Change…the one constant. Just as change came to the real estate industry some fifteen years ago with the revolution of online home search, change is happening again to the real estate industry…big time. And big time real estate professionals are talking about it.
Co-founder of Trulia and now an investor with NFX in real estate tech and software companies, Peter Flint presented a keynote speech at the recent Inman conference in New York about changes he sees in the industry. He said, “There’s a tech tsunami coming. A lot of low lying areas (in real estate) have been covered – media, communications, information – and this nonstop tech tsunami is moving higher and higher and higher into operations, into brokerages, into franchises, into physical real estate and it’s frankly unstoppable.”
Tech is now targeting real estate transactions. And, because real estate has been a “slow moving industry” due to franchise models and agents as independent contractors, according to Flint, “…there’s a 10 year window…and the majority of traditional real estate companies will die.”
Just take a look at the real estate money, Marilyn Wilson, the co-founding partner of the Wav Group, underlined at the Inman conference. “Where is the money, how does it flow and how does everyone win?” Now take a look at iBuyers such as Knock, Opendoor, OfferPad, and iMortgageLenders such as loanDepot and Quicken and every aspect of financial technology or “fintec” in real estate.
Brad Inman, one of the namesakes of Inman News, said, “There’s a new set of tricks, tech and processes that now alter how homes are bought and sold…real estate transactions are fast, furious and certain.” One click and sell. One click and buy.
Inman believes there is a new generation of innovators in the real estate industry, a new team of new money, institutional players, and new tech partners who are, across the board, offering consumers certainty, speed and transparency along with more customer support. Only subtle differences in the delivery of that money, tech and institutional support exist.
Remember to include the MLS here. It is no longer “just” providing data. The MLS can and will facilitate the collection and the leveraging of data through expanded tech services.
Even the National Association of REALTORS is a player here. Previously a branch of NAR, the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) is now a stand alone, separate, trade non-profit working to “…build standards across the industry to help accelerate growth of new real estate technology.”
So real estate agents…since change is the one constant, it behooves you to get on top of this real estate tech tsunami, as Peter Flint calls it, and integrate this tsunami into your businesses so you are able to successfully compete in these new fast, furious and certain real estate times.
