How Technology Is Disrupting The Real Estate Industry
Technology touches almost every aspect of today’s real estate industry. Mobile and technology advancements mean that buyers can see a birds-eye view of their potential new neighbourhood in just a few clicks and that you can now buy a home or property without even using a pen. Searching for new listings is easy, as all you need to do is download an app and choose your location and away you go. Need to find out information on the nearest schools or crime statistics? This is now included on estate agent website and apps, meaning that it is easier now than ever to make decisions about potential properties.
Around 70% of house buyers now search for their homes online and 85% of estate agents use text or digital messaging as a way of communicating with clients, or send over documents via email or digital services. Tech has completely changed and disrupted the way that the real estate industry works, but how?
Blockchain
Blockchain makes it possible for both people and companies to process big transactions without the need of going through credit card companies, banks or even governments. Of course, all real estate counts as a major transaction, and if blockchain fulfils its promise within real estate, then it can bring with it security, efficiency and transparency to real estate payments and transactions. There are two parts of blockchain which are expected to bring the biggest changes in real estate:
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Tokenization in real estate is the use of cryptocurrency to split assets into tokens, which are then stored on the blockchain. Landlords can sell off a portion of their property and investors can resell their shared on an open market through the use of secondary exchanges.
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Smart contracts bring together transactions between the buyer and seller, or renter and landlord. Buyers can submit their information through an encrypted block directly to the seller, rather than having to go through a bank. This removes the middleman, and all human interaction in general, which can both reduce the risk of fraud and speed up the transaction.
Mobile apps
People do everything on their phones now, and they also expect to browse, sell and buy property in the palm of their hand as well. Real estate apps mean that clients and agents have a central platform where they can browse, buy and sell property, get in touch with an agent and get notifications when new listings get added to the market. App platforms house data for real estate, mortgages and property values, which is easy to access and use.
Thanks toapp development, mobile real estate apps are also disrupting the renovation sector too. It’s now easier than ever to find landscapers, plumbers, painters and cleaners to work on your property.
Artificial intelligence
Whilst there is yet to be robot estate agents showing potential buyers around homes, artificial intelligence is impacting the real estate industry in less obvious ways. Machine learning is where computers learn from data, rather than being specifically programmed to carry out certain tasks. In real estate, machine learning is helping to influence smart business decisions through pattern recognition, which is then used to determine important information, like when a property or certain neighbourhood will become popular or in demand.
Virtual reality
For estate agents and broker companies, virtual reality has huge potential to speed up the sales cycle as it allows clients to get a better sense of the property and puts estate agents in touch with buyers further along in the buying process.
Virtual reality allows people to “try before you buy”, without the need to spend time and money looking for and viewing properties. Instead, thanks to the use of high-quality photos and 360º videos, realtors can now offer clients 3D virtual property tours. In the past, estate agents had to spend both time and money staging a home and showing people around, but this may no longer be the case. Instead, clients and potential investors can personalise a room with virtual furniture, paint and wallpaper colours and choices and potential renovations.
Changing for the better?
If people don’t that technologies are existing and how to integrate them into their daily lives, then there are opportunities which are being missed. Whether it’s shortening the sales cycle to providing a top-quality tenant experience, technology will continue to transform the way that we search, buy and sell real estate and property. If you need assistance with your technology, BCA IT in Miami is a managed IT support company that can help you.
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