He may have used several magic tricks to drive his point home, but Real Estate CyberSpace Society Executive Director John M. Peckham III made sure the Realtors he spoke to knew that the future of real estate on the Internet was much more than just an illusion.
Peckham – the keynote speaker for RealTech Expo 2000, a technology-only seminar hosted by the Greater Boston Real Estate Board’s Residential Association of Realtors – used phantom lights, flash paper and magically appearing roses and crystal balls in his presentation “Real Estate CyberSpace Magic: You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!”
Shannon Marquis, RAR president and broker/owner of Marquis Real Estate/Better Homes and Gardens in Brighton, said her association decided to host an event that would draw an exclusive audience of those interested in expanding their business in cyberspace.
“We decided not to have any continuing education courses at this event,” she said. “Mandatory courses brings people in because they have to go. This was for people that wanted to go.”
Marquis added that most conventions that focus on technology, such as Inman’s Real Estate Connect, take place on the West Coast. RealTech Expo 2000, she said, gave local Realtors an opportunity to attend one of these conferences without having to travel far.
Peckham told Realtors that to survive in the coming age of real estate technology, agents need to start with the basics. “Every one of you should have an e-mail address,” he said. “Today’s buyers want instant gratification. They don’t want to wait two days for you to return a telephone call or even wait 8 hours for an e-mail.”
Just like real estate agents do when they’re working face-to-face, Peckham encouraged agents to network through e-mail by joining different listserv groups and keeping in constant contact with their clients.
Instead of mailing newsletters, Peckham suggested e-mailing newsletters. Furthermore, he suggested relying on people in the online community when agents need help with their business in cyberspace.
“People say that the emergence of online business is taking away from the community, but I think it’s creating an even better community,” he said. “I’ve seen more hugs exchanged online than I have ever seen attending a real estate board meeting.”
Peckham, who sells commercial real estate in addition to running the Real Estate CyberSpace Society, said using the Internet for real estate business also increases efficiency.
“I spend about 80 percent of my time with the CyberSpace Society and 20 percent of my time selling real estate. I’m able to do that because of the Internet.” He added that he is the only employee in his office, which is in the same Boston building as his apartment and consists of computer equipment, telephones and a fax machine. “My commute in the morning is about 19 seconds, and I sometimes show up to work in my fuzzy slippers,” he said.
“I don’t even own a car. How many agents can say that?” he continued.
Peckham recalled several instances of working on transactions without ever meeting the players involved in person. He said he recently completed a multimillion-dollar sale of a building owned by Bell Atlantic completely through the Internet.
“I was thinking this afternoon I might actually drive by the building and see it for the first time,” he said.
More Change Ahead
Still, he said some aspects of the real estate agent’s life remain the same, despite new technology. While his organization is known for conducting interviews with experts in the industry and making those audio files available online, most of the society’s members prefer to have a cassette sent to them in the mail. “We have all this technology, but real estate agents still prefer to pop this tape into their car stereo,” he said.
Marquis said that according to the 2000 National Association of Realtors Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers, 37 percent of homebuyers used the Internet as an information source in 1999. That figure is up from 18 percent in 1997 and just 2 percent in 1995. Use of newspapers and open houses for information declined slightly over the same time period.
Use of a real estate agent as an information source also declined slightly, but remained the principal way most homebuyers and sellers gathered their information: 80 percent in 1999, down from 82 percent in 1997 and 86 percent in 1995.
Marquis added that 33 percent of those surveyed nationwide said the Internet was an extremely valuable tool. In New England, that number jumped to 38 percent. The majority of those surveyed said the Internet was somewhat valuable, valuable or extremely valuable.
“The significant business being generated as a result of all this exciting technology is only a precursor of the dramatic changes we will see – even over the next few months,” Peckham said. “It is no longer a question of whether real estate pros must adjust. The question is how to adjust quickly and efficiently.
“We are standing at the doorway marked ‘Awesome!’ All of the pieces of the puzzle are in place,” he continued. Peckham said the largest task ahead for real estate agents is to narrow down the number of software systems, services and technologies to focus on a select few that will allow them to market their product most effectively.
“The distilling process is like carving David from the block of marble,” Peckham wrote. “It’s all there right now. Our only chore is to chip away and mold what we have to custom fit our industry’s needs.”
