Real estate agents such as Shawn Zigelstein can remember a time when they only used a printer, scanner, and fax machine for the real estate business. These days, they confess that technology has moved on a lot to where real estate has a lot more processes involved in it, like more mobility and easy processes.
CBC reported that fax, print, and scanners aren't the usual fixtures in a real estate agent's office these days. Technology has made it possible for the papers to be signed and the location to be visited without the clients leaving their homes. It's even grown a lot in the past years, as more millennials have begun to become decision-makers and top earners in their households.
It could mean lost opportunities for transactions for those who won't adapt. Real estate agents can now use a lot of gadgets--PCs, tablets, and smartphones--to transact with clients. Those that are still stuck using traditional methods might find themselves left in the dust.
The industry has found itself a bit slow and outdated. Historical standards have shown that this industry had difficulties adapting to new things and had been labeled a 'laggard.' However, with the recent developments, it has shown to be resilient enough to changes to explore applying newly-discovered technologies to traditional processes like transactions.
Venture capitals like MetaProp--a real estate focused VC from New York--had also become regulars through technology. Forbes reported property technologies like MetaProp, and others, have become popular investment vehicles as well. To prove that point, about 96% of prop tech investors have put in more or less cash like they did last year.
Even companies like marketing firm eRelevance have diversified into real estate, launching their own version of prop tech. Bob Fabbio, eRelevance's CEO, has been a long-time fan of tech, enough to consider getting into the market. Fabbio is also credited for founding Hewlett-Packard's recent acquisition, Tivoli and Dazel.
From AI assistants to blockchain platforms, technology has definitely changed the way properties are being dealt with in the real world. There's more to come, so real estate--the way that agents know it--might not look the same even a few years from now, or even more.
