Long Island Realtors® Go Wireless

STRATUS UNPLUGGED made its debut at this years Long Island Board of Realtors® (LIBOR) Education Conference & Expo, the annual forum that provides local real estate professionals with a preview of the latest trade related tools and techniques.

For Realtors® one obvious benefit of Stratus Unplugged the product's ability to offer users a wireless Internet connection, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Designed specifically for the real estate professional, Stratus Unplugged provides a live, wireless link directly to the Stratus Data System, a full-featured MLS data system that many Realtors® have come to rely on. Through the use of a Palm V or Palm VII organizer, Realtors® can stay connected via the Internet, to up to the minute information that will ultimately lead to increased mobility and flexibility in their work day.

Stratus Unplugged provides the Realtor with access to essential real estate information including MLS listings, e-mail, their contacts and prospect matches, public records, and market updates, including mortgage rates. The wireless connection also allows users to search for open houses and obtain updated house information such as contract information and price changes. Instantly - “live” information is transmitted wirelessly straight to the Realtor®, regardless of their whereabouts, giving them a professional advantage over others who are not quite ready to embrace all technology has to offer.

Much of the information accessible through the full-featured Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Stratus System will be available through Stratus Unplugged, but in a slightly downsized version that caters to the small screen on a hand held device. Real web pages just don’t work on a small screen so Stratus Unplugged employs Palm Computing’s open standard Web-clipping technology to wirelessly transmit and display the information. Web clipping offers users a fast, efficient way of gathering specific Internet information as it is “clipped” from the Web and delivered to your screen.On the Palm VII, hardware, software and the wireless communication service are integrated for fast activation from time of purchase. However, on the Palm V or Vx, a wireless modem attachment needs to be purchased before activation.

Joseph E. Mottola, CEO LIBOR/MLS states “ The outgrowth of a portable computerized product like Stratus Unplugged is attributed to the needs of today's homebuyers who are more informed and can benefit by having their Realtors® connected to live information such as new home listings and mortgage rate changes”. He further notes,

“ To stay competitive, today’s real estate professional needs access to a portable wireless solution so they can have greater freedom to conduct business away from their office which will produce an increased level of support to their customers.”

Stratus Unplugged will be available to local Realtors® this summer.

Servicing Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens Counties, the Long Island Board of Realtors® is a 13,000-member, non-profit trade association serving professional REALTORS®. The Multiple Listing Service of Long Island is a subsidiary of the Long Island Board of REALTORS®, and operates as a computerized network made up of more than 1,500 participating real estate offices. For more information on this and other news items, visit us on the web at www.mlslirealtor.com