With technological advances and disruptors flooding into all established industries, from food to finance, I am curious to hear everyone’s opinion as to where the Real Estate industry is headed?
I am aware that there are few tech disruptors looking to take out Real Estate agents and others to cut out the middle man in property management. Regardless of how far these advancements are made, how many of you prefer human interactions, when dealing with selling and/or leasing.
A lot like the Internet itself, there will be some interest right upfront of course. Then, over time, as the concept becomes “less new” and there are more examples of “it really works”, you will see more take up the new ways. It took the Internet at least 10 years to gain acceptance by the masses.
It will be many years yet before it becomes “the only game in town” though. There are too many dinosaurs, and most of us like the human interaction. I would think any obvious “Better ways” will be taken up quickly e.g. anything that piggy-backs off what we already do with the Internet and is easy to implement.
I Agree there are heaps of disrupters coming out but the tech guys need to be “Real Estate” guys and if the two actually get together and share and collaborate together then we might have a chance of making some good changes.
It will be the way we interact with agents and property managers that will change as the tech becomes more “trustworthy” less need for personal interactions. Just my 2 cents anyway
Residential real estate, particularly the rental sector, has been notably slow to experience the same radical disruption that many other industries have seen with the digital age (e.g. retail, finance, transportation). Companies like Zillow and Redfin have democratized MLS listings and the home search process, but the way we buy and rent homes are still fundamentally the same as it always has been. This has a lot to do with the fact that real estate is such a capital-intensive industry. It’s much harder to remove friction from a process that’s much more complicated (and has bigger stakes) than, say, ride-sharing.
Residential real estate, particularly the rental sector, has been notably slow to experience the same radical disruption that many other industries have seen with the digital age (e.g. retail, finance, transportation). Companies like Zillow and Redfin have democratized MLS listings and the home search process, but the way we buy and rent homes are still fundamentally the same as it always has been. This has a lot to do with the fact that real estate is such a capital-intensive industry. It’s much harder to remove friction from a process that’s much more complicated (and has bigger stakes) than, say, ride-sharing.
I thought the rental sector has been one of the biggest radical disrupted sectors, what with Air B&B and the like.
Regulation slows some parts of progress -but a big one is regarding property transfers. With digital transfers now being rolled out this is going to allow for a considerable cost saving and will allow for most lenders to do away with paper loan contracts in the long term, reducing delays, mistakes in the process and a huge amount of wasted paper!
I was speaking with Commercial & General who were saying the process has meant that they’ve file reworks/time delays dropped massively under the new environment.
There is still a need for the human aspect in real estate, particularly the role of the property manager and real estate agent.
The technology should support/enable and augment the role of the property manager and real estate agent.
As an example, I believe there will always be a need for a property manager role, because we need professionals to understand how to handle tenants, particularly in specific areas (e.g. city vs regional areas), and to put in the time/effort needed to handle tenancies. If the property manager doesn’t do it, then someone will need to do it (e.g. the property investor themself) – that’s what we pay the 5-6% for, as property investors.
The technology can be leveraged as an effective way to support these roles – e.g. centralised portals to connect property investors/tenants/agents, streamlined digital book keeping to track your property investments, access to valuable suburb and market data to help you make effective decisions.
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This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by PropDir.
This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by PropDir.
I think the biggest technology disruption right now is remote working with Zoom etc. This is going to change the commercial property space significantly and to a lesser extent the residential maker as people don’t need to live where they work. Obviously online shopping is already impacting the retail sector. I also think block chain will disrupt title companies.
This is an interesting topic. I’m following this. Indeed, technology has created an ecosystem for rapid advances, disruption and the elimination of previous methods and models.
At the heart of it, not much has changed in respect to the act of real estate investing, however, technology has impacted the way a property is advertised for sale (still essentially a classified ad, but online not in the paper, so now there can be photos and more text), transferred, and managed.
As for tech advances: perhaps block chain piecemeal ownership, more virtual auctions (COVID pushed advances here ahead amazingly), better information about income and expenses (ads are still geared towards home buyers, not investors), and better integrated management systems.
I say bring on the Technology. Love how much data is available these days using tools like DSR data, CL, and even free data available on On the House, REA and the like. It’s funny because the property game is changing in many ways, and yet the pillars still remain fundamentally the same (supply and demand etc), it just makes things more measurable!
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