Keeping Pace with Consumers

By Maria Patterson

RISMEDIA, June 6, 2008-Roula Fawaz is a trailblazer. Committing to a website back in 1997 when the concept was just beginning to circulate in the real estate industry, Fawaz followed her instincts and steered her business toward the Internet.

“I always wanted to be a step or two ahead of the competition,” says Fawaz, a 15-year veteran sales associate with Southern California-based Tarbell, Realtors. “I could sense that the younger generation was very interested in looking for homes on their own and I realized that paper advertising would go away. People want information quickly and I wanted to make sure I was exposed everywhere and accessible to them.”

At the time, Fawaz developed a website with Homeseekers, now known as rDesk and part of the Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES) family of products. Fawaz has stayed with the same program over the years, more than pleased with her return on investment throughout. Now with the enhancements and increased features available through rDesk, Fawaz is more excited than ever about the online component of her business.

“They’ve added so many features,” she reports, “like neighborhood information, mapping, testimonials…I’ve always been a trendsetter and this helps keep me ahead.”

Over the years, Fawaz has considered contracting a sophisticated Web designer to create a brand new, state-of-the-art site, but never finds a compelling enough reason to go that route.

“I decided that I don’t need to change the whole site, just the design of it-and rDesk will do that for me,” she explains. “You can go to a Web design company that has nothing to do with real estate and get a site with all the bells and whistles, but you have to consider how that vehicle will work for you behind the scenes. rDesk can handle the cosmetics of the site and captivate customers, but behind it are all these features that are very powerful tools for agents.”

The Web-based rDesk bills itself in fact as a “business control panel” for agents, integrating a variety of business tools into a single, personalized real estate agent site that is compatible with any MLS system.

Two characteristics of rDesk stand out in particular to Fawaz, the first of which being agent friendliness. “rDesk allows me to go in and update the website myself-I change photos, I change text, I update the status of my listings from active to pending, I add my virtual tours, change colors, change the front page if I want, create presentations. I’m not a tech person and this is a piece of cake.”

Secondly, Fawaz lauds the comprehensiveness of her rDesk website-able to handle everything from mapping to buyer’s tours. And rDesk continues to add tools to improve the flexibility and ease of usage, she reports.

Of growing importance to Fawaz is the increasing connections her rDesk site allows her to make with consumers. “They are adding features to help empower potential buyers and sellers to navigate the site and see more,” she explains. “There’s more information about schools, about neighborhoods. Prospects can go to my website and navigate the whole MLS. This makes me look good-they’re adding all that to make my site look better.

“I’m a person who believes that you have to give people enough information to make good decisions,” Fawaz continues. “I don’t want to give them one piece of information to get them to call me. I want them to be empowered by giving them everything they want. Consumers are hiding behind that screen and are uncomfortable at the thought of being bombarded by people. If I give them enough information upfront, then they’re going to trust me and turn to me when the time comes. I don’t want to keep them on a leash.”

Fawaz’s site (www.roulafawaz.com) is also connected to Fidelity National’s Cyberhomes site, allowing consumers to take the online real estate experience one step further with home evaluation tools, property data, personal finance content and scores of other pertinent information for homeowners, buyers and sellers.

Ultimately, Fawaz believes that having a strong Web presence is critical given today’s market climate. “It’s an absolute must to have a website-we know that,” she says. “But it’s more important now than ever-this is a whole new, different world. This is the best value and most effective advertising tool you could ever have.”

For more information, please visit www.rdesksolutions.com.

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