some might say that real estate is all about selling houses. Kurt and Kate Flock would disagree. “Success in real estate hinges on the ability to be on the leading edge of creativity,” says Kate Flock. “There are over 8,000 of us in the Indianapolis area alone. You need to be different, look different and have the best presentations of any REALTORs® out there.” For more than 20 years, the Flocks have been in the real estate business; rehabilitating homes and selling new and refurbished houses, condos, and lofts in downtown Indianapolis. From day one, their business has been fueled by a passion to revive neglected neighborhoods and driven by Apple computers.
“Apple has been on the leading edge of desktop and web publishing,” says Kurt Flock. “We’ve been able to advance our business by making our own advertising, fliers, and websites, without any training. We’ve created our own custom databases using FileMaker Pro. Everything on the Mac is intuitive and easy to learn.”
Today we use Macs for everything. They’re at the center of our business.
Today the Flocks run one of the most successful independent real estate companies in Indianapolis, with a 10-member staff that works from multiple locations. In 2006 the Flocks were ranked 14th among central Indiana’s top agents by the Indianapolis Business Journal. In 2005 Kurt and Kate sold more than $28 million worth of real estate. The Flocks have secured a spot in an expanding market, and they’ve done it using Macs. “We’ve been using Macs since day one,” says Kurt. “Today we use Macs for everything. They’re at the center of our business.”
Dynamic Imagery
Photocopied fliers used to be good enough to entice potential homebuyers. Today REALTORS® need something with more pizzazz. The Flocks flaunt an extensive and dynamic website; an online catalog of homes, condos and lofts. Kurt constructed the site using Adobe GoLive and his staff keeps it current using iPhoto. “We have the basic structure in place and we’ll update it daily as info or content changes,” he says. “When we get a new listing, we go take some shots, download them into iPhoto, add comments and then export the photos as web pages. We’ve got a quick, easy, automated system.” The Flocks shoot with a Canon digital camera and use iPhoto to tag their images with keywords and other data. The added info facilitates lightning-fast searches and precise organization. All of the photos are stored on a backup hard drive at the Flocks’ main office.
Flock Realty has another distinct advantage over the competition: it’s completely customized. “A lot of companies out there use canned websites,” says Kurt. “We designed our own. We try to keep it un-cluttered and clean and give people what they’re looking for.” The site reflects the couple’s knack for clear, practical presentation and it’s armed with the tools to help clients and agents anywhere.
To make sure their clients have full access to the latest listings, the Flocks load their entire website, along with extra photos and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data, onto their PowerBook and MacBook Pro laptops. “That way our clients can see what’s new even when we don’t have any way to connect to the Internet,” says Kate. In the future, the couple will employ broadband wireless access using EVDO cards, allowing them to connect to the Flock Realty site and MLS directly — from anywhere.
Online listings and photos are vital to the Flocks’ business, but they aren’t the only means of advertising. The couple has installed a 17-inch iMac in the window of their downtown Indianapolis office. “We run a Keynote presentation of the latest listings, on a loop,” says Kurt. “We’ve seen people stop and watch the presentation for a good 10 minutes. It’s the only one like it downtown and it’s brought people right in off the sidewalk to buy a home.”
