VCU to host lecture teaching realtors how to increase profits through technology

By Marcia Meredith

National Association of Realtors’ President Dennis Cronk wants real estate professionals to embrace technology as a vital business tool that can help boost their bottom line.

Cronk’s lecture, "The Real Estate Industry in the New Millennium: Mastering Technological Change," will explore ways real estate professionals can seize new business opportunities through the Internet. His lecture is part of the annual Virginia Association of Realtors Distinguished Lecture series hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business. It will be held at 11 a.m. on Jan. 26 in VCU’s Student Commons Ballroom A and B, 907 Floyd Ave.

"Any real estate professional today who hasn’t made a commitment to technology, by default, has made a commitment to retire," said Cronk. "Realtors need to reinvent themselves in the new century."

Cronk, a broker-owner with a Roanoke-based real estate group, said technological advancements have opened the door for realtors to change their operations and expand their business. A 25-year residential real estate veteran, Cronk was instrumental in transforming Realtor.com into a leading online real estate site with more than 1.3 million national property listings and more than six million consumer visits each month.

"The purpose of this lecture is to give the public an opportunity to learn and interact with outstanding business executives who are successfully leading organizations in the areas of real estate, brokerage, land development, mortgage finance and analysis," said James Boykin, Ph.D., the Alfred L. Blake chair professor of real estate at VCU.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information call (804) 828-1721.