LRB Press Library

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (MAY 28, 2008) – Leonard Ryden Burr Real Estate has become the first major real estate firm in the Winston-Salem area to offer information on home listings via text messaging.  Leonard Ryden Burr provides text messaging information on smaller signs beside the "For Sale" signs of properties that are part of the program.

"Text messaging is a wave of the future for real estate, and Leonard Ryden Burr wanted to lead the way among local real estate firms," Greg White, a partner at Leonard Ryden Burr Real Estate said.  "With the simple use of cell phone texting, home buyers get more information about properties on their own terms than ever before."

"It doesn't take any kind of special cell phone for text messaging.  Most cell phones produced in the past few years have text messaging capability," he said.  "Text messaging originally was invented for people who don't have the fancier emailing systems on their cell phones.  It's really quick and easy."

The trend is clear:  the use of text messaging is on the rise.  Verizon Wireless reported that its subscribers sent and received about 10 billion text messages in the one month period of June 2007.  Estimates show that nearly 70 percent of all mobile phone subscribers in the United States actively use text messaging.  Text messaging isn't just for the younger crowd.  More than 30 percent of cell phone owners ages 28-39 regularly use text messaging as a means of communicating, and nearly 15 percent of cell phone owners ages 50-58 use text messaging.

White said that people inquiring about a home can send a quick text message such as "LRB 25 to 82672" and within seconds will receive basic property information including the price, address, square footage, number of baths and bedrooms and contact information for the listing agent.  In addition, the text reply includes a Web link that buyers can click on for a complete property description and multiple photos of the property.

"Our new text messaging program puts more control in the hands of buyers as to when and where they receive information because it's readily available 24/7," White said.  "For home sellers, Leonard Ryden Burr's text messaging system generates increased exposure of their properties."