by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
It’s no secret that technology continues to change the real estate industry.
Realtors, builders and lenders all have jumped on the technology band wagon to make their lives and the lives of their customers easier.
Donny Lamey, president and owner of DiscoverTec, works with new technology daily and rounded up the top five technological advances he thinks are most used by the real estate community.
1. Global Positioning System.
2. Personal Digital Assistant.
3. Content magement software.
4. Website.
5. iPod.
“The first is the global positioning system,” said Lamey. “The GPS is used in multiple ways today. One is the handheld version or the one that is in the car. So, if you are going to multiple locations, you can mark a particular location and it will give you directions. It also shows you where you’ve been using the GPS service.
“Another form of GPS that is going on in the real estate industry is that subcontractors are being monitored by GPS. An employer will have a GPS attached to the subcontractor’s vehicle or have it installed right into their cell phone so they can see at any point where their subcontractors are.”
Thus, instead of having to call 10 different subcontractors to see who is closest, they can see instantly where the closest technician is to the job site.
“That is reversed usage,” he said. “The combination of both of them is really handy, which is a two-way product. It is a product similar to Onstar. It is getting very popular. They can actually see where you are, get directions, alternate routes, traffic information and anything else you might want to know including hotel and restaurant information. Technology is really helping this industry.”
The second technology that Lamey notes is the personal digital assistants/cell phone.
“PDA’s have been around for a few years,” said Lamey. “But, integrating them with a cell phone so one device is your central point for all communication is relatively new. It’s only been in place for about a year now.”
Lamey said that everyone is now jumping on that bandwagon because you don’t have to carry your calendar, cell phone and your Blackberry for your e-mail. It is all combined into one single unit. Lamey said Blackberries and Pocket PC’s are PDA’s and are very hot right now.
Lamey has a Pocket PC which incorporates his cell phone, contact list, calendar, e-mail, Microsoft word, Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint, Internet connection and remote access to his office computer all in one unit.
“The Blackberry is critical to my business,” said Josie Taylor of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “It enables me to provide excellent customer service by responding quickly to e-mails that I would not be able to receive unless at the office. It is wonderful for time management. It is convenient to be able to communicate via e-mail instead of phone, especially when you have processors, title companies, Realtors and customers to keep updated. Also, with so many features such as the calendar and memo pad, you can keep track of all your daily appointments. I highly recommend buying a Blackberry!”
Combining technology into one single unit helps Realtors, builders and loan officers alike.
“I love being able to use the Multiple Listing Service from my PDA to answer real estate questions while I’m in Starbucks,” said Jon Singleton of Watson Realty. “It also allows me to look up properties for sale while showing homes or if we happen to notice a sign on a property that didn’t fall within our original search criteria. I can call the listing office on my cell phone, make an appointment and show it without breaking stride!”
Aleia Haney of Beckman Mortgage Company swears by her Blackberry.
“I have recently started using a Blackberry and it has significantly increased my productivity,” said Haney. “It allows me to be much more efficient about making calls and following up. When I contact a customer, lender or title company requesting information, I can flag that action and request notification if it’s not done by a certain time and I can synchronize that with both my home and office computer.
“The Blackberry also allows me to receive my emails when I’m out making sales calls which is very important, considering most of my rates are delivered via email. Now I can quote current rates anytime rather than having to wait to get back to the office in the afternoon. It also allows me to pair pictures to contact entries, which is super helpful for those of us who have trouble remembering names and faces!”
The third piece Lamey mentioned was tying contact management software, which has been around for 15 years, into these other pieces is a recent trend.
“For example, all your names, addresses, phone numbers and calendars on your computer can be downloaded onto your phone,” said Lamey. “Since it can instantly speak with your phone, download all your contact information right to your phone from your contact manager program or instantly give you directions from point A to point B using the Internet, you now have a tool that is much more powerful so you are not replicating information two and three times. Having all of that managed by a contact management program on your computer is a new trend everyone is going to.”
Fourth, Lamey said, is tying a website into all of this technology.
“Everyone has had websites for the past 10 years,” said Lamey. “Today, they are not brochures that just say here’s who I am, what I do and how to contact me. A website actually is a utility that ties everything else in together.”
Lamey said websites now are more in real time, which helps builders show a more current list of inventory.
“Communities are selling lots or condominiums and showing availability on their website in real time,” said Lamey. “So if one sells, as soon as that check is signed, it shows online that it sold, which is much different than it used to be.”
Others like the convenience that technology offers, such as being able to work from home.
“I like having the ability to log onto the office computer from home and work in my pajamas,” said Gordon T. Nicol, a real estate attorney.
The Internet has opened doors for so many customers to be able to log on and either view real estate or apply for a loan, whatever real estate interests they may have.
“I use my website as a personal assistant,” said Robert Fleischmann of SunTrust Mortgage. “The attribute most used by my clients is that they are able to apply for their mortgage online. With this feature, I am available to my clients 24/7 to ‘take’ a mortgage loan application. It is very interesting to see how many people apply for their mortgage loan very late at night. [long after I am asleep]
“I arrive at the office very early to pull the credit reports and underwrite and approve most loan applications. With Desktop Underwriter and Loan Prospector [two other technological advances from years past,] I am able to approve their loan and issue a real commitment letter before they even get into the office.”
Phyllis Staines of Re/Max Coastal Real Estate uses the Internet to facilitate a live chat with customers.
“I have been using a ‘live’ chat forum on my website which has brought in a ton of prospects via the Internet,” said Staines. “Especially now with the price of gas rising, I offer free ‘webinars’ online, where buyers or sellers can chat online and discuss anything related to real estate without leaving their home. I advertise the webinar just like a seminar with a date and time. The only difference is the location. Rather than traveling to a conference room or business meeting place, prospects just log onto www.pstaines.com from the comfort of their own home. It’s a win-win all around!”
Lastly, Lamey said he just had to mention the iPod.
Yes, iPods are generally thought of as a music listening device, but they have come a long way and with new technology are becoming more useful in the real estate industry.
“The iPod, while used heavily for music, has so many other features,” said Lamey. “In an iPod, you can store photos, portfolios or use it for recording. It is actually a media device that has storage capabilities for anything including voice, video and photos. They are actually making components that can integrate into your house or car so that all these pieces go where you go. The entire audio system in a house can be run off of an iPod. People can load several thousand songs onto their iPod and have continuous music in their car. It’s something that is becoming more and more mainstream.”
Even property managers have found technology an invaluable tool in their industry.
“For third party property managers who are doing leasing in one location with owner/landlords in another state and future tenants in a third location, electronic everything is wonderful,” said Linda Adrian of Lincoln Harris. “We use email, digital photographs, Adobe copies of documents, electronic signatures, and electronic file cabinets for multi region access to master documents.
“The turnaround time for approval on lease deals is much quicker than when mailing around hard copies of everything overnight.”