Statement #1. "Change is an inevitable part of life."

Since the 1950's, the sales agent and the single transaction commission have been the core of the real estate business. Most REALTORS® are using old-fashioned marketing, sales, and business techniques (or lack thereof), hoping they still work. But now consumers know they can obtain information from the Internet, and they want to work only with agents who can conduct business online and who can respond quickly. The standardization of marketing and fee structures has come under scrutiny. In essence, the Internet has leveled the playing field for the average consumer. More importantly, big business has learned that vast fortunes of commission dollars are crossing the closing table. The contact or gateway to the client's financial door is a seemingly bottomless pool for proper pre and post transaction marketing. Real estate sales remain one of the last great commission-based opportunities unrestrained by cross-selling techniques of the large multi-national financial institutions. The combination of big business entering the real esate business and publicly available information on the Internet will continue to push fees to lower levels. 

OASIS, is now and will continue pursuing every means possible to offer "one stop" opportunities and  allow its brokers to compete and succeed in future markets.

Statement #2. "Adapting to change will accelerate an individual’s success and insure agent survival in the increasingly demanding consumer market."

Technology and fee reductions won't replace the real estate professional, as many experts outside the industry claim. They will only eliminate under producers, unable or unwilling to put innovation to work for them. Most Internet shoppers are looking for detailed property listings - not agents or companies. However, research suggests 29 percent of all online searches result in buyers requesting face-to-face meetings with REALTORS®. The NAR 2000 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reports that 87 percent of Internet shoppers are more likely to use a real estate professional compared to 76 percent of offline buyers. Bottom line: Internet shoppers are more educated and waste less time. By taking advantage of the efficiencies associated with automated services, consumers free up time for agents to spend on more productive activities. 

OASIS will become the benchmark business platform agencies and brokers look to for providing industry professionals state-of-the-art technology.

Statement #3. "Business system innovation and standardization will become the new business model."

Despite all the industry changes expected in the next few years, the real estate business will unquestionably remain a people business. Person-to-person will still dominate as the point of sale. In the past, consumers, agents, and organizations existed in separate silos. In the future these players will interact with technology to expedite the transaction. Innovations such as secure, paperless transactions and wireless work platforms will become commonplace.  For those individuals and organizations that can adjust to this new economy, opportunities will abound. 

OASIS is now and will set the standard for a superior business culture  to succeed in the fast evolving real estate environment.

Statement #4. "If you snooze you lose."

Smaller "gazelle" type companies can implement useful technology months, even years ahead of larger organizations. This increases productivity of individual agents and back office staffing. In a climate bustling with change and opportunity, brokers and agents are increasingly turning toward technology and the Internet for business solutions. Properly applied, technology allows them to focus on developing customer relationships. The scientific principle of "Occam's Razor" states: "All things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the right one." Million dollar solutions don’t require million dollar expenditures. The fact of the matter is that most brokers are technologically fragmented and are waiting around for the organization or franchise to provide a "magic pill." Presently, individual brokers, broker/owners, or agents either won't spend the money they have or don't have money to spend. They fail to take action based on a misunderstanding of how technology can be deployed to assist them. They rely often on anecdotal horror stories propagated by poor technology planners unwilling to take responsibility for past bad experiences.

OASIS has in place and will continue to upgrade optimal "business to business" and "business to consumer" applications providing scalable, affordable, and realistic enterprise solutions.

Statement #5. "The Real Estate Office must take a leadership role in accelerating agent success through the implementation of technical innovations."

The environments, structures, and tools of future real estate offices will be radically different from those in place today. Real estate companies must attract, support, and retain quality agents to survive. The centerpiece of any real estate company's successful Internet transformation is the establishment of an Elite Core Group (ECG) of agents who are excited, willing, and able to learn how to use the Web as a platform for their business. More importantly, they will be able to consider different business models, adopting the ones that work, discarding the ones that don't. With proper system support and leadership,  they will become the foundation by which a successful company transitions to a fully integrated online business. Technology-driven companies will be more attractive to people considering careers in real estate. 

OASIS believes that agents equipped with technology, and the know-how to use it, coupled with business flexibility, will provide an unstoppable force against the "corporate" agent.

Statement #6. "Participation in affiliated OASIS business ventures is highly encouraged."

Standardization of business platforms and communications will allow individual agents to streamline sales processes and expedite transactions. Real estate agents and organizations are rapidly deploying new technologies. Cell phones, pagers, voice mail, fax machines, e-mail, laptop computers, personal web sites, and marketing programs continue to proliferate throughout the real estate industry. However, non-integrated devices compartmentalize information that eventually must be aggregated to optimize the decision-making process. The industry is hungry for cross-application technology as evidenced by the proliferation of the PDA, traditionally a platform for personal databases, now capable of wireless transmission of information. Standardized software and hardware platforms utilizing "server-browser" relationships within organizations are now reality. Consumers, employees, agents and vendors must increasingly work within a collaborative, standardized environment.

OASIS will continue to pursue a standardized and collaborative software and hardware platform combining all aspects of "the business", from mortgage origination, title insurance, real estate sales and marketing, personal property insurance, life insurance, and securities, to home security systems, home warranties, home appraisals, home inspections and post-sale home products and improvements.

Statement #7. "Commissions, the traditional means of compensation, will be replaced by data mining, cross product marketing, and life-long consumer product sales."

Having access to all aspects of affiliated business structures will insure the survival and longevity of the agent. Large companies realize clients are "costs" until properties or services are sold. Every hour spent with the unprepared client means less income to the agent and to the company. The Internet provides a significant advantage for finding true prospects to whom to deliver necessary services for closing the business. Shared hardware, software, and databases will be the business of the future. This, coupled with numerous consumer products, will fuel the most dramatic change the real estate industry has ever experienced. Agent commissions resulting from home sales will be secondary to income streams from other financial consumer products. Research into European markets, as well as pending legislation in the U.S., validates the inexorable shift to technology. Banks will be able to own Real Estate Companies. This coming change is going to be more than just learning to use e- mail...it's learning to do business within an entirely different paradigm. 

OASIS will participate in the creation of this paradigm by educating brokers on the future value of "Clients For Life" through the slaves of other consumer products and services.

Statement #8. "Live long and prosper."

Innovations in hardware and software will allow adaptive agents to become respected, well-compensated professionals and will eliminate weak competitors. Surviving in the on-line business doesn't end with getting a web page or using e-mail…. that’s only the beginning. E-mail is fast becoming the primary communications tool linking agents to consumers and real estate trading partners. Unifying all of an agent's communication tools (email, phone, CRM, PDA, fax, etc.) through a virtual workplace, and mapping specific communication tasks with business processes, provides an electronic communication assistant to coordinate future communication pathways. More importantly, linking all of these services to the agent's database creates life-long customers by providing a single system to manage customer relationships. A true Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system builds permanent asset value into the agent's practice. The end result is a successful professional practice that emphasizes education, training, and mentoring. 

The OASIS owners and founders have made the necessary investments in real estate, hardware, software, licensing, staffing and innovation, to allow agents with vision and foresight to survive and prosper.

"No One Is Even Close." 

Mark Thomas EIbner, COO, Co-founder OASIS

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