The growing use of the Internet by potential homesellers and buyers is causing real estate professionals to reassess how they do business, what skills they need, and what new strategies and technologies they have to learn.

How these changes affect the homebuying process is the cornerstone of a new elective course being offered by the Real Estate Buyer's Agency Council of the National Association of Realtors . The course, called "e-Buyer," is authored by well-known industry strategist Stefan Swanepoel and is designed to help participants take the next step after they master computer and Internet basics.

"In the new e-Buyer course, we set out to explore topics that are important to buyer's agents right now," said Janet Branton, managing director of REBAC. "The e-buyer course takes a hard look at how the Internet is changing the market and how buyer's representativess can meet those new challenges."

Founded in 1988, REBAC is the awarding body for the ABR (Accredited Buyer's Representative) and ABRM (Accredited Buyer's Representative Manager) designations. The six-hour course, already approved by many state Realtor associations for continuing education credits, can be counted towards the ABR designation.

More than 40,000 Realtors are members of REBAC, the world's largest association of real estate professionals concentrating on buyer representation.

To learn more about the e-Buyer course and to find out more about the ABR and ABRM designations, contact Dawn Headtke at REBAC, 800/648-6224, rebac@ realtors.org; visit the Web site, www.rebac.net, for course listings.

Published: February 12, 2002

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