eLapTopTour

June 2007
Real estate inventors
Why Didn't I Think of That?

Wi-Fi Curb Appeal

Inventor: John Doran, GRI, ABR®, John Doran & Associates; Nashua, N.H.

Problem: How can you grab buyers attention while they're curbside at a listing? More home buyers are driving around the neighborhood with PDAs or laptops to get immediate information on the properties they like. Sure, they can access data from REALTOR.com or other real estate listing Web sites. But Doran wanted to add to the curb appeal of a listing by offering the ability for potential buyers to view floor plans, video tours, and other details right from when they are alongside a home.

Invention: eLapTopTour is a wireless service that allows tech-savvy buyers who drive up to a home to tune into customized online information about a property. Visit www.effectionet.com for details.

The story: Doran, who has been in the real estate business for 26 years, knew he'd need some technology expertise to get his complex idea off the ground. He sought help from a former colleague, Eric Snider, who works in the tech industry.

Together, they came up with an idea for a wireless service that would reside on the property and provide a one-way broadcast to buyers within 300 feet of the home. Buyers would just need to set their wireless connection to "eRealWGW1000" and they'd be automatically directed to the property page. A patent for the wireless gateway is pending.

What's next? Now that they've developed the technology, Doran and Snider are field testing the service through their business, effectioNet, and gathering feedback from real estate professionals. "What they say they like or dislike about it is extremely valuable in creating and tweaking it," Doran says.

Doran, who does real estate coaching and consulting, has caught the inventor bug and already is brainstorming other novel ideas for the real estate industry.

"In real estate, we've moved from a broker-centric to an agent-centric to a consumer-centric environment," Doran says. "There's a real opportunity to capitalize on that. We've become so high-tech that we've forgotten that we also need to balance it with high touch. I hope to use the value of technology on a consumer direct level, but also with high touch."

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