FireTap Communications, a subsidiary of Homestore.com, is the underpinning of all of Homestore's products and services. Not only does it enable Realtors to serve online consumers on their turf at competitive speeds, but it also is gives agents after-closing affinity products to sell.

FireTap's philosophy for being works like this: It is an enabling technology that supports the underlying infrastructure of all phases of Homestore product sell-through beginning with brokers and agents and ending with their consumers.

"We realized that we were going to introduce a lot of technology and that real estate brokers needed a good infrastructure," explains Errol Samuelson, product director for Homestore. "Telephone companies did not understand the real estate business, or the way it works. We have two points of expertise, real estate and the newest performance engineering so that we can provide solutions to enable other products. The second reason is to help agents and brokers also become a sales channel to their customers." The logic progression is ingenious; there is no one associated with the home transaction who isn't a potential customer for FireTap's services.

According to Gregg Larson, founder of FireTap and acting general manager, most people who are searching for home information do so from their place of work. He confirms that the number one piece of information that home buyers want online is a visual of properties. "If you are going to look at hundreds of homes and look at virtual tours, mapping, color photos and you had a choice of doing it over a T1 line at work, or at home at night over a dial-up connection, which are you going to choose?" asks Larson.

Phase I - Enable the Realtor

Where Realtors are experiencing a technology gap is that they are a mobile sales force, using their computers at home, in the car, or at client's homes, with a great dependence on slow dial-up modems. Few have wireless access, and few have hand-held devices for wireless access to MLS and other listing data. But those days are changing rapidly.

"Our goal is to provide communications and connectivity for homes, offices and in the field," says Larson.

According to Larson, high speed Internet access is used by less than 5 percent of Realtors at home. FireTap's mission is to enable the Realtor to communicate with the wired buyer (and seller) with tools as efficient as those that the consumer uses. The first phase is to enable brokers and agents with reasonable cost high-speed access, rolling out DSL connectivity first. He's quick to point out that FireTap is not a DSL company, but that the company offers a variety of high-speed connectivity services including fixed wireless where Sprint broadband access is offered. There are also cable modems which reach a number of areas that DSL can't yet serve. Another alternative is satellite services via Direc PC(tm) by Hughes Network Systems.

"We are in some trials right now," says Larson. "Linking with MLS systems and linking to residential. The advantage is that you can upload data as well as download." Bi-directional Direc PC will be offered in fourth quarter 2000, assures Larson, and promises to be an ideal solution for rural areas and small towns.

Phase II - Sell Through to the Homebuyer

Not only are Realtors the targeted consumer for FireTap's broad bandwidth and wireless services, and they are also the designated sales force that will offer the same services to home buyers as an after-closing affinity purchase. The company has a number of brokers who have already agreed to act as sales channels for FireTap services. These brokers want the opportunity to extend the life cycle of the client-service provider relationship. With first time buyers moving less often than every four years, and move-up buyers moving every 11 years, the opportunity to remain top-of-mind with former clients is more difficult the longer the consumer stays in the home. Affinity services provide the opportunity for ongoing contact.

Not only are home buyers a possible consumer base, so are relocation customers, many of whom require a home office when they move to a new home. Larson sees a steady migration from the office to the home office with the advent of high-speed Internet access. "Ford Motor Company puts a PC in every employee's home," observes Larson. "Broadband access is likely to become an employee benefit as more employees work at home. If an employee has high-speed access to the Internet, they are 10 times more likely to do some or all their work at home. High-speed connections allow you to check email quickly and send and receive files quickly, making it more feasible to let employees work at home."

Two to three products are planned to roll out quarterly from FireTap, including products such as long distance services, conference calling and other products for different industry needs. "We are targeting the industry with custom designed solutions," says Larson. "A phone company can sell horizontally, but they don't have a vertical market plan. We do because we understand the real estate industry.

"It's the content that rides on the pipes that matters."

Editor's note: A follow-up story on FireTap's wireless services is in development.

Published: September 7, 2000

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