The fast-paced e-commerce boom has spawned a new breed of consumer embracing information technology with an insatiable yen for knowledge crucial to the bottom line.

To meet that demand, information providers must serve up easier, faster and more convenient access to information and analysis to help consumers make intelligent decisions about purchases.

No where is that more important than when a consumer is about to embark upon what's often his or her largest transaction ever -- buying a home.

Real estate consumers, armed with the power of the Internet, are demanding REALTORS give up their role as information gatekeeper and become interpreters and travel guides on the road to home ownership, according to "Real Estate Confronts Technology", a white paper crafted by Laguna Niguel, CA-based Stefan Swanepoel, a real estate industry analyst.

"Should REALTORS wish to succeed in the Internet era, they will have to focus on creating a consumer-centric model by instead becoming gatekeepers of the transaction," Swanepoel said. "To survive in the future, REALTORS must act as coordinators, counselors and facilitators in streamlining the total home-buying experience," he added.

Swanepoel, pointing to the growing array of surveys and studies about Internet empowerment, says the real estate industry continues to show technological weaknesses.

"Of the estimated 10 million real estate Web sites, very few really offer true value or the ability to conduct transactions online as easily as do Amazon.com or eBay. The integration of the real estate transaction and the creation of a one-stop real estate shopping experience is still a year or two away, though companies like HomeStore.com, E-loan, iProperty.com, and HomeGain.com show a lot of promise," said Swanepoel, a former executive with ERA and HFS (now Cendant) and author of " Real Estate Confronts Reality," (Real Estate Education Company, $24.95)

"The main reason for the delay of full integration is that the home-buying process is considerably more complex, less frequently conducted, very heavily regulated and saturated with way too many participants," when compared to other transactions, on- or off-line, he said.

Sometimes redundant, often preachy -- and seemingly oblivious of the wired-REALTOR in Silicon Valley -- Swanepoel details trends he says will "irrevocably and fundamentally change the building blocks of the largest industry in the United States. At the very core of this change is the incredible driving force of the Internet."

E-commerce

Swanepoel says consumers are just as aware as CEOs that time is money. A May 1999 California Association of REALTORS (CAR) study, said the Internet helped consumers halve the time of the cost-consuming home buying process. REALTORS who save consumers time, make money.

Virtual shopping-until-you-drop has cut costs in mortgages, books, CDs, banking services and airline tickets and many other items on the electronic auction block. A cut in the the cost of buying a home is over due.

Global communal economy

Spawned by e-mail, the Internet's information superhighway is about to add more lanes with faster data voice, video and e-commerce transactions flowing "simultaneously and seamlessly from virtual companies through cyberspace to consumers, anywhere in the world."

The Net has erased boundaries and torn down walls. "Know thy neighbor" has taken on new global electronic-immigrant meaning: You may not like them, but you'd better understand their consuming needs.

Technological progress

From repository to real thinking machine, the Internet will eventual have the ability to "know" more of what home buyers want and allow them to view only homes that meet their criteria, access all comparable property and regional data, plot the data on maps, access related reports, inspect existing warranties, and create their own home appraisals. REALTORS who aren't themselves "smart" enough to interpret the reams of data will fall behind the curve.

Wirelessness is also creating the anywhere, anytime transaction and anybody who is anybody, these days isn't hard-connected -- at least until battery-charging time.

"With wireless real estate you may thus be able, in the not too distant future, to link to the Internet with your cellular phone, communicate via e-mail with your customers, screen a video of the latest house on the MLS, or fax a contract to the office, Swanepoel said.

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Published: December 13, 1999

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.