The Steps to Create a SMARTePLAN
A SMARTePLAN is an integrated online floor plan pictorial, that is made a part of the MLS listing, and is accessible by both Agents and Consumers.
The floor plan has embedded photos inside it, and is linked to the Amenities list. A viewer can seamlessly click between the floor plan, the photos and the amenities list to view the entire property online, and print copies if desired. A separate inter-active floor plan can also be created that allows a potential buyer to arrange furniture and move walls in the floor plan …. online … directly off of our MLS. [Link to SMARTePLAN’s Marketing System]
Below is the sequence of how a SMARTePLAN progresses from paper to online. [Click Links to Jump]Step 2- the RoughOut
Step 3 – Amenities Text
Step 4 – Ready to Proof
Step 5 – Embedding Photos
Step 6 – Arrange Furniture / Move Walls
Step 7 – Upload Onto MLS
Step 1 – Measurement
The property is measured onsite. We can measure (& sketch) about 1000 sq ft per hour. So, a 3000 sq ft house would require us to have est. 3 hours on-property to take measurements. Usually the room dimensions (in feet and inches) are emailed to the Agent the same day, or by noon the next day.
Step 2 – the RoughOut
Within 24 hrs of taking measurements, we endeavor to email the listing agent a RoughOut. The RoughOut is where we put all the walls together by drawing to-scale. The RoughOut provides hard-copy documentation of the room sizes, and documents “how” each room was measured, by showing the point-to-point locations in each room of our laser shoots.
Creating a RoughOut provides three significant benefits to Agents:
- Each room has a vertical and horizontal measurement, drawn to scale, so you “know” our measurements are correct. No way would all the walls “fit” if the measurements were not correct.
- We “show you” the point-to-point location of each of our laser shoots. So not only do you know the measurement of each room in feet and inches, you know “how” that room was measured; and the document becomes a permanent record for your files.
- We provide a “birds-eye” view. Sometimes it is difficult to determine how a room should be measured — or where does one room stop and another begin? In this instance, we provide multiple measurement lines for review. Different colored lines give “what if” measurements for the listing agent to determine which is correct for this property. You decide.
Step 3 – Amenities Text
After the RoughOut is sent to the Listing Agent, I start creating the Amenities text if that was requested as part of this job. Having me do the Amenities text is an extra charge, but as I’m going thru the property measuring, I can also capture the features and type them up for you. Samples of my amenities text are throughout the site, and as you can see, my amenities text style is fairly detailed and saves you a lot of time, both in collecting the information, as well as typing it up. The listing agent receives columned and formatted descriptive text in a room-by-room format that becomes integrated with the online SMARTePLAN — and it is emailed to the Agent so they can quickly cut-and-paste it into their own brochures.
One Agent remarked to me “…Judith you know the names of everything, and
you have it completed, typed-up and in my email when I’d still be going through
the house trying to figure out how to describe it and writing it all down … sign
me up… yours is waaay better.”
Step 4 – Ready to Proof
Whether I create the Amenities Text, or obtain a copy of yours, the floor plan is carefully reviewed to insure the features reflected in the text are portrayed in the floor plan drawing. We can get upwards of 90% of the features in the Amenities text depicted in the drawing either by a pictographic symbol or annotation (and sometimes both). Once the drawing is completed, it is emailed to the Agent for proofing and approval. The estimated time from “Measurement” to “Ready to Proof” is generally 48-72 hrs processing hours (depending on the size of the property).
Step 5 – Embedding Photos
Your approved photos for this property are embedded into the floor plan in the same sequence as the photo gallery display on MLS. A blue arrow is inserted into the floor plan for each photo. The arrow indicates where the photographer was standing and what direction they were aiming when they took the photo. Clicking on the arrow launches the photo, which is captioned with the amenities text SMARTePLANS created for that room. Your SMARTePLAN fee includes embedding up to 14 photos inside the floor plan drawing.
Step 6 – Arrange Furniture/ Move Walls
If desired, a second interactive floor plan is created, which shows the location of the electrical outlets in the major rooms. Its purpose is to allow a potential buyer the opportunity to arrange furniture. When purchasing a home most don’t pay attention to the location of the electrical outlets —but when you get down to arranging furniture — they are very important. So the location of electrical outlets and cable connections are not included in the basic SMARTePLAN, but are carefully noted in the furniture-moving version.
The furniture moving version called SMARTePLAN-IT utilizes a menu of pre-drawn furniture icons that a viewer selects, alters the size to fit their needs and slides them around inside the floor plan. This second furniture-moving floor plan also loads onto the MLS property record and is available online as part of the property listing. Very easy … very simple. [Link to Furniture Moving]
Step 7 – Upload Onto MLS
Once the photos are embedded, I upload the files onto MLS and then test all the links. In Houston, we have a public-facing MLS, so there is an “Agent’s side” to our MLS and a second “Consumer side” on www.har.com (HAR = Houston Association of Realtors) — we test the links from both the agent side and consumer side to ensure the file installed correctly.