The most sweeping change I have witnessed in my 30 years as a real estate broker in Atlanta is in the area of communication technology. That includes communication with clients and customers, communication of information and communication of offers and transactional data.
I remember my introduction to the world of real estate brokerage in 1979. We carried huge listing books made obsolete every two weeks with new printed editions marked “confidential.” We had no fax machines, so we either delivered documents ourselves or paid courier services a premium for “three-hour service.”
We had no cellphones —yes, they existed, but we couldn’t afford them. Only the most successful agents had a “car phone.”
I was able to afford a pager, and we all had numeric codes we used to communicate. Even so, I remember stopping at competitors’ offices and asking whether I could use their phone to return a page.
We had no computer in the office, but we did have an IBM Selectric with changeable font balls, which was really cool. Our first introduction to the new “computerized multiple listing service” was an “acoustic coupler,” which featured molded rubber cups for inserting the phone after you dialed a special number.
Today’s agents must offer professional advice to help consumers. And the key to that is communication.
This is where the folks at Google have made my life easier. Here are some products I use every day:
● Google Voice allows me to have one phone number and yet have the phone ring in up to six different places simultaneously, so I never miss a call unless I choose to do so.
● Google Mail delivers and stores and handles all my e-mail, even though I have my own domain name.
● Google Docs allows me to read and write all my documents in any popular format, including Word and WordPerfect. Because all these documents are stored at Google, I can access my work anywhere in the world that I can find Internet access.
● Google Picasa stores all my photos in high resolution, and it allows me to organize them, modify them, enhance them and export them.
John Adams is an author, broadcaster and investor. He answers real estate questions at noon every Saturday on radio station WGKA (920 AM). For more real estate information, visit www.money99.com.
