It’s no secret that online home services are going out as fast as they popped onto the scene. Many are suffering significant losses, restructuring, or fighting an uphill battle with cost versus revenue models that are tough to support over the long haul.

Why, with this abundance of online options, are consumers still preferring traditional brokerages? How can the traditional model reinvent itself to stay afloat long term as more online competitors continues to challenge its business model? Where is the industry headed, and who will emerge as the “preferred provider” of real estate services and what form will that model take?

These are the questions I, and just about every other broker, on and off line, should be asking.

According to industry experts, many of the online business models were inherently flawed, while others, though the numbers made sense on paper, have not garnered much support from consumers.

And caught in the center of this controversy is the agent/client relationship. It is becoming evident that that consumers are not ready or willing to walk through the maze of buying or selling a home without professional assistance, and agents are not about to roll over and give up their livelihood to a mouse.

Thus, the playing field is becoming a much more grounded in a blend between the traditional and online options.

There’s no doubt that the consumer is demanding faster, more efficient processes from agents and brokers, and greater control of information. This has caused proactive brokerages to invest in technology to accommodate growing expectations from both agents and their clients.

Prudential California Realty (PCR) has already invested heavily in the technology that allows agents to excel, with more than $3 million in technology advances in 2000 alone.

Advances that have been particularly useful include:

• The proprietary agent WebTop, an Intranet system developed by PCR for agents, which enables them to conduct a myriad of activities online, from ordering listing materials, to communicating escrow status to all involved parties;
• The eHomeSale, a proprietary platform developed in partnership with Homebid.com and launched with Yahoo! Real Estate last year, that succeeded in over 900 registrants and $10 million in home sales in its first 10 days;
• Listing Watch, a function that automatically emails the consumer when homes matching their search criteria are listed;
• An abundance of wireless technology that has enabling agents to access new listings from any compatible cell phone or Palm Pilot;
• The public website, (http://www.pruweb.com) that allows consumers to conduct property searches, activate Listing Watch, select an agent, check mortgage rates, and find information about buying, selling and owning a home online;
• And the pilot of our first six Offices of the Future, which will retrofit traditional offices to be completely technologically advanced, so agents can conduct business via their laptops and cell phones efficiently and quickly.

We have found these advances have made a huge difference in agent productivity, because let’s face it, a top producing agent actually spends very little time tethered to an office. And because the Bay Area allows us to pilot these advances with some of the most technically savvy consumers on the planet, we’ve got an excellent hand on the pulse of the market, and will continue to think ahead and stay ahead.