SUSAN KLINE – ‘Small niche’

For about the past two years, the needs of the technologically-savvy Realtor looking for a low-cost, computer-based method of maintaining his or her Realtor ties have been met by an association in one of the state’s more unlikely places.

Rather than being based in Boston or near the high-tech corridor of Route 128, www.realestateorg.com, the state’s first online membership local Realtor association, makes its physical home in rural Western Massachusetts. The online association is run by the Franklin-Hampshire County Association of Realtors based in the Franklin County town of Whately, a community known more for its maple sugar industry and tourism than for anything related to the dot-com world.

But those familiar with FHCAR and the communities it serves wouldn’t necessarily be surprised by the group’s technology focus, according to FHCAR Executive Vice President Susan Kline.

The Realtor association launched the realestateorg.com online membership endeavor in 1998. “Back then, we were doing strategic planning,” Kline recalled. “We were looking at how to expand on things we did well, and technology was one of the things we did very well.”

Though located in a rural area, Kline said FHCAR’s market includes towns that make up the Five College area – home to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College and Hampshire College.

“In this area, the homebuying public is used to using the latest in technology, because a lot of them are associated with the colleges,” Kline said. To meet their needs, local Realtors began using new technologies, and that trend was reflected at the association level as well.

“We were the first local association to have a Web presence in Massachusetts, which is surprising to some,” Kline said. “Even in the years before [the online membership], we were offering online training courses at Internet cafes. That wasn’t the norm in the mid-1990s.

“We decided to offer an alternative to those who wanted to be a Realtor member at the bare-bones level,” she continued. The result was realestateorg.com, where Realtors can fulfill their local association obligations for $69 per year. Local association dues vary, but that figure represents $120 in savings over the normal $189 membership dues charged to traditional FHCAR members. Dues for state and national association membership remain unchanged.

“Our online members agree to communicate electronically,” Kline said, and they do not take part in the traditional association’s networking events, professional development workshops or utilize association publications.

That basic approach to Realtor membership is not appealing to everyone, but Kline said realestateorg.com does respond to the needs of a niche market within the Realtor community.

“If people have services available to them through other means … and for their education they can go to other places, but they still want to be a Realtor and want to abide by the code of ethics, then this is for them,” Kline said. “It’s a small niche, but we think we do a good job filling it.”

Greater Potential
In addition to filling the niche, realestateorg.com also plays another important role for the Franklin-Hampshire association, boosting membership levels and dues revenue. Geographically, FHCAR covers the largest area of any local association in the state, Kline said. But the association has one of the smallest membership rosters. There are only about 200 “traditional” FHCAR members, while the online membership has attracted about 330 additional, according to association statistics.

Membership numbers in the online association have remained consistent, though they are not necessarily the same people that belong year after year. “We get a lot of people that are new to the business,” Kline said. “They want the bare-bones membership until they decide what level of participation as a Realtor they want to be at.”

Members of realestateorg.com come from 83 firms statewide, Kline said. “There’s greater potential, but we’ve had limited marketing,” she said.

About half of the online members hail from Greater Boston, with about 25 percent coming from the Cape & Islands region.

The choice of a handful of Realtors to have a virtual local association membership should not be taken as a signal that the days of the traditional local association are numbered, Kline said.

“I don’t think this is a reflection on local boards at all,” she said. “The online membership is less service-oriented, and there is less offered.” Educational opportunities, networking, advice from experts and advocacy are just a few of the traditional membership offerings not available online that most Realtors find indispensable, she said.

That same view was echoed by Edwin J. Shanahan, chief executive officer of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, the parent organization of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors, the state’s largest local Realtor association.

“Joining an online association, in the long run, is penny wise and pound foolish,” Shanahan said. “You get what you pay for. If you buy a cut-rate membership, you’ll get it.”

GBAR experimented with a business model that included a reduced-rate online membership component a few years ago, when GBAR was known as the Residential Association of Realtors.

“We had so many members who jumped at the lower price, but then decided what they got for the lower price was not worth the savings,” said Shanahan, who added that although there are some GBAR members who still retain the limited membership, it is being phased out.

“Someone called recently who wanted to talk to [GBREB counsel] Richard Sullivan about an issue, and he found out that service wasn’t available with the limited membership,” Shanahan said. “He gave his credit card number and said, ‘Can you run this through now? I need these services.’ You don’t get that level of service with a limited membership. For Realtors who want to stay at the top of the game, they need more services than what they can get online.

“[Online memberships] appeared as a trend, and we wanted to investigate it thoroughly,” he continued. “Our experiment has proven that the value of service you get with a full membership is not only what the members need, but it’s also what they want.”

Realestateorg.com will continue to exist to meet the needs of Realtors looking for a low-cost association alternative, Kline said, and plans are in the works to expand FHCAR’s Web site and develop a consumer-oriented section.