Possibilities - CAR-Net - TBBS Brings a Realtor's Association Closer

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CAR-NET - TBBS BRINGS A REALTOR'S ASSOCIATION CLOSER
----------------------------------------------------

*** From May 1991 Possibilities Newsletter ***
*** Copyright 1991 by eSoft, Inc.  All Rights Reserved ***

CAR-Net -- TBBS Brings a Realtor's Association Closer To Its Members
by Alan Bechtold

The California Association of Realtors is an active trade association that 
provides its membership with standard forms, publications, current financial 
market news and legislative alerts, in addition to a variety of other 
products and services specifically tailored to the needs of California 
Realtors.

One of those "additional services" is CARNET, the Computer Assisted Real 
Estate Network.  CARNET is a TBBS system the association has been running 
for  over two years now.  And it's the one membership service that actually 
makes it easier for the association to provide many of the other services it 
offers.

Modem-equipped association members can dial up CARNET to read the latest 
association press releases, check on dates and locations for upcoming 
continuing education classes, locate properties recently acquired by the 
Resolution Trust Corporation  and much more.

California Association of Realtors microcomputer manager James Moon said 
TBBS was a natural choice when the organization was setting up the system.  
"We decided a BBS was needed to enhance communication," he said.  "We wanted 
to seek out new methods to inform our members of important issues and 
provide them with an alternative way to access our services."

Moon said the association chose TBBS because of its configurability and the 
ease with which a multi-line TBBS information system could be installed.   
"At the time, we were up against some pretty stringent deadlines to get a 
system online," Moon said.  "We had to get something up and going quickly.  
TBBS appeared to be the easiest to set up and get online.

"Other state associations were running bulletin boards at the time we were 
setting ours up," Moon said.  "In fact, the Florida Association of Realtors 
had TBBS online when we were looking at software for our own system.  They 
were in many ways responsible for helping us make the decision to go with 
TBBS as well."

Set-up went quickly.  Moon and his associates had the system online in short 
order.  The only problem, Moon soon found, would be getting the membership 
to recognize the incredible information resource they now had available at 
their beck and call.

In many ways, CARNET has been designed to act like an extended interactive 
newsletter.  The difference, of course, is that the members must come to IT 
-- it doesn't go out to them.  Also, not every real California Association 
of Realtors member uses computers in his or her day-to-day business.  Those 
members who do use computers aren't necessarily comfortable with or 
knowledgeable of modem telecommunications.

"The first year was sort of hot and cold because the membership for the most 
part didn't know about it," Moon said.  "Now that we've added the BoardNet 
area, for the use of local Boards of Realtors in the state, more members are 
finding CAR-Net to be of use and they're also using the basic system as a 
result."

The BoardNet section of CARNET is essentially a bulletin board within a 
bulletin board.  TDBS, the xBase (dBASE) language compatible TBBS option 
module, was put to excellent use on the BoardNet section, with an 
application that allows the various local Boards to transmit membership 
information to and from the state association.

Because the state association maintains the master membership file for the 
entire state, this function made BoardNet indispensable to local Boards of 
Realtors throughout the state.  It helps speed up and simplify data 
collection for the state association, too.

A host of other TDBS applications are hard at work on the rest of the CARNET 
system as well.  One of these offers access to the Department of Real 
Estate's database of everyone in the state of California who has a license 
to sell real estate.  The association's members are all Realtors, but this 
massive database listing also includes those licensed real estate agents who 
are not members of the association.  Its more than 360,000 records, updated 
monthly, are always online and available to CARNET callers.

Another TDBS application lets organization members look up all the current 
members of the association's Board of Directors.  Since there are about 1500 
directors on the association's Board of Directors, this list understandably 
gets a lot of use by the membership.

Members can also order almost any product the association has to offer via 
one of CAR-Net's newest online TDBS applications.  Online orders are 
generally processed -- and the products pulled from the warehouse and 
shipped -- the same day the orders are received.

The association even uses a TDBS application to update and maintain an 
"in-house" staff calendar.  This menu option, available only to the roughly 
130 people who work in the association's building, allows the users to 
schedule calendar events and to check on upcoming happenings that relate to 
them.

Other system options reveal literally thousands of words of useful 
information of interest to anyone involved with real estate.

One option, for example, is an extension to the association's Legal Hotline.  
Free legal advice is one of the many services the California Association of 
Realtors offers its members on an ongoing basis.  Members can call the Legal 
Hotline for richly detailed factual answers to their legal questions from 
one of the 30 attorneys the association retains for its membership.  On 
CARNET, callers can get the full transcript of the most commonly-asked 
questions on the Legal Hotline, conveniently segmented into a broad variety 
of categories.

It would seem, with such a rich array of useful current information, 
downloadable programs of use to any Realtor and message bases where Realtors 
can exchange information with one another, that all the system's lines would 
be busy every hour of the day.  But, as Moon pointed out, information alone 
isn't enough.  You also have to tell potential callers that you exist and 
help them learn how to get the most from the information and services that 
you offer.

"I travel to Boards of Realtors throughout the state and put on anywhere 
from 30-minute to 2-hour presentations with hands-on demonstrations, showing 
them how they can sign onto the system and the benefits they'll find when 
they do," Moon said.  "The effort has been very successful.  I already have 
budget approval to go out and do 20 or more of these presentations next 
year."

Response has been excellent.  CARNET now has an active userlog of more than 
5000 users with more logging on all the time.

Moon feels it's all very worthwhile and that CARNET is a service that would 
be impossible to duplicate with any other bulletin board software package.  
He urges other regional, state and local Boards of Realtors to investigate 
the possibility of setting up their own BBSes, too.

"The main thing is to remember it takes time," said Moon.  Sitting down and 
maintaining the system and marketing/promoting it are time-intensive tasks, 
but they are necessary to make a system like CARNET work to its full 
potential.  Setting up the hardware and software and phone lines is actually 
the easy part."

Moon says the effort is paying off, and CARNET is proof such a system can 
not just meet but can surpass expectations. The California Association of 
Realtors' CARNET system provides an excellent blueprint for success and 
James Moon has generously offered his help to any state Association of 
Realtors interested in setting up a similar system.  He'll be happy to talk 
to any state Association of Realtors about TBBS and CARNET.  He can be 
reached by calling 213-739-8345.

- END -
PS0591-3
Rev. 5/91

Copyright (C) 1994 eSoft, Inc., All Rights Reserved.  Permission granted
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