Real-estate business communications tap space-age technology

Space-age techniques are being used for the first time to educate entrants into the real-estate business. Example: A satellite-beamed communication system has been tested by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to inform and instruct its members throughout the country on the most effective wasy to buy, sell, and finance real estate.

"We are very pleased with this educational experiment," says an NAR spokeswoman. "We are now planning moe such sessions, along with other new educational concepts," she adds.

The two-hour seminar session was conducted in New Jersey and was beamed via satellite to large groups assembled at 101 Holiday Inns in 37 states.

The test was made possible because of an innovative communication system designed by the motel chain and called Hi-Net Communications Network. It provided the technical means for the real-estate group to instruct a large chunk of its membership in one intesive seminar session.

That's a real accomplishment for NAR, an association of some 730,000 members from coast to coast. Now, instead of reaching a couple hundred members with a single seminar, it can reach many thousands in all states.

"We're excited about this innovative and timely program," asserts John R. Wood, president of NAR. "It marks the first time NAR has been able to utilize a communications system that can reach large numbers of members simultaneously nationwide.

"This type of system has far-reaching implications for future uses. We are doing things no one else in the shelter industry has attempted."

Other educational concepts being used or planned by real-estate organizations include use of cable TV systems and video tape cassettes.

The new educational technques are evolving at a time when there is an unprecedented need and demand for knowledge. If property is to be effectively bought and sold in the current market, new and creative forms of financing and ownership must be learned and understood, thus benefiting the consumer as well.

The increasing importance of effective real-estate education in the current market is also underscored by the formation of a new national organization, the Real Estate Educators Association.

The group is composed of a wide variety of real-estate educators, from university professors to education directors in state departments of real estate. The purpose of the group is to research, develop, and stimulate motivation for more effective programs of real-estate education, keyed to current needs and demands.

The new association held its first full-scale conference in mid-June in Chicago.

"Coping with change and uncertainty in real-estate education" was the theme for the conference and many top names in the field were on the agenda.

The formation and rapid initial growth of such a group is another indicator of the unprecedented importance being focused on real-estate education. Real-estate transactions are far more complex today than they were just a few years ago.

Being informed -- in other words, education -- is essential to the participants on both sides of the table.