Back in the 1996 (it could even have been 1995 - my memory fails me as to the exact beginning) the WWW was still a very small place. An agent by the name of Mike Hanlon was gathering together Realtors that were active on the web - i.e had an email account and actually checked it - and asking them if they wanted to join with him in a referral network - where Realtors could find other Realtors they could refer their clients to. This was important since many clients were already using email back then but very few Realtors were. Mike would keep a list of everyone and he sent out regular email newsletters - the Network News. Soon the network had a name - the E-Team - and it was free!

It was very much a collaborative network where participants volunteered to take initiatives to help the network in some way. Mike worked tirelessly for a few years scouring the internet for Realtors with websites, contacting agents every day, and recruiting them for the network. Don Barta set up a website - a space on his own home page initially and then at http://www.eteam-relocations.com - so that all participants could be listed in a directory. I was running the online chat room and keeping a list of participants' ICQ numbers (a fore runner to the MSN, AOL, and Yahoo messenger programs of today).

I also set up a forum on my own website for members to use in 1997 and then in 1998 the forum was moved to http://www.agentsonline.net where it still is today! Just about every agent who had a website back in the early days of the world wide web was contacted by Mike and probably passed through these forums at some point.

Mike unfortunately became ill and had to retire. Without his tireless efforts in recruiting and keeping the network together the network just sort of faded over time although Don still has the site going.

There are still some of the old E-Teamers around (Carolyne Lederer, Norm Talbot, and George Farkas are moderators here) but for the most part these forums have been renewed as agents leave the business and new ones enter. The participants in these forums continue to freely share their knowledge for the benefit of all just as the original members did - so feel free to participate and please enjoy!