Maybe not.

A growing proportion of property owners and buyers now do their own research on the Internet. These Internet users educate themselves about property values in their neighborhood, about tracts and models they like, about relative costs of various features and locations. They obtain the latest lending rates and information on qualifying for a loan. They educate themselves about title insurance, property insurance, home warranties, and environmental issues. They apply for loan pre-approval using email. They find plenty of sites to educate themselves about the fine points of a buying or selling transaction.

These more informed consumers are expecting more of REALTORS® and other real estate professionals, and they expect it to be served up faster. Since they've already armed themselves with a great deal of information, they expect real estate professionals to begin there. REALTORS® are no longer the "keepers of the MLS." They are no longer the sole dispensers of information. They are, however, the source of experience and knowledge, and as such are as much needed as ever, or more. And while local home buyers and sellers may arm themselves with information gathered from the Internet, they still most often select a real estate professional in the ways they always have—personal contact.

Two Ps

To meet these heightened expectations, to avoid becoming anachronisms, REALTORS® must maximize two "Ps" in the Internet—Proficiency and Presence.

Because today's property sales or exchange transactions occur in an environment that is faster paced than ever before and shows no signs of slowing, those professionals who use the tools available on the Internet proficiently are gaining an advantage over those who do not. Consider this sampling of Internet tools for REALTORS®:

• Internet-savvy real estate professionals can now obtain Data Quick®'s property profile information, as well as plat maps and sometimes even deeds of trust, quit claim deeds, and records of easements, notices of default, and other recorded information nearly instantaneously, around the clock, seven days a week.
• On-line mortgage companies now connect Realtors® and their clients with loan representatives via Internet video. Once connected, they can see and hear one another and process interactive mortgage applications or pre-qualifications in real time. The system includes transmittal of electronic signatures for credit report authorizations to match buyers with an appropriate loan program. In some cases, the loan officer can issue a loan approval on the spot, although some approvals may take up to 48-hours to allow time for property value, income, and other verifications.
• While the presence of FSBO (For Sale By Owner) web sites may be viewed by some agents as competition, such sites represent ready-made prospecting farms for others.
• Electronic completion of all escrow and title functions lies ahead. Only the barrier of providing Notary Public service online remains to be removed before those elements of real estate transactions are also conducted online.
• The Internet provides more than information. E-mail, listserves, usenets, news groups, and now voice and video communication in real time connect agents with each other, with clients, with service providers,

Of the areas affected by this information/communication phenomenon, possibly none is more dramatic than in the marketing arena, both the marketing of properties and the marketing of the real estate professionals themselves. Huge databases of information about properties on the market are now public, competing with one another for advertising dollars, and growing as a result—http://homeseekers.com, http://www.realtor.com, http://www.homeadvisor.msn.com among others.

Besides providing buyers and sellers (and agents) with the ability to search for properties worldwide, increased speed and programming sophistication now allow virtual tours of properties. These move the web visitor from room to room, from front porch entry to a walk on the grounds, from a visit to the wine cellar through a poolside fantasy, a bit of solitude in a secluded grotto, a breathtaking view of mountains or shore, a gourmet kitchen or a handiman's workshop, and back again, all complete with audio, and all as near as a mouse click.

As agents continue to realize the importance of increasing and improving their presence in cyberspace, their degree of Internet marketing sophistication will lead them to use the Internet to enhance their positions as providers of experience and knowledge, rather than purveyors of information. While some agents are busily avoiding even placing a "home page" (Internet equivalent of a resume or flyer) on a large real estate site such as realtor.com or homeseekers.com or listinglink.com or a growing host of others, another, albeit smaller, group is already preparing Quick Time® video clips, complete with audio, to introduce themselves to their cyber-visitors (i.e., potential clients) on their own custom sites.

A scary, threatening place for some. A challenge or opportunity to others. Whatever it represents, the Internet is changing forever the way the real estate business is conducted. Yet, despite these changes in the presentation and availability of information, the need to connect with people remains.

Yes, Virginia, real estate is a people business. It's just not the same people business that it was yesterday or will be tomorrow.
 

© 1998 Barbara Cox, Ph.D. for Gorsuch/Prentice Hall

Barbara Cox, established author in business communications and real estate, designs training and  teaches real estate professionals how to use the Internet and various computer programs to their best advantage. Watch for her forthcoming books being published by Prentice Hall, Inc.: The Language of Real Estate, The Webster's Concise Dictionary of Real Estate (with Jerry Cox and David Silver-Westrick), and Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals (with Bill Koelzer).