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Idaho Online Service Attracts Real Estate Agents
Real estate professionals are proving to be major beneficiaries of electronic government in the state of Idaho. The Idaho Real Estate Commission reported that 44 percent of all real estate professional license renewals were processed over the Internet in June. Electronic renewals are up 33 percent since the multi-service Web site was launched in October 2002 at Access Idaho, the state’s official Web portal.
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Although the Idaho Real Estate Commission anticipated a popular response, the high numbers were unexpected. "Since real estate agents are known for tapping technology to service their clients better, we thought a Web service like this would be a perfect fit," said Donna Jones, executive director of the Idaho Real Estate Commission. "However, the rapid adoption rate so soon after launch comes as a pleasant surprise."
The Idaho Real Estate Commission wanted to offer a quick and easy way for agents to fulfill state obligations without distracting them from other responsibilities. The typical agent juggles a host of tasks, including home tours, weekend open houses, evening counter offers, mid-day closings, and competitive analyses.
"Agents are usually at the mercy of other people’s schedules, so giving them the freedom and convenience of renewing their licenses over the Internet at any time on any day was a priority," continued Jones.
Idaho’s 7,500 licensed real estate professionals are eligible to use the user-friendly online service, which takes about five minutes and does not require special software. Visa and MasterCard payments are processed at no additional charge through Access Idaho’s secure payment server.
Real estate professionals are not the only ones who have benefited from the online service. The Idaho Real Estate Commission admits to having its own reasons for implementing and promoting electronic license renewals.
"Because of looming state budget cuts and a desire to increase efficiencies, we were searching for ways to do more with less," Jones said. "Our Web-based services have allowed us to eliminate large amounts of paper processing and handling, which has translated into significant time and cost savings for the Commission as well as the licensees we serve."
In addition to license renewals, the Idaho Real Estate Commission’s secure, interactive portal allows real estate companies and professionals to view education records, perform public professional license searches, register for commission-approved courses, edit personal and company records, print licenses, and purchase duplicate licenses. More than 1,400 transactions have been processed via the portal during the last six months.
The online real estate license renewal service was built by Idaho Information Consortium, a subsidiary of e-government firm NIC that manages Access Idaho on behalf of the state.
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