Markler in the Press

Obviously when you get some press it is very exciting! I have included below a copy of a recent article published by the Knoxville Business Journal.

Software creator brings order to real estate office

BY LOIS REAGAN THOMAS
news@knoxbusinessjournal.com
Monday, October 15, 2007

Terrance Luckett lost two jobs as a result of mergers and downsizing in the economic downturn following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“If it weren’t for Sept. 11, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said. “It got me out of a stagnant life and gave me control over my future.”

He also is at the controls of Markler, a rapidly expanding software company serving the real estate industry with software that endorsed by several Sevier County Realtors, who are using the software and investing in the company.

“It is just what I was looking for,” said Justin Broadway, principal broker of Century 21 Four Seasons in Gatlinburg, which was the first office to use the software.

For Broadway, the software solved one of the major frustrations of his business: dealing with several separate and incompatible software systems.

“I was looking for a document management system that stores documents online. I also wanted a transaction manager that could manage transactions, and also a listing manager. I couldn’t find anything that did all of that. The programs were all separate and none of these programs will talk to each other,” he said.

He and other Century 21 Four Seasons representatives were in on the ground floor of the development and are among investors. Sevier Realtor Marty Loveday also was instrumental in pushing for investors to fund expansion of the program, Luckett said.

The system is now in 22 offices, most in Sevier County, but also in California and in Arizona. The first Markler program came out in early 2005. Version 3 is currently being released.

The Markler software program is marketed as a fully integrated systems for real estate transactions.

Luckett said, “It’s an office management system that manages contacts, leads, listings, closings, and it’s a file server that allows contact materials to be sent by e-mail instead of having to be faxed, and it’s also a document storage system.”

The software is capable on running on MacIntosh, Windows and Linux systems.

Luckett says the system has gained attention from local Apple Computer representatives because it may help provide an inroad for Apple’s Macintosh operating system into the real estate industry, which has previously been almost exclusively the realm of Microsoft’s Windows, the operating system used by the majority of Multiple Listing Service providers.

The system serves as a central interface for brokers, agents, buyers, sellers, lenders and title companies where use of a password can enable each component to access the information specific to their needs.

Brokers can keep up with all facets of their office administration, while agents can keep up with contacts, leads and transactions. Buyers and sellers can see the progress of their transactions and have access to the documents involved. Title companies can see when sales are assigned to them and get all the documents needed. Lenders can get information needed on transactions in which they are involved.

Broadway said the system has been particularly helpful to his company in leads management.

“The agents were doing it all with pen and paper and weren’t doing a particularly good job of follow-up,” he said. “It takes longer and longer for people to buy now, and you have to stay in touch. It (Markler) reminds you to follow up.

“We’ve stayed No. 1 in our marketplace in residential sales, even in a declining market. Follow-up helps a great deal. Agents don’t lose customers.”

Markler is also considered user-friendly.

“It’s very easy to use,” said Janet Valentine, a Realtor with Marty Loveday and Associates, which has offices in Sevierville and Seymour. “Agents are able to retrieve information easily and send things easily. All of the information is right in front of you.”

Luckett was able to use input from several area real estate professionals in developing the program, thus using the terms and jargon familiar to the industry, and heeding instructions to keep it simple, Broadway said.

The 30-year-old Luckett had segued into freelance Web page designing after jobs in digital imaging, as part of a Webmaster team, as a Web administrator and in online development in Atlanta. After losing the last job in a post 9/11 downsizing, he moved to Gatlinburg, where he had a Chalet Village Web-design job. From there, conversations with Broadway and others over their frustrations with available software programs led to the Markler software development.

The German-born son of a career Army man and a German mother, he named the company Markler, a derivative of a German term for a person who brokers.

Markler maintains the network and provides support. Luckett said he is committed to keeping support functions in the United States.

Lois Reagan Thomas is a freelance writer in Seymour.