Thanksgiving, Real Estate, and the Internet

Thanksgiving Day is right around the corner and I’m almost ready. I’ve purchased a nice Butterball, some yams, and all the ingredients for the expected green bean casserole. Everything seemed to be on track until I realized I was short 4 forks from my set of flatware. This was quite a disappointment as I’ve had this set since I was a teenager building my hope chest. So what should I do now? Buy a whole new set? Try to find matching forks? Or perhaps I should just serve turkey soup. Like my approach with many dilemmas these days, I enlisted the help of Google. After a minute or so of browsing, I found out that the pattern was still available from the manufacturer. A couple of keystrokes later and the forks were ordered, paid for and in the shipping department. Looks like I’m back on track for Thanksgiving dinner.

Anyone who has an internet connection probably has had similar experiences. The internet has simplified so many tasks. And searching for real estate is no exception. The real estate industry has embraced the internet for many years in order to facilitate and enhance the buying and selling experience for both Realtors and consumers. The local multiple listing service (MLS), which contains details and photos for all homes listed by Realtors, has been online since the early years of the internet, courtesy of the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR). HAR offers a free website, aptly called HAR.COM, that has the MLS detail on every listed home in a user friendly searchable format.

While many Realtors and real estate companies have their own websites, HAR.COM is the local workhorse and is the original source for most of the local real estate information seen online. In addition to over 500,000 visits a month, HAR allows its Realtor members to extract and utilize MLS data for their own personal websites. It also provides daily transmission of MLS data to other national websites like Realtor.com and Homes.com. Everyone who accesses HAR.COM soon appreciates its power. Prospective buyers can perform searches on listed homes by location, price, size of home and a number of other parameters. Real estate agents who are members of HAR have access to an even more powerful search tool to help their clients quickly hone in on their dream home.

HAR.COM has another feature that is very helpful for both prospective buyers and sellers. It’s a relatively new feature called the Client Experience Rating. After every real estate closing, the buyer and seller involved are sent a questionnaire by HAR concerning their experience with their Realtor. They are asked to rate their Realtor on a scale of 1 to 5 in several categories including competency, market knowledge and communication. Individual Realtors can elect to not participate in this program. But for those of us that do, it is a great opportunity to make our reputation more transparent to existing and potential clients.

Much like the development of the printing press, radio and TV, the internet is a major advancement in our ability to access information. And while it doesn’t come close to replacing the knowledge and experience of seasoned real estate agents, it does provide the consumer with information on both homes and Realtors to help them make better real estate decisions.

Getting back to my preparations for Thanksgiving, I should remind everyone that missing forks are the least of worries of many of our less fortunate neighbors. Having been a board member of the Montgomery County Food Bank for many years, I’m profoundly aware of the struggle that many have to feed themselves and their families. As part of your Thanksgiving preparations, please make a donation to the Montgomery County Food Bank, or a hunger-relief charity of your choice.