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Tom Kelly
Tom Kelly
The Real Estate Adviser

July 10, 1998

Homeadvisor: tool for agents or new market for Microsoft to dominate?

By TOM KELLY
The Real Estate Advisor

Should agents close up shop and head for home when Homeadvisor hits?

We all scrutinize change. Some of us hate it and completely alter our lifestyles because we don't want to deal with it.

For example, some real estate agents have left the business because they have not wanted to learn the new technology or they are upset over the once taboo information now provided to the general public.

Such worries are on the minds of some real estate agents as they watch public access actually starting to dominate the once for-their-eyes-only lists maintained by the nation's real estate brokerages, most of the multiple listing services and now information-packed websites that contain just about everything the homebuyer seeks.

"I don't think the agents will be as skeptical once they've seen this product," said Ian Morris, lead product manager for Homeadvisor, Microsoft's much awaited online home-and-loan tool expected to make its debut soon. "We really have taken an industry-friendly approach and have facilitate a great deal of communication with the agents."

Representatives of the Redmond software maker have been badgered with questions and concerns from brokers and agents at real estate conventions that the company was attempting to "take over the industry."

However, several studies -- and every focus group ever convened -- has concurred that even with full access only a few consumers will find a house they want to buy solely through a computer search done from their home or office. There is a definite want, and need, for the human element. According to a just-released survey by the National Association of Realtors, 2 percent of people who bought their home in the second half of 1997 found their property through the Internet while 50 percent found their home via a real estate agent.

However, research online has increased with 18 percent of home buyers looking online, compared to 2 percent during the last half of 1995.

The NAR's home listing website, Realtor.com, will compete with Homeadvisor and HomeScout for listings and consumer Internet users. Patricia (Pat) Brown, HomeScout director, built the Seatte- based website into the most popular "open" property address in fewer than four years before selling earlier this year to San Francisco-based HomeShark.

The torrid competition to reach agreements with individual multiples and brokers heightened recently when Homeadvisor lured Jim Guy, Realtor.com's Eastern Regional Sales manager, to Redmond. Guy, viewed as easy going and informative, will help ease anxiety with brokers and agents.

As much as I disagree with real-estate agents on a variety of topics, most of them offer potential buyers and sellers much more than what is provided on line. One of the agent's primary tasks, for example, is to keep the deal together, an area where a competent agent really pays off.

Some real-estate agents and brokers had considered the contents of old multiple listing book to be secret information and the basis of their ability to earn a living. Others, feeling expertise and hard work are the backbone of their success, have been willing to share the contents.

Now consumers in all parts of the country can dial up MLS information from home. Homeadvisor, Realtor.com and Homescout are simply the next step, featuring a variety of offerings yet different in how they "link" the listings immediately to individual brokers.

Regardless of how much information is available to consumers via computer, fax and phone, I'll bet most folks will continue to pay for assistance when they sell or buy a house. The average person wants expert advice when the topic is as close to home as the roof over his/her head.

Is the new wave of information providers clearly the end for agents?

Will attractive, informative public access sources eliminate what some consumers believe to be the unneeded middle-person? I don't think so, unless agents fail to take advantage of the tools. In fact, the products save agents time.

"Not only will Homeadvisor help agents from driving all over neighborhoods the buyer doesn't want anyway, but it will really benefit the consumer," Microsoft's Morris said. "It's an empowerment tool. It lets me get myself smart before I call my agent. It enables me to ask my stupid questions to a machine before I get to a real person."

Remember the television ad featuring a veteran business owner sharing his angst with employees over the loss of an old and reliable client? The client, it seemed, needed a more personal touch -- in-person appearances instead of phone calls and faxes.

The commercial ends with the business owner handing out airline tickets to all his employees and instructing them to make personal appearances to all of their clients.

The ad captures the state of personal service in some parts of the business community. But the ad should also curtail y the fears of those who think machines can replace them.

As the television ad communicates -- it's all about service. Information -- even on the web -- is only part of that service.



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