How is Technology Disrupting the Real Estate Industry?

The Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence are some technical terms that almost everyone now hears every day. With these emerging technologies, the business landscape has changed. Today, as Steven Taylor observes, some retail stores are going out of business. With augmented reality, you can see and test products before you buy them online. The same technologies are also affecting the real estate industry.

Online Shopping

While a realtor or a landlord may still put up a banner when they have a house up for sale or rent, millennials prefer to compare houses online. With augmented reality, you can take a virtual tour of a house just like you would in real life. Instead of traveling across the neighborhood looking at houses, you can now do it in the comfort of your sofa. Better yet, buyers and sellers can close deals online.

The Economy of Sharing

Today, many people prefer to hire cars when they need them instead of buying them. This is happening with most millennials who prefer to rent houses rather than buy, share offices and split rent, and to sign long-term leases for offices. Firms can buy than rent these houses for extended stays negating the need to buy office space.

Improving the Tenant's Experience

Tenants and aspiring homeowners are shopping for modern homes. A modern home embraces the Internet of Things (IoT), where all gadgets, from the vacuum cleaner to the bulbs, are intelligent and interconnected. Houses with vintage designs and archaic devices are losing value seeing that the cost of modernizing them is high. A 2017 PWC study in Canada and the USA showed that the real estate industry would change drastically in the next decade due to such trends.

Change is a powerful force. For realtors to stay in business, they need to embrace new technologies. Realtors have to adapt to the ever-changing needs of tenants and aspiring homeowners, and one way to do that is by keeping up with market trends.