Technology Has Changed the Real Estate Business

PEACHTREE CORNERS -- When I entered real estate several years ago, the most important technology was the MLS book. This book was produceed about twice per month and distributed to all brokers and their agents.

There are many agents who have never seen the old MLS books. They remind me of a telephone book. Rule No. 1, do not leave your book with buyers. Realtors were the gatekeepers of listing information. These books were in black and white and there was only one home photo with each home.

We, of course, could access the MLS data by going to the office and logging on to the MLS via a 300 baud modem. I heard that for a fee an agent could actually access the MLS data from home. I became one of the first 25 people to actually be able to do this.

The Internet revolution started for me one day in Ft. Meyers, Florida in the late '90s. I was attending a seminar for agents who were on the leading edge of real estate technology.

A young man from Chicago presented a piece of software that would actually access the MLS data and collect information about new listings based on information you had selected for a buyer. It would then send that information  to the buyer via email. Most of the major real estate websites were in their infancy and listing information was hard to come by. I purchased the software that day and it became an overnight hit with my buyers.

Today most real estate websites offer this information along with interior color photos and a multitude of information about the homes available and the neighborhoods.

This access dramatically changed how buyers shop for homes. The National Association of Realtors says that today over 90 percent of buyers start their shopping on the Internet. Millions each month visit Realtor.com, tour homes online then call their Realtor.

View the photos for information on new homes on the market along with one Open House.

Editor's note: Nancy Minor is a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Chattahoochee North