Technology, personal skills will meld in real estate, leader says

Real estate will remain a high-touch business even as the industry embraces the latest in technology changes, because that's what consumers want.

That's the forecast Cathy Whatley, president-elect of the National Association of Realtors, made to technology vendors and real estate industry leaders July 26 in San Francisco at the Real Estate Connect conference.

"I predict that the real estate industry will adopt emerging new technologies that support the underlying premise of the market which is one-to-one marketing. And despite technology, real estate will remain a very high-touch business," Whatley told the general session.

"Even technologically savvy buyers today want the high-touch features that Realtors provide, even when using this tool called the Internet. NAR is now in this business of leading the way. We are committed to bringing about this new information marketplace today, tomorrow and well into the future. And we will continue to do what we do best, which is to touch home buyers in ways that technology cannot to offer our expertise, our advice and our passion for service," she said.

Whatley pointed out that, as real estate professionals, "We're still in the business of one-on-one communication with our customers and clients. We need tools that help facilitate efficient and effective communication with the consumer."

The bottom line for Realtors is that they will continue to invest in technology products and services that meet their needs, that increase productivity and complement what they do, she said.

Supporting her prediction, Whatley cited a recent NAR study, the "2002 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers," that shows that Internet users recognize the value a real estate professional brings to the real estate transaction. "In fact, it shows buyers who use the Internet are even more likely to use a real estate professional."

She said that because of the Internet, consumers are now more informed.

"The more they know, they more they want a professional. Buyers want to ask questions that only a highly skilled and knowledgeable real estate professional can answer. Home buyers use the Internet as a search tool in conjunction withnot as a substitute forthe services offered by real estate professionals," Whatley said.

Realtors are moving away from being at the mercy of technology to taking advantage of technology, she said.

Aiding that is the Center for Realtor Technology, established by NAR last year to develop technology products and services that serve Realtors. The CRT is already working with vendors to help them incorporate features that Realtors need into their products. To help promote emerging technologies, CRT is advancing on three fronts: advocacy, education and implementation.

It promotes features that assist Realtors in adopting technology that works now and educating members on upcoming technology and what it means.

In its third role, implementation, CRT writes proof-of-concept demos to evaluate new technology tools. CRT releases all codes as open source so that vendors and members can learn from them and use them. This helps vendors by letting them test their products against another service that can be obtained at no cost and see how certain features can be implemented by examining the source code.

By promoting open standards, NAR believes the industry as a whole can save time and money by using common protocols. Open standards make it easy for new vendors to enter the market because there are no proprietary concerns.

The National Association of Realtors, is America's largest trade association, representing more than 800,000 members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.