The new IE8 and Update Lane

A few have asked us if we are compatible with the new IE8 browser.  The answer is “sort of”.  While we do not officially support the new browser, we have been pleased with Update Lane’s performance.  You may notice a few subtle graphical errors but the functionality as a whole appears to work great.  And, the new IE8 browser is comparable to Firefox, Chrome, and Safari in terms of speed.  However, the jury is still out on the stability of Microsoft’s new browser (IE7 failed miserably).  Time will tell but for now, we’ve been pleased.

Server Maintenance – Update Lane will be down 3-7am EST April 11

Update Lane is growing and so is our secure servers!  The Update Lane service will be down between 3am and 7am EST April 11, 2009 for scheduled maintenance.

Thank you for your patience and please keep the suggestions and referrals coming!

Using your smart phone with Update Lane

You can use your smart phone to access Update Lane when you have a compatible browser like Opera Mini or the iPhone’s Safari.  If you are out showing homes, at a conference, or on the beach, you can manage your listings and transactions on Update Lane at your convenience.

Thus far, we have been able to successfully test on the iPhone, BlackBerry (adding Opera Mini), and T-Mobile’s G1 (Google phone).  The iPhone is the current favorite as it is the only one of these three that has the capability to also open and view documents from the web.  We are sure that BlackBerry and Google will catch -up to that functionality though.

The Palm Treo is next on the list of smart phones for us to test.  If you have a smart phone, try out Update Lane and let us know what you think.

Features still to come

The Update Lane beta is far from a complete tool for us. The complete tool is tentatively scheduled to launch mid-summer 2009. At the time of this writing, this list represents Update Lane features in development to be included on or before the official launch. This is an extensive list and you can count on us to make all of it simple and easy to use:

Image system. This includes your ability to upload your logo and photo in a simple, easy process. In fact, our image system is the first of its kind! You can read more about it on our image system post.
Download to calendar. All due dates and tasks from the Action Plan or as assigned to a document can be downloaded direct to your calendar. We comply with the iCalendar format which is a web standard and compatible for most calendar software (including Mac). We also offer a “csv” format for Outlook or a “dba” format for Palm.
Brokerage control for their agents. Each of a broker’s agents will be able to affiliate with one broker. This allows the brokers to oversee transactions, schedule showings for all of their listings, and the maintenance still can reside with the agent.
Virtual assistant roles per transaction. Virtual assistants can be assigned to all of an agents transactions by following a couple simple steps. First, create a specific email address for the VA. Second, add that email address to your “additional email addresses” on the My Lane tab and Account Info on the navigation bar.
Action plan categories. This will allow you to categorize your actions into pre-defined categories: listing activities, closing activities, REO/short sale activities.
Linking actions and documents. When you add an action, you will the ability to link it to a document. For example, your action may be completing a 30-day market evaluation and you can link it directly to your evaluation on the documents page.
Search functions for showings. You will be able to quickly search for a showing agent by typing their first or last name, email address, or license number.
Quickly lookup client, guest, or showing agent profiles. You will be able to click on a username and see their phone number. Please remember that your client information remains confidential to you.
Re-invite client or guest. If your client or guest on your transaction has not registered for their account, this simply allows you to press a button and re-invite them to join Update Lane to access the listing or transaction information.
Integrated Update Lane BLOG. Our BLOG will be more interactive to act as a forum for us to communicate with you and for you to share information with other Update Lane users.
Transaction history report. You will be able to quickly view which user (guest or client) has viewed a document. We do track this information now. If you need a report generated in the interim, please contact us.
Automatic transaction change emails to your client. An email will be sent to clients following changes to showings, feedback, action plan, or competing. Don’t worry though, only one email is sent to your client at the conclusion of your Update Lane session (to avoid spamming!). Right now, an email is generated each time a document has been uploaded to those parties that can view it.
Billing system. We are sure that you are not as excited about this one as we are – but at only $10 per transaction and less in bulk – with a way to keep this free through our business to business co-branding initiative. We are more excited about our Giving program. Please take a minute to review the “Giving” page on the Update Lane public site. We want to see that list of organizations grow so that we can all invest in our communities.
Archiving closed transactions. You will be able to archive your closed transactions to long term storage on Update Lane. Or, you can always download your closed transaction to your computer.
Quickly view clients and guests assigned to a transaction. We will enable a popup window for you to reference to see who is assigned to each role in a specific transaction. You can view this information now by going to the “Guest Access” tab and “Manage Users” on the navigation bar.
Transfer active or pending transactions. You will be able to transfer a transaction from you to another agent if you need (e.g., if you are leaving the business or something happens). This will allow a seamless transition for your clients or anyone involved in the transaction.
Web tutorials. A complete help file exists for your reference now. However, videos are very helpful when learning a new tool (despite its ease of use).

We will be making some smaller tweaks to the service such as changing the name “Marketing” to “Action Plan” and adding a date to a competing property so that your clients will know when a property listed or closed.

Please keep any suggestions coming. We give all suggestions consideration.

Happy selling!
The Update Lane Staff

Your privacy and data security with Update Lane

Update Lane does not sell or share any personal, client, transactional or any other private information.  As the agent managing the transaction, you assign who has access into your transaction. You can assign email addresses to client or guest roles (coop agent, lender, title, et al) and then those users can only see what you give them permission to see.  You can review who has access to your transaction by visiting the Guest Access tab and Manage Users on the nav bar. The Guest Roles page on the nav bar shows the specific permissions and what client and guest roles can and cannot do.

Update Lane employs mirrored servers with full redundancy in a hosting environment. Data is constantly being backed-up and “reinstalled” on alternate servers. If the main server ever crashes, a back-up server is instantly ready to take its place.  The servers are located in a secure, offsite web hosting facility and all files and information are encrypted.

This means your data is locked up, safe, and you retain control!

Adding a client login from your website

Adding a client login to your website is easy. You just need to create a button or contact us and we’ll create one for you. You can view a sample login button at www.willowstoke.com or www.nnindy.com.

After you add your button to your desired pages, link it to http://www.updatelane.com/users.php. This will take your clients directly to the Update Lane login screen.

The Beta Launches!

The Update Lane staff is absolutely ecstatic to let you know the beta is open! Everything that we’re launching with the initial beta is done, laboriously tested, and ready for you. Simply visit www.updatelane.com and create your free account to get started.

We’ve gone to great lengths to keep this simple, intuitive, and fast. A help file is available for you to reference or you can follow the “Contact Us” button to ask any questions.

With the beta, you’ll be able to do the following:
• Customize your account colors
• Educate your client on the market and what you’re doing to sell the property
• Build your custom marketing plan for each property
• Schedule showings
• Collect, edit, and post feedback for your clients
• Track competing properties
• Post and organize all your documents online
• Collaborate with the co-operating agent, lender, title company, and anyone else that’s a part of the transaction.
• Send transactions to other agents
• Refer agents to Update Lane (which we greatly appreciate)

A few tips on getting started with Update Lane

Update Lane is relatively self-explanatory.  And, screen by screen instructions can be found on the My Lane – Help page on the nav bar. And of course, you can always contact us.  Here are a few other quick tips that you may find useful in getting started.

If you’re using the service on a team, have your lead person create a free account. Then go to the My Lane – Account Info area and select “assign additional email addresses to your account”. You will all need to use the same password, but this enables other team members to log into and manage transactions using the same account.

The privacy of the information you post to a transaction on Update Lane is managed within the roles you assign each guest or client. View the permission table on the Guest Access area, Guest Roles page on the nav bar.

You can add more clients to a property by going to the My Listings – Manage Listing page on the nav bar. Simply click “Add/Assign Client” for that property. You can also add guests to a property – like a buyer’s agent, the lender, or the title company from the same Manage Listing page. If you go to the Guest Access area of the site, select “Manage Users” and you will be able to see all the users you have assigned to a property and their role (client, lender, etc). You can also add or delete clients or guests from this screen.

Browsers and Update Lane

Update Lane supports 99.3% of all browsers in use, according to the latest w3c usage statistics. This includes the most common browsers of Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera. Browsers not officially supported may still work with the site (such as Microsoft’s IE8 beta). Here’s the breakout of all internet users today and where you can download it from the web (information extracted from http://www.w3schools.com).

December 2008	% Users	Website
Mozilla Firefox	44.4%	http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
Internet Explorer 7	26.1%	http://www.microsoft.com/ie
Internet Explorer 6	19.6%
Google Chrome	3.6%	http://www.google.com/chrome
Safari	2.7%	http://www.apple.com/safari
Opera	2.4%	http://www.opera.com

Update Lane is a dynamic site which means new data is assembled and displayed every time you click a button within the service. Most websites display content that is the same for every user. The dynamic content of Update Lane utilizes your browser’s memory more than most websites so that you may notice some differences that you have never noticed before. For example, all browsers have memory leaks. If you have left your browser open for a considerable amount of time, the memory leaks will begin to show and some images may not load entirely. All you need to do is close your browser and open it back up again.

Because your content changes with every update, we built Update Lane to automatically update your pages on your browser without you having to click “refresh”. However, some browser settings may not allow us to live-update information. Simply press refresh on your browser to update any tables if you are not seeing your changes applied, or close and reopen your browser if you are suddenly experiencing problems using the site. On the same note, if you send a transaction to a user and the user cannot see the transaction yet, give it a few minutes and then ask the recipient to refresh his/her browser.

We have noticed differences between browsers. Firefox, Chrome, and Safari appear to be faster than either Internet Explorer browser. Firefox seems to be the fastest and most stable but will occasionally get dyslexic and display a number in the wrong column (click refresh if you see this before changing it). Chrome appears to have the most memory leaks but we like how much extra screen space it gives you and chances are you won’t notice the leaks. Safari provides a very soft and pretty appearance; but Apple does that by adding a lot of custom styling on top of the existing forms. The result can be forms that render too wide or overlay text. Internet Explorer is definitely the slowest of the bunch and carries its own quirks.  Occasionally, IE6 or IE7 will stop you from being able to type in a form.  If you ever experience that, click the magic “refresh” button and that will take care of the problem.

You will have to determine which browser you like the best. If you haven’t tried anything other than the Internet Explorer that came installed on your computer, visit one of the sites above and give it a shot. You can always uninstall the browser if you don’t like it.

Happy surfing!

Keeping up with Update Lane

With the beta set to roll out, we’ve added a few tools to help communicate.  You can follow us at Twitter (www.twitter.com) and through this blog or contact us by email at sellbetter@updatelane.com.

The blog will act as our sounding board to gain your feedback on the different ideas and sections of the site, share information and comments with other users, and answer questions.  When new updates to the service are available, we’ll post them on the blog and send out tweets.  You can find us on Twitter under user name “UpdateLane”.

We will answer all emails within 24 hours of receipt.  We are planning to add a phone service and live chat option to make sure your questions are answered when you need them answered – while you’re on the site!

Pre-release (beta) of Update Lane

Update Lane will launch a pre-release or “beta” version for everyone to try out the service for free.  Most functionality will be active and live although some functions will be witheld until our actual launch (like billing!).  During the beta phase, our preliminary users will have their opportunity to tell us what they think: likes, dislikes, and what needs to be changed.

After an arduous couple of years, development reached 90% complete on October 10, 2008.  Those familiar with development know that the last 10% can take a very long time to work through.  Our Fall of 2008 pre-release launch looks to remain accurate – if you consider that Fall actually ends December 21!  We are working hard to get this out as soon as possible!

Please sign-up early if you have not already done so.  You will receive development updates every couple of weeks.  And, feel free to ask any questions you have on the service.

Happy home selling,
the Update Lane staff

PS – Don’t keep Update Lane a secret, we really appreciate your referrals!