How Does Technology Improve a Real Estate Business?

Turn to IT Consulting Services to Keep Pace with the latest Tech trends

If you are a real estate business seeking radical improvements in operations and sales, you must keep pace with the latest technology revolutions prevailing around your industry and target market.

Advancements in technology are shaping the way today’s real estate agents and homeowners navigate the home selling and buying process. In today’s modern world, real estate businesses rely on sophisticated data to drive decisions, assess home value, and find ideal buyers.

Through technology, buyers can see a birds-eye view of a suburb thousands of kilometres away through drone or satellite images. They can buy a house online without ever taking out a pen to sign a contract using digital document management. Searching for new listings is as simple as downloading an app, choosing the location, and awaiting notifications with options.

If you, being a real estate business, is not embracing these revolutionary tech changes, you will miss huge opportunity in a tech-driven real estate industry. 

PwC’s yearly trend report for real estate suggests,

“If people don’t recognize technologies are existing and, moreover, how to integrate them, opportunities are being missed.”

Shortening the sales cycle and providing a top-notch tenant experience are key goals for most Real Estate firm owners. Technology will continue to transform the way people buy, sell, and search for real estate; presenting a massive opportunity for the real estate businesses to reach and expand their target markets. 

In the Light of Stats

The Real Estate in a Digital Age 2019 Report indicates 81% of Older Millennials, 80% of Younger Millennials and 78% of Generation X found their home on a mobile device compared to 68% of Younger Boomers.

The finding that the top 3 technologies in day-to-day use (by realtors) are:

  1. the smartphone – 95%
  2. email – 93%
  3. laptops and desktop computers – 90%

These indicate a changing dynamic in the real estate industry in terms of technology.

To leverage the latest tech innovations that can best complement their business, an increasing number of real estate businesses are turning to specialised and experienced IT consults.

The Changing Dynamics of the Real Estate Industry

The REALTOR® Technology Survey – NAR demonstrates the rising interest of an increasing number of realtors to learn how to use beacon technology in their business. Similarly, an upward trend is observed in their investment in technology.

Over the last 12 months, respondents typically spent between $251-$1,000 (39 percent) on technology to use in their real estate business. Twenty-six percent of respondents spend between $1,001-$3,000 on technology to use in their business.

Tech companies know the potential of this market and have extensively been developing products that help buyers, sellers, and real estate firms. 

The Ways Technology Improves a Real Estate Business

  1. Online Real Estate Marketplaces

Real estate markets have always been dependent on in-person meetings between brokers and potential buyers. But technology, especially the internet and smartphones have allowed for online marketplaces to be comparatively secure and reliable, even for industries like real estate.

Online marketplaces make it extremely easy for the buyers to see a list of all the homes that best match their preferences at the comfort of their homes. With COVID restrictions, across Melbourne in particular, it becomes a necessity to continue transacting with buyers and sellers.

These sites provide elements such as virtual tours that buyers can view on their smartphone. Even better, some of these marketplaces do not even necessitate interactions with in-person real estate agents at any point during the process.

Tech-enabled brokers help people buy with the help of a broker but without the sheer commission fees.

According to REALTOR® Technology Survey – NAR, the three most valuable technology tools respondents used in their businesses, excluding email and cell phones were:

  1. local MLS websites/apps
  2. lockbox/smart key devices
  3. social media platforms
  4. Personalised, Targeted Real Estate Ads

Real estate businesses are increasingly using targeted ads on different platforms especially on social media. With ad management knowledge, real estate businesses can easily target their potential customers for newly listed homes. As per REALTOR® Technology Survey – NAR, seventy-seven percent of respondents use social media for their real estate business.

High-end customers may conduct a home search in a certain area, but they often can’t find exactly what they want.

Ad tech is revolutionising the same, however. Experts believe that personalised ads greatly transform the way real estate marketing is done today. For instance, we see target ads based on different bathrooms, proximity to essentials of life, and other metrics.

The real estate industry has gradually been slow to change. However, smarter, and cost-effective technology doesn’t only help the real estate agents and brokers but also the homebuyers.

Furthermore, whether it’s innovative software or machine learning algorithms, the real estate must embrace modern technology and platforms to boost their ROI.

  1. SaaS & Real Estate Business

Due to their scalability, ease of use, security, and subscription-based pricing model, SaaS solutions are gaining popularity in real estate businesses to improve efficiency.

Qamba IT consulting services help align state-of-the-art SaaS-based solutions to real estate businesses that do not want to invest heavily in software, hardware, and day to day maintenance.

This way, SaaS solutions help even small real estate businesses to start operating without spending a huge amount of money on IT and tech resources.

The best part is that through SaaS technology, users can access the information remotely from anywhere, with just an internet connection and a mobile device.

As real estate businesses are field based for the most part, employees rely on their mobile devices to access information and keep connected with the clients.

The key benefit of SaaS software which greatly contribute to improving a real estate business, per the article published on SaaSMetrics, include transaction management tools, easy integration with current IT systems, automatic updates, and scalability.

  1. Effective Communications

Another compelling improvement that technology has brought to the real estate industry is that of allowing agents to communicate more effectively with clients, across a range of platforms and mediums.

From standard phone calls to emails, instant messages, and social media interactions, operatives can engage with and target current and prospective customers in whichever way makes the most sense to them.

Agents are also taking advantage of tech to showcase the properties they have to offer without necessarily requiring that interested parties visit in person.

A combination of audio-visual know-how and streaming solutions means that posting a virtual video tour of residential and commercial premises is a breeze. This means that even if the buyer is on the other side of the world, they can get an in-depth overview without having to visit in person.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are also being adopted for the same reasons.

  1. Transactions

Real estate transactions are notoriously difficult to manage, but with the right real estate broker software, it is surprisingly simple to track and orchestrate every aspect of this process.

For example, agents can now use software to keep tabs on everything from the state of specific listings to commission earned on sales and other legal and financial factors that come into play.

This is appealing in terms of improving the efficiency of the process and keeping clients happy, but also makes it much easier to ensure that agencies are compliant with industry regulations.

Then when the time for auditing inevitably arrives, the software provides an indelible record of every transaction that can take the stress of being scrutinised by outsiders.

  1. Video is the New Norm

Does video sell houses?

The stats all point towards ‘yes’.

Videos attract 300% more traffic for nurturing leads. Real estate listings with video receive 403% more inquiries than their video fewer counterparts. 85% of buyers and sellers want to work with an agent that uses real estate videos for marketing.

As per REALTOR® Technology Survey – NAR, thirty-eight percent of respondents use video marketing in their business, while thirty-two percent hope to use it in the future.

A well-made real estate video can be an invaluable resource for both buyers and sellers since it showcases the property in much more detail than a photo or textual description ever could.

A video might also be used for:

  • In-depth guided tours of each room of a residence, perhaps using augmented reality or virtual reality tech 
  • Customer testimonials from buyers and sellers about their experiences with a real estate agent.
  • Pre-property listings, in which agents introduce themselves and their methods.

Why IT Support in Real Estate?

IT services and solutions leveraging the latest technology that best complement a real business, do wonders in helping the businesses expand their reach to the target market and gain more leads. Here are some of the key reasons why IT support is essential in real estate. 

  • Good network and tech support greatly account for gaining a seamless business that gets more leads and an increased conversion rate.
  • A seamless network will in turn help maintain your online presence that draws buyers and sellers alike, you get yourself noticed by potential clients.
  • It is important to have an IT strategy that helps predefine where your online presence is leading to.
  • It is important that as a real estate business with an online presence, you get IT support that offers services like backup and disaster recovery, practical security measures and general day to day maintenance.
  • Become cost-effective with online IT support. By getting reliable IT support you not just save on paying extra to tackle urgent problems but troubleshoot future problems before they even occur and save money.

The Best Real Estate Tech Solutions to Invest In Now

Real estate marketing campaigns and solutions need to reach qualified leads and connect them with the most suitable properties for their targeted locations, preferences, and budget constraints.

Here we share the top key tech solutions a real estate business must invest in.

  • Real Estate Marketing Websites – An efficient rewarding investment if optimised properly and offers the best user experience to boost engagement and conversions
  • SEO Marketing Solutions – Compete for the highest ranking in commercial search queries through state-of-the-art SEO analysis and tailored campaigns
  • Social Media Marketing – Social media helps target, engage, and communicate with the best potential buyers using multiple personal communications channels
  • 360 ° Virtual Tours – Offers an immersive VR experience to the customers with a compressive preview of the property interiors and exteriors without a physical visit to the site.
  • Digital Advertising Campaigns – Digital advertising reaches targeted clients with affordable costing options “pay per click ads”.
  • Professional Mobile Apps – A highly effective solution acting as real estate agents always available on your clients’ smartphones. 
  • Email Marketing – Communicate effectively with your potential buyers who subscribed to your email newsletters and retain them through customised segmented sequenced series of emails “welcome emails – promotional emails – insights and real estate guides.

Final Thoughts

From digital platforms like social media to VR home tours, technology is significantly shaping the real estate industry.

Over 70 percent of today’s buyers search for their desired homes online while 85 percent of real estate agents use digital platforms to connect with their target audience.

These revolutionary technologies and stats are indicating that only the real estate businesses already embracing or plan to invest in the latest technology are going to stay competitive real estate industry of today. 

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