One of the most interesting things about the growth of the Internet is its tendency to drive prices down, or even to zero. While there’s certainly many ways to spend money on the Net, many useful tools are now being offered for free by companies looking to generate loyal viewers.

Early on, classified advertising took a walk on the "free side" of the Net. You can a visit just about any major Internet portal (Yahoo! or commerce site Classifieds2000 ) and place individual advertisements for free. This may not seem like a big deal now, but to the industries that have made a living for decades by charging for this kind of service it was a radical turn indeed!

Other services that have commanded handsome fees soon became available for free as well. Just about every major portal offers free Internet based e-mail accounts. Then came JUNO which offers free e-mail to just about anyone who has a computer and a modem. Unlike the free Internet based versions, you don’t need Internet access to use this service. Instead of charging a fee for its product, JUNO is supported by advertising revenue.

Of course, the two major browsers on the market, Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer have both been free for so long that it’s hard to remember that there was a time when Netscape actually charged for theirs!

As the Internet grew, and finding useful information became somewhat of a challenge, PointCast came along and offered to build your own customized news service. The software for this tool is free to download, as are the customized news feeds. You choose what news you want to read, from which sources and how frequently you would like to update your program. Again, this is paid for by advertising dollars.

Nowadays you can actually get free Internet access itself for absolutely nothing. Netzero has taken the advertising concept even further by offering free Internet access and e-mail for free. Their catchy slogan "You mean you’re STILL paying for it?" certainly makes you wonder about the future. While the advertisements that support this site are a bit intrusive, the service is reliable enough that I have several family members using Netzero quite successfully.

Having brought the cost of many services to zero, the Internet is now working on crushing the economic model of actual products, too.

I remember spending real money to buy software that organized calendars and handled scheduling to increase the efficiency of my time management. Those days might be over. Take a look at ScheduleOnline to see how small business can handle complex group scheduling; online and for free. Then stop by Jump and you’ll see scheduling designed more for the individual, and that offers basic contact and task management too!

I cannot even begin to calculate how much money I spent as a teenager on 45’s, albums and even a few 8-track tapes. But, what are today’s kids doing? Downloading music from the Internet for free, of course! There are thousands of songs available online in a new format called MP3 which offers highly compressed music files in near CD quality. Not only can you download and play these songs on your computer, but now there are portable MP3 players that you can carry around just like the Sony WalkMan. If you’re interested, visit www.mp3.com to see some of what’s happening and available in this format.

Five years ago, who could open a business without buying a fax machine? A year ago, I threw out my fax machine and subscribed to Jfax instead. For just $12.50 a month (less than the cost of a phone line) they gave me my own local phone number and forwarded all of my "faxes" into my e-mail account. A few months ago I dropped Jfax and signed up for Efax instead. Why? Because Efax does practically the same thing, but for free - of course!

How is the Internet’s trend of driving prices down, or to zero, going to affect the real estate business? While I won’t attempt to simplify the future here, it’s a question that you had better be asking yourself today.

There is no one real estate market, or even one real estate business. It’s safe to say that the commercial practitioner in a major metropolitan area will be impacted differently than the salesperson selling time-share condominiums.

However, it’s also safe to say that few of the businesses affected by the above examples were fully prepared for the changes that the Internet has brought to their businesses. While there is still a great market for paid classified advertising, Internet access, e-mail and the other examples, the Internet certainly changes the value proposition from the consumer’s point of view.

A few things are certain. The Internet is getting ready to dramatically change the real estate industry. We’re not going to be able to stand alone, unbent by what is happening around us. While it may be outsiders who bring these changes to us, it’s quite likely that change will come from insiders who see the potential of the Internet.

Many real estate practitioners are already embracing what they see to be the future. They will continue to find ways to use this technology to become more efficient and more productive. Quite simply, this will eliminate, by efficiency and competition, those who are still firm in their belief that it’s business as usual.

If you’re not seriously evaluating how to take full advantage of what the Internet has to offer today (and will offer tomorrow) be very worried, your competition most likely is.

Published: April 22, 1999

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