There's a little Virtual in all of us

This morning the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® devoted its entire industry news section to the development of the "virtual office" concept at our firm. This is a gigantic bonus for us - and in my opinion validation of our ideas on how to best move this industry forward. I certainly encourage you to take a moment to jump over and read what Kim Shindle from the PAR Communications Staff had to say.

Over the last month (yes, it has been just about a month since we launched our Malvern pilot project) there has been a great deal of talk in all the offices about just what a virtual office really is, just how much change is required to become "virtual" and truthfully just how much "virtual office" runs throughout every one of our Hearthside locations.

Just to recap (and to steal verbiage I already used with our Collegeville folks) a virtual office has NOTHING to do with the physical space, rather, it has to do with the ways the agents do business, how we reduce the inefficiencies placed on them the traditional real estate model and at the end of the day make more money. Sounds pretty exciting, right? Apparently the REALTOR® Association thinks so too.

But I started thinking about each of our offices and just how "virtual" they already are - we really have come a long way in the last few years - further than the industry overall. You should really be proud of just how much technology you already incorporate in your business.

I thought of some examples of ways our "traditional" offices emulate our "virtual ones"...many of them you may not consider as "virtual" at all.

1. Contracts: We were one of the first companies in the nation to use RealFast2Go as an online contract program. Sure there were other online programs out there before RF2G, but the online/offline sync from RealFast and the ability to integrate newer technologies (including upcoming support for iPad & digital signatures) makes it much more "virtual" than anything on the market right now.

2. Video: C'mon now...how many other offices in this area (heck, in the country) are maximizing video the way we are?



The way the Bucks Managment Team is using video is amazing...and very virtual. Next step; bringing the "welcome to the week" message to live video through services like dimdim that support virtual meetings. We'll get there team, promise. And of course the way many of you have embraced the Coldwell Banker "On Location" YouTube channel goes a long way to show that you are working toward being virtual with your listings.

3. Smart Phones: According to the National Association of REALTORS® 2009 study 53% of real estate professionals never use a phone that does email or the internet. From going office to office recently and setting up email on what seems like a billion devices I know we are way ahead of that curve; we are working virtually. Add in the number of you drooling over iPads or newer, lighter laptops - and I see that we are less tethered to our office than ever before.

The moral of the story is that you don't need to be scared of the virtual office...you practically are in one every day. Think of how you did this business three years ago...one year ago...and I bet you'll be really proud of how far you have come. I know that I am very proud of all of you - and I look forward to helping you bring out your "inner virtual" as we continue down this road together.