Powerful, Proven Web Applications for Real Estate Brokers and Third Parties
| What is Main Street? |
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Most traditional computer applications run on the users desktop and access information stored on a server across a network. In addition to supporting the server, the company must provide extensive desktop support for maintenance, debugging, updates, bug fixes, etc. That traditional "client/server" model is expensive to build, maintain and support, and is easily broken by new software installs, bugs or updates. Main Street eliminates those headaches. Main Street is built on a modern three-tier architecture. This means that as improvements or new applications are added to Main Street, your users have access to the latest programs (assuming they have password access) the next time they login. Traditional client/server tools require that the new programs be loaded on each computer including the server. Support issues, bug fixes and new applications can be deployed much faster with Main Street™ than client/server solutions. Main Street™ supports a wide variety of web browsers, from those used with hand held PDA's (such as the Palm OS) to laptops and fast desktop machines. Main Street's applications scale from very basic information to powerful media presentations including maps, audio, still and panoramic imaging and dynamic publishing (Dynamic publishing is the ability to create high quality printable materials on the fly (real time) from your information. Examples include: color postcards, CMA and sell sheets. The files are delivered using industry standard PDF's portable document format). Your users can access Main Street™ from their desktops, wireless laptops and client's offices or homes all via a standard web browser. Main Street's software architecture uses the same foundation as the largest web applications including E-Trade (etrade.com), Travelocity (travelocity.com), American Airlines (aa.com), Federal Express (fedex.com) and others. This is vital to reliable, secure and scalable web applications. Virtual Properties was one of the first to deploy this type of enterprise architecture in production more than three years ago. Main Street includes a suite of web applications described below. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Agent/Broker Management |
| The application stores and manages information regarding your agents/brokers. Main Street allows customer to add and update agent information including, without limitation: name, address, city, state, zip, real estate license number, E-mail, ftp, phone numbers, fax numbers, web site address, license information, image (personal photo) link, and description (resume). The application will allow your firm and the public (if you so desire) to search for agents by name and office. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Forms |
| Main Street stores, manages and populates real estate contracts and forms. These forms are presented as industry standard PDF (Portable Document Format files). This means that you can easily exchange forms with consumers and third parties (other systems require proprietary viewers for their forms - which is a big hassle for agents, consumers and third parties). It also means that you can create forms from any software package and save them to Main Street. Main Street also stores signature information in preparation for the adoption of digital signature technology. Main Street puts you in control of your documents. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Listing Management |
| The application allows users to store, update and manage listing information added by its agents or support personnel. You may add and update listing information including: status, listing date, expiration date, mls number (number can be automatically generated), parcel (tax key or PIN) number, location information, property type, descriptive information, directions to the listing, area, school districts, latitude/longitude, owner name, property features and a web write-up area. In addition, each listing has at least six (6) text areas for write-ups, for example: open house, newspaper in column ad, newspaper open house ad, home magazine, weekly newspaper, etc. Each text area can also be given a maximum character length to coincide with letter, word or space limits imposed by the various publishers. The write ups included in the text areas are automatically transferred to the advertising management application. The application supports over five hundred fields per listing. Listing information can be printed via HTML or PDF based detail pages. Main Street's unique PDF capability allows users to print high quality, multiple page documents on the fly from any web browser. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Open House Management |
| Users can flag (identify) a listing as having an open house which can be linked to flow through to your public web site, if desired. Directions, open house time, and agent also are displayed dynamically on the public web site. Open house flags are automatically removed at midnight Sunday. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Contact Management/Call Center (CRM)/Home Finder |
| Contact Management Main Street features an integrated internet based contact manager. Contacts can be created and imported for agents, company and relo purposes. Contacts auto-fill from your public web site and may be assigned to agents or administrators for support and followup. Main Street also supports campaigns, plans and daily to do lists. Plans and campaigns can include email, postcards, brochures and cma's (all documents are PDF based for high quality printing and use with email). Your users can also create pre-defined searches that automatically email new listing information to prospects. Your users can access their contact information from any internet device - anywhere. Finally, Main Street is built from the ground up for network users, so your agents and administrators can work together in real time on contacts or activities supporting your clients. You do not have to install ANY software to use Main Street. Call Desk (Updesk) The Call Desk allows users to enter, manage and create schedules and reports relating to showings of its listings. Users have the ability to schedule showings for listings that designate, among other things, the time of the showing, the agent that will be showing the listing, his/her phone number, the agent's company, an acknowledgment that the seller has been contacted and the time has been verified, and a comment field that may contain any specific seller instructions and/or the comments relating to the listing from the showing agent and potential buyers. The Call Desk is searchable by MLS number, address of the property, listing agent's name and other criteria mutually acceptable to VP and Customer. The Call Desk can also capture customer feedback and add followup processes to each contact. The Call Desk functionality also includes a contact manager, which is accessible by private and public users. Home Finder Public users can create a profile that searches the active listing database daily (the listing database can include your entire mls and fsbo data), with the results automatically e-mailed to them. This contact information is then forwarded to your administrators for followup and assignment to an agent/other admin. Main Street's real time integration with the public web site, advertising, closing/transaction management and the ReData Data Warehouse means that you always have a real time view of your customer activity. Main Street provides the means for you to anticipate the needs of your clients and address them - before your competitors.[Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Showing Management/Call Center |
| Main Street's Showing Management/Call Center module allows your support staff/agents to quickly record all the details of a showing appointment (while the customer is on the phone), automatically send an email showing message for the listing agent, record and track email, sign or advertising based contacts. Main Street's real time software which integrates advertising management, public web site and showings/contacts allows you to quickly gauge the effectiveness of advertising spending by viewing one of the many reports availble to your users comparing advertising activity with contacts and showings. Main Street's powerful database driven security system enables you to control access to showing and contact data at the field level. Main Street users manage showing instructions, schedules, conflicts, messaging (email) to agents, buyers and sellers and generate showing reports. Main Street's real time software is ideal for busy call centers. The moment a user schedules a showing, that time is locked which prevents erroneous schedules and extra phone calls. Main Street also logs all showings and adds them to reports which are available to management, [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Advertising Management |
| Customer can order advertisement packages and/or products. For example, a package may contain six (6) newspaper advertisements and one homes magazine advertisement. The advertising management application supports "build" rules, "content" rules, and "sort" rules. The "build" rules describe the way that advertising reports are built (for example, are the listings that have ad orders for the LA Times arranged by location, listing date, address, or price). The "content" rules describe the way that the specific advertisements are built (for example, if a listing has an order placed for the Sunday News, how many characters are allowed, does the ad identify the listing as having an open house and/or does the ad give directions to the listing). The "sort" rules allow Customer to modify the build rules so that it can sort reports sent to publishers to designate in which order properties will appear in the ads. The application supports one rule per advertising product. For example, if customer has eight advertising products, then there will be eight build, content and sort rules (one build, content and sort rule per product). The application also supports extensive reporting tools, by listing, agent, office, area, advertising product type or price. Finally, Main Street's™ optional dynamic pdf publishing capability can be used with the advertising application. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Closing/Transaction Management |
| The Closing Application manages the entire real estate transaction, from the listing agreement to closing. Users access the various parts of the application based on their security level. A shared electronic document repository along with workflow and reporting tools provide the brokerage with all the necessary tools to be at the center of the real estate transaction. The Closing Application substantially reduces the number of faxes, phone calls, voice mails and other messages between buyers, sellers, brokers, the title company, lawyers, insurance companies and lenders. Finally, extensive reporting and email tools are available within the application. You can allow consumers, lawyers and other related parties to access your Main Street™ based closing/transaction management system via a PIN number for the duration of the transaction. This products is a significant strategic advantage for your firm. The Back Street™ web application provides secure closing, scheduling and business to business e-commerce links between your organization and title, lender and other third parties. The ReData® Data Warehouse provides real time data mining applications from your transaction data. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Reports/Hot Sheets/Listing Activity |
| Customer can view
its new listings, price, agent and status changes during a user-specified
period. Main Street's unified information architecture (enter
information once and use it throughout the system) provides a
powerful reporting tool for your users. For example, the Listing
Activity Report includes all contacts, web hits, showings, advertising,
offers in one place. Your agents can use this report to provide
their sellers with real time listing activity. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Media Management |
| Main Street supports
twenty (20) high resolution still images (in two sizes) and twenty
(20) high resolution panoramic images (in three sizes and Java/Quicktime
Formats), audio, maps, floorplans, documents, video clips and
elevations per property. The media can be located anywhere on
the internet - unlike many systems which require proprietery
formats. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Real Time Public Web Site |
| Main Street's powerful
real time database supports live updates to your public web site.
Unlike many real estate web sites that are only updated daily
or weekly, your Main Street powered site is always up to date.
Main Street™ supports live links to new listings, open house
links (listings can be set to an open house via the ad system
(by creating an open house ad) or directly by an agent or administrator).
Main Street automatically changes the listing display to show
the address, directions, time and open house agent. Open houses
are automatically removed at a preset time (typically late Sunday
night). Main Street also supports agent/brokerage pages, real
time links to office or agent or brokerage listings (these can
be used for off-site buttons, for example). Users can also create
special links, such as luxury/waterfront properties, properties
by map location. These links can be used within your site, or
externally for advertisements or related sites.d [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Listing Presentations/CMA |
| Customer can generate
CMAs with standard cover letters and three (3) up comparable
format. The CMA is generated based on comparables drawn from
a database of current listings and historical sales. The CMA
will incorporate extensive search criteria so that agents may
customize their searches to achieve the desired pool of comparable
properties and includes charts, graphs and local market information.
The output is in PDF (Portable Document Format) format for high
quality printing and easy use with email. Virtual Properties
also generates laptop and video based listing presentations that
provide your firm with a consistent, professional message to
agents and consumers. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Brochures |
| You can generate
high quality PDF based brochures in real time. Main Street supports
wide variety of brochure templates. The brochure content is stroed
as XML. Your administrators can create and manage brochures in
real time with a simple internet browser. Your agents can create
high quality PDF brochures in seconds at home, in the office,
at a clients home or on vacation. This capability provides your
company with a consistent look and feel to consumers. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Tours |
| Your users can
create tours. This means that agents can create a bundle of properties
for an out of town buyer, add comments to those properties and
email a PIN number to the client to access the property information
via the internet. You can also create groups of properties to
display on your web site such as new construction, condominiums,
golf course developments and so on. In addition, you can create
traditional property tours for each office using this feature.
Finally, your users set an expiration date for each tour, which
keeps your web site current. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Dynamic Mailing Tools |
| Customer can generate
mailing lists based on proximity of tax parcel number of properties
to any recently sold or listed property. The application allows
the Customer to identify nearby properties and print out 25,
50, 100, 200 or more digitally formatted (PDF) cards with color
property and agent photos, company logos, mailing addresses and
postage affixed for prospecting owners of properties near a recent
"Sold." Customer may search for the subject property
or neighboring properties by owners' names, address or tax parcel
number. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Sophisticated Security System |
| Main Street supports
extensive security levels, including agent, clusters of agents,
offices, administrative and system. The clearance level provided
by Customer to its various personnel will determine what those
users are allowed to view, input and/or modify. Note that the
security system is completely database driven which is
far more secure than typical web security schemes that are based
on the operating system and/or web server. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Transaction Management |
| Take control of
your transaction information. Manage your transactions by providing
secure online access to transaction documents and data
to title companies, banks, law firms, inspectors, appraisers,
consumers and other third parties. Enhance customer relationships
by providing buyer and seller read only access. Main Street manages
documents, offers and transaction data with a variety of security
levels that you configure. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Wireless Access |
| Main Street supports
real time access from Palm
VII/VIIx compatible devices. This means that your users can
access listing, agent , open house and contact information in
real time. Unlike other systems, Main Street does not require
a seperate download to support Palm devices. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| XML Compatible |
| Main Street stores
all documents in XML.
Main Street may also interface with third party systems in xml. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |
| FAQ 1. Can you load information into our MLS System, or download information from an MLS system? There are no technical limitations to one or two way integration with legacy MLS systems - only political issues. Main Street supports scheduled data load routines and data publishing routines. Private listings are also supported. In fact, Main Street users can run data export transactions so that listings are available on their own systems for X days, then are published to other systems, such as MLS's after five, 10 or N days. Glossary of Terms: 1. Web Application: Software programs that can be run through a web browser such as Netscape Communicator, Internet Explorer, AOL 4, Opera or icab. There are many advantages to web applications vs. conventional software programs: users can access the programs from any internet connection (office, home, wireless), support is faster and better, you avoid software installation issues associated with conventional software programs, and users can easily interact with a variety of data sources via web applications. 2. more to come. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |
| Hardware & Software Requirements |
| 1. Hardware: PC: Windows/Linux/Unix: Intel compatible 386 or greater running a web browser, Windows 95/98/NT/2000, 32 or 64 bit Linux/Unix, Macintosh: 68K or PowerPC, MacOS 7.1+. The more RAM the better: Windows 95: 64MB, Windows 98: 96MB, Windows NT: 128MB, MacOS 64MB. 2. Software: Netscape 3.0x or greater (4.5+ recommended), Internet Explorer 4.0x or greater, AOL 4, Opera 3.6 or icab. Adobe Acrobat Reader and Quicktime 4 are recommended. [Click here to return to the menu on the top of this page.] Request More Information or call 608 271 9601 with questions. |