The home-buying season is on in the US, despite the current dispute with trade partner China. However, the market looks different than it used to just a year or two ago. Geek Wire reported that buyers and sellers will be looking at a drastically changed--for better or worse--market, with real estate technology doing its expected disruption of traditional and slow processes.
With technology, there are quite a few changes expected. Homeowners can now have direct access to major realtors without the help of a middleman.
New technologies and innovative apps have also provided a better version of buying and selling a home or renting out a place. Major players, who were once traditional marketers, have also begun to expand their reach and capabilities, thanks to the disruption of tech.
The prevailing feeling with these companies, as well as well-known Wall Street investors, is that everything will change to adjust to the tech of the times.
The real estate landscape will inevitably undergo a chance. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said that 20 percent of the US economy will be up for grabs for companies willing to take a bigger risk than usual.
The notion that real estate is changing is shared by many others, including Stephens stock analyst John Campbell. Campbell recently spent some time studying the industry deeper.
He then shared his opinion that consumers are ready for change, but it's not clear whether it's because they want results or they want to see change.
Market Watch reported that today, that effort resulted in industry players like Zillow and Redfin, with customers at the center of that strategy. There are also new participants to this strategy making themselves known, eager to present a solution to the industry where Zillow and Redfin belong in.
Zillow and Redfin are in the market to create waves, and Seattle looks like the place where the waves will crash. The national transformation converges on the state as Redfin and Zillow are located here. Redfin has been in operation for 24 months--two years--while Zillow has re-invented itself to become a company that's involved in direct buying and selling these homes per month.
Others have been making their presence felt slowly but surely, and real estate will be all the better for it. Outside of Zillow and Redfin, Compass--a Softbank-backed startup brokerage--has been creating quite the buzz. Instant home offers, quick resolution of processes, and the elimination of the middle man have become the new norm thanks to these real estate startups.
