That's the idea behind Talking House, a device that broadcasts a recorded sales pitch to the car radios of peoples driving by.  Talking House is "slightly larger than an answering machine," said Tim Delaney, a Temecula real estate agent now using it to sell a home in Sun City.

      Delaney prepared a three-minute "commercial" for the home, at 27968 Doreen Drive, placed the unit in the home, and put a sign outside instructing interested passersby what frequency to tune in.  The device has a range of 100 yards and is set to broadcast on 1610 AM.  The broadcast frequency can be changed, and no FCC license is needed to operate it.

      Talking House helps real estate agents become more valuable to their clients, said Delaney and Susan Kutchuk, another Temecula agent who uses the device.

      "It sticks in people's minds, and helps you stand out from the crowd," Delaney said.  "There's no extra charge to the customer."

      Kutchuk said the unit doesn't sell houses by itself, but reinforces the message.

      "It's an intangible type of thing, another tool," Kutchuk said.  "Sellers like it, and it operates around the clock."

     About 68,000 Talking House units are in use throughout North America, said Scott Matthew, president of Realty Electronics, the Fond du Lac, Wis.-based seller of Talking House.

      Although primarily aimed at residential real estate, the company also promotes Talking House for commercial real estate.  It suggests add-on uses such as including promotional blurbs for brokers, moving companies and the like who work with home buyers - in essence turning Talking House into a mini advertising network.

      The devices sell for $250 each, along with supplies such as pre-printed Talking House yard signs.  The company also sells celebrity voice introductions and closing messages, and will also record an agent's entire sales pitch in an impersonated voice.

      However, some agents find the units too pricey for the value.

      "For us, it's prohibitive," said Scott Brady, with Century 21 Cal Oaks Realty in Murrieta.  "It's one of those things that would be good.  However, we find our results are about the same when we put brochures or fliers at the house."

      Brady said the unit might be useful in commercial real estate, especially for selling vacant land.  Fliers don't work well with vacant land, Brady said.  The only hang-up:  There's no place on vacant land to put the unit or connect it to a power supply.

This article appeared on the front page of the business section of

The Californian, April 9, 1999.