Like everything the Internet touches, the real estate industry continues to evolve in new exciting directions. I’ve spoken before about the extensive impact that the Internet has had on real estate, and it continues to do so, enhancing the customer experience every step of the way.

The Internet started as a place for real estate companies to post photos and descriptions of their properties for sale. Over time, online real estate evolved to include virtual tours, audio descriptions, e-mail notification of homes on the market and more. Each of these features was designed to enhance the customer experience and make the overall home search process much more efficient and enjoyable.

The latest in a long string of exciting changes in real estate is online-open house. Many real estate companies have taken the open house information that has traditionally been found only in the Sunday newspaper, and placed it on their Web site. The benefits of this new feature are numerous. For one, until the online open house program, home buyers typically only had access to open house information on Sundays. Now customers can go online whenever they like to view open house schedules. It also streamlines the home search process because a person can go online, view the property, and then determine if they want to attend the open house. This process allows potential buyers to narrow down their focus to only those homes that suit their needs.

Another benefit of having open house information online is that a potential home buyer can view detailed property information about the open homes, including photos, descriptions and in some cases, audio descriptions and driving directions. It gives people access to increased information about open house listings, making the home search process much more efficient. For the home seller, online open house information can potentially increase visitors to their home and ultimately lead to a shorter selling period. It also helps to streamline the pool of visitors and reduce unnecessary foot traffic to their home. Results already show that up to 50% of metro-area open house visitors attended an open house after discovering it online. This alone demonstrates the impact that online information has on open house traffic.

The future of online real estate is very exciting. It has come a long way in a short period of time and the forecast is for even more growth. The opportunities for advancement online are virtually endless and they all add up to one thing—an enhanced experience for the real estate customer.