The New Real Estate Professional

By Saul Klein

The New Real Estate Professional
Salespeople and brokers appear overwhelmed by all the choices computers and technology offer. Emerging from the stress and confusion generated by countless choices is a new breed of real estate professional. What does this new real estate professional look like and how does he or she differentiate themselves from their competition?

An Information Specialist
As the new real estate professional, you recognize that the hottest commodity in the real estate business is information. Consumers can become overwhelmed and confused by the “information overload” generated by the Internet. You are adept at extracting information from the Internet and the local and/or regional MLS, and then re-assembling the information into knowledge, thus creating value for the consumer.

You will add value to the transaction in the ways you handle information for the property buyer and seller. What are the things you can do with information?

• filter
• sort
• customize
• manage
• analyze
• process
• display

For example, you can email a Comparative Market Analysis along with digital photos and key public record information, such as taxes and building permits. As the new real estate professional, you are in the information business!

A Web Surfer
Armed with a computer and Internet access, you are now an integral part of the new world of doing business within the online community. With the real estate industry in the early phases of doing business online, you are leading the charge. Although no one has all the answers on how to best use the Internet as a tool to market products and generate revenue, you continue to experiment with new approaches every day - and you are steadily finding success with consumers online.

An Email User
You are an email powerhouse. No more telephone tag, time zone concerns, long distance charges, interrupted conversations, or piles of unanswered correspondence.

Email is one of the most effective marketing, advertising, risk reduction, and communication tools available in business. With a click of the mouse, and then a copy and paste of some hot news reports, you easily create a personal electronic newsletter filled with solid content. Another click brings up a distribution list of hundreds of clients/prospects with email addresses around the globe; another click and the e-newsletter is sent instantly to the computers of everyone on your list. No stamps to lick, no envelopes to stuff. All at the push of a button, at the speed of light.
You are sure to display your permanent email address on business cards, letterhead, vehicle plates, car magnets, billboards, sign riders, property ads, and even mention it on your voice mail message. You actively solicit the email address of every potential client and prospect - capturing email addresses with permission becomes an important daily task. You check for email messages as frequently as checking for voice mail (if not more often) and then make sure to respond promptly, recognizing that consumers are not going to wait before contacting another real estate licensee.

A Web Site to Brag About
Recognizing that “content is king,” you develop a web site employing useful hypertext links (an electronic cross-reference) to other web sites - the idea being to showcase your professionalism and expertise. You endeavor to keep the material fresh and updated, perhaps sending email alerts when updates are made so consumers are encouraged to “bookmark” and revisit your site regularly. Listing information is the key to a “stickier” web site, so make sure you are familiar with your local MLS rules pertaining to “Internet Data Exchange” and “Virtual Office Web Sites” (IDX and VOW).

You view your web site as a publishing vehicle, though never more important than word of mouth and good service. Consumers locate the web site by using any one of the several branded domain names you've registered which all point to your main site.

Work From a Mobile Office
As the new real estate professional, your office is comprised of all the devices you carry with you. There is the smart phone, the laptop with a wireless modem, the PDA (personal digital assistant) handheld device (containing the complete MLS inventory and access to the electronic Lock Box), the programmable financial calculator, the scanner, and the portable printer.
Your computer can link into the company computer and receive messages, fax MLS listings, and access other helpful data. Meetings and conferences are conducted more efficiently online through email and password protected company Intranet. There are fewer and shorter live meetings to attend because most of the background information, agenda, confirmations, updates, and follow-up are handled online.

Focus on Growth, Self-Development and New Skills
You remain aware of the major cultural changes occurring in the information age. You work to develop clients and prospects who are comfortable maintaining an “electronic rapport” with a competent real estate professional - one who can keep the client up to date with email, newsletters, property photos, and transaction documents transmitted electronically. You use traditional as well as electronic techniques to provide clients and prospects with local community information and resources.

Get involved with Social Networking sites such as RealTown.com, Facebook, and others. Connect through sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn.
You are able to complete the mandatory state-approved continuing education requirements through computer-based education courses when offered online in various states. You tune into private networks for online interviews and seminars by panels of national experts. As an Association member, you now have a way to make leadership accountable online for some of their decisions - talk about grass-roots participation. Each member has a clear voice in the process.

Use a Technical Real Estate Assistant
You might consider hiring a virtual assistant, an individual who is highly skilled in all phases of real estate technology and the Internet. Some offices will have a professional assistant assigned to several licensees. Likely, these assistants will be former real estate associates who have focused their energies on understanding and applying the new technology to enhance their employer's business practice. The assistant will also be responsible for performing back-ups to protect valuable information and files stored in the computer. In some cases, the ‘virtual assistant’ may operate from another part of the country.

Engage the Consumer
For better or worse, the days of the “real estate mortician” are gone forever. You know the real estate morticians - they are the real estate licensees who throw buyers into the back seat of the car and drive them around until they are dead. No more! Today's connected consumers want to be actively engaged in the process.

Moreover, they demand that the real estate salespeople working on their behalf add real value to the transaction. For the selling consumer, that means interpreting and applying the wealth of information in their best interests. For the buying consumer, that means finding and sharing property information quickly and efficiently to prevent loss of opportunity.

Join Online Communities
Welcome to the community of the world, a world where the new real estate professional can choose to associate and communicate with different groups of people at the push of a button, at the speed of light, on a local connection. The Internet connects people with people. It is the network of networks.

A result of connecting people is the creation of “community”. Online communities are re-inventing the way we communicate, learn, and share information. Individuals, associations and businesses are discovering the power, versatility and affordability of Internet communities as a reliable resource for information on just about any topic you can imagine.

You are a Master Networker
You will participate online with several discussion groups networking with professionals and consumers sharing common interests - perhaps a group of commercial brokers, buyer brokers, real estate attorneys, or educators. It is like being at a national convention 365 days out of the year. It pays to network. Online networking is just another way of expanding key contacts.

Participate in an Online Business Network
As your business moves from paper-based commerce to electronic commerce, the players in the typical real estate transaction become linked electronically. Available transaction management systems will streamline the processing and closing of the transaction. You become an expert transaction manager. On command, you can alert the appraiser, surveyor, attorney, home inspector, title company, and lender via email to start work and to submit reports and documents electronically. Those players who are not up to date with the new technology will not be part of the closing process - and may be looking for a different line of work.

Technology as a Tool of the Trade
Even though you are the new real estate professional, you still keep technology in perspective - some days you find yourself using a #2 lead pencil more than your laptop. You use the computer to become more efficient in business - for example, to create standard presentations and computerized checklists and action plans to keep track of deadlines, creating a “paperless trail” for each transaction.

The tools enable you to gather much of the needed transaction information - less time tracking down information translates into more face-to-face quality time with qualified clients. With new mapping software, much of the statistical information about a property (surrounding schools, comparable sales, taxes, census, and environment) can be quickly assembled into an attractive graphical presentation piece.

Winning with technology...
...is more than the technology...it is a state of mind. Will you ever learn it all? It doesn't matter. The technology will continue to change faster than your capability to keep up with it... but you can always stay one step ahead of the competition, and that's the whole idea.

As Dr. Denis Waitley says: “Beginning is half done!”