Name of your website?Oakland Real Estate
Your name?
Unhei Kang
Your Location (city, etc)
Oakland
Please give us a short summary of your website?
It's a website with information about real estate in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. It's focuses on Oakland, Berkeley and Piedmont, although it also covers the other cities such as Emeryville, Kensington, El Cerrito and Albany. On the site, you'll find useful information such as buyer and seller guides, as well as a useful mortgage calculator. Oh, and most importantly, the latest and most comprehensive MLS listings for the East Bay.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Being able to reach out to more folks that are looking to purchase real estate in the East Bay. I wanted to show, esp. for Oakland, that it's not a city where you have to wear a bullet proof vests everywhere. There are lots of really nice and amazing neighborhoods here...
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Well, I started my first website (simple blog) in 2008, but have since migrated to the current site, www.oaklandrealestate.org so that I could offer much more information to the potential East bay home buyer.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
This has been challenging. My husband wants me to focus, although I do offer and specialize in areas outside of Oakland, namely Berkeley, Piedmont and to a lesser extent Emeryville, El Cerrito and Alabany.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
I feel that it allows users to get to know me a little better, understand the neighborhoods I represent and also the home buying process!
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Oh, it's my online identity so I'm never going to sell. That would be silly!
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
It's an on-going investment. Over time, my readers both old and new will see how involved and pluged-in I am to real estate here, and understand that I am very capable to represent them through the most complex transactions
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I'd like to brighten up the design, add more cheerful colors and images. That's already in the pipeline so stay tuned!
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
My husband!
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Not so much cost, but more about having to answer design and usability questions when developing the site. It was hard at first, but once it came together, it was all worth it.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Balancing time to serve my present clients, and creating content for the site.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
My husband takes care of that, but I think it's been about blogging about the neighborhoods, and creating more exposure through other real estate websites such as this one.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Not very different. I use wordpress, which is very simple. Anything difficult, I hand over to my hubby.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
Oh, it's only been up for a little over a month. I can't imagine ending it as it's a journal of my experience and career!
Why did you choose to become a realtor?
It's silly, but I really like homes and helping people. I have a Masters in Social Welfare, and worked as an IT Project Manager so I'm marrying my love for real estate and helping people with the discipline of a project manager
What is your website address?
Oakland Real Estate
