VP Opens Market for Deaf Real Estate Agent

By Michael Walton

Gail Edwards is a real estate agent who is deaf. She lives in Germantown, Maryland. In the past, it was difficult for Edwards to communicate with her customers. If her customers were deaf or hard of hearing, Edwards communicated with them on the phone with her TTY.

If her customers were hearing, then Edwards used the TTY relay service. Although Edwards felt it was best to meet with her customers face to face, this was not always possible.

Helping customers buy and sell homes requires a lot of time to plan and set up appointments to meet with her customers. It also requires an understanding of complicated language that is written in a real estate contract or agreement. It is part of Edwards’s job to explain the fine print of a real estate contract to her customers, but helping customers using a TTY was frustrating. “In addition, using a TTY relay service to try to set up appointments and help customers was quite time-consuming,” she said.

Last year, Edwards ordered a Sorenson Video Phone (VP) for her office, and since then she has been very happy with how VP has made her job much easier. Now Edwards can explain the contract language to her deaf and hard of hearing customers on VP. She can also call her hearing customers using VP’s Video Relay Service (VRS). “VP has helped cut down the time for making appointments with my customers. It also helps my customers better understand the process of buying or selling their home,” she said.

Edwards’s customers agree that VP has made a big difference for them as well. “There is much less chance for misunderstanding through the VP,” said Tad Yamada, a deaf Maryland resident who hired Edwards to sell his condominium.

Edwards uses VP technology that was developed by Sorenson Media of Salt Lake City, Utah. The creator of Sorenson’s VP, Jim Sorenson, Jr., states that his company has made VP widely available for free through the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Edwards is excited about how VP will open up the real estate market for deaf and hard of hearing customers and agents. “I think there are many deaf people who would appreciate personal service in their own language preference,” she said. Now, with VP, Edwards and other deaf real estate agents can communicate more effectively with their customers.

- Information from The Washington Post

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