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Midwest Canada Minute - November 16

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX of Lloydminster

Canada's Newest Real Estate Tools

  

Last week we discussed the many ways in which real estate is bought, sold or leased including the Multiple Listing Service, exclusive listings, for sale by owner, trades, and live auction. The Internet and personal computers has become increasingly pervasive in our society; consumers expect access to detailed information about properties to be available 24/7.  In fact, a recent survey by the U.S based National Association of Realtors discovered that 83% of prospective buyers start their search on-line before ever talking to the seller or their agent.  In fact, the newest generation of home buyers, those between the age 24 to 35 years, commonly known as "Generation X", consider on-line activity for business and pleasure to be a critical factor in their quality of life.

 

Two years ago my group interviewed a number of our clients in an effort to learn how to improve our services.  One message that came through loud and clear was the desire for prospective buyers to get good clean information without the need to go through the brokerage's agent on call or to wait for the listing Realtor to get back to them.  Our response was to implement a toll-free telephone information service for all of our listings.  Every one of our signs was assigned a unique extension, that when called from the customer's cell phone while sitting in front of the property, gives the listener a concise description including price.  Following that, they can choose to a) hang up; b) leave a message; or c) simply press a button to be put through to a team member that is familiar with the listing.  

 

This use of technology became a win - win for both our customers and us. The first was to satisfy today's consumer need for complete information in a timely manner.  The second was to allow our Realtors to use their time more constructively. 

 

Every successful business needs to understand the direction its customers are going, and be with them on that path.  In our case, asking our clients what they wanted from us was a major turning point in our future planning.  Buyers and sellers have become heavy users of technology in other aspects of their activities of daily living, and expect organized real estate to embrace it too.  In the last 10 years the buying public has been trained to use on-line services for banking, education, research, travel planning, and shopping.  So it was a natural step when we started working on information technology (IT) enabled auction services as an option to live bidding.

 

It isn't a new idea.  One firm in the United States, RealtyBid.com, reported $542 million worth of residential properties were offered for sale on-line by them in 2007, an increase of 156% from the previous year.  Our group will use similar technology but adapted for use in Canada's regulatory environment by Canadian Online Auction Services combined with the full involvement of professional Realtors for each transaction.  In our testing this fall, we found enthusiastic support for the concept amongst both buyers and sellers, particularly those in the under age 40 age bracket, but time will tell if it will become a cost effective tool in the trading of real estate.   We think it gives motivated vendors a chance to market properties to a wider range of potential buyers while retaining the right to refuse the highest offer.  Farmers also endorse it, probably because they are quite used to using auctions in their day to day business.  Recreation property owners see the value of reaching out to prospective buyers outside the immediate region and some homeowners, particularly those who manage revenue properties, are comfortable with testing the market.  

 

Vern McClelland is associate broker with RE/MAX of Lloydminster.  For more helpful tips on buying and selling real estate, visit www.mcclelland.ca

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