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Improving Real Estate Through Technology

by Matt Difanis
January 6, 2002

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Many REALTORS® advertise that they are "high-tech and high-touch" or that they "use technology to benefit their clients," but they do not provide specifics. Many REALTORS® consider themselves on the cutting edge of technology if they can operate a fax machine and check their email with basic proficiency. I want to spend a few paragraphs sharing the story of one of my recent buyer clients as a way to demonstrate how technology—when properly mastered and applied—can ameliorate virtually every facet of a real estate transaction, whether you're moving across town or around the world.

In the summer of 2001, I received an email message from a prospective buyer who had visited my Web site from his native country in Asia. He indicated that he was preparing to relocate to Champaign-Urbana to begin work on his PhD at the University of Illinois and that he wished to purchase a home in the area. He planned a four-day trip to the area two months in advance of his family's move. With minimal in-person contact, he and I had to accomplish the following:

familiarize him with the local real estate market;
identify a lender with suitable financing vehicles for his circumstances;
complete the mortgage application process;
tour all suitable properties in the area;
negotiate a contract for the purchase of a home;
schedule a home inspection and negotiate remedies for any defects; and
close the entire transaction while he and his family were still in Asia (he wanted to be able to move in as soon as his family stepped off the plane).

Before he came to Champaign-Urbana for his brief house-hunting trip, I referred him to an outstanding local lender and attorney, both of whom use email prodigiously. Via email, I introduced him to both, and he completed a mortgage loan application from overseas.

When he arrived in Champaign-Urbana, his attorney prepared power of attorney documents to enable the attorney to sign ay necessary documents at closing in the buyer's absence. The buyer and I toured all properties that met his criteria, and he quickly zeroed in on two finalists. As we toured the properties, I brought my digital photography equipment and photographed the interior and exterior of them. Since his wife could not be along on the trip, I wanted to enable him to share the properties with her. Within two hours after we finished our showing appointments, I posted complete photo tours on the Web for his wife to view from Asia. The buyer and his wife conferred by telephone, while both looked at the same properties from a distance of 8,000 miles from one another. He scored some significant points points with his wife by letting her make the final selection. Just before leaving town, we negotiated a purchase agreement on their first choice.

While we accomplished much during his brief stay in the United States, there remained a myriad of taks to accomplish between then and the closing. I scheduled a home inspection and attended it on behalf of my client. I took digital photographs of all defects noted by the home inspector. Following the inspection I scanned the inspection report, and I emailed the report and the photographs to my client the same day. During the following days we assembled a list of repair requests, and the attorney drafted and sent a letter to the seller on behalf of the buyer.

Prior to closing I did a final walk-through at the property to verify that all agreed-upon repairs had been performed. The closing went smoothly, despite the fact that the buyer was still overseas. When he and his family arrived in town, he picked up the keys to his home from the attorney's office, and I met him at the property to give him an orientation to working the appliances and utilities.

When it was all said and done, we had exchanged more than thirty emails, and I had exchanged another dozen with the lender and attorney. With the help of an Internet connection, a scanner, digital photography equipment, Web server space, Adobe Acrobat, a Palm handheld, and a notebook computer, my client managed to purchase a home from Asia almost as easily as if he were moving across town. If you are contemplating a long-distance relocation, or if your schedule makes it easier to check your email regularly instead of playing phone and document tag with your REALTOR®, then verify upfront that your agent possesses the skills and equipment necessary to provide the level of service that you seek.

Improving Real Estate Through Technology

by Matt DifanisJanuary 6, 2002

Matt's Article Archive

by Matt Difanis
January 6, 2002