THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407070389
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
LENGTH: Long : 179 lines
In the futuristic world of high-tech computers, home buyers will be able to search for their dream houses without ever leaving the real estate agent's office.
With a few clicks of the computer mouse, they will be able to find out exactly how far that house is from work or school.
And, if a tour of the house doesn't prove profitable, agents on the road will be able to search for similar homes from portable computers weighing less than a pound.
The best part? That futuristic world isn't far away.
``That's where technology is today,'' says Lydia B. Lorenzen, executive vice president of Metro MLS Inc., the multiple listing service for South Hampton Roads. ``It's no longer in the future. It's here and you have to keep up with it.''
Local real estate professionals are trying to do just that. In the last year or so, many agencies have installed personal computers. Some have hired computer specialists. And one is preparing to ride into the wild Internet frontier.
Harold E. Smith Jr., senior vice president of GSH Residential Real Estate Corp., says he remembers when Metro Multiple Listing Service Inc. issued its property listings on index cards. Then MLS switched to books. Now the listings, including color photographs, are available on-line.
``We've come a long way from the index cards to the books to computers, and I guess this is the last stop,'' Smith says.
In December, GSH bought 35 personal computers for its offices and began training its agents to use them. Soon, the company will become the first agency in Hampton Roads - and one of the first in the world - to list properties on Internet.
``I guess we're in the same boat as most businesses are, trying to anticipate how business will be done in the future,'' Smith says. ``We're not sure where real estate will end up in this mass. Right now Internet is so huge, that's where it could end up.
``The main thing we're trying to do is make sure whatever happens, we're in it from the get-go.''
GSH plans to list about 500 properties that can be viewed worldwide by Internet's more than 20 million users. The company will link into Internet via the Norfolk-based access provider InfiNet, which is majority-owned by Landmark Communications Inc., parent company to The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
The advantage, particularly because of the region's high military concentration, is that families living overseas who will be moving to Hampton Roads can search for a house from their living room and view a detailed description of the home's features as well as a photograph.
``We want to put pictures of houses on there,'' Smith says. ``The pictures come out beautifully; it's amazing how well they look.''
In addition, GSH will include its agents' resumes and photos.
To prepare for its Internet venture, GSH has already started transmitting ads to local newspapers via computer, Smith says. When the company is ready to begin listing on Internet - within the next few months - agents will use the same technique to send ads and photos to the Net.
Smith says his company initially bought computers last winter so agents would have access to the new Metro MLS computerized listings.
Metro MLS had been listing properties on computer for about seven years, but the system was slow and the search capabilities limited. When the system became sluggish in January 1993 - traditionally a slow season for real estate - because too many people were trying to access it, MLS began researching other systems.
In December MLS bought a new system and by March had completely replaced the old one, Lorenzen says.
Today agents and buyers have a variety of search options. Looking for a house with a water view? Now you can specify what type of waterfront: oceanfront, bay, marsh. You can also tell your agent how many fireplaces you want, what appliances you want and where you want the master bedroom.
``Agents can be much more specific,'' Lorenzen says.
In addition to being more efficient, Lorenzen says, the new system is also more user-friendly. In the past, agents needed to remember a long list of codes. The new system offers menu prompts that take the agent step-by-step through the search.
Search information can be printed with or without photos, in a full display or one-line report. Agents can even customize their report by listing only the information they need.
The system paves the way for MLS' next venture, battery-operated hand-held computers that will include much of the same data. MLS began selling the portables, known as the Pocket Book MLS, this week.
``We look for those types of technology that will best serve our members,'' Lorenzen says.
The portables access data, but not pictures, through an InfoCard, a two-megabyte disk the size of a credit card that holds the operating program and as many as 19,500 listings.
Through the computers, which weigh less than a pound, agents will have access to all active MLS listings and 60 days of off-market listings. The information will be updated nightly via modem from MLS' main computer to the agency's InfoLoader, a unit that resembles an external disk drive. Each morning the agent can insert an InfoCard into the loader and within a minute have updated listings.
By the end of the summer, MLS hopes to introduce another software program for personal computer use, Latitudes, which will help agents and buyers zoom in on neighborhoods with hot properties, Lorenzen says. The mapping program will have maps of all Southside cities, including Smithfield, Isle of Wight and Southampton County.
Buyers will be able to zoom in on an area they like, list the features of a house they seek, then let the computer plot all the houses that match those criteria within the on-screen area.
Then, with a few clicks of the computer mouse, buyers can ``drive'' the roads to work, school or shopping to get exact distances.
Although MLS will continue to offer listings in book form for now, Lorenzen says agents who rely on the books will soon fall behind. By the time a book is distributed, the information is a week old.
``Agents who still rely on the book are losing out on fast-selling properties, the `hot properties,' '' Lorenzen says. ``Unfortunately some agents who resist the technology are getting left behind.''
But getting agents and brokers to use the available technology isn't always easy.
``It's slow,'' says Alan Thompson, general manager for Rose and Krueth Realty Corp. ``When I first came into the business, no one used computers. In 1985, I was one of the first to use it on a day-to-day basis.''
To move things along, companies such as Rose and Krueth have hired computer specialists to manage their systems and train associates.
``It's an education process,'' Thompson says.
Rose and Krueth offers its agents basic computer training for the three standard systems it recommends. At GSH an on-staff computer specialist offers two computer classes, and agents can get more advanced training at a local vocational school.
At Metro MLS, the need for education was so great they hired a computer support manager and set up a trailer as a training facility for members.
``My philosophy is don't throw technology at people without proper training,'' Lorenzen says.
For Thompson, the future of real estate lies in computers.
``Information is king in real estate,'' he says. And that means current information. Within minutes material can be updated on computer and then presented.
Rose and Krueth will soon begin computerized listing presentations using laptop computers that plug into VCRs to turn the computer image into a video image on the television screen.
The technology, unveiled at the American Dream Expo, will replace flip chart presentations with high-tech, colorful, current displays, Thompson says.
In the future, Thompson says, he expects real estate professionals will rely more and more on computers, eventually taking advantage of the graphics capabilities of CD-ROM technology.
With all the advances for buyers as well as agents, some real estate professionals may be concerned about their future, but, he says, technology can only help.
``It won't eliminate Realtors at all, in fact, it will help them,'' Thompson says.
A consumer searching for a house via Internet will leave an electronic message for the agent, then the agent will personally contact him. Agents will still be needed to show houses and complete necessary contracts, Thompson says.
``Real estate is a people industry; it's always going to be a people industry,'' he says. ``I don't see technology as eliminating the Realtor at all.'' ILLUSTRATION: RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Lydia B. Lorenzen is executive vice president of Metro MLS Inc., the
multiple listing service for South Hampton Roads. She says the world
of high-tech computers is happening now. ``It's here and you have
to keep up with it.''
WHAT IT WILL MEAN
Families living overseas who will be moving to Hampton Roads can
search for a house from their living room and view a detailed
description of the home's features as well as a photograph.
With computers that weigh less than a pound, agents will have
access to all active listings and 60 days of off-market listings.
The information will be updated nightly via modem from the multiple
listing service's main computer to the agency's InfoLoader, a unit
that resembles an external disk drive. Each morning the agent can
insert his InfoCard into the loader and within a minute have updated
listings.
Buyers will be able to zoom in on an area they like, list the
features of a house they seek, then let the computer plot all the
houses that match those criteria within the on-screen area. Then,
with a few clicks of the computer mouse, buyers can ``drive'' the
roads to work, school or shopping to get exact distances.
by CNB