Mediaboss Marketing

Article updated: 2/23/2012 9:04 PM

Ty King

The 4112me.com system includes QR codes on for-sale signs so you can get details on your smartphone.

COURTESY OF 4112ME.COM

Homeowners and real estate professionals seeking to sell homes around the suburbs have a new online resource that tracks sales and incorporates social media, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Rolling Meadows-based 4112me.com, created by Spectrum Communications and Consulting Inc., is a mobile technology and marketing partnership, said Rick Anesi, president of sales for 4112me.com.

“This product will aid and assist real estate professionals for providing better and quicker information to prospective buyers and help their sellers,” Anesi said. “This product is also available and can work with the direct home seller as well.”

The site is open to all real estate professionals, individuals seeking to sell by owner, and homebuilders. There also is a marketing partner program where insurance agents, mortgage brokers and moving companies can sign up and provide it to a real estate agent and receive referrals back. Right now, though, mostly real estate agents are using this service locally and nationally, Anesi said.

Ty King, a Palatine resident, created the service and owns the company.

The service offers mobile texting via a personalized code where home details, images and direct scheduling for appointments or telephoning the sales agent happens on your smartphone.

Prerecorded messaging via a phone number allows the seller to record a message giving details of the property. They also could record the call for feedback and training purposes.

A database management system allows tracking of prospective buyers and leads that appear on your smartphone number.

Geo tracking, or geographical tracking, allows a prospective buyer to see other 4112me.com listings by that sales agent in the area.

A monthly subscription is $35 without a contract. The first 30 days is free.

QR, or quick response, codes are put on signs, which are an additional cost that varies according to size and type. The QR code allows scanning of the property sign, so details are sent directly to your smartphone.

For more, see the firm's blog at http://blog.4112me.com/.

Surfing: ABC 7 offers Waze, a free, community-based traffic app that gives 24/7 real-time traffic information while drivers are commuting. ABC 7 traffic anchor Roz Varon will tell you how you can become an ABC 7 Traffic Tracker after downloading Waze to your iPhone, iPad, Android or other smartphones. It offers a hands-free experience so only your voice is necessary to report traffic conditions. To download, see ABC7chicago.com.

• Comcast launched Xfinity Streampix, a Netflix rival. On Thursday, Comcast customers likely saw a new folder called Streampix in their On Demand service. Streampix is included in many of the Xfinity triple play packages and high-speed Internet services. Otherwise, it is $4.99. Comcast's Midwest headquarters is based in Schaumburg.

• Palatine-based Weber-Stephen Products LLC, maker of the Weber grill, now offers its Weber's On the Grill app for Android phones. It provides previous versions for iPhone and iPad with recipes from Weber's cookbooks. The android version is $4.99 and available at the android Market at market.android.com. For more information, see http://www.weber.com/onthegrill.

•Follow Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter. Write to her at akukec@dailyherald.com.

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New online service helps home sellers, real estate pros

Board-certified real estate attorney Gary M. Singer answers housing questions in this space each Friday. To ask him a question about short sales, mortgages, refinancing, homeowner's associations or any other residential real estate topic, click here.

Q: My dad passed away four years ago and my mom was scraping by working at a department store until recently, when she had to stop due to an illness. Although my mother has good credit, we have been unable to refinance or lower the payment. It makes no sense because we keep hearing about all of the programs out there to help people. But it seems that there is nothing for someone who needs it the most. – Dave

A: Don't be so sure. There are many programs out there that can help reduce your loan payments. It comes down to four factors: math, persistence, luck and realistic expectations. By math, I mean that your income, bills, home value and mortgage must fit into one of your lender’s programs. As for persistence, many people get turned down two or three times before they get approved, so if you stop trying you’ll never get the relief you’re seeking. There is an element of luck involved in all of this. Did you randomly get a bank representative who will go the extra mile to help you, or the one who is in the middle of a divorce and hates his job? Finally, it’s important to have realistic expectations. I have seen many people turn down a terrific loan modification offer from the bank to wait it out for some magical solution that’s never going to happen.

You need to get an idea of what type of relief that you may qualify for, and see if that relief will work for you. For example, if you earn $700 a month in Social Security as your only form of income and you are trying to modify a $300,000 mortgage, it is highly unlikely that you are going to be offered a solution because the math just doesn’t work. If you earn $200,000 a year and are trying to modify your $190,000 mortgage, it’s doubtful that your lender is going to see things your way.

Q: Our mortgage is underwater and we would like to move out of the immediate area. I need some good advice. I'm reluctant to just pick up the phone an call anyone because I don't want to become a victim of a scam. Do I call a law firm? A real estate agent? A loan modification company? Who? – Hal

A: Call a lawyer experienced in dealing with struggling homeowners. He or she will help you figure out a strategy that may involve a short sale or a loan modification. Each person’s situation is unique and each situation should be dealt with individually. Do some Internet research to find out about lawyers in your area and then choose two or three to interview. Ask questions such as: How many cases have you handled similar to mine? Do you have any special training or certifications related to real estate law? You should also take to the appointment appropriate paperwork about your financial situation and your house. Bring proof of income for all wage earners, two years of tax returns, a recent mortgage statement, your tax bill, your insurance bill and any other paperwork that you think is pertinent to your individual case. Think about your goals. Attorneys are, by training, goal-oriented people, so tell the attorney about your goals so he or she can craft a custom plan that works for you. Bring reasonable expectations and a willingness to listen.

The information and materials on this blog are provided for general informational purposes only and are not intended to be legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed, nor should any such relationship be implied. Nothing on this blog is intended to substitute for the advice of an attorney, especially an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

To follow Gary Singer on Twitter, click here.

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Ask a real estate pro: 4 keys to getting lower mortgage payments

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Posted February 24, 2012

Investment will be Used for B5M Website Development, Marketing and Ongoing Innovation

SHANGHAI & GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--B5M, a next-generation social shopping search engine in China, today announced a $7.1 million Series A investment round led by Oak Investment Partners and Giosis Holdings. B5M will use the funds for website development, marketing and ongoing innovation. Allan Kwan, an industry veteran who led Yahoo! search in Asia Pacific, and Youngbae Ku, a successful entrepreneur who founded GMarket, which was acquired by eBay, will join B5M's board of directors representing Oak Investment Partners and Giosis Holdings, respectively.

B5M, which means "help me buy" in Chinese, is designed to help Chinese consumers make informed purchasing decisions. It combines product and shopping data with community features to promote social shopping decisions with comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased search results. Over the past four years the company assembled a local team in China and launched a beta site that has indexed over 30 million business-to-consumer products, product reviews, and shopping-related web articles. The company was founded by Yeogirl Yun, a serial entrepreneur who founded mySimon.com, Wisenut.com, and Become.com, which are general search or comparison shopping engines in the U.S., Japan, and Republic of Korea.

"We have set out to build state-of-the-art search and data mining technologies to give Chinese consumers the power to choose the best new or used product or group-buying deal from over 200 business-to-consumer websites and 100 group-buying sites," said Yeogirl Yun, founder and CEO of B5M. "With this new capital and on-the-ground support from Allan and Youngbae, we can take B5M to the next level to provide unparalleled quality of service and user experience."

"Seldom do we have the unique opportunity to partner with two successful entrepreneurs. We are delighted to work with serial-entrepreneur Yeogirl Yun and to co-invest with Young Bae Ku, formerly the CEO and founder of GMarket, an early e-commerce leader and Oak portfolio company," said Ifty Ahmed, a general partner for Oak Investment Partners who specializes in the internet and new media sector. "The Chinese e-commerce market poses unique opportunities and challenges. The collaboration between Giosis and B5M, backed by the experience of these two entrepreneurs and steady guidance of our China-based advisor, Allan Kwan, will be instrumental in creating a powerful player in the fastest growing e-commerce market in the world."

About B5M

B5M, founded in 2007, is the most comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased Chinese social shopping search engine with tens of millions of business-to-consumer products, product and merchant reviews, group-buy deals, used products, and shopping-related web articles with innovative shopping community features to help Chinese consumers make informed purchasing decisions. B5M, headquartered in Shanghai, is a technology-driven company that also provides e-commerce search and recommendation engines to e-commerce sites for better user experience and higher conversions, and syndicates its social shopping search engine to third-party websites for strong traffic monetization.

About Oak Investment Partners

Oak Investment Partners is a multistage venture capital firm and a lead investor in the next generation of enduring growth companies. Since 1978 the firm has invested $9 billion in nearly 500 companies around the world, earning the trust of entrepreneurs with a senior team that delivers steady guidance, deep domain expertise and a consistent investment philosophy. Its current portfolio includes Chamate, Demand Media (NYSE: DMD), Giosis Gmarket, KAYAK Software, Lianlian Pay and Wonga. Oak Investment Partners is also known for its historical investments in aQuantive, Allyes Information Technology, AthenaHealth, Digital Media Group, HuffingtonPost, Inktomi and TeleAtlas.

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B5M Lands $7.1M. Series A Led by Oak Investment Partners and Giosis Holdings

SHANGHAI & GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

B5M, a next-generation social shopping search engine in China, today announced a $7.1 million Series A investment round led by Oak Investment Partners and Giosis Holdings. B5M will use the funds for website development, marketing and ongoing innovation. Allan Kwan, an industry veteran who led Yahoo! search in Asia Pacific, and Youngbae Ku, a successful entrepreneur who founded GMarket, which was acquired by eBay, will join B5M’s board of directors representing Oak Investment Partners and Giosis Holdings, respectively.

B5M, which means "help me buy" in Chinese, is designed to help Chinese consumers make informed purchasing decisions. It combines product and shopping data with community features to promote social shopping decisions with comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased search results. Over the past four years the company assembled a local team in China and launched a beta site that has indexed over 30 million business-to-consumer products, product reviews, and shopping-related web articles. The company was founded by Yeogirl Yun, a serial entrepreneur who founded mySimon.com, Wisenut.com, and Become.com, which are general search or comparison shopping engines in the U.S., Japan, and Republic of Korea.

"We have set out to build state-of-the-art search and data mining technologies to give Chinese consumers the power to choose the best new or used product or group-buying deal from over 200 business-to-consumer websites and 100 group-buying sites,” said Yeogirl Yun, founder and CEO of B5M. "With this new capital and on-the-ground support from Allan and Youngbae, we can take B5M to the next level to provide unparalleled quality of service and user experience."

“Seldom do we have the unique opportunity to partner with two successful entrepreneurs. We are delighted to work with serial-entrepreneur Yeogirl Yun and to co-invest with Young Bae Ku, formerly the CEO and founder of GMarket, an early e-commerce leader and Oak portfolio company,” said Ifty Ahmed, a general partner for Oak Investment Partners who specializes in the internet and new media sector. “The Chinese e-commerce market poses unique opportunities and challenges. The collaboration between Giosis and B5M, backed by the experience of these two entrepreneurs and steady guidance of our China-based advisor, Allan Kwan, will be instrumental in creating a powerful player in the fastest growing e-commerce market in the world.”

About B5M

B5M, founded in 2007, is the most comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased Chinese social shopping search engine with tens of millions of business-to-consumer products, product and merchant reviews, group-buy deals, used products, and shopping-related web articles with innovative shopping community features to help Chinese consumers make informed purchasing decisions. B5M, headquartered in Shanghai, is a technology-driven company that also provides e-commerce search and recommendation engines to e-commerce sites for better user experience and higher conversions, and syndicates its social shopping search engine to third-party websites for strong traffic monetization.

About Oak Investment Partners

Oak Investment Partners is a multistage venture capital firm and a lead investor in the next generation of enduring growth companies. Since 1978 the firm has invested $9 billion in nearly 500 companies around the world, earning the trust of entrepreneurs with a senior team that delivers steady guidance, deep domain expertise and a consistent investment philosophy. Its current portfolio includes Chamate, Demand Media (NYSE: DMD - News), Giosis Gmarket, KAYAK Software, Lianlian Pay and Wonga. Oak Investment Partners is also known for its historical investments in aQuantive, Allyes Information Technology, AthenaHealth, Digital Media Group, HuffingtonPost, Inktomi and TeleAtlas.

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Chinese Social Shopping Search Engine B5M Secures $7.1 Million Series A Financing Round Led by Oak Investment Partners ...

23-02-2012 07:35 © 2012 DMSG. Official music video for "Stay Schemin (Sheen Mix)" performed by D.Dot, Ezko and Mariloe. Shot, Directed and Edited By Protocall Download the track here: http://www.hulkshare.com and be sure to download #WINNING, which features the track here: http://www.hulkshare.com iamezko.com @_Ezko @DDOT_Com @MariloeBooysen

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