Real Estate Agents should have a website because now more than 95% of buyers and sellers use the Internet to search online for their requirements. The websites of real estate agents should be consumed and search engine friendly because most Internet searchers do not have the time or aptitude to spend too much time looking at any particular site, especially if the information they need is not easily available. Currently, most people use their cell phones for Internet surfing, emailing and accessing websites for information. So obviously websites of real estate agents should be easily accessible via cell phones.
The websites should include lots of videos for agents to showcase their services and the properties that they are currently listed for. Sometimes potential clients who will not go through websites will probably prefer to look at videos which they can relate to and understand better. The more that real estate agents use technology and the Internet, the more successful they will be in their business. For real estate agents to survive they must be competitive by embracing all aspects of IT technology. Buyers and sellers both have volumes of Internet data, and will probably not deal with an agent who does not use the net for business transactions.
Clients will deal with agents who understand contact management systems, PDA’s, virtual office, Microsoft and Apple products, recorders, cameras and scanners. Real estate agents will receives faxes via email, automatic mail alerts of recent listings and CMA emails which is probably the best way for home sellers to learn the market value of their homes and how they can negotiate the best prices. According to the National Association of Realtors of Realtors Technology report, more than 75% of real estate agents showcase their listings on the Multiple Listing Systems on the Internet. Microsoft Office has developed easy to use templates for the real estate business that can be easily downloaded in a new access page.
Besides the traditional components of any system comprising of the computer case, power supply, motherboard, processor, memory cards, hard drive, CD/DVD drive, graphics and video cards, monitor, keyboard and mouse, software is also considered to be an essential component for the system to be used by real estate agents. The software must include programs a listing organizer that records and keeps track of all available property listings, reports and web catalogs, there must a “Client Organizer” that maintains the agent’s contacts and has software to print letterheads, labels and send automated emails and a Web Resource Organizer which must have mapping systems, calculating devices and real estate agents glossaries etc.
