By Patrick Healy

Within the first week the Rhode Island Association of Realtors new Web site was online it garnered more than 1,500 registered subscribers. After about 15 months in the making the site just went live earlier this month. From choosing a dream home or contacting a real estate professional to mortgage information and home-buying tips, the association promises a much more comprehensive online experience than before. Located at www.RILiving.com, the asssociation added multi-family, land and commercial properties to its existing single-family and condo inventory listed online. Michael Letendre, chief information officer for the Statewide MLS (multi-listing service), was one of the developers who worked on the site. "After four years of consumer feedback we knew what both the buyers and sellers wanted," he said. "The numbers kind of speak for themselves. The site is updated three times daily, because with the market changing so fast the turnover is unbelievable." A recent report by the National Association of Realtors found that 60 percent of homebuyers are using the Internet to get home buying information and that by 2005 that number will be as high as 2005. Ron Phipps a broker for Warwick-based Phipps Realty and Relocation Services agreed that being on top of the latest transactions is one of the most important facets of the new site. "Whatıs fun about the site is that itıs very real-time oriented," he said. "Thereıs a direct feed from the Statewide MLS so when I see a listing today it gets posted today." Sharon Steele, president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, said both brokers and buyers appreciate the new technology offered by the site. "Since the launch weıve had an amazing response from consumers who have come to the site with the intention of listing themselves so they can be matched with properties that meet their criteria," she said. "And it simply provides more exposure for the brokers." Letendre agreed. "These days most people at least start their home searches on the Internet," he said. "And this saves everybody time. It saves the broker time because they have a more educated buyer, and they donıt have to go all across town to be shown the 20 properties they saw described in the newspaper." Upon becoming a member of RILiving.com, which is free, a user is given a password and can choose criteria by which to search for a property. Receiving e-mail updates the user can check the status of his search daily. Phipps said the personal nature of the site is what has made it so successful. "If Iım searching I want to see fresh product on the market and finally with this site I can do that," he said.

Published 3/25/2002