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The Internet and mobile technologies are transforming the lives of real estate professionals by challenging long-held assumptions about the business. A new generation of agents is eager to find an advantage from their familiarity and comfort with MP3 players, online video and other staples of the digital age.
Today's agents tote Treos and tablet PCs. They buy specialized software packages to build Web sites with video tours, audio clips and even video podcasts. And if they haven't yet ventured into the world of multimedia, they are probably feeling the pressure from upstart agents who make every effort to connect with today's homebuyers and sellers looking to the Web for a growing list of information, goods and services.
"Homeowners and consumers are more and more tech-savvy, and they're looking for agents who are capable of using technology," says Rusty Lindquist, vice president of agent products at a la mode, a provider of real estate software. "It's causing the more traditional agents to change.
The Portable Digital Real Estate Office
Consider Charles and Jennifer Turner, Realtors with Prudential Northwest Properties. Their technological arsenal includes:
- Individual tablet PCs for displaying and retrieving documents and other computing tasks. "The client's signature directly on the screen is as good as a signature on paper," says Turner.
- A portable printer.
- Treo 650 smartphones that display listings and photos.
- Internet-based fax numbers.
- Proprietary real estate software.
"We don't have to carry files with us or get stuck not having the right paperwork with us," says Charles Turner. "We have a desktop, but the vast majority of our work is done on the tablets.
The Turners also maintain the Portland Real Estate Blog, where they cover everything from square-footage rates for condos to how to serve as your own general contractor.
If this sounds excessive, consider how most people start their search for a home online. Numbers vary, but Realtors estimate three out of four homebuyers make the Internet their first stop. Buyers go online to community message boards, local blogs and even Google Earth, which allows computer users to get a bird's-eye view of a neighborhood before contacting an agent.
A New Generation of Real Estate Agents
The changes in the field have led to opportunities "for a whole new generation of real estate agents," says Lindquist. Real estate can be "an appealing path if you're looking for a technically engaging way to have a career. This new breed is looking at the market and seeing a way to utilize technology in their careers. The real estate industry is becoming this high tech field, and it wasn't viewed that way before.
In fact, some agents mainly focus on technology. "They really specialize in innovative technology marketing of a listing," says Lindquist.
Todd Ernst of Keller Williams Realty not only works as a Realtor but also serves as technology director for Keller Williams in the Michigan/Northern Ohio region. When he seeks to list a home, he registers a domain name for the property based on its address, then creates a preliminary version of a Web site to demonstrate the technology's marketing power. Once a home is listed, he will hang a rider below its For Sale sign with the home's Web site address.
With a la mode's software for real estate Web sites, an agent can now take video of a property and upload it to allow home buyers to view it as a video podcast. Listings can also be linked to Google Earth. "There's a demand for agents to deliver richer and richer multimedia experiences when it comes to presentation of a property," says Lindquist. "When an agent goes into a listing presentation with someone wanting to sell a home, that agent needs to show they can market the home powerfully online. If they can't, it's a gaping hole.