Realtors wend way to the Internet

Five years ago, many people in the real estate industry thought the Internet was the latest in a long string of passing fads.

Five years makes a lot of difference.

These days, the real estate industry hasn’t just embraced the Internet, its given it a ring and gone on the honeymoon.

“Real estate is the biggest segment in the business directory on our Web site,´ said Dave Colliton, executive director of FortNet, a nonprofit agency that hosts the community Web site www.fortnet.org and offers instruction on the Internet.

“We see everything from big brokers to individual people. I don’t know of any realty company in Fort Collins that doesn’t have an Internet presence of some kind.”

Colliton said that people in the real estate industry pack the nonprofit’s monthly classes on how to use the Internet. “If you don’t know how to run a browser or do a search, you are really at a disadvantage,” he said. “They have really gotten on the bandwagon.”

Terry Anderson, a broker with Remax Advanced Inc., in Fort Collins is one who got on board early.

“I was playing around with the Web in ’94,” Anderson said. “There were a few guys working with it then but not many. In ’98 and ’99, everyone has a Web site. With IRES (Information and Real Estate Services) and Realtor.com, the national Web site, all tied in, there has been a ton of companies coming in here. In ’94, you couldn’t bank on the Web.”

Things changed for the local real estate business when IRES, a multi-listing service based in Loveland, opened its Web site, www.coloproperty.com last year. Coloproperty isn’t just for people interested in buying a house. It has information on commercial property for industrial use, property for lease and income property. It also posts an online roster of brokers and pictures of properties including panoramic views inside and out. And, it’s updated daily, not weekly. With a computer and a few clicks, someone in New Jersey thinking of relocating to Fort Collins could find a house, learn about the neighborhood, find a broker, even a lender.

“It has just about everything you’d need to know,´ said Lauren Emery CEO of IRES. “I think the virtual tours are the most popular.”

Realtors pay about $79 to include a panoramic view of a house on coloproperty, but Emery says it’s well worth it. “The number of Internet-influenced sales has increased greatly,” she said. “You can view a house at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night when it’s raining.”

People in the real estate industry are getting comfortable with the technology, no longer looking at browsers and search engines as arcane tools but as a means to increase income.

“I think we’re at a point where more people are aware of the possibilities,´ said Kurt Faulkner, president of the Fort Collins Board of Realtors. “Until you’re comfortable with the system, you don’t jump on the wagon.”

A few years ago, lender Brian Shaver of First City Financial didn’t know much about the Web at all. Now, Shaver gets 50 percent of his business from his Web site, www.mortgagebase.com. He’s sold mortgages to people who have literally never set foot inside the home they bought but made their decision to purchase using a combination of photos, e-mail and telephone contact.

“The Internet is an additional tool for lenders to use in their business,” Shaver said. “It doesn’t stand alone.”

Shaver is modifying his Web site to provide links to Realtors at a discount if they agree to send him referrals.

That’s a strategy Matt Tracer, head of the Northern Colorado Internet Chamber of Commerce, says will be necessary for real estate professionals to use as they pull more customers from the Web.

“That doesn’t surprise me,´ said Tracer, referring to Shaver’s work. “That’s what the Internet is for. The key for real estate companies now is for them to market their Web sites. They can’t just put them out there.”

So far, Tracer said, the big push has been for offices to do the marketing and sell the services of their brokers and agents. “Individual agents are using it little,” he said.

Emery, however, disagrees with that. “You’d be surprised,” she said. “You’d be very surprised. There are a lot of individual Web sites out there.” Jan Carpenter solutions coordinator for IRES said that 65 offices in the real estate profession have Web sites as well as 219 individuals.

Realtors and lenders may have the computers, the Web sites and the e-mail, but what will that do in the future? Will it make the bricks-and-mortar operations obsolete?

“No,´ said Anderson. “Remember when you went looking for your own home? Remember when you went looking for the house of your dreams? That’s why you’ll never see it replace Realtors. Even with virtual tours, people still have to see the house before they buy it. They have to touch it.”

Anderson said the future of the Internet and real estate will be more people shopping for loans in cyberspace. They will be after more and more information about neighborhoods, lot prices, costs per square foot, schools and anything that can be stuck on a Web site, he said.

“But it will still come down to that warm fuzzy of people walking in the front door for the first time,” he added. “They’ll need Realtors to show them that door.”

on Facebook on LinkedIn