If you've been on the Internet searching for REALTOR resources for more than three minutes and 58 seconds, you might have come across newsgroups. At first glance, this looks like nirvana for business folks - lots and lots of public forums, just waiting for you to pore through the information available!

Alas, it doesn't quite work this way. Yes, News (otherwise known as netnews and usenet) does have literally thousands of special- interest groups, providing places to discuss anything from home improvement to houses for sale to jobs available to social commentary to pet parrots and more. You name it - it probably has a newsgroup dedicated towards it.

When I began using the Internet 11 years ago, you needed to know how to program computers to access the Internet. Life was quite joyous in the absence of inappropriate (for the most part) posts. Each newsgroup had a set of rules that one generally followed, much like protocol at a cocktail party. Storming into a gathering of folks and waving about information that had nothing to do with the current conversation was (and still is) a big no-no.

With the popularity of the Internet fast approaching the speed of light, many newcomers are abusing the newsgroups for their own material gain. For example, a REALTOR who has a house available in NJ might have an insane urge to post this information in Virginia newsgroups, "just in case someone wants to relocate." Trust me, if someone *does* want to relocate, that someone will find the newsgroup dedicated towards Virginia instead!

Use common sense when posting information.

Posts like the above have the rather negative impact of increasing newsgroup content that with material in which 99% of the readers just plain would not be interested. Separate newsgroups exist for a reason - you'll get much better results if you find out the *most effective* places to post your listings. So here's how to do it right and get the best results.

If you are new to Internet newsgroups, a great place to beef up on how to use them is found at this general information site

Answers to Internet communications in general can be located at http://www.fau.edu/rinaldi/net/index.htm, and a primer on how to work with the Usenet Community resides at http://www.landfield.com/faqs/usenet/primer/part1 .

Reading news is easy - just about every Internet Service Provider gives you access to their news server. And every browser has an option to read News.

What can News do for you as a REALTOR?

Glad you asked. One of most important resources News has to offer is the ability for you to offer your assistance when folks ask about properties in your area.

Do you service the Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX area? There's a newsgroup for general information called dfw.general, where at times people will post requests for relocation help or REALTOR recommendations. Should you get a couple of minutes of free time, why not peruse that newsgroup and see if you can answer any of the questions asked?

Some Internet consumers are so net-savvy that when it comes time for house-hunting, they'll comb through the newsgroups specifically created for REALTORS and real estate professionals, called "realtynet". Realtynet, created by Ted Kraus of http://www.property.com, targets several geographic areas including realtynet.east, realtynet.general, realtynet.residential, and more. If you have properties that fall under those categories, posting information about them can only help.

It only gets better. More and more cities and states are starting to offer specific housing newsgroups, such as nj.market.housing, seattle.forsale.housing, ne.housing, and more. Check any of these groups - you'll see postings describing the various properties for sale.

Should you not have the time to set up reading News from your browser, you can check out Dejanews for an extremely user-friendly interface. When you go there, you can test it out by entering

Home for sale - in the Search field, and clicking on "Find." Dejanews will be covered in more detail in future columns.

As earlier mentioned, many states and cities have regional groups dedicated to specific interests. You can start your quest to locate these resources by visiting http://www.dejanews.com/categories/regional.shtml.

Using News and posting your houses or helping potential customers can be a very fruitful experience. Learning the ropes beforehand will increase your chances of success exponentially.

Published: September 9, 1998

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