Keeping up with Technology
Monday, August 18th, 2008
According to the 2007 NAR Buyers and Sellers survey, 1/3 of recent buyers reported that their first step in the homebuying process was looking online for properties for sale, and overall, 84% of buyers used the Internet to search for homes, but it doesn’t take a genious to know that the internet has changed the world.
About the same time that I started Residential Properties, the Internet as we now know it was in the process of being created by the National Science Foundation , since then it really has changed just about everything, the rapid exchange of information afforded by this new technology has exponentially increased the rate at which new technology is developed.
We launched rirealestate.com in 1996, and have continued to improve our web presence, launching www.residentialproperties.com and added all sorts of features to enhance the user experience
Steve and I sat down this week with my Director of Information Technology, Tom Flanagan, to talk about the latest revision of www.residentialproperties.com, all the 2.0 and interactive features that we have added and how that best serves our buyers and sellers.
www.residentialproperties.com, hosted by our newest technology partner, Lakewood Co. based Active Website, carries all of the features you would expect an IDX site to have with cutting edge tools including advanced search capabilities and mapping for property searches, rentals and open houses.
The primary focus of the new website is to create a heightened user experience. The new site is able to support a variety of media including virtual tours, interactive floorplans, and video.
Also accessible through the website will be extensive resources for buyers and sellers including quarterly market reports, buyer and seller guides, recent press, and an electronic version of the company’s relocation package.
One great feature is our membership in the Enterprise Network, a select group of highly successful Brokerages throughout the country. We are able to take advantage of new technologies that are developed exclusively for companies in the network, and Residential Properties will always be the only Rhode Island brokerage in the Network.
Sellers benefit from their listings being fed to all of the most popular Real Estate web portals, including Trulia and Googlebase, enhanced Search Engine Optimization, enhanced listing tools, and sellers reports where we can tell the custopmer from exactly where the the people that visit their properties come.
This Week’s Real Estate Insight:
Millions of potential homebuyers and sellers are surfing the web, if you are selling your home, you owe it to yourself to list with a Realtor who can get them to your site, and once landed, can offer today‘s web-savvy consumer the online experience they expect.
