The Virtual Agent arrives on the scene

With the price of gasoline climbing to or surpassing the $3.00 per gallon mark, the days of more of the virtual real estate agent are approaching. What I mean by that is the face to face time with agents will now be more focused than ever before not only to enhance productivity on everyone's part, but to minimize cost. Virtual workers are already seen throughout corporate America with some several day a week telecommuters or remote workers working from home.

There is no doubt real estate agents have to get out and meet people in their industry, meet clients face-to-face and show houses. But technology is getting better and better all the time. After some initial face to face meetings REALTORs can do much leg work from home, broker offices or their car via land lines or cell phone, fax, email, and over the web in the form of web previews or videos. Websites themselves with virtual tours, photos, and videos are already saving the buyers a ton of time before they contact an agent.

Another area making agents more productive when virtual is unifying all their communication to one device through a management menu. These tools are already out there. Email, voice mail, fax, browser, photo libraries, contracts, conatct manager, etc. can all reside on one device and all your phone numbers can be pushed to one phone number.

It's not that REALTORs can't take the time to have a meeting at a Starbucks with a client, or take that title company educational class across town at their office. They may just have to work smarter with today's economic condtions of a tighter housing market and rising energy costs. Clients will understand and the agents that use technology that is at hand in a smart way will be better able to take control of their bottom line.