5 Technologies That Are Changing The Game in Real Estate
The real estate industry has changed in the past years, with the rapid advancement of technology, it seems like more changes are coming! These new technologies change the landscape for both real estate agents and homeowners on a daily basis, and here are some of they key ones that have made quite an impact already.
1. Social media
Social media has a huge influence. People rely more on the internet now more than ever, and having a strong social media presence can reap massive rewards! Also, compared to traditional marketing, social media marketing costs less and allows you to reach more targeted people.
Social media-savvy agents can help homeowners save time and money and interact with potential buyers quickly and easily.
2. Videos
Videos now make up for OVER 70 PERCENT of internet traffic! Adding videos to property listings can massively increase awareness and inquiries from potential buyers because video lets people go through the home without being actually in the home. Aside from that, the use of drones in a video can add more appeal--as it can show the surroundings of the property.
3. Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning
Let’s first define these three terms. Big Data is the large volume of data, whether it is structured or unstructured, that businesses could analyse to reveal trends and patterns. Artificial intelligence (AI) highlights the creation of machines that react and work like humans. Machine learning is a type of AI that enables machines or software applications to learn concepts without being explicitly programmed.
These technologies cannot work separately--they are essential to one another’s function. The large volume of data analysed by machines that work like humans. Those machines, over time, can predict trends and patterns without needing help from humans.
These technologies are important to the real estate industry as they could help agents and buyers alike in making decisions backed by facts and data, not by hunch and gut feel. It’s still early days for AI though, I’ll be very interested to see what happens in coming years.
4. Virtual reality
Virtual reality or VR is not just good for games and entertainment--it can also make things more interactive for the real estate industry.
VR can be used for things like house tours. There is now equipment that could provide an interactive rendering of a property from your smartphone! This could save time and money for everyone involved, especially those who are overseas, who could use VR for tours instead of going to the site. This could be a HUGE space that opens up in coming years, and when it becomes more accessible it could be a game changer.
5. Chatbots
Chatbots are computer software that automatically communicate with people through text or audio. The messenger platform is growing rapidly, and is already proving to can be helpful to the real estate industry in multitude of ways.
First, chatbots allow you to pre-qualify and segment people based on their responses. The personal touch as opposed to a cold email definitely creates a point of difference as well.
Second, they can instantly answer inquiries from prospective buyers, even if it’s outside business hours with relevant information. This helps speed up the sale process and get faster results for everyone involved.
Third, chatbots can collect information about visitors. They can ask about someone’s preferences in location, number of rooms, and more and take note of them so that the agent could use the information for future marketing campaigns.
Lastly, they could help in appointment-setting. They can note the preferred date and time of the client and inform the agent. Chatbots aren’t in the distant future like AI and VR, they are active right now and we will see this take off very shortly!
As time goes by more and more advancements pop up, which sometimes can be overwhelming. However, change is inevitable, and the only way the industry and the people in it could thrive is to adapt to those changes and use them to their advantage.
If you want some advice about property investments or anything property related, please get in touch with me at 0402 909 727!
