If you are wondering if and how the e-brokers are gaining ground over traditional real estate brokers, the latest announcement by full-service, privately-held real estate brokerage eHome could offer some clues. The company has just announced a wireless version of its Web site.

Is wireless a big deal? It's big enough for Homestore, HomeAdvisor, PalmPilot, Nokia, Countrywide and myriad others to be furiously working to enable the mobile Internet Enabled Consumer(tm.) e-brokers such as eHome have a refreshingly clear niche market - people who use the Internet. Over 70 percent of eHome's privately polled customers have said that they want to be able to see listings from their Web phones - preferably in front of the homes they are viewing.

Think about how home buyers behave and you'll instantly see the connection. We already know that several sources such as the N.A.R. and John L. Scott Real Estate that 67 percent to 90 percent of home buyers are using the Internet to search for home buying information, including listings. They find a home they like, pinpoint it on the online mapping feature, get in their cars and find the home. Other homebuyers start by driving their favorite neighborhoods, before they go online. What happens when they see a for-sale sign in the yard? All that is there is the agent's phone number or Web site. They may not be ready to talk to an agent until they see the home's features. Enter the web phone. While they are parked in front of the home of their dreams, they can pull up the information they need from eHome's site and find out that eHome can represent them as the buyer, too, and rebate them as much as one percent of the company's commission at closing to boot.

There's lots of evidence that more people are going to get and use wireless Internet access. Nokia, the largest supplier of wireless communications and equipment, predicts that by 2002, mobile phone users will rise from about 480 million (in 1999) to more than 1 billion by 2002. The device of the future, now under development by PalmPilot and Motorola in a joint venture, is going to be a co-branded "smart phone," to be released in early 2002. They will be based on the Palm OS platform using Motorola wireless technology. Similar products are being developed by Nokia, Ericcson and Motorola and Microsoft. The devices will compromise between the small color screens of typical mobile phones and the larger Palm screens. But there will be plenty of room to view listings to your heart's content.

Homestore also believes that enabling the wireless consumer is crucial. Its units, Wyldfyre and FireTap, are also providing wireless solutions for Realtors and their consumers. Realtor.com, the largest listing service, also offers a wireless version of its listings for WAP-enabled phones. WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol, which uses a cell phone to access the Internet. Someday soon, consumers will be able to view virtual tours over cell phones, but until then, text information is about all that can be downloaded to the tiny technologies.

eHome is making sure it's ready to serve the wireless customer. To the consternation of some traditional brokers, eHome calls itself a full-service real estate brokerage which just happens to serve homebuyers in a different way. So hold on to your hats. That means that the definition of what full-service is may be getting ready to change. For eHome, full-service means enabling the consumer to gather information on a specific address by inputting little more than the city that the house is located in, and the house number. It means giving the customer an "In Touch" page through which they can follow the home selection, contract and closing process in real time. With a completely transparent brokerage transaction platform, eHome enables the consumer and the broker/agent from the embryonic period of lead capture to the fulfillment of closing.

It starts with the customer's ability to conduct a targeted search choosing such criteria such as price range, number of bedrooms and baths, zip code, city, and state. Depending on the relationship between the buyer and eHome, buyers can view eHome's listings in each community. By signing a buyer's registration which suffices as a buyer's representation agreement, consumers are allowed access to online MLS listings from other brokers as well. All listings are WAP-enabled.

Homesellers aren't left out of the wireless wave. The new wireless Web site provides sellers the ability to quickly calculate side-by-side savings they would have if they use eHome services compared to other real estate firms' commission models. Service menus are clearly outlined which also offer side-by-side comparisons of typical real estate services.

Why so much emphasis on platform technology? Patrick Husting, chief technology officer and founding partner of eHome explains, "That's the fulfillment of that customer promise. We build solutions to make our agents job more efficient."

Just as the WAP-phone technology helps consumers, it also puts the eHome agents in a class by themselves. They have a special interface and URL to tap into that gives them the client information, their schedule, and more detailed version of the MLS listing data including pending and sold information, that does not appear on the consumer screens.

Sounding like the Microsoft alumnus that he is, Husting says, "We want to empower the customer and our agents to have that information at their fingertips. What if our own agents want to show a home and they will see a home listed across the street? Our agent can pull out the phone and tell the buyer the information right away. That is a competitive advantage."

Find out next week why there's more to eHome than meets the eye.

Part II - What's Behind Closed Doors At eHome? will run Monday October 9.

Published: October 6, 2000

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