December 5th - 2007

WIRED OFFICE: More REALTORS® investing more money on technology

A new survey by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) suggests REALTORS® invest heavily in technology with more than half of brokers, salespeople, and managers saying they spent more than $1,000 last year.

A new survey by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) suggests REALTORS® invest heavily in technology with more than half of brokers, salespeople, and managers saying they spent more than $1,000 last year.
 
The 2007 REALTOR® Technology Survey, conducted by NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Technology, also found that 25 per cent of respondents spent more than $2,000 on technology in 2006. In addition, approximately two-thirds of those surveyed have a real estate business Web site, and a quarter spends more than $1,000 annually to maintain their site. Nearly all of these sites – 93 per cent – provide listing search capabilities.
 
While eight in 10 REALTORS® think the current technology supplied by their broker is valuable, two-thirds would like their broker to expand the amount of technology offered. Eighty-four per cent of those surveyed were also interested in augmenting the technology and services offered by their Multiple Listing Service.”
 
One of those services is the Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), which compares a home to similar properties that have sold in an area. Ninety-four per cent of those surveyed include a CMA as part of their listing presentations, and most REALTORS® are satisfied with the program. However, 35 per cent thought the program could be improved by offering the ability to personalize designs and making it easier to use.
 
The most popular devices REALTORS® use in their day-to-day business include digital cameras, desktop computers and cell phones. The survey also revealed the growing popularity of smart phones or PDAs, which provide phone, Internet and e-mail capabilities. In 2005, only 8 per cent of respondents used a smart phone compared to 28 per cent in 2006, and as many as 30 per cent of respondents plan to purchase or replace one in the coming year.
 
REALTORS® use of automated forms and transaction management software is also on the rise as real estate transactions become more complex. In fact, more than 75 per cent of REALTORS® surveyed said they must manage as many as 20 documents to complete a real estate transaction. Fifty-nine per cent of those surveyed use an automated forms management program to help streamline the paperwork involved in a transaction. Twenty-three per cent of respondents use a transaction management system, which tracks each step of the real estate process, and 69 per cent of those who aren’t currently using a transaction management system are interested in adopting the technology.
 
However, real estate is still a high-touch business and survey respondents cite referrals and repeat business as the top sources for generating the greatest number of leads. One-third of respondents said that more than half of their business comes from referral clients, which makes staying in touch with current and past clients crucial to a REALTOR®’s success. The most popular way to maintain relationships with current clients is through phone calls (48 per cent) and e-mail (39 per cent).
 
Although two-thirds of REALTORS® continue to communicate with their former clients at least once or more every quarter, the methods have changed. Electronic newsletters have gained in popularity as a way to stay in touch with former clients while other favored methods are mailings and market updates. By comparison, the telephone has fallen out of favor. In 2005, one of every three REALTORS® picked up the phone to reach out to former clients, but less than one per cent of REALTORS® in the current survey relied on phone calls to stay in touch with their past client base.
 
To view the full report visit:
http://www.realtor.org/CRTWeb.nsf/files/2007technology_survey2.pdf/$FILE/2007technology_survey2.pdf

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Ontario Real Estate Association

Jean-Adrien Delicano

Senior Manager, Media Relations

JeanAdrienD@orea.com

416-445-9910 ext. 246

Ontario Real Estate Association
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