A new entrant in the RE.net’s social media category recently launched (in beta of course). Propertyqube describes itself as “A social community which enhances your PropertyLife relationships and experiences.” Nicole Rufuku, one of PropertyQube’s co-founders took the time to answer a few questions about the company, its background and plans for the future.

Question: Can you give us your “Elevator Pitch” For PropertyQube?

Answer: Propertyqube is a social community that enhances the relationships and experiences in a person’s PropertyLife. In our community, homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters can share their PropertyLife stories, discuss home improvement projects, connect with and recommend Property Professionals in their trust network, and get answers to questions on one of our four Conversations Boards. We plan on aggressively developing new features for the community. In the future, as people develop their Propertyqube trust networks, they’ll find all the information, advice, and people they need to make optimal property decisions.

Question: It is mentioned in your blog that some of your staff left jobs at Microsoft to start PropertyQube. What gave you the idea to launch the service?

Answer: Necessity breeds innovation! All of our ideas for Propertyqube were developed in response to our own needs as consumers. As buyers, renters and homeowners, we asked ourselves what we wanted and needed in order to accomplish our property goals. The answers always came back to information, professionals, and people. We were all looking for good information and advice, trustworthy professionals, and the ability to share our experiences with those we care about. But this is nothing new. Real estate has always been an industry driven by relationships and word-of-mouth. These are the foundations of the industry. Our goal in starting Propertyqube was to build a platform to enhance these foundational characteristics and also push them to become even more efficient and fulfilling for consumers and professionals alike. Both founders left Microsoft to start Propertyqube. Microsoft was an amazing place to work. It may look more and more like a traditional company, but the culture still has a love affair with the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. Hopefully, we’ve brought some of that energy to Propertyqube.

Question: What experience does any of your staff have in the Real Estate Industry?

Answer: This is an interesting question on multiple levels, and it really gets to the heart of what we’re trying to accomplish at Propertyqube. We’ve only experienced real estate as consumers. Some may see this as a huge problem, but we think it’s our biggest advantage against the competition. There are lots of great sites out there that give agents and other professionals the ability to learn from and talk to one another. That’s not what Propertyqube is – we are consumer-focused and we’ll probably attract professionals who are also consumer-focused. It’s pretty simple: Propertyqube wants to make consumers happy; real estate professionals want to make consumers happy. We think this makes for a pretty good pairing and a great opportunity to bring consumers enhanced value. Yes, we are just consumers. But it’s counterintuitive to think consumers can’t drive innovation. Of course, we have a great deal to learn from those who help people realize the American dream day after day. One of our key priorities is to engage the professional community, and work with them to create an exciting and useful platform for consumers.

Question: What are you plans to monetize the site?

Answer: Our main revenue stream will be advertising. Online advertising has grown aggressively in the past few years, and we’re bullish on future growth as small and large business owners alike realize its efficiencies over traditional advertising channels. Although you will eventually see banner and text ads on Propertyqube, we are also putting a great deal of energy into innovative advertising strategies that we hope translate into value as opposed to nuisance for our members.

Question: Your recent blog post makes two references to traditional agent marketing efforts and how your service will go beyond those methods to improve an Agent’s bottom line. The transition to Web 2.0 and social media in the real estate industry has been slow, some would say the jury is still out. How do you envision PropertyQube as being successful? By number of members or by a different metric/standard?

Answer: Our measures of success are based on how much value we provide the industry. How many conversations are taking place on our discussion board? How many professionals have consumer connections? How has a professional been able to improve service to their clients? Those are the questions we will be asking as we assess the platform’s success. Of course we’ll look at the number of members we have, but we’ll spend more time analyzing how much value we’ve created for each one of those members. All across the web, not just in real estate, the jury is still out on Web 2.0. The challenge is that much of Web 2.0 innovation is product and tool driven. There are so many cool products to tinker with and try out. But once you shut down your computer, does the value translate offline? All Web 2.0 innovators are faced with this problem. We think we’re combating that issue head-on at Propertyqube.

Question: In the “Find an Agent” section of your site there is one recent question and it is posted from a consumer that is looking for a way to circumvent paying an agent commission. Do you think real estate professionals will see this type of social commentary as an opportunity or do you think it will be detrimental their involvement in the site?

Answer: We think real estate professionals will see these types of questions as an opportunity. These are real questions that consumers grapple with everyday. Professionals shouldn’t ignore these consumer concerns. At Propertyqube, they have the opportunity to address such questions with compelling information.

Question: So far one of the biggest objections from the broker community regarding social media and blogging is the liability factor. How do you overcome that objection in presenting your service?

Answer: We understand that concern, but we think the risk is minimal at Propertyqube. Discussions are not focused on specific properties and members are usually asking for general advice. But of course, we work under the assumption that real estate professionals will use the platform responsibly. Anything they wouldn’t normally say to a consumer offline should not be written in a response online.

Question: You face some pretty stiff competition in Active Rain, Zillow, Trulia and other sites. What would you say sets PropertyQube apart from other social media efforts in the industry?

Answer: All of these companies are working to bring innovation to the industry. We’re excited about their efforts and the success they’ve had inspires us. But each company has a very distinct value proposition, and it’s a pretty big space. We’re different because we focus on consumer relationships and the entire Propertylife. For example, we won’t ignore renters…or as we like to think of them, future buyers and sellers.

Question: Your recent blog post mentioned some new features coming out soon. Care to give us any hints?

Answer: Our near-term goals focus on further engaging consumers and helping professionals integrate and create content. The next few months will be exciting, as we learn more about the community’s needs. We’re working around the clock to address these needs with new features…and we’re testing a few now, so stay tuned!