Business continues to grow on the Internet. One industry that’s bucked the trend was the real estate industry until now. Real estate giant RE/MAX is in the process of creating an online listing of homes all around the country.
This is a major move because for years now, the real estate industry fought the trend for one big reason and that’s the loss profits for real estate agents but like so many other industries, real estate is one more that will have to adapt to a changing environment.
“In lay terms, this means that when the entire plan is in place, any property listing, whether it is a RE/MAX listing or not, can be reviewed at remax.com while still being in compliance with IDX policies across the country” said Dave Liniger, RE/MAX co-founder and chairman of the board. “No longer will a consumer have to visit multiple sites to view all properties for sale. Depending on the user’s location, the site will seamlessly connect them to the best possible site to deliver exactly what they are looking for. We have made strong financial and resource commitments to this program because it’s the right thing to do for the public, for the real estate industry and our RE/MAX membership. It will take many months for the entire program to become fully functional for all markets, but we are determined to make this the premier functional real estate listing web site.”
This will have a pretty significant impact on the industry and many speculate this will drive down the cost of doing business for consumers. Right now, the going rate is about 6% on commissions for real estate but this could bring the price down as many low cost competitors come onto the market place. Also, many people may just wish to do the dealing themselves and since this covers just about any property listed, RE/MAX or otherwise, individuals should be able to post their homes as well.
“This program has some very exciting new features and leverages state-of-the-art technology and marketing systems,” commented Kristi Graning, RE/MAX vice president, information technology. “The system will put the control of marketing listings and lead generation back into the hands of our agents and give RE/MAX members a competitive advantage in the industry. The functionality of the program includes the ability to perform national, regional, state and local property searches, deliver lead generation and management tools, custom web sites for participating offices, contact management, activity scheduling programs, drip marketing campaigns and a reporting center manageable by office, region or nationally. We will launch this program in phases – targeting major metro markets first – and then roll in remaining rural markets. RE/MAX will license existing and proven technology from Florida-based Siegent, Inc. who will assist in this large effort and bring significant value through their experience in data aggregation, manipulation and distribution.”
RE/MAX plans on launching their network in February of 2006, in time for the 2006 RE/MAX International Convention in Las Vegas.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
