Compass’ recent financing round with a $1B price valuation, only four years after launch, is proof that things are changing in real estate and specifically for real estate agents and their clients. It may be hard to conceptualize, especially for millennial homebuyers, but 15 years ago, the real estate market was a different beast, information-wise. When records used to be buried in file folders, it put buyers in a much different place than they are today, a time when they are able to access detailed property records on their smartphones within minutes.
According to Robert Reffkin, Compass CEO, “Zillow was the first company to provide aggregated information to the consumer. So, for the first time, consumers felt empowered during a real
estate transaction. Just the ability to search for property on their own gave consumers more control and more freedom throughout the process.
Susan Daimler, GM of StreetEasy adds, “Tech advancements in the industry have provided more tools for real estate agents to remain connected while on the go, which is especially important in a fast-paced market like New York. Simultaneously, these changes have also raised the bar for what it means to be a good agent. Being real estate-savvy is no longer only about possession of information, but about being able to translate that information into useful insights for buyers, sellers and renters”.
In recent years, we have been seeing new kinds of brokerages that are investing lots of resources in improving the technology for their agents in order to achieve better experience for their clients and an edge in today’s market. Companies like Compass, TripleMint and Real are acquiring new agents and clients with this promise.
According to Reffkin, “one of the biggest frustrations from a tech perspective for agents at other companies is the lack of integrated and unified systems in the industry. There are over 250 outsourced tech products and tools for real estate agents out there, but they don’t work cohesively together. One of the primary benefits is that it is all built in-house and therefore, all part of one unified platform. In today’s market, with aggregators inundating consumers with information, agents need to be able to provide timely, relevant data to their clients, which is exactly what our app does, also allowing agents to send reports directly via text, email, or PDF. The technologies we create are focused on saving agents time. The average agent can only spend 11% of their time with clients because 89% of the time they are burdened by non-core and administrative tasks. We are creating software to reduce the amount of time it takes to create buyer tours, to building listing presentations, to do comparative market analysis and more.
Traditional brokerages don’t lag behind. Real estate giant Realogy is constantly looking to acquire innovative companies. Its portfolio companies like Sotheby’s and Corcoran are constantly developing in-house technology. According to Tara King Brown of Corcoran, “the Corcoran Group provides excellent reports on the market as well as a data analytics tool which is incredibly useful (for our) agents and for our clients. We use a great CRM program, which allows us to design and send quarterly market and team updates to our clients as well as listing e-blasts to our broker contacts. We are able to serve as a trusted advisor for all real estate decisions based on the client’s individual needs. Real estate is a relationship business and every client has different needs and motivations. This environment calls for both a quantitative and qualitative approach.
As for the future, she continues, “data analytics that help to compare properties or features such as price per square foot, rate of return for investors, days on market, or spot larger market trends are very useful and seem to be the focus for new technology companies. Since raw data is imperfect, technology that simplifies and paints a clear picture for the consumer adds incredible value. Technology that streamlines the back end administrative systems (e.g. board packages, marketing, research, setting up listing appointments, etc.) allows the agent to spend more time with clients and
As for the future, she continues, “data analytics that help to compare properties or features such as price per square foot, rate of return for investors, days on market, or spot larger market trends are very useful and seem to be the focus for new technology companies. Since raw data is imperfect, technology that simplifies and paints a clear picture for the consumer adds incredible value. Technology that streamlines the back end administrative systems (e.g. board packages, marketing, research, setting up listing appointments, etc.) allows the agent to spend more time with clients and in the field.”
According to Luis D. Ortiz, Million Dollar listing star of Douglas Elliman, “every new technology that closes the gap from consumer to the seller is changing the role of the person that brings them together. StreetEasy brings consumers information about sellers selling on their own, landlords offering no fee rentals. Brokers have to become more valuable nowadays and realize these platforms are empowering the consumers. There are other technologies being invented as we speak and we as brokers will need to evolve with them and continue to find ways to be more valuable to the customer. As technology evolves and there is more transparency to the consumer, the more challenging our roles as brokers become, therefore the more valuable we must be to our clients.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you have questions or a comment about this Blog or our Company please use this section. We will do our best to review and answer within 24 hours.