Published: April 15, 2008 10:24 am      

Net profits: Web sites revolutionize home sales

Nothing about the real-estate business surprises Valerie Hudson anymore.

Hudson, co-owner of American Dream Real Estate Appraisal and Management, 710 Scalp Ave. in Richland Township, has been in the business for more than 20 years. She thought she had seen it all until a few weeks ago.

“We had a guy from out of state who just bought a house from us without ever seeing it in person,” Hudson said.

That sums up the influence technology has had on the real-estate industry. Online listings now enable potential buyers to see not only an exterior photo of a home, but also take a 360-degree virtual tour of the interior with just a click of a mouse.

Technology has made the industry more efficient, Hudson said.

Most buyers not only find their real-estate agent online, she said, but also have narrowed the list of homes they would like to see before they ever call an agency.

The influence that existing and new technologies have on the industry will expand, she said.

“I would think in the next few years we’re going to be doing everything online, especially with out-of-town buyers and sellers,” Hudson said.

“We’ll be doing contracts online instead of by fax or overnighting things. It’s only going to become a lot more technological.”

The changes and prospective changes aren’t limited to the property portion of the industry.

Jeff Philibin, a home-mortgage consultant for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, 2458 Bedford St. in Geistown, said that more and more buyers are finding mortgage providers online.

Those companies are becoming more technologically integrated by the minute.

Philibin said Wells Fargo and most other national mortgage companies now can deal with customers in a virtual environment from start to finish.

“It’s a huge competitive piece,” Philibin said.

“The companies that are the most successful now are the most tech savvy. I can literally do twice as much business now without working extra hours.”

Philibin said Wells Fargo’s tech employees roll out new pieces of technology on a monthly basis. He expects that process will spread throughout the industry over time.

PennWest, with headquarters at 551 Main St. in downtown Johnstown, has taken the next step in technological integration. The company’s Web site, wowzero.com, is a virtual one-stop shop for home buyers.

A visitor to the site can look for a home through Zero Realty, shop for a loan through Penn-West itself and even purchase title insurance.

Zero Realty is an innovation on PennWest’s part that may set a trend in the industry.

Home sellers can list their properties on the site for no charge and substantially increase the number of potential buyers viewing the property.

Dave Basset, PennWest president, said he doesn’t know of another company offering the same service free of charge.

“It is purely a community service,” Bassett said.

“When people find a buyer and that buyer goes looking for a mortgage, we obviously would like to have that business. But they’re free to go where they want, and we never charge for the listing on the site.”