A buyer in his thirties calls a broker.

"I've been on your site," he says. "You're representing the house at 330 Maple Street and I'd like to take a look at the inside."

"Great," says the broker. "I'd love to show it to you. Tell me a little about what you're looking for."

"Well, I've been on a whole bunch of web sites," the buyer says, "and have selected the houses I'm interested in. This one happens to be represented by you."

"I see," says the broker. "I'd be delighted to get together with you. How about tomorrow afternoon?"

"Well," the buyer responds, "I'm down in your part of town right now and I could meet you at the house in about 25 minutes. From looking at the address on your web site, it looks like your office is only about 10 minutes away."

"Much as I'd like to help you," says the broker, "I generally show houses thru the buyer's agent. Who is representing you?"

"Oh, I don't have an agent," says the buyer. "Look, if you don't have the time. I'll just cross this house off the list and move on."

"Okay," the broker sighs. "Let me gather up the paperwork on the house and meet you down there in about 30 minutes."

"I'll be waiting," says the buyer.

What's happening to relationships in real estate sales? They're still there - just changing due to technology and generational attitudes.

According to the 2002 Internet Versus Traditional Buyer Study published recently by the California Association of Realtors®, "Internet buyers spent significantly less time looking at homes for sale prior to making a purchase and looked at far fewer homes prior to making a purchase than did traditional buyers."

According to Robert Bailey, C.A.R.'s president, "Consumers using the Internet showed a higher degree of understanding of the home buying process, knew what they wanted, and, therefore, showed higher levels of satisfaction with their recent home buying experience and with their Realtor.®"

While this study incorporated a sample of buyers from all ages, it might be argued that for those in their twenties and thirties, purchasing homes over the Internet will become as accepted as TV dinners, over time.

But let's get back to the situation presented above. Is the buyer being unreasonable by asking the broker to drop what she's doing to meet with an unqualified prospect at a moment's notice? The broker might think so. But many in the younger generations have a different take on the relationship:

"She's the salesperson. I'm the customer. She needs to respond to my needs. Right now, I need to take a look at the inside of 330 Maple Street, a house she is trying to sell. If I were buying a car, she'd be climbing over the hood to meet me. What's so different about this?"

Granted, the typical young buyer is not necessarily that jaded. On the other hand, however, many of those in their twenties and thirties have not grown up with the same expectations about decorum and courtesy as their parents. Couple these perceptions with increasingly pervasive technology and the evolving impatience in our world today, and you have an emerging generation of buyers who may prefer to shop on-line and converse with brokers only when it is absolutely necessary.

Is there a correct way to deal with this and similar situations? No, there is only a series of choices. The broker must make a decision about how to handle situations like these because they're sure to become increasingly common. What will your practice be? How can you adapt and take advantage of these new expectations by younger buyers? What must you do to improve your technological savviness to compete with those in real estate who are already there? Finally, how will all of this affect your way of doing business in the long run?

As the old saying goes, "The future is now."

Published: April 9, 2002

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Robert Wendover is the Managing Director of the Center for Generational Studies which conducts research, produces seminars and publishes resources on how the generations relate to one another in American society. For more information about generational trends, please visit Robert's Web site at www.gentrends.com. You can contact him at 1-800-227-5510 or wendover@gentrends.com.