Internet serves as beneficial tool for real estate professionals as well as customers

Mixing the tangible field of real estate with the intangible and ever-growing Internet might seem like a strange combination, but it appears to be a partnership that works. So much so, in fact, that the National Association of Realtors mandated that all Multilists must provide an Internet database service for their members, according to Stacey Clem, Multilist president, Greater Springfield Board of Realtors.

The Greater Springfield Board of Realtors expects March 12 to launch an Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database that will allow access to all the advertised listings of every broker who opts to join the program.

Many area real estate professionals and real estate companies also use their own Web sites or Web pages. The Greater Springfield Board of Realtors has its own Web site at www.gsbor.com, where not only members and prospective members can go, but it also links to residential and commercial listings. Cold-well Banker Vanguard Realtors, Murney Associates Realtors and Carol Jones Realtors are other companies that use the Internet.

While agents may never know whether a client's visit to their Web sites led directly to a property purchase, the longevity of many real estate companies' sites is perhaps an indication of their worth to the companies.

Real estate companies online

Carol Jones Realtors, 3600 S. Nation-al, has had a Web site, www.carol jones.com, for about five years, said Jim Bolin, general manager.

"Our Web site is helping. We've averaged about 450,000 hits per month. Our highest was 700,000 in one month," Bolin said.

Murney Associates Realtors, 1625 E. Primrose, established its Web site, www.murney.com, in 1998, said Cleo Hanson, relocation director.

Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realtors, 1334 E. Republic Road, has a local Web site that is about 4 years old. The local Coldwell Banker operation March 3 launched a new address, www.spring fieldmove.com, and updated site, ac-cording to Jeff Parker, sales manager for the company.

Coldwell Banker Vanguard's national Web site "enjoyed an average of over five million unique user sessions per month in 2001 and generated an average of over 10,000 buyer and seller leads per month for the same time period," Parker said.

At Murney Associates, Hanson said they have thousands of hits per week a number that's expected to grow.

"I think that there will be more significance on the Internet as time goes on. It's increasing in use. Surprisingly it is being used more than expected by people within the Springfield market. That's an added benefit to the Internet. That's one reason why we post our open houses on our Web site," Hanson said.

Bolin said "we're seeing a trend in buyers coming from the Internet. Prob-ably in the real estate industry that was 1 percent from the Internet in the past. In the last year in the Springfield market, that movement is probably at 5 percent as a direct result of being on the Inter-net."

Bolin, Parker and Hanson all called the Internet a good tool. They likewise indicated that many clients likely started their property search on the Internet, but said agents may never know if that's the case.

"At this point, it's still in a growth stage here in Springfield. We're still at the point where we can't attribute a majority of our clients directly to the Internet. But we know when we speak with them in the office that they've gone to the Web and searched," Parker said.

That all three companies are updating their Web sites is another indication of the sites' usefulness.

Hanson said Murney's site is "going through changes as we speak." The company's newly designed site "will have Internet sites for the individual agents available very soon."

All three companies encourage their agents to have sites close to 200 at Murney, more than 300 at Carol Jones, and 55 full-time, producing agents at Coldwell Banker.

Bolin said Carol Jones Realtors is building a new Web site in the next 60 days.

Burden and a blessing'

Murney's Hanson said the best thing about using the Internet is that a Web site "is another marketing tool, the same as print or broadcast advertising" so people can "gain access" to the business.

Bolin noted that also good is "the ability to share information 24 hours a day," via an online presence.

And Parker touted the Internet as a good way to effectively communicate with both buyers and sellers.

"It provides us with the ability to reach more clients than we did before. People don't want to wade through the properties in the newspaper, they want to go directly to the source of information," Parker said.

Parker added that with the exception of "having to really stay on top of requests," there really isn't much of a downside for real estate companies using the Internet.

"It's difficult to remember that a client who e-mails you is just like a client on hold. We have to get back to them in a short period of time. It's a matter of changing focus e-mail to us requesting information is just as important as someone waiting in our conference room. We have to reply in a timely manner, or they will move on to another company that will," he said.

Hanson said the lack of personal contact is the only disadvantage he sees to the Internet.

Bolin pointed out "the expense associated with maintaining a site and providing broadband or high speed Internet ac-cess for the agents. We've had to upgrade everything in all 10 of our offices. Too, high-speed Internet solutions vary from community to community. When you have a company as large as ours, to have high speed Internet access across the board is expensive."

It appears the Internet is here to stay for real estate companies and professionals. Bolin described it as "a burden and a blessing."