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Real estate agents still approach home sellers pretty much the way they did 75 years ago.
They run ads in the paper and meet with sellers and potential buyers. The adventurous also may turn up on cable-access TV shows.
That's all changing, thanks to laptop computers and custom software from companies such as Envision Real Estate Software Inc. in Farmington Hills.
Envision's product, real estate presentation software also called Envision, produces multimedia reports on an agent's available properties. It provides everything from on-screen analysis of nearby comparable real estate sales and sellers interested in setting a price, to virtual tours of properties and video testimonials from past customers.
Envision is the brainchild of Thomas Ervin, the company's president, and his son Daniel, who is executive vice president. Both are veterans of the industry.
Envision's product, introduced a year ago, has sold about 1,000 copies at $295 each, putting company revenue at about $300,000 for 1998.
"It's just great; I can't say enough good things about it," said Vince Brennan, broker-owner of Realty Professionals L.P. in Farmington Hills.
"It's changed things dramatically for...