Didsbury agent, Gascoigne Halman could well be getting in on the ground floor of a ‘new Twitter’! The agent has placed ‘QR’ codes on its shop window-displayed properties to allow anyone interested to see additional pictures and details by scanning the code with their mobile phone.

QR codes work like barcodes, standing for‘quick response’ and are becoming a digital industry standard being readable by most ‘smart’ mobile phones.

The idea uses the website www.talesofthings.com which captures people’s images of things (absolutely any ‘things’, but in this case, Gascoigne Halman’s properties), with a longer description or photos attached. Taleofthings is a Beta site (prelaunch testing) at present, so Gascoigne Halsman are getting in very early, showing the website’s commercial benefits by enabling Gascoigne Halman to use the QR codes alongside property displays in their shop windows.

In order to access the information, you simply download a free ‘talesofthings’ app for an iPhone or Android (Google’s phone platform) and when you spot a code on a shop window or for sale sign scan the code with your phone to reveal the full property schedule and additional images.

The branch manager for Gascoigne Halman in Didsbury, Nick Mosley said the reason he had chosen to take part in the Beta test project, “Is that there have been a great number of developments with technologies related to estate agents in recent years, such as Google Maps and iPhone apps. Any technology that can give an edge over the competitor is extremely important.”

At the moment this is being run as a pilot project with a focus on the shop window so that if the branch is closed customers can still find out more information about the property. The aim will be to also have these codes on for sale boards in the future – so you can stop and scan the QR code - and next week the codes will feature in a local newspaper advert for the estate agent. 

www.gascoignehalman.co.uk or www.talesofthings.com