The Greater Capital Association of Realtors (GCAR) is planning to implement a centralized showing system for the entire board. As a Realtor, this means I will no longer need to chase agents and wait for confirmations from those agents. I’ll also be able to provide buyers with the stats they want. Now, we only know which houses are selling — and 2 to 3 months later we find out the selling price of the property.

When the new system is implemented, we will be able to tell how many buyer appointments are set for a particular price range, location, and type of house. This will allow us to present sellers with a true picture of the market now, not several months ago.

With all this said, I was surprised when I got a call from a reporter yesterday asking me about the system. After I explained to him what the system was all about, the reporter told me some agents were unhappy with this direction.

Today I got a call from a second reporter on the same story. He stated that maybe when times are tough, it is not the time to start something new.

I say, it takes money to make money.

The second reporter also stated that according to the National Association of Realtors, most buyers start their search on the Internet, so the need for an agent is not that great. I agreed that the search often starts online, and asked… “Where are people going to search for homes?” The answer, of course, is to a Realtor website.

Back in 1994, when the Internet first started to come on full force, I remember agents also resisting this change and commenting that the “thing” (the Internet) was going to replace us and we would become obsolete. Instead of replacing us, the Internet made us more efficient and changed the way that we do business.

I would encourage every “nay-sayer” to look at the facts and then make a decision base on reality and not perception.

Change is great. It shows that we are aware of our surroundings. Many agents forget that this is a consumer-driven business and not an agent-driven business.

Agents and brokers have to get ready for the future, before the future passes them by. Let’s be leaders and not followers. I believe that’s the correct path and that’s the way I run my company.