Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Realtor offers two Talking Houses

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Tuesday, February 15, 2000

Realtor offers two Talking Houses
Also: New trash cans may help city keep downtown cleaner
By Andrea Jares
Caller-Times

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Gil Lundquist of Cobb-Lundquist Realtors uses Talking House technology to transmit information to interested motorists via AM radio about houses for sale.

Some real estate agents like to talk about their houses. Others let their houses do the talking.
   Gil Lundquist of Cobb-Lundquist Realtors is one Corpus Christi agent who is using not just signs, but his own voice to sell houses. A transmitter inside the house sends his voice and information about the house to passing motorists via short-range AM radio signals.
   A Talking House is indicated by a yard sign that gives an AM radio station number to tune in and hear more about the house. A transmitter then broadcasts a prerecorded message from the real estate agent that drivers passing by the house can hear when they tune to the radio station.
   Lundquist has the transmitters on two houses for sale: 3542 Picadilly Lane and 5042 Greenbriar Drive.
   In the late 1980s, Wisconsin-based agent Scott Matthew and his father, Richard, rigged a tape recorder and a yard sign to create the first 40 Talking Houses. In 1994, they started marketing a radio-based version of their invention. Today, there are Talking Houses in some 100,000 homes across America.
   Matthew said Talking Houses allow real estate agents to broadcast their own 24-hour commercial and establish a rapport with customers. Clients like the fact that they don't have to get out of the car to find out more about the house in which they are interested, he said.
   Plus, the Talking Houses give real estate agents the advantage of adding emphasis and anecdotes, Matthew said. All of this sets them apart from other real estate agents who are trying to sell the same house, he said.
   Homebuyers say they become aware of the homes that are for sale just by driving around, according to a 1993 Newspaper Association of America survey.
   The transmitters cost about $200 each and broadcast about 300 feet.
   Maybe real estate agents would rather leave the talking to James Bond or Fred Flintstone. That can also be arranged. Last year, the company introduced celebrity voices that 500 agents now use, Matthew said.
   More downtown trash cans
   The Downtown Management District is making good on its promise to make the downtown area a cleaner place to visit. The addition of 37 trash cans that were installed over the weekend is most likely a welcome sight for downtown district payers.
   It will also make Mike Wigdahl's job a little less stressful.
   Wigdahl is the lone custodian who cleans up the 57 blocks that make up the downtown area. He clears the area, disposing the evidence of the weekend's revelry in time for the daily grind to begin Monday morning.
   "We want to clean up the downtown area," said Norma Urban, president of the Downtown Management District. "We're hoping some of his load will be relieved."
   Until last weekend, the downtown area had only 12 trash cans. If the trash cans are popular with downtown visitors, the district has funding set aside to buy and install 50 more.



Business reporter Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by email at jaresa@caller.com, On Real Estate is published every other Tuesday in the business section.

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND

[an error occurred while processing this directive]