Internet Realty Realities
"If you're a traditional Realtor®, then you must be against the Internet," a very good friend said to me the other day. His words caused me to pause and to consider the damage that is being done to our profession by the recent 60 Minutes segment and other stories that have created the impression that there are two kinds of brokerages today, those that use the Internet and those that don't.
First Point. The only reason that there is a real estate industry on the Internet in the first place is that listings are online--more than 4 million of them at any given moment. This did not happen by magic. It happened because the hundreds of thousands of brokers who own those listings signed up home sellers, put a listing together, and agreed to let their competitors use their listing to attract business. Then they built state-of-the art Web sites to do the same.
Foresight, cooperation, innovation, risk-that's what "traditional Realtors®" had to have to make it possible for today's "untraditional" brokers to get into business. Nowhere else in the world can you peruse so much property in your bedroom slippers. Indeed, what other industry allows one member to use another's inventory to attract business?
Second Point. Rank and file Realtors® are technology consumers of the first order. Our friends at the Center for Realtor® Technology recently conducted their annual survey of technology use and found that the average Realtor® spends more than $1,000 a year on new technology. Multiply that by 1.3 million Realtors® and you have a very large number. Morever, 25 percent of Realtors® spent more than $2,000 on technology in 2006, two-thirds of those surveyed have a real estate business Web site, and a quarter spends more than $1,000 annually to maintain their site.
Third Point. CBS, watch who you call a "traditional Realtor®." Those are fighting words!
Comments
It's a shame that everyone keeps trying to pigeonhole our industry. There are old agents, new agents, good ones, bad ones, mean ones nice ones, to I need to go on?
I spend a hefty share on technology and have incorporated into my marketing and administrative tasks to better serve my clients. I know I am not alone in doing so!
Posted by: jbgraves | August 3, 2007 11:37 AM
I'm wondering if anyone has done a study on the average time a realtor spends on a Buy or Sell transaction. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Posted by: Larry Olson | September 11, 2007 05:23 PM
Today's "Realtor" does have to look at all options of technology and marketing ideas. The one's who are stuck in the stone age will certainly by swept under the door mat. The buyer's have changed with 80%+ researching the Internet before contacting an agent. The agent whom is thinking outside the real-estate box will be the one getting the e-mail.
Posted by: Duane Marlink | September 20, 2007 07:40 AM