Residential real estate, particularly the rental sector, has been notably slow to experience the same radical disruption that many other industries have seen with technology (e.g. retail, finance, transportation).
Real estate agencies are changing ways of listings and the home search process, but the way we buy and rent homes are still fundamentally the same as it always has been. This has a lot to do with the fact that real estate is such a capital-intensive industry. It’s much harder to remove friction from a process that’s much more complicated (and has bigger stakes) than, say, ride-sharing.
Technology has found its way to real estate
Although that’s going to change in the next five to ten years. Some real estate agencies are streamlining and digitizing the home-buying process in a way that we haven’t seen before. These agencies are leveraging technology to eliminate nearly all of the headaches of the rental experience for both homeowners and renters.
Residential real estate is going to catch up to other consumer experiences that we’ve become accustomed to in the 21st century, which is a good thing for all of us.
One important point, however, is that technology alone isn’t going to make a dent in the bigger issues surrounding housing in this country. It’s far more complicated than creating a great platform or a great app. We need innovative solutions that create more affordable housing stock.
The hope is that as technology grows, we’re able to help keep cities affordable for early career professionals (and beyond). Tech is an important piece of that, and it’s exciting about how emerging innovations can make the experience even better. But it’s not the whole picture.
With the application of digital marketing, realtors have their jobs easier. In that, all it takes is one site visit and the rest of the transaction can be online. Moreover, some agents incorporate video tours for long-distance clients.
We can foresee real estate becoming an all-digital transaction where buyers and seller meet online. Moreover, purchases will probably be all-digital without the need of a physical site visit but rather an online one.