People Who Live in the Computer

The internet is an amazing tool.  Before today I was just a bit and byte to Teresa Boardman from Keller Williams.  I was one of the "people who live in her computer"!  That's her term for people she has met through the internet and its many helpful tools.  Teresa and I actually met on a list serve and she took the initiative to set up a coffee date so we could put flesh and blood to those bits and bytes of our being.

Is Teresa a competitor?  Yes.  Is competition good?  Usually.  Is there enough business to go around?  Yep!  Is it good to get to know other agents in your area and develop a strong support network?  You, betcha!  (For non-Minnesooootans, that's Minnesota code for a very strong yes!)  Is it good to challenge one another to excellence and professional standards?  Definitely!

Teresa writes a blog as well.  One that fits her style just as mine fits me.  She reads my blog and I read hers.  It's good to keep tabs on the competition, too!    It was also good to find encouragement in our common experience of how the market has impacted sales regardless of who the listing agent is or which company holds the listing.  We can't stand out in the street and shag down buyers and force them to buy our listings.  We gave each other hints and "talked up" our listings.  We promised not to return to being "people in the computer"!

This coffee break made me realize that regardless of how predators can use the computer to prey on innocents, the computer and internet have entirely changed how we do business and relationships.  Meeting someone on a list serve might be scary, but it's not a whole lot different from pen pals fifty years ago.  The generation before mine often courted one another through letters because distance separated the interested parties.  Many letters were exchanged before travel expense was invested to meet.  Occasionally the couples met first and then were separated, but developed their relationship through letters.  E-mail, list serves, community bulletin boards, etc., all are based on the same premise of honesty from the author of the written word.

Business has changed as a result of the computer as well.  Video conferences can be held with participants in several different countries.  Documents can be conveyed through e-mail.  Communication can be almost instantaneous with the right technology.  It makes me wonder how I survived before I owned a cell phone and when house listings were tiny print in a huge book the size of the old yellow pages with no sorting ability or color pictures.  Technology has definitely caused an evolution!  Or is it revolution?

Comments

[Bonnie Erickson]

June 9, 2006 - Maureen, Teresa is one of your "people who live in the computer".

Thanks, Teresa, for the accolade. I'm looking forward to more coffee breaks! In our stressful business, we need to build one another up more instead of always competing. I love to win the racquet ball match as much as the next one, but the playing and good company is more important overall!

[Teresa Boardman]

June 9, 2006 - Bonnie and I are learning from each other. She was truly a joy to have coffee with. Together we are discovering that relationships can be built in cyberspace and that the internet is not just for geeks anymore.

By the way I also learned that Bonnie is a fine Realtor with a wealth of experience that she is most willing to share and use to help her clients get the most out of their real estate purchase or sale. :)

[Maureen McCabe]

June 9, 2006 - I miss the MLS books.... With a car full of people I would sit on mine, which made me feel taller. I miss my booster seat.
I know Teresa from the computer, I have read her blog.