Daniel Vasquez

July 21, 2003

Jul. 21--Tina and Carlos Carvalho wanted to sell their $1.6 million Willow Glen home, still under construction, on their own. They turned away 40 real estate agents who wanted to represent them.

But after realizing the difficulty of selling a luxury home in this economy, the Carvalhos recently chose two agents who wooed them with something surprisingly absent in Silicon Valley -- high-tech magic in the real estate market.

The agents digitally altered photos so buyers could see what the couple's Mediterranean Colonial will look like when completed. They are now filming a documentary of the home's construction from foundation to finale, which will be put on the Web and a DVD.

Such tech savvy is driving the valley's home market into the future. Though the industry has been relatively slow to adopt new technology, agents increasingly use wireless devices and other innovations to help buyers save time and sellers maximize profits.

"Maybe three or four years ago people expected there would be a technological revolution in our industry, when in fact it's not a revolution, it's an evolution," said Larry Knapp, the new president of Alain Pinel Realtors.

While local agents aren't in the Stone Age, not all offer both market and technological expertise. Those who do often have an edge.

"Imagine two agents standing next to each other when a customer walks up and asks a question about a house," says Michael Grabham, CEO of Executive Wireless in Vancouver, which markets wireless applications to Bay Area real estate agents. "One agent pulls out a gadget and gives answers in a matter of seconds. Guess who the customer will choose?"

Observers say these agents are helping drive the industry forward by showing their bosses innovative ways to market and sell homes.

"You can call them mavericks. You can call them influencers. These people are leaders in their office," Grabham said. "They see a new device, think it's cool looking and decide they must have it, no matter how much it costs."

Los Gatos real estate agent Neal Schwartz is one of them. When a recent operation left him bedridden, he began tinkering with his new cell phone/camera, which he was sure would help his business.

A former Seattle real estate agent who received his California license last year, Schwartz, a bit of a tech geek, says he ended up creating the first Web site that home buyers could access through Web-enabled cell phones.

His employer, Coldwell Banker, in the past few weeks began using the format across the valley, allowing buyers and agents in the field to call up information, photographs and virtual tours of homes for sale on screens roughly the size of two large stamps.

Until now, agents and buyers would have to use either a desktop or laptop computer to view such information.

While this technology is more about convenience than being cutting-edge, it shows how small ideas blossom. Schwartz started by learning how to take photos of potential dream homes with his cell phone camera and e-mailing them to clients.

Soon, the listings and open home information for 4,800 Coldwell Banker colleagues in Northern California will be available via cell phone.

That means that when buyers drive around looking at homes for sale, they can use a cell phone to see basic information about ones they like, along with pictures or video of the interior -- all without bothering an owner or calling an agent.

Technology that keeps agents out of the office and in the field is most coveted.

Executive Wireless, Grabham's company, last month launched a product that does just that: It provides up-to-date information from the Multiple Listing Service -- a public record of existing homes for sale -- for Bay Area agents on personal digital assistants, or PDAs. Previously, this information was accessible only from a computer. So far, 19 agents from nine offices have signed up for the service, which costs about $20 a month after a $200 fee.

Six months ago, Zoey Tolu, a Century 21 Alliance agent in San Mateo, got tired of losing handwritten notes. Her husband recommended a combination PDA/cell phone.

Now Tolu calls the PDA her indispensable "sidearm." She subscribes to the Executive Wireless service and says, "Every time I use it in front of my clients, they are impressed."

The PDA has already made money for Tolu. While she ate at a San Francisco restaurant recently, a waiter inquired about the device and mentioned that he wanted to buy.

"I pulled out my PDA and started showing him possibilities," Tolu said. The waiter is now in contract on a home.

Most real estate companies in the area do own high-end computers and networks and purchase the latest software programs for their agents. When it comes to wireless devices, however, many agents buy their own. Because most agents are essentially independent contractors, it's difficult to establish technological consistency.

That may be one of the reasons the industry has been slow to perfect such possibilities as paperless home loan transactions. The technology has been thwarted so far by incompatible computer networks among the companies involved in transactions and security issues regarding electronic signatures.

But ultimately, Knapp said, customer service and market knowledge are more important than the latest gadgets.

"During the dot-com explosion, you had a lot of techies saying to those of us in real estate, 'You know what, you are toast. People won't need agents, they'll get all their information from the Internet,'" Knapp said. "Well you know what, that didn't happen."

Rather than taking over the industry, the dot-com refugees helped veteran agents realize the benefits of technology, Knapp said.

Right now most wireless applications are about creating convenience for buyers. But some predict that when the market is particularly competitive -- like the Bay Area's in 1999 and 2000 -- technology will help buyers be the first to make an offer when it counts.

Web-based innovations also help sellers promote homes with more pizazz.

The agents who got the Carvalho contract use high-end film and Web site production -- coupled with years of experience in Santa Clara County -- as a major business lure.

About a year ago Frank Oliver, a 27-year veteran agent and broker, and John Dixon, a graphics and Web designer, opened their Los Gatos office, Vivid Estates. Their company slogan is "Today's Real Estate 24/7," denoting the company's emphasis on technology and a Web presence.

"That's what you have to do today, you have to bring real estate into the 21st century," Oliver said. "With our technology, we can create as much magic as we want. But without market knowledge, it wouldn't mean anything."

While most virtual tours show a view of the interior from side to side, Vivid Estates films a home from all angles -- and adds music and interviews with the agents and sellers.

For the Carvalhos, the camera captures the California Street home's personality, highlighting the custom wooden arch that divides the formal dining room from the front room. The DVD will be given to shoppers and to the eventual buyer; it will include scenes of an open house in two weeks.

"People say, 'Yeah, I can put your home on the Internet.' But all they do is put up a photo. These guys show a whole home," Tina Carvalho said.

"I had a close friend, who is also an agent who wanted our transaction, say to me 'Tina, nobody is doing what they're doing. You better go with them,'" she said. "So we did."

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(c) 2003, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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