Hands-On House Hunting : Computer Replacing ‘the Book’ as Tool to Find Right Home

Ain’t technology grand? Never grander than in the new, computerized MLS (multiple list ing service) systems that are making their way into real estate offices across the country.

Looking for a house? Got your list of requirements? Price range, area, number of bedrooms? Maybe you want to be in a specific school’s boundaries. Or you insist on hardwood floors.

Just sit down in front of your real estate agent’s computer screen and you’re just a few keystrokes away from seeing every property on the market that meets your needs. A complete listing, even a color photo, a map, the tax records.

Ain’t technology grand?

Maybe you have your heart set on a Monterey Colonial? Or something high-tech? Easy. Hit a few keys. And you’d like a covered patio, a breakfast room, a detached garage, a city view? Voila! The matches appear.

MLS is the centralized listing service run by local and regional realty boards to notify agents of all properties for sale (except those offered by private parties). The computerization of real estate information began around 1980, gathering momentum as data bases expanded, modems got faster and photo capabilities were incorporated.

The MLS for the Westside (or CLAW, for Combined Los Angeles-Westside, which includes the realty boards of Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, Culver City and the Southwest area) uses the Boris Systems computer program.

Boris has almost 300 ways to categorize a listing: 26 architectural styles, eight flooring types, 13 kinds of fireplaces, 17 possible parking situations, etc.

Don’t like old houses? Tell Boris to show you only homes built after 1980. Or looking for a small condo complex? Instruct Boris to show you complexes with less than 10 units. Or, if you’d rather have a high-rise condo, that’s fine with Boris. It’s got a list of them too.

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If you’ve got an unusual request, something beyond the basic 300 categories, shady landscaping, for example, type in the key words and Boris will search the remarks section of every listing. If there’s any house on the market with lots of shade trees (that the agent has bothered to note, of course), you’ll know in seconds.

The old way--and it took more than seconds--was to consult “the book.” The MLS for each area has always published a thick book listing all the properties on the market. Most MLS’s still publish their books--usually every two weeks (although some parts of Orange County have dropped the book and are solely on computer)--with small, fuzzy black-and-white pictures, 12 to a page. For example, the Westside of Los Angeles is in one book, 18,000-20,000 listings arranged into 30 areas and then broken down by price.

Using the book, the only way to find all the homes with hardwood floors, a fireplace in the master bedroom or a three-car garage is to scan the fine print page after page. And then keep track of them with little bits of paper wedged in the right pages. Doesn’t it sound archaic?

Some agents are clinging to the book, however, refusing to learn on the computer. But Ron Lepp, of Beaumont/Lepp Realty in Sherman Oaks and Beverly Hills, thinks “the book is a thing of the past.”

Most agents do keep the books in their cars for quick reference out in the field. But even quicker, the computer data can be downloaded to a palm-top, the newest rage among computer-savvy agents. Drive by a new “For Sale” sign, punch up the address and the latest info appears on the tiny screen.

Agents can also access the systems on their home computers. This greater accessibility at home and at every office desk (rather than one terminal for an entire office) is “the most dramatic change in the Greater South Bay MLS,” according to Vince DeLuca of Re/Max Realty in Redondo Beach.

“By the time the book comes out, it’s already outdated,” said Dennis Briley, general manager of CLAW’s Boris system. Miss the deadline by a day and information an agent is using could be almost a month old.

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The computer is updated 24 hours a day, every day, with three times the information that’s given in the book. New listings, price reductions areavailable almost instantly.

“I got a new listing at 4 one afternoon, it was in the computer by 5 and I had an offer by 6,” said Barbara Gardner, a broker with Coldwell Banker in Beverly Hills.

And there’s more:

Maybe you’re interested in buying a condo in Century Hill in Century City. You’ve seen a unit you like but don’t know what to offer. An agent can hit a few keys and a list of every condo in Century Hill that’s been offered for sale in the past six months appears on the screen: 28 units for sale, sold or in escrow.

Scanning the screen you see how many bedrooms, baths, the asking price, the selling price. Agents could always do this comparative market analysis by hand but this is on the screen instantly.

And more:

Say you want to make an offer on a house with an asking price of $325,000. It’s a 40-year-old house. Maybe the owners have paid off the mortgage and would be willing to take a low offer. Maybe not. In today’s market, who knows? Hit a few keys and the financial status fills the screen. You’ll see what’s owed and to whom. It may show you that the owners refinanced two years ago and owe $300,000 on the property. No way they’ll take $250,000.

At first, it might seem unfair for buyers to know so much about sellers’ finances. The information was always available (“You had to order it,” said Gardner) but not nearly so accessible.

“This tells you where the owner is coming from,” Gardner said. It eliminates a lot of time-wasting, low-ball offers and therefore helps the seller as well as the buyer.

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Most agents are using the computerized MLS programs as a preparation tool, rather than sitting every client down in front of the screens. Before meeting prospective sellers, they call up comparable listings in the neighborhood, print up the listings (photos and all) in a booklet. Working with a prospective buyer, they punch in the client’s specifications and come up with a booklet of hot prospects.

While Gardner insists that the computer is no substitute for an agent who is familiar with area properties, she admits that “it makes agents look more efficient, much more articulate.”

Ron Lepp had one day to work with a buyer here from Sydney, Australia, who wanted to see small residential income property. Lepp punched the parameters into the computer: Beverly Hills, less than six units and the price range. “Sometimes you get three or four matches, sometimes you get 20.”

When he met the client for breakfast, Lepp presented a slick booklet of every available property. The client eliminated some by photo and they spent the day inspecting the serious possibilities. No wasted effort for broker or buyer. “It made us look really organized.”

Here’s a sampling of what a few keystrokes can do on these new computer systems:

--See a listing of all 579 condos currently for sale in Beverly Hills. A few more strokes and you can arrange them by street, rearrange them by price, then by number of bedrooms.

--Check the latest mortgage rates, which are updated daily by lenders.

--Figure out probable closing costs.

--See a list of all foreclosed properties. The new Federal Information Network software offers information that previously was available only by going from agency to agency for lists of their foreclosed properties.

--Check the tax records for square footage and lot size, information typically left out of listings.

--See the ownership history of a property, not just the current owner. It may reveal that the property has sold and resold five times in 10 years--or offered for sale and then withdrawn several times.

How soon this dazzling technology comes to your neighborhood depends on your local multiple listing service. Some are on the bandwagon, some are watching from the sidelines.

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There are four major software vendors in the United States. Boris and PRC Realty System have pretty much carved up the Southland. There are also smaller companies that produce auxiliary software such as maps that show nearby earthquake fault lines and flood zones.

The San Fernando Valley Assn. of Realtors has had its computerized system up and running for some time but they won’t have photos until February. When they do, brokers will be permitted to include up to 10 photos per property, allowing potential buyers to “walk through” a house or condo. (CLAW uses only one photo per property.)

The Greater South Bay MLS is in the process of upgrading the transmission speed and clarity of photos. Most real estate offices have or will have color monitors, but use black-and-white printers.

Multi-Regional MLS, whose area covers much of north and northeast Los Angeles, hasn’t made a decision yet. “We’re still talking to board members to find out what they want,” said Gary Stein, executive director.

The Thomas Guide (and other map-book systems) are being incorporated into many computer systems. A map page appears on the screen; the property you’re interested in is noted. The program can then point out where nearby parks, schools, churches or synagogues, etc., are located.

Another new software program:

Say you’d like to live in a very specific area. Not just Mar Vista but that hill section of Mar Vista just east of Santa Monica Airport. With a little Etch-A-Sketch technique you will be able to outline that area on the screen map and all the properties for sale in that area will appear on a list on the screen. Then you can highlight the hot prospects, look at the photos, read all the information.

Gee, how did people ever sell houses before computers?