"I was a computer user in the military so I was always fascinated with technology," says Klein. He immediately began to tell agents across the country about this new technology.

"We are selling profiles on the kiosk, isn't this a great idea? I would tell agents how technology is changing and give this as an example.

"I decided not to work in my practice, and brought in an assistant. I spent all my time as the board president traveling to as many real estate offices in the association as I could. My theme was communication, and I spoke to 70% of all the offices personally. No one had ever done that before. They love to see someone from the board come visit and the reason was to communicate with agents."

"That same year, RIN was created."

Klein was hired to create a three day program for agents to explain what RIN was going to be, how the Internet plays into it, and it was a wholly owned subsidiary of NAR. At that time, Realtor.com was an asset of RIN, the Web site.

"I traveled all over the U.S. and then learning what was being created for the Realtors - a proprietary network like AOL and a Web site. They needed a company who could take listings and put them on the Internet and we thought of Richard Janssen. It would make perfect sense for the MLS to put listings on the Internet I convinced the boards that they should put their listings on Realtor.com."

"The first listings on the Internet were from San Diego. That year, I traveled over 250,000 miles."

Klein became the West Coast Regional Sales Manager and continued his frenetic pace speaking and running his other businesses. Then, RIN ran out of money, and left a lot of people owed including Klein and Janssen.

"Richard was president of Real Select and he found other investors," explains Klein. "He would go out and get more money and that is how he wound up with ownership interest. NAR got 15% and Real Select owned one asset - the operating agreement. All the equipment is still owned by NAR and RIN owns that percentage of stock in HomeStore. Richard put together enough resources to take over Realtor.com and the new company."

"Real Select asked me if I wanted to be an employee," said Klein. "I created the online community on RIN with John Reilly and Mike Barnett. That's where we created RealTalk.

"There was a button on Realtor.com called Real Talk, and if you went on it, we had bulletin boards and national speakers and attorneys. When all of that screeched to a halt, John and I decided to rent a listserve and called it Real Talk."

"It was one of the most successful real estate communities. It needs to be developed and who better than us? I wanted to do my own thing. They (Realtor.com) were thinking listings and we were thinking Realtor community, and there wasn't room to do that with them. Klein and Realtor.com parted ways.

"We did community online with all of our resources. We developed web sites, and that is how our companies make money. We are a publishing company disguised as a technology company. The more you do it the better you get at it. Our thrust has been community. We believe we are on course to create the international online community."

"When we created Real Town, we realized we were way in front of Realtors. We created a marketing name - Internet Crusade - to make them agree to go online. There is all this great information and nobody is taking advantage of it.

Klein is going on the road through the year 2000. "We are going to all the associations and teach Realtors and migrate them to the Internet. That is how Internet Crusade was born.

"They learn to use email and they learn things about their business, and that is how we get people to sign up for RealTalk. Every association should have a listserve to communicate with members."

"We are nurturing people and teaching them how to join the real estate online community."

Klein's crusade includes plans to speak to 20,000 agents by the end of the year, and to sign up 15,000.

"We tell them - it's online or the breadline."

Klein's company creates Web-based web sites, and they have Web-based email, using the agent's own domain name. The company is developing a template so easy to use that agents can update their own sites. The basic technology products are all web based - listserves, autoresponders, domains, email forwarding, POP accounts. In effect Internet Crusade has taken electronic post office software and unbundled its functionality.

"It's permission marketing," explains Klein. "This template is the prefect first step for the virtual office that has all the things they use.

"We are going to get to virtual desktops. You can set your desktop for all the things you use and your clients use, and you can make changes by yourself. You can even register your own domain name with us.

What else does the future hold for Klein? "My main theme is to create a online real estate community for consumers and real estate professionals.

"If you listen to NAR, they are saying that the Realtor is the first point of contact. In our opinion it is not a person - it is the Internet. Buyers are not coming to Realtors with information about properties. A Realtor who wants to be successful must know how and where to meet the client- on the Internet.

"We are going to create that online community. It won't be long before people are saying, "Let's create this online community" and big seminar people are willing to talk about it. "I want to be where the clients are."

"We all cut our teeth working on AOL bulletin boards, and I would get email all the time. I would go on AOL and start typing away. I got leads and clients from those postings, going online and writing things. You are being published. If you are on an online forum, you will be published.

"I can tell you for a fact this will work."

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Published: August 31, 1999

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.