Property Management
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Why REALTORS Must Learn to Trust the Internet
to your email farm, and put the link on your Web site. We also have a printable version of the newsletter for $200 a year. Now these are stories and information for buyers and sellers, so you can print the stories, and it has your photo and contact info at the top. You can mail it out, or you can make copies of certain stories for buyers presentations or to give to sellers when you list their homes. These stories are written by top journalists and industry personnel from all over the nation. They are designed to help you do business. Support from the MLS With the Internet, Realtors and their information management associations have the ideal opportunity to store and manage listing information online, cheaply and easily. Browsers can enable even the most tech-deficient agent to get around the Internet as easily as Bill Gates. Yet, incredibly few agents are able to use the Internet for business, except to email clients from their laptops. They simply aren"t getting support from the very associations who are mandated to serve them. The reasons are many. Some associations are tied to contracts with information service providers that shackle them to expensive and outdated software and hardware. Others think they must purchase systems that serve all the technology levels of all agents, so they purchase multiple softwares to access the information. The irony is that the simplest of these softwares is always much more expensive and complex than any Internet solution. So, they are out hundreds of thousands of dollars for information management solutions that could be had for a fraction of the cost, if they would only do a little investigating. Few have the foresight to go ahead and buy their way out of these contracts and put their agents with cheaper, more efficient Internet MLS services, which are safer, easier to use, and much more cost-efficient. Since many of these organizations are comprised of volunteers, there are few board members who know enough about technology and the way information management services really work to do a good job for the members. They often base their information system decisions on myths, misinformation, or worse, MLS revenues, little realizing that by choosing information services that are unnecessarily expensive, they are, in fact, in violation of their fiduciary responsibilities to their membership! But who knows enough to call them on it? With today"s advances in technology there is no reason why all MLS information isn"t on browser/servers or Internet-enabled client/server systems. These associations and MLS organizations have their collective heads in the sand, hiding from a growing reality. All information systems will one day soon be Internet-based. For some it will simply be sooner than later. Meanwhile, they are telling themselves and their membership that Internet MLS is unproven, that it can"t handle large databases (tell that to Realtor.com with over 1.3 million listings!) and that disconnects are still too frequent (how"s your dial-up lately?) Across the country, there are already little rebellions. The Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors put all of its members on an Internet MLS over a year ago, a decision railroaded without regret by its gutsy CEO. In North Michigan, 95% of the Traverse City brokers have adopted a parallel MLS system, separate and apart from their MLS system server, in the pursuit of better service. In Florida, the Florida Association of REALTORS has created its own parallel Internet MLS to market to associations who are behind in technology solutions. Even the MLS information system providers are driving the trend toward Internet-based services. GTE Enterprise Solutions claims that its parallel Internet MLS systems are enabled to cutover to full service anytime. VistaInfo"s CEO Tom Gay, has vowed that when his company completes its purchase of Moore Data, one of the nation"s largest MLS information system providers, that the company"s products in the future will all be Internet-enabled. Internet MLS means the difference between being able to interact instantly with consumers, which is what real estate is all about. Information systems that are more tied to being proprietary than easy to use are a drawback for Realtors who need to search, process and share information quickly and efficiently. There is no excuse for any information system for Realtors to require that the agent shut down one program and open another to communicate with a customer or to process a report, or to post a listing. When information manipulation is that difficult, it is discouraging for agents who don"t have a facility with computers and programs. Again the Internet can come to the rescue. If an agent can hunt and peck on a keyboard, turn on a computer, and click a mouse, s/he should be able to use those minimum skills to access the Internet, complete fields of information for reports and email clients with the information instantly. If the real estate industry is really interested in keeping the Realtor at the center of the transaction, they should be moving at every level to get agents positioned to master the Internet and to prepare for the inevitable future of the online transaction. MLS organizations and Realtor associations should make sure that information is easily accessible and retrievable for agents at the least cost. Brokers should step up to the plate with excellent Web sites and listings services to help agents get their homes online, and perhaps reward agents who can use the Internet for marketing, and post and maintain their own listings. And, agents should be learning on their own time to use the Internet, because it is only a matter of time until using the Internet is a necessity, not an option. Remember, you are in charge of your future. Also See: Where Will Real Estate Be In Five Years?Pages: 1 [2]
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In this technology based world everything depends upon the internet. A realtor must be internet savvy to help the agents and eradicate their fear. Thanks for an awesome content.
03.05.2012