According to research from the Real Estate CyberSpace Society, real estate professionals who embrace technology--or at least hold membership in the Boston-based professional group--have significantly higher annual income. Real estate brokers and agents who keep up with the effective use of technology and the Internet far outpace their less tech savvy competitors, John M. Peckham III, executive director of the 12-year-old organization, concludes.

According to a recent survey, the group's 10,000 members have a median annual income of $162,000. The most recent member survey by the National Association of Realtors reports real estate agents in general have a median annual income of $49,000--less than a third of the earnings of the tech-oriented Real Estate CyberSpace Society members.

Peckham says members of the CyberSpace Society "are not techie nerds by any means." They just use the latest technologies to make themselves more effective, he explains, adding that members take advantage of technology to leverage their productivity."