Technology has modernized many industries over the years. While technology in real estate may have grown at a slower pace than others, digitization has certainly altered the way people buy and sell properties today.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways technology has changed the real estate industry over the last 10 years:
New Avenues to Reach Out to Prospective Buyers
In the past, sellers had limited ways of reaching out to prospective buyers – newspapers, word of mouth and magazines. Today, most home buyers will start their research online. They check out information about properties, read reviews about the suburbs and so much more – and they do this by using their smartphones, tablets or laptops.
With the advent of digital technology, sellers now have ample opportunities to cast their nets over a much wider audience than before in the form of online listings on property sites, agent websites and social media platforms. Mobile-friendly content has worked wonders for many marketing campaigns with most people now using smartphone devices. For the buyer, this means access to so many more properties in different areas they may not have been able to consider in the past.
Deliver More Personalized Experiences To Buyers
Imagine a time when your only glimpse of a property for sale was a few images in a black and white newspaper. Today, online images can give you a real feel of the house. But even these images are old in comparison to some of the newer technologies out there.
Videos can take buyers through the entire property so they feel like they’re walking through themselves. Drone technology and virtual reality create a personalized experience – making you feel like you’re already in the house without having to physically visit it. New scanning technology creates an immersive 3D experience of the home, making it seem even more realistic – the perfect opportunity for distant and overseas buyers to make more informed decisions.
Simplified Paperwork Storage
Real estate is an industry filled with paper documents – from sales contracts to mortgage documents to financial transactions to house papers, there’s plenty of stuff for sellers, buyers and real estate professionals to store.
Digital technology has allowed for much of this paperwork to be stored on the cloud, which means that you don’t have to worry about losing these important documents during a natural calamity (or just in general). Now all property-related information can be stored and shared in a secure manner, which reduces the overall risk and speeds processes up dramatically.
Offers New Opportunities For Buying And Selling
Most sellers used an agent or sold directly in the past. But it mostly required the buyer to be physically present. Now, some companies offer an opportunity for the seller to make an almost instant sale. Homes can be sold within a matter of days, which beats waiting for the property to sell traditionally on the market. Buyers simply have to visit these sites and they get access to a raft of properties in the areas they’re keen on – making the whole process so much simpler without the need to physically be present today.
Digitization has transformed the real estate canvas to make it more transparent and simple, which has given the industry a major boost in recent years.