THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412080422
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
The Tidewater Association of Realtors is planning to launch an electronic bulletin-board service that will let its members use computers to register for classes, download forms and message one another.
The 3,500-member association said this week that it has signed a contract with Norfolk-based Pinnacle Online Inc. to set up the service. As part of the service, participating real-estate brokers will gain access to the global Internet computer network.
``I see this as a very forward-looking way of keeping our membership up to date,'' said Paul Lown, income president of the local Realtors' group and owner of Heritage Realty in Virginia Beach. Lown said the electronic-mail feature alone promises to greatly increase brokers' productivity - by helping them avoid telephone tag.
Local Realtors already have access to another electronic service that allows them to retrieve assessment, tax and other data on land and buildings in Hampton Roads.
Members signing up for the Realtors' association service will be be charged additional fees, Lown said. The group hasn't yet disclosed the fee structure, which is expected to be launched in February.
In recent months, local real-estate agencies have shown increasing interest in electronic services.
Three local agencies, William E. Wood & Associates, GSH Real Estate and Nancy Chandler Associates, have logged real-estate listings onto the Internet through InfiNet L.C., a Norfolk-based computer-services company that is majority-owned by Landmark Communications Inc. Landmark is the parent of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
Lown said he doesn't anticipate that the Realtors' association's bulletin board will include listings. However, Pinnacle President Michael Ryan said he is developing an electronic-listing service of his own to compete with InfiNet's. He's hoping to build on his deal with the Realtors' group to expand into other parts of the country.
``We want to create a virtual real-estate community,'' Ryan said.
Other features of the planned local service, Ryan said, are loan-amortization tables, mortgage-rate charts, shopping and advertising, and on-line discussion forums on various real-estate topics. He said the public will have access to some parts of the service, while other parts will be open only to members of the Realtors' association. by CNB