February 11, 2000

What lies ahead for real estate?

By TOM KELLY
The Real Estate Advisor

The veteran real estate agent, in his early 60s, was walking away from the business. He said he “did not have the brain cells” to deal with all the new technology. It was his opinion that even though homes listed for sale were now available via the Internet, the average home seller had no idea how to keep a deal together “when all the birds come a flyin’.’’

That man’s comments of four years ago were the main reasons I initially began attending Real Estate Connect, the real estate and technology conference that is scheduled again for Feb. 23-25 in San Francisco. I wanted to get a personal reaction from Realtors about what technology was doing to their industry and how they would respond to the realities of public access grabbing the multiple listing book, often seen as the last bastion of secret information.

The reaction was mixed -- not unlike a major change of life in general. Some agents have chosen to leave, others continue to worry and wait while others explore the exploding possibilities brought by online exposure and tools.

“The Internet and innovation resulting from it is absolutely the best thing to happen in the history of real estate,’’ said Lennox Scott, president of John L. Scott, one of the region’s largest real estate brokerage firms. “It’s definitely exciting to go to Connect and see all the new applications for the industry. For me, I’m also able to see all of the vendors in one place. If they have a program that fits our company, I’m able to hook up with them right there.’’

This year’s conference is expected to be the largest gathering of real estate and technology leaders ever. More than 2,500 attendees are expected to the event that features Marc Andreessen, creator of the Web browser and cofounder of Netscape; Steve Kirsch, chairman and founder of Infoseek Corporation; Kevin O'Connor, CEO and founder of Doubleclick; Mary Ann Packo, president, of Web research company Media Metrix, and Guy Kawasaki, former Apple Computer executive now CEO of Garage.com.

“I really care about where technology and real estate are going,’’ said Russ Cofano, CEO of Bellevue-based BeCentric, (formerly InterActiveVisit.com) an online “toolbox” for real estate professionals. “So it’s important for me to go to Connect to find out. There’s really no other meeting that displays this type of diverse technology.’

The confab has clearly evolved from a what-is-it mindset to a what-could-possibly-be-next wonderment. The innovations and discussions are as creative and varied as the backgrounds of those who bring them. For example, the online real industry is agog over virtual tours and Be There Now, based in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, has taken the popular agent-buyer walk-through and exterior panorama to another level: interactive participation. Be There Now was founded by Sean Seago whose experience with flight simulators on the Boeing 707 and the space shuttle's autopilot project sparked a move to bring that technology to computer generated images.

The company will make its first national push of its Real Asset Viewsets, using "flight simulator" technology that provides life-like virtual tours of commercial buildings and high-end homes, at this year’s Connect conference. The viewer, by using a desktop computer, can see the streets approaching a specific property, neighboring buildings, landscaping and various entries. Then, the viewer can conduct his own virtual tour and walk through hallways or take a short cut through walls and windows.

If you are in Baltimore and wanted to get an idea of a building in Los Angeles - and everything that surrounds it - Be There Now technology will provide that service and also curtail the number of costly real visits to the property before purchase. The concept not only allows a structure to be viewed from any angle or direction, but it also permits a building to be “moved” to another site on the property.

For example, if you had a view parcel of 10 acres and you wanted to build your dream home on it, this technology would enable you to move the building to different points on the acreage so that you could consider its look, feel and surroundings. The top online realty leaders, offline real estate executives, money providers, analysts from Wall Street and top research firms have made the trip to the Bay Area to hear how the Internet can foster partnerships never before considered. The event has been called “the Comdex of real estate,’’ a reference to the popular computer showcase.

“It’s a great way to see what your competitors are doing,’’ said Thomas Walker, Chicago Title Insurance Co.’s commercial real estate research specialist for the Puget Sound region. “If they want to show something new and different, it’s usually going to be there.’’

Ellen Siminoff, a Connect regular and senior vice-president at Yahoo!, said Web portals and online business have a simple common goal - showing consumers the benefits of the Internet. "You can talk about who the winners are - but the goal for all us is to build the media for consumers," Siminoff said.

Other speakers include Stuart Wolff, chairman and CEO of HomeStore.com; Jim Phillips, CEO, Internet Pictures Corp., Ron Cooper, CEO, Improvenet; Bradley Inman, CEO, HomeGain.com, and Bryan Mistele, head of MSN HomeAdvisor.

Can all this energy surround the seemingly simple buy-sell home process? It does take a lot of brain cells to even begin considering what’s possible. Yet, the veteran agent was right . . . Realtors, even with different responsibilities, still provide a valuable core service “when the birds come a flyin.’’’

Previous columns:

• Selling that vacation property, 02-04-2000
• Definition of fixture isn't fixed, 01-28-2000
• New forces changing housing market, 01-21-2000
• Why buy when you can rent?, 01-14-2000
• One analyst can move mountains, mortgages, 01-07-2000
• A look at house of tomorrow, 12-23-1999
• Home for holidays has a new meaning, 12-17-1999
• Buying and selling over the holidays, 12-10-1999