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Consider this scenario: You're driving around with your real estate agent looking at houses when all of a sudden you happen upon a place that looks absolutely perfect.
There's only one problem: It's not for sale.
Not to worry, says your agent, who barks the address into his cell phone. Within seconds, he gets back a list of houses exactly like the one that has you all a twitter. Better yet, these places are on the market. So off you go to pursue your dream.
Sound like something out of the Jetsons? Or perhaps Star Trek?
It's not. The nation's first "wireless location-aware network" is up and running right now under the name "Smarter Agent." And its creators, brothers Brad and Eric Blumberg, believe it will revolutionize the house-hunting business.
"Our technology will have as great an effect on the real estate industry over the next three years as the Internet has had during the previous three years," says Blumberg. "The future of wireless communications is not just in downloading information. It's about giving users information that's relevant to where they are right now."
Using GPS technology, Smarter Agent allows an agent to stand outside a house and receive information about the property and its surroundings, as well as any property in the vicinity. The system fetches actual multiple-listing service data such as the asking price, a description of the property and size of the lot. Better yet, Smarter Agent can be accessed through a cell phone or hand-held PDA, even a car's on-board GPS system. And no typing is required -- the system automatically recognizes your position via satellite and returns relevant data.
In effect, the system places a digital sign in front of every property in the United States. So even if you don't know where you are, Smarter Agent does. It shows your location on a map, locates homes in the immediate area which match your search criteria and tells you how to get there.
"Our system is highly intuitive," says Eric Blumberg. "What once seemed like science fiction is now possible."
According to brother Brad, Smarter Agent is a licensed broker in all the places where the system is currently being rolled out: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and Maryland.
And because the recently FCC-mandated e911 rules require that all new cell phones have location detection in them, a host of new Star Trek-like location-aware services will hit the market in the next 12-18 months, he says. "We have the patents on the location-aware real estate side of things."
GPS-based searches are part of the rapidly expanding location-based services market, which is predicted to become a $10-$20 billion business over the next few years.
Meanwhile, another new piece of "revolutionary" technology solves the problem of obtaining information on a house when the flier box attached to the for-sale sign is gone.
With Instant Home Info, all the prospect needs do is dial a toll-free number on his cell phone and say the listing number. Within seconds, you'll get back a text or audio message with the price, number of bedrooms and baths and square footage.
And, of course, the program also captures the caller's name and phone number, and notifies the listing agent of your interest.
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