Kathy Walsh, of Coldwell Banker Walsh Real Estate, recently sold a house in Exeter to a couple relocating from the Midwest.
What made this sale different from most is that every phase of the transaction took place online.
“They viewed photos, developed a relationship with me, e-mailed the purchase-and-sales agreement, and never even set foot in the house till after closing,” said Walsh, who has sold real estate from her Stratham office since 1984.
That sale says much about the growth of the Internet and the changing role of real estate agents.
“The computer is never the first place I go when I want to buy something, but it’s become the first place most home buyers go,” Walsh said. “Customers are prequalifying themselves and viewing lots of properties at least eight weeks prior to meeting an agent.”
In the business of brokering homes, the increase of online resources has given buyers more knowledge and more power.
“The Web has caused a shakedown of information to the consumer,” said Scott Wade of the Hampton Falls firm, Keohan Associates. “Fifteen years ago, the client was indebted to the Realtor for 100 percent of their information.”
Buyers once teamed with real estate agents, hoping for advance word on houses not yet entered into the Multiple Listings Service (MLS) book, which was updated every 10 days.
Nowadays, detail-rich listings that often include virtual tours of the property and the area are posted immediately on numerous Web sites. The Web has also given those selling homes many options, such as ISoldMyHouse.com, which remove the agent from the process.
Realtors are now the ones waiting by the phone. They have been forced to reduce the standard 6 percent commission, and have seen their role in the sales process transformed by an increasing wired customer base. A shrinking number of properties and an ever-widening circle of super-informed buyers have forced many Seacoast agents to change their business approach.
“We no longer sell – we market and serve,” said Ann Cummings, of RE/MAX/Coast to Coast Properties, Portsmouth. “Customers prospect us now. We have to be where they’re prospecting.”
While the transfer of information power to the consumer might seem an obstacle for real estate agents, most see the growth of the Internet as a boon.
“The Internet has helped immensely,” Cummings said. “It has streamlined my work. The less buyers rely on us for property details, the more they need us for other things.”
These things include area knowledge for prospective buyers, and for sellers, ways to enhance value on a property listing and how to broaden exposure.
Cummings was among the earliest adopters of Web technology. She built her first site in 1994, “before I even knew what they were,” long before most people had heard of the World Wide Web.
She maintains three linked sites (two formatted, one custom) that augment her property listings with information on area towns and schools. Being at the mercy of MLS updates was as confining for agents as it was for buyers, Cummings said.
“I used to drive around looking for new “for sale” signs to tell clients about,” said Cummings, a Realtor since 1980. “If you waited for the book, it was too late.”
Stay small, sell big
As much as the Internet has empowered consumers, it has also helped smaller, Web-savvy real estate agencies to remain competitive.
“Many smaller offices are falling behind because they have not embraced the Web,” Wade said. “Yet frames-based Web sites, digital photography and virtual tours enable small offices to offer as much value as larger ones.”
Keohan is a prime example. The two-person firm, which specializes in medium- to high-end homes in Hampton Falls, had 11 listing as of Thursday. That number will fall over the winter.Despite its niche, Keohan’s revamped Web site, www.keohanassociates.com, launched in May, has had more than 1 million hits.
“In the old days, to increase sales, you had to have offices everywhere,” Wade said. “Now, all you need is the Web.”
The new site, Wade said, is easier to navigate and was coded to generate more hits off search-engine queries. Care was taken to enhance the quality of images, which Wade takes himself with a tripod-mounted digital camera.
It’s the speed of posting, according to Wade, that makes the Web so crucial and levels the playing field. If a client wants to sell a house, Wade has the property photographed, a virtual tour created, all marketing materials assembled, and the house posted, all within 48 hours of the initial phone call.
Updates can be made remotely from anywhere. Sellers can also see how many times their house has been viewed.
Having a well-defined Web site also makes it easy to add new sections, such as commercial listings or, in the case of Keohan, listings in Florida.
“You have to keep reinventing yourself, offering more service and a better product,” Wade said. “It’s not tough if you do it right.”
Doing it right means photos, according to Walsh.
“If customers don’t see lots of pictures, they are not interested in seeing the property,” Walsh said.
Walsh built her site, www.kathywalsh.com, five years ago. At the time, she did not know what a Web site was, but followed the advice she got at a Coldwell Banker conference.
Like Cummings, she believes the Web gives Realtors great advantages. “Anytime your property can be seen by more people, it helps you,” Walsh said.