October 18th - 2008

Ontario REALTORS®embrace technology for business

Computers play an important role in a REALTORS®’ daily business and most use them at home or in a home office.

Computers play an important role in a REALTORS®’ daily business and most use them at home or in a home office. These and other findings were part of a recent online Technology Survey of more than 1,450 REALTORS® who are members of the OREA Research Panel. The purpose of the survey was to help OREA better understand member views, opinions, and usage of various technologies, such as computers, PDAs and cell phones.
 
According to the survey results, over half of the respondents said they spend more than 10 hours per week surfing the Internet. On average, they all spend about 7.6 hours per week surfing, or just over one hour a day.
 
In addition to the time spent surfing, the REALTORS® who responded spend about another 7.2 hours per week using e-mail. However, younger REALTORS® spend more time using E-mail (44 per cent more than 10 hours) than REALTORS® over 55 years of age (30 per cent over 10 hours).
 
Eighty per cent of respondents consider themselves competent when using a computer for day-to-day tasks and only five per cent did not feel competent. Feelings of competence increased when asked about surfing the Internet and using e-mail with 85 per cent saying they feel competent doing these tasks. Again, the younger REALTORS® responding were more likely to rate themselves as ‘highly competent’ compared to older REALTORS®. Improving their level of competency through computer courses was important to just over half the REALTORS® surveyed (55 per cent).
 
Technology used
The majority of respondents are still using desktop computers, however, a sizeable minority (38 per cent) use a laptop or notebook (PC). The vast majority of REALTORS® have a high speed Internet connection (94 per cent), while only 2 per cent are still using dial-up.
 
Ninety-six per cent of respondents report using hand-held/wireless communication devices. Cell phones are more popular than PDAs overall (50 per cent versus 35 per cent). The sample group said they spend about six hours per week talking on their cell phone or PDA and most also use other features such as text messaging, e-mail and organizing their activities/contacts.

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For more information contact

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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The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS®, and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA. The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.

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