Brokers staring down barrel of technology

Real Estate Weekly, July 20, 2005 by Linda Barr

Marilyn Donahue is the first to admit that the technology revolution almost passed her by.

"The best I could do was get on the Internet--and then get off again," she recalled.

As the owner of a 25-agent brokerage firm, she was tech-savvy enough to know computers were banging at her door and did pay a company to create a website that contained her firm's listings.

Then, 12 months ago, all that changed when she sold her firm to residential powerhouse, Prudential Douglas Elliman, and became executive vice president and director of sales in Brooklyn.

Today, Marilyn's Blackberry is among her most valued possessions and business for her has grown "exponentially."

"That's the only word for it," she says. "We have a full service website and can track how many hits we get; we reach every market--everyone in the world comes in and asks questions on our website. Information is at our fingertips and we have wonderful back-up support from Prudential Douglas Elliman."

Every one of the 3,000 PDE agents has a fully functioning email system linked with their Blackberry, A sophisticated listing system keeps track of clients and is linked to client management databases. An integrated Internet with an internal website has all the forms a broker could ever want to use. Feedback is provided on how many times listings are viewed and what type of property people search for. By monitoring the 1.5 million visits to www.elliman.com, the IT department also provides brokers with data on trends and marketing initiatives.

Charles Olsen, chief technology officer at PDE, is responsible for making sure every one of the firm's employees has access to the latest technology and, just as importantly, knows how to use it.

"Today, the customer is typically younger, more tech savvy and demands instant response to emails and messages," said Olsen. "Brokers have to move with the times and learn how to use the technology their customers are using.

"By structuring excellent training programs in sizeable bites that they can understand, we are able to raise the level of technological awareness among the broker population and allow them to use technology with as much thought as they use getting into a car."

Today, 74% of homebuyers use the Internet to search for a home. Sixty-five percent of Hispanic adults own a computer and Hispanics spend an average of 9% more time online than the general U.S. consumer. Online real estate advertising is also predicted to surpass newspapers by 2009.

In short, a traditionally paper-intensive industry has been turned on its head by a technology revolution that offers a choice of services and options never before available. From RealPlus to web-based platforms; from virtual tours to Flash design; from search engine optimizing to blogs.

For the uninitiated, it's enough to prompt a crash in their internal systems.

At the Real Estate Board of New York, senior vice president Eileen Spinola cautions, "Clearly, the Internet has come into its own in the last five years. But being computer savvy isn't the be all and end all of success, its just one component--real estate is a people business; you have to develop the right skill sets to be a success and part of that is computer literacy."

If that's something you don't possess, then there are definitely ways around it.

She says, "There are many successful agents out there who can't stand to do board packages, so they bring someone on who is good at that. "If [technology] is not a talent you have, you can hire someone either to teach you or do all the computer work necessary."

Spinola confesses she was among the millions caught in a technology time warp and still has glitches as she chips away at the pit face of computer know-how.

For the past several years, though, she has helped develop a revolutionary system that has changed the face of online listings in New York.

The lack of a unified service in New York is certainly a cog in the wheel of technology here, but REBNY has attempted to bridge that gap with an electronic sharing of listings among members and a resultant extension of co-brokerage.

"This is a wonderful thing for the seller and purchaser, or landlord and tenant, because our service covers exclusives for sale and rent," says Spinola.

The system operates using a Realplus Online Listings EXchange communication device that allows any REBNY member to transmit information from his/her own in-house listings system, or platform.

The result, according REBNY, is a "historical accomplishment" for Manhattan's residential market. Never before has the city had 260 firms sharing exclusive listings in the manner they are now. Participating firms must list within 72 hours and some, such as Corcoran, post exclusives every 20 minutes.

Said Spinola, "As a trade association, our purpose is to make sure real estate is conducted in an ethical manner and to professionalize the industry.

"About 15 years ago, the community worked to bring co-brokerage to the forefront. That was a huge step and, from that point, it was looked at as how this could be done more efficiently. With the times, you change. We did it by email, now it's the Internet. Certainly, sellers and purchasers benefit because the property is sent out to more brokers and through co-brokerage sellers get the best price."