Originally posted to the web in News, on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 9:26 AM CST.
Real estate a ‘people business’
By Ben Ruoti, Special to The Sun
I’m a Baby Boomer. I remember black and white T.V., but I understand this Internet thing is not just a passing fad. Ed Sullivan would have described its impact on real estate as “a really big show.” (You do remember Ed Sullivan don’t you?)
The National Association of Realtors says that 87 percent of the public shops for their home on the Internet before contacting a real estate agent. Agents don’t waste gasoline or the buyers’ time showing them homes they won’t buy. The Web site with the most real estate activity is www.realtor.com, which happens to belong to the National Association of Realtors. Funny how that worked out.
But there are other popular sites that many people recognize and use every day. The second most-visited real estate Web site is www.YahooRealEstate.com and Zillow.com. Trulia.com, and Homes.com are also very popular. Large franchises also are big hitters that show all the listings on Web sites like Remax.com and Century21.com.
If the public is looking for foreclosures or bank-owned property they can check out www.realtytrac.com or www.foreclosure.com. Some of these have a membership fee but give you a week free to look around.
Commercial real estate is found on Loopnet.com and Cityfeet.com. There are specialty Web sites for horse property, golf property, airport property and many more.
So people do their virtual house hunting and then contact a Realtor. No one is going to buy a home without getting inside and giving it a proper inspection. So I guess we’ve created a multi-million dollar industry to give folks a preview of possible homes with pictures, slide show, music and virtual tours. But in the end, it’s still the personal, professional touch of a Realtor, showing the property, pointing out the features and benefits, and helping the homebuyer through the reams of paperwork to purchase their dream home.
At the end of the day, in spite of all the fancy Web sites, real estate is still a people business. Instead of three channels of black and white T.V., we have hundreds of cable channels and the Internet. I guess it’s here to stay but your computer doesn’t sign off with “Say good night Gracie.” (You remember George Burns don’t you?)
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