And the ReMax companies, which last year seemed to have early foot on technology and speed in getting listings online, seem to have lost their advantage - the member offices have gone in many different directions, reducing their effectiveness in the Web market. We can get many Clues from this. The reality of the Web is also apparent - consider there are now two dozen sites offering new home information just for Atlanta. What worked last year may not work this year - you've got to keep spending and keep up. And there's still a long way to go - all you can really do today is get a list of prospect homes, and agents, that can start your shopping.
Listings remain proprietary, increasingly so as the Web proves their value.
This means it still takes buyers a lot of time to shop online. You'll spend an hour or two searching or paging through listings to come up with a list of numbers to call and addresses to check out - you won't buy directly online for many years. There's been a lot of progress, but there's still a very, very long way to go. And look for big players to press their financial advantages online - watch what Coldwell Banker does closely going forward. Like they said in the 1940s, now we're cooking with gas.