March 6, 1998

How is technology going to change the real estate business?

By TOM KELLY
The Real Estate Advisor

How do you make a positive first impression electronically? Should buyers' agents have the right to expose properties to their clients even though the agent does not have the property listed for sale? These questions along with the coming of a totally paperless real estate transaction will be the focus of Real Estate Connect 98, an international workshop scheduled March 12-14 in San Francisco. (For further information http://www.inman.com/summit or telephone 510-444-6176).

The conference will feature 80 of the world's top housing, legal and technology experts including several from the Puget Sound area. Opinions on the future of the basic real estate deal, and the variety of tools soon to be available to present that deal, will be discussed and presented.

"We are in the process of developing an on-line mortgage origination system," said Jeff Crist, on-line service administrator for Continental Savings Bank. "I've been to a lot of conferences, but this one will be the most useful for mortgage products. We are designing our system to be tightly intregrated with Realtors and this will be a good place to meet the people who can develop it."

The event is produced by Kevin Hawkins, the former Great Western Bank official who now is vice president of The Newsletter Group, Inc. a Bainbridge-Island based firm that provides Realtors and other housing professionals with consumer-based marketing tools. Hawkins, who also worked for Fannie Mae in the national's capital and then opened Seattle's Fannie Mae Partnership Office, has assembled an impressive list of companies and speakers.

"We sent one of our technical people last year and he said it was extremely beneficial," said Jodi Schimke, regional coordinator for Chicago Title. "Our industry is well poised to take advantage of some what will be available there."

Russ Cofano, the Bellevue real estate attorney now specializing in electronic property issues, will head a panel on "Real Estate Internet Law: The Rules You Must Follow" with Katherine McDaniel, attorney for Times Mirror, Inc., the parent company of The Los Angeles Times, and John Reilly, a respected author and attorney.

"A lot will be said about marketing somebody else's listings," Cofano said. "There will be copyright and trade issues that will be discussed along with the appropriation of certain data. There are some fine lines drawn and hopefully, we can bring some clarity."

Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Mitsubishi and Intuit will be among more than 40 media, real estate and technology companies displaying new their tools for real estate and mortgage banking.

These companies are part of a "Demo Room" sponsored by Fannie Mae, that will provide participants with a hands-on look at time-saving technology. Inman News Features, the Summit's sponsor, chose the Demo Room participants based on criteria that included the ability of the products and services to save consumers and/or real estate professionals time and money.

Hewlett-Packard will demo its color-screen hand-held PC. IBM has teamed up with NDS Software to showcase its Homeseekers.com site. Intuit will be showing the latest innovations surrounding its QuickenMortgage product.

Microsoft's Gary Cooke, Industry Programs Manager for the Small Business Team, will make a presentation in a panel discussion regarding "E-commerce hardware, software and service vendors -- what to buy now?"

In addition, Microsoft's Laura Rippy will participate in session on: "How do you partner with a technology company: What do they want, what do they know and where could you lose?"

Also on the menu is Microsoft's Brian Mistele who will be featured in the session: "Online mortgage standards -- Do we need them?" For the past few years, some lenders and real estate brokers have envisioned an all-encompassing real estate center with prepackaged services (appraisal, title, inspection). The goal has been to streamline the process of buying a house so the deal can close within five working days.

"Lower costs and faster, easier transactions is driving a transformation of the real estate industry," Inman said.

All loan originators have felt the twinge of competition and costs. Many fringe players only enter the market when rates are low, but they may be able to stick around now with the labor savings brought by the coming of paperless transactions.

These developments are creating new opportunities for smaller companies, notes Gilbert Barnes, president of DTS Communication based in Carlsbad, Calif. Just over two years ago, DTS launched the first high-tech system to handle online processing for title insurance, escrow and other settlement services.

"The Internet and commercial online services democratizes the process of conducting business," Barnes said. "Until now, only large organizations had the remarkably huge financial resources to develop the business electronically."

Technology has leveled the playing field. And, it appears the games have already started.

Previous columns:

• Big changes area coming to Puget Sound housing, 02-27-1998
• Ads in the age of spam, 02-20-1998
• Be wary of refinancing and home equity loans, 02-13-1998
• 'Phantom' agents are the focus of new rule, 02-06-1998
• Using IRA for down payment not a good idea, 01-30-1998
• The lowest interest rates not always best, 01-23-1998
• Getting money back from FHA, 01-09-1998
• Big tax cuts coming to real estate, 12-12-1997