Tech Helpline Now Available to Orange County Association of REALTORS®

ORLANDO, FL (Oct 28, 2015) — California's Orange County real estate agents are more dependent on technology to help them buy and sell homes than ever before, and now when a computer crashes or a smartphone glitches out, they can get immediate assistance.

Tech Helpline, the real estate industry's #1 tech support service, is a new, included member benefit available to more than 13,600 members of the Orange County Association of REALTORS®. These Southern California agents and brokers join nearly 400,000 REALTORS® throughout the U.S. and Canada that have access to this service.

"Tech Helpline will help our members boost their productivity by increasing their 'uptime'," says Rita Tayenaka, President of the Orange County Association of REALTORS®. "Technology has become a key part of every real estate transaction, and that's why we want to help our members to quickly and conveniently resolve technical problems by simply making a phone call," she adds.

OCAR REALTOR® and Affiliate members can call the dedicated OCAR Tech Helpline number or access support from its online chat service. Once connected, Tayenaka says a friendly US-based analyst — located in Orlando, Florida — verifies membership in the Association and then assists with all computer and technology-related issues.

For OCAR REALTORS®, the new Tech Helpline member benefit includes:

• No limit to the number of calls
• No time limit per call
• Multiple questions and topics may be addressed in a single call
• Analysts connect to one's computer via remote software to diagnose and repair (if needed)
• Assistance is available in English or Spanish
• Support Monday–Friday, 6:00 am – 5:00 pm and Saturdays 6:00 am – 2:00 pm PT

Tech Helpline was created by Realtors® for Realtors®, notes Tricia Stamper, Director of Technology Products at Florida Realtors®, which owns and operates the services. "Realtors think of us as the Genius Bar for real estate staffed by a team of savvy tech advisors who specialize in supporting real estate agents and brokers," she says.

Today more than 70 Realtor® Associations, Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) and real estate brokerage firms offer Tech Helpline to their members and agents, which has become the fastest growing company of its kind in real estate.

Tech Helpline supports both Windows and Mac operating systems, smartphones, tablets and more than a dozen different hardware products from computers, monitors and printers to scanners and storage devices.

"If an agent is in the middle of a transaction and a printer freezes, one phone call or a click of the mouse is all it now takes to get immediate help," Tayenaka says. She also believes her members will especially appreciate the ability to ask for assistance with multiple issues on a single call, a benefit not widely available in the tech support industry. "Agents have lots of questions about technology and now they can get those questions answered, and it won't cost them a dime as it's part of their core member benefits," she said.

Tech Helpline has grown organically since it was first offered to Florida Realtors in 2001, primarily through recommendations from existing clients. In addition to the support it provides through MLS firms, Realtor® Associations and real estate brokerages, Tech Helpline also provides support for Form Simplicity, one of the industry's most popular transaction management software programs.

About Tech Helpline

Owned as a service by Florida Realtors®, Tech Helpline began almost fifteen years ago as a service for members of Florida Realtors. Known for its no-nonsense technical advice and warm, friendly, customer service, Tech Helpline rapidly grew by offering its service to other Realtor® Associations, Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) and real estate brokerage firms. Today Tech Helpline is the real estate industry's #1 tech support service, available to one in three Realtors in North America — nearly 400,000 in the U.S. and Canada. Tech Helpline's office and staff of professional tech analysts, with more than 250 years of combined IT experience, are located in Orlando, Florida, and are available to provide technology support by phone, chat or email. More information is available online at www.techhelpline.com.