Real Estate through the years

By Richie Vraux

The face of Real Estate has certainly evolved over the years. The Real Estate Industry really started in the 19th century in Chicago, 1908 to be exact. It was called the National Association of Realtors with 120 founding members. Today, there are over 5,600 realtors just in the state of Maine and growing every day.

Years back they would publish all the listings in a Real Estate Book. Here all the “For Sale” properties were listed in a weekly or monthly publication that was put out by the local Realtors. Most Real Estate Agents listed their new home listings in the local newspapers and local publications where those potential buyers could ask their Real Estate agent to see certain homes for sale.

Just think, all your communication was done over the phone and then, of course, in person. You had to get in your vehicle, drive to meet your sellers, go over all the forms that were available to you at the time and then obtain signatures. Then pay the publication company to enter the listing in the local listings book and repeat several times until the property was sold.

Then Faxs were invented, Yippee! Now you could send your documentation by phone into a Fax Machine. That was a major breakthough at the time. If you were rich enough at the time, you would own a Fax Machine. If not, you would have to drive to your local office and send it from there, but it was not interactive. You always had to follow-up to make sure it was received by the recipient.

So, as the years went by the internet was discovered! Wow! Now this is progress! But it was only in DOS mode, so it still was a one-way delivery system, and finally Windows and the Microsoft platforms were introduced.

Now, most all Real Estate is done quickly and more efficiently. Now we can actually sign and send documents online and they are acceptable to most companies. There are however times that still require a wet signature, which mostly are: deeds, notary public, wills, trusts, adoptions, divorce proceedings, court orders and evictions and insurance benefits.

Wow, life has certainly progressed in the Real Estate Industry. It is certainly a benefit to me because I personally got into the real estate world later when everything was at my fingertips.

I got into this business because I love real estate. I do what I love and love what I do. It can certainly be an abundant amount of work, but to me, it is very rewarding.

First-time buyers are what I like best. They are new to the home-buying process and need to be guided every step of the way. From the initial house hunting to negotiations, inspections, title, to closing.

If I can offer advice with your home, be it down-sizing, expanding because you need more space due to a new baby or mom or dad moving in with you, or relocating, I can help you. <

Richie Vraux is a Broker with Better Homes and Gardens- The Masiello Group located at 776 Tandberg Trail in Windham. He can be reached at: richardjvraux@gmail.com or by calling 207-317-1299.