Actually some of the MLS's in the south central part of the state have added Showing Assist. It's part of our monthly fees. And you get an email with the details of the showing.

On the down side, there's a lot of agents who haven't figured out to use it yet. Gee, it's only been 2 years! And it's as complicated as clicking on a link. Works especially well when you have a vacant property.

We utilize centralized showings services. There are 2 big ones often used in our area. I use them as well. I am a big fan of e-fax. I never bothered purchasing a fax for the purpose of "Faxing out". I go into the office for that. The broker owns (or is purchasing) his own brick and mortar building. He also leases add'l space out (that should help).

I guess what burns me more than anything is the fact that there will be agents scum sucking and stealing ad calls. Been there done that. I have my ads structured the best I can to get the calls to me. In my state, agents cannot advertise with cell phone number only (must have office number same size). In my state, other rules are: 1. You cannot operate by answering machine only. There will be plenty agents Creamin da leads covering the phones. 2. Must have a work space for agents (desk or other designated are. 3. Must have specified hours of operation

Get a fujitsu scan snap scanner instead of a fax. You scan the document and email it. No phone line and crisp clean copies sent. Best little machine I ever bought.

Cindy

Ufax gives us a Realtor discount. You are able to view your fax online. It has saved me a lot of time because I do not have to physically wait for a secretary to send me a copy of the fax. When I was at a large office sometimes my paperwork would get mixed up with another agent who has a similar name as mine. This prevents those glitches since it goes straight to your computer. At home I can use my phone line to send a fax. Besides, more people are scanning documents and emailing them.

Some of the biggies in our area are closing and consolidating offices. Century 21, Prudential, Corcoran, all consolidated offices and some of the recepts go home at 2. Many of the small brokerages have simply closed. Since they were owned by long time locals I assume they'll reopen when things pick up. We use showing desk. Down south a friend of mine works at a Keller Williams, they do floor time by forwarding the calls in 4 hour blocks to agent's cell phones. I think real estate brick and mortar is changing big time. our white board is also way down in deals. I predict some of the only agents who are going to remain in my office of 80 (other than the 2 top producers whose grandparents went to kindergarten with the other locals' grandparents) are the retired teachers and cops who have substantial retirement benefits, and the dilletants who are married to well-employed spouses and trust fund babies.