No matter what technological changes come along, there is always a need for real estate property. We may telecommute, but our employer still has buildings somewhere. We may buy a lot of things online, but we still use a store for some things. And we still need places for our homes, places of worship, medical care, and so forth.
So real estate remains an important industry no matter how dramatically the rest of the world has changed. For that reason, only the most adaptive real estate agents remain successful. There are lots of reasons why their work is changing, but all these things can be integrated to keep any agency relevant and successful.
Information From Technology
Knowledge is power, and real estate agents know that. They want to come to a showing prepared to respond to any question or concern that the customer may have, and they want to have the information quickly. The longer it takes to gather information, the more likely the buyer is to get cold feet and back out of the deal.
Years ago, it took a thick folder of appraisals and forms to give a potential buyer information about sale prices of comparable properties, estimates of utility expenses, tax rates, and all the other information people typically want to get before tendering an offer. Today, that is all at the fingertips of tech-savvy agents, and they’re able to reply and react quickly.
New Options With Technology
But technology doesn’t just accelerate the process of doing the same old things. It also makes it possible to do new things.
Digital photography comes to mind, and it’s certainly a big boost for an agent to be able to snap photos of specific features requested by a buyer and send them instantly. But technology doesn’t just make it easier to send the same old pictures. It also makes it possible to provide photos that were never possible before.
Drones can be flown all over a property, showing the lay of the land to potential buyers. They can sail quickly through a commercial building, giving a rapid and thorough overview of the layout, configuration of doors, and other essential components.
This is a great tool for commercial real estate investment companies who want to highlight a property’s characteristics and potential without having to worry about transportation, weather, and time for clients. Any time you can remove a constraint created by cost, time, distance, or unpredictable factors, you move one step closer to a sale.
Expanded Marketing
Imagine if the classified ads of 1995 had appeared in every newspaper in the country, and that millions of potential buyers would definitely see the paper each day. Beyond that, they could view only the ads that met their specific needs.
Today, of course, we can do exactly that with real estate apps. Just as with cars, clothes, tools, or anything else we buy online, we can download an app, enter our specifications, and search massive databases of available properties. When we submit a request, we get instant contact with the listing agency. This is a particularly powerful option for commercial buyers, who may be expanding into new areas or relocating facilities and want detailed information from the new area without excessive travel.
With these powerful tools, the best agents can rapidly solicit, receive, and handle leads, moving the process along quickly and making the sale.
Real estate will always talk about things like walk-out basements, proximity to schools, and generous warehouse space. But the growth in technology has made it so much faster and easier to get that information in front of buyers and get sales made.
