The Hoffman Group - 12-04-08

December 4th, 2008

The Hoffman Group is pleased to attest to the exceptional caliber of work performed for us by Chad Weaber in creating, building and implementing our www.digmyrtlebeach.com website. From beginning to end, all activities were conducted with professionalism and expertise.

To review the highlights, the most important element of digmyrtlebeach.com is Chad’s behind-the-scenes programming that “scrubs” the internet feed from the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS).  Without this critical step it would be impossible to obtain the complete and “pure” search returns that digmyrtlebeach.com excels in. For example, realtors typically use various abbreviations when they input a listing: some type N. Myrtle Beach, some NMB, some North Myrtle Beach, some even misspell words. Chad’s programming takes all variables into consideration and feeds all into the search return.

As to the on-screen visible components of digmyrtlebeach.com, several elements distinguish the site from most other real estate websites.

First is the prominence of the search property feature. The Hoffman Group made the corporate decision to highlight the search capability because, ultimately, the reason people come to a real estate site is to find a property that fills their needs.  There is a home page “Quick Search” with basic criteria as well as a home-page-navigation “Property Search” with detailed fields that refine the search. There’s even the capability to search by MLS number – a plus both for people who have listed their property and for searchers who may have seen the listing in another format and want more details.

Second is the customized design of the search return listing forms. From the overview to the detail, information is presented in clean, easy-to-read formats. The large main picture is accompanied by thumbnails of the other available pictures and all are large enough to see without enlargement. Agent “Remarks” are included giving internet searchers key information that usually is available only to MLS members.  The property is also mapped so searchers will understand the neighborhood location.

Third, is the unusual "Create Profile" option.  The Hoffman Group decided this user-friendly feature would be a critical asset to searchers and again decided to give it prominence. A profile allows them to save their specific search criteria which the system then compares against new listings as they come online. The profile user is then notified by email when a new property meeting their needs is listed. They can call their realtor about it immediately instead of waiting for their realtor to find the listing and call them!

One final and critical component of the work was Chad’s designing the site so that corporate staff can easily add, delete or change content. This flexibility is crucial to The Hoffman Group being able to maintain the site without additional costs.

A major advantage to this work for The Hoffman Group was that we were able to transfer the feed, forms and back-end administration technology to upgrade our existing oceaninvestments.com and mbcondosales.com websites.  We are pleased to recommend Chad and his work.

Sincerely;

Stephen Edelman
Chief Operating Officer
The Hoffman Group