Informed customers are one of the best gifts a professional could want to unwrap any time of the year. It seems now when consumers are shopping for a home, like more than 93% of shoppers, they want to do as much of the leg work as they can from a seated position surfing the Internet.

That's right. 93%. According to the National Association of REALTORS® ("NAR") 2003 "Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers," homebuyers are turning more and more to the Internet to look at homes (93%) and to get neighborhood information (22%). In 2001 when Privacy Solutions, Inc. was founded, first time homebuyers represented 40% of the total online home buying population (State of Online Real Estate, July, 2000, Gomez.com). According to a survey published in March 2004 by NAR, the growth numbers tell the story. Virtually all professionals use email and about 70% of buyers use the web as a tool to search for a home (Realtors® & Technology: 2004 NAR® Technology Impact Survey Report).

Real estate industry professionals would be wise to embrace this technology and assist their potential customers in being as informed as possible. One thing many professionals fear is that technology will eliminate the need for a person. Nothing could be more wrong in the service industry of real estate. The axiom holds true, "People like doing business with people they know." There is no replacing the networking lunches (sorry, there is still much chicken to be eaten) or walking neighborhoods (sorry, you still may have sore lips from so much smiling) and making contact. The value of personal contact cannot be replaced, even if it is generated from an electronic lead.

The difference the Internet makes is this. Since email is just one more way people can find you that would like to engage your expert services, you need to become a master of email contact and online resources. People who find you on the Internet expect you to be an expert in the use of online resources. Know the laws, protect your client and follow up in their preferred communication format; be it email, phone or in-person office visits. There is often the temptation to back-burner brief email inquiries. To me, email is another pond of potential clients from which to draw. My experience is that cultivating email contacts is just as valuable as the client that walks in to the office. That contact takes just as much time and communication skill, it's just a different format. The results are often the same as leads from any other source that are conscientiously pursued- a mutually beneficial professional relationship.

To put yourself and stay in the cutting edge position, keep abreast of the latest developments in online privacy and information security regulations. Of course, knowing them is nice, but the best way to assure success and market leadership in the online world is to be an early adaptor to implement new privacy and information security laws as they emerge.

I was speaking at the RealTrends Marketing and Technology Conference "Moving to an Online World" in Denver the end of September and heard Russ Capper, President of Prudential Financial's eRealty, Inc. speak on changes to our industry and he included a quote that I think is relevant to understanding the changes that are happening in our real estate world. He attributed it to a Disney Chief Imagineer:

"Trying to assess the true importance and function of the Internet now is like asking the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk if they were aware of the full potential of the American Airlines frequent flyer program."

You are an important part of the new business world. If you think about it, we are just a few steps down the road from the Kitty Hawk of the Internet. There is potential that we can't even imagine yet.

The role of the real estate professional is changing- you still need to be a great people person. You also need to be a sharp business person who takes advantage of the innovation of entrepreneurship that endows you with the capacity to create new wealth- the Internet.

Darity Wesley is CEO and Legal Counsel for Privacy Solutions, Inc. a San Diego based consulting firm. Her team of Privacy Gurus® work with you to create policies and procedures to establish the expectation of privacy for your members, clients, customers, prospects, affiliates, associates, employees and vendors. You can reach her at (619)670-9462 or Darity@privacygurus.com