Got a New Phone?
Posted 09-15-2016 at 02:32 PM by Roy Sanborn
Got a New Phone?
Every time you buy a new phone, even if it is just the newest version or upgrade of your current model, there seems to be a very large learning curve trying to get used to it. The manufacturers always seem to change something. You can’t seem to navigate it correctly, you drop calls because you pushed the wrong button, you can’t even seem to answer a call because you can’t find the right button, and God help you if you are on a call and you get another one beeping in your ear as you try to toggle between the two calls. I guarantee you are likely to lose one or both calls trying to switch back and forth.
Should you switch from an iPhone to an Android platform or vise versa it is more akin to learning a new language. And forget about reading the manual…is there a manual? You often have to learn by someone showing you, hopefully, (like your kids) and doing it repeatedly until it is second nature. This means you will look like a technologically inept idiot for perhaps several weeks while you learn to walk again..
I only bring this up because at the end of the month the New England Real Estate Network, which is in charge of our Multiple Listing Service, is changing the company that provides the MLS search software for us. That means, in essence, that the 800 or so real estate agents in our Lakes Region Board of REALTORS® and thousands of other agents in the other boards in our network all will be getting new phones at the same time.
So, when you call your agent next month he may act a little weird or confused (even a little more than he normally does.) If he takes fifteen minutes to look up something about a listing for you or tells you he will call you back with the info you requested it is likely because he fell into a technology abyss and is trying to claw his way back to the surface. Don’t worry though, he will get out.
In a well intended, but perhaps futile, attempt to prevent us all from looking like the technologically inept idiots that we already may be, NEREN has been running both systems simultaneously for the last month so that agents can get used to the new system before the true launch date. Good idea, except like most people, real estate agents are often procrastinators and tend to put these things off until the last moment. It also doesn’t necessarily help that the new system is being launched during one of the busiest real estate times of the year. February would have been a lot nicer, but I guess it was a contractual issue.
We have had introductory meetings on the system and there are on-going training sessions and webinars if you have time to go to them. There are company meetings to try to unravel the mysteries and nuances of the system (this is referred to as the blind leading the blind.) There are cries of “I liked my old phone, it worked just fine!” There is confusion, frustration, more than a little cursing, and perhaps some heavy drinking going on.
A friend at the NEREN office tells me that the new system is wonderful, amazing, and well built. Sounds like an agent selling someone a house, right? She tells there are lots more bells and whistles to come just before launch. I hope so, because I really did like my old phone.
As of September 1, there were 987 single family homes listed in the Lakes Region of NH in the twelve towns covered by this report. The average asking price was $589,072 and the median price point was $279,900. The inventory level is down a significant 20% compared to last September and that represents about a 9.5 month supply of homes on the market.
Data compiled using the NEREN MLS system on my old phone...
Every time you buy a new phone, even if it is just the newest version or upgrade of your current model, there seems to be a very large learning curve trying to get used to it. The manufacturers always seem to change something. You can’t seem to navigate it correctly, you drop calls because you pushed the wrong button, you can’t even seem to answer a call because you can’t find the right button, and God help you if you are on a call and you get another one beeping in your ear as you try to toggle between the two calls. I guarantee you are likely to lose one or both calls trying to switch back and forth.
Should you switch from an iPhone to an Android platform or vise versa it is more akin to learning a new language. And forget about reading the manual…is there a manual? You often have to learn by someone showing you, hopefully, (like your kids) and doing it repeatedly until it is second nature. This means you will look like a technologically inept idiot for perhaps several weeks while you learn to walk again..
I only bring this up because at the end of the month the New England Real Estate Network, which is in charge of our Multiple Listing Service, is changing the company that provides the MLS search software for us. That means, in essence, that the 800 or so real estate agents in our Lakes Region Board of REALTORS® and thousands of other agents in the other boards in our network all will be getting new phones at the same time.
So, when you call your agent next month he may act a little weird or confused (even a little more than he normally does.) If he takes fifteen minutes to look up something about a listing for you or tells you he will call you back with the info you requested it is likely because he fell into a technology abyss and is trying to claw his way back to the surface. Don’t worry though, he will get out.
In a well intended, but perhaps futile, attempt to prevent us all from looking like the technologically inept idiots that we already may be, NEREN has been running both systems simultaneously for the last month so that agents can get used to the new system before the true launch date. Good idea, except like most people, real estate agents are often procrastinators and tend to put these things off until the last moment. It also doesn’t necessarily help that the new system is being launched during one of the busiest real estate times of the year. February would have been a lot nicer, but I guess it was a contractual issue.
We have had introductory meetings on the system and there are on-going training sessions and webinars if you have time to go to them. There are company meetings to try to unravel the mysteries and nuances of the system (this is referred to as the blind leading the blind.) There are cries of “I liked my old phone, it worked just fine!” There is confusion, frustration, more than a little cursing, and perhaps some heavy drinking going on.
A friend at the NEREN office tells me that the new system is wonderful, amazing, and well built. Sounds like an agent selling someone a house, right? She tells there are lots more bells and whistles to come just before launch. I hope so, because I really did like my old phone.
As of September 1, there were 987 single family homes listed in the Lakes Region of NH in the twelve towns covered by this report. The average asking price was $589,072 and the median price point was $279,900. The inventory level is down a significant 20% compared to last September and that represents about a 9.5 month supply of homes on the market.
Data compiled using the NEREN MLS system on my old phone...
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