How Has Technology Impacted the Real Estate Industry?

The everyday person uses more and more technology just to keep up with life in general, and it should come as no surprise that real estate technology trends reflect this. 

The most tech-savvy real estate agents seamlessly integrate tech like mobile apps, 3D tours, end-to-end technology, and eSigning into their processes to provide their clients with the ultimate real estate experience. 

The operations of real estate teams and brokerages have shifted with the introduction and development of new technologies. Here are some new technologies that you can adopt to bring your real estate business into the 21st century.

How Apps Affect Real Estate and Technology

If you’ve ever used mobile apps like Zillow to look for homes for sale in your area, then you understand the value that a solid real estate technology app has. Real estate technology trends follow the same general trajectory that other tech trends do.

That is to say, the goal of these tools is to provide agents and their clients with current listing prices, new properties, financing options, and more. Speed and efficiency count among the top benefits of using real estate technology to buy or sell your home. Access to these apps is as close as your smartphone.

Real Estate Technology Trends: Online 3D Tours

When COVID put the kibosh on in-person home tours, online 3D home tours helped real estate agents and their clients step it up a notch. Modern 3D tours allow interested home buyers to take a room-by-room tour of homes they're interested in and to do so at their own pace.

For you, it’s important that your real estate agent has access to these technologies for a number of reasons. First, people have grown accustomed to looking at a home online before visiting it in person.

Just as grocery delivery kicked it up a notch during the height of the pandemic and continues to be popular despite COVID restrictions being relaxed, so, too, is it with online home tours. People have gotten used to them, and it’s unlikely that they’ll want to take them out of the buying process.

This isn’t a bad thing, however. Virtual reality tours of your property allow you to have an open house 24/7, and is an amazing lead generation idea. Because the online environment is three-dimensional, it more closely mimics the in-person buying experience without the need for in-person visits.

Second, your real estate agent can share your 3D home tour on social sites, like Facebook, Instagram, and the like. This allows him or her to expose your home to more buyers or sellers. Real estate technology like online 3D home tours increases the number of leads an agent gets and can quicken the sale of a home.

My360 and 3DVista are among the most common real estate tech tools.

Technology in Real Estate: eSigning and eSignatures

One of the biggest real estate technology trends to hit the market is eSigning and eSignature technologies. These tech tools allow buyers and sellers to sign on the dotted line without ever having to uncap their ballpoint pens.

Most of these tech tools require very little in terms of the type of tech you can use to access them. Your smartphone should suffice, though people have been known to use tablets, computers, and more to get the job done.

For clients, this translates into some very real benefits. Real estate deals close faster and usually with greater ease. They also cut down on paper use and disposal, while still allowing your agent to create a digital file of your assets, including your contracts.

For agents who use this real estate technology, there’s no such thing as a forgotten pen or contract. As long as your agent has a phone, you have a deal.

End-to-End Transaction Management Technology

What would it be like to have all of your real estate technology needs available to you in one dashboard? If your real estate agent uses end-to-end transaction management software, then the home buying or home selling process is far smoother than without.

Real estate technology like Shaker allows your agent to manage your listing, send emails, organize property signings, and more all in one place. If you’ve ever had to switch between different technologies during your workday in order to do your job, then you know how much time it wastes.

Usually, you end up with a lot of tabs open on your laptop. It’s challenging to try to keep track of all of them. Imagine how it must be for a real estate agent who has a lot of clients to juggle. That’s a lot of open tabs. And a lot of potential to miss out on deals for a client.

On a more day-to-day note, it also means that you’ll be able to get down to business faster when you’re on the phone with your agent. He or she won’t have to shuffle through a zillion files and tabs to find your files. They’re all in one place.

Final Thoughts on Real Estate Technology Trends

Modern real estate technology has changed the way that buyers, sellers, and real estate agents do business. If you’re in the midst of a home buying or home selling deal, then you probably know just how important having the right real estate tech is.

Real estate technology trends lean toward speed and ease, with technologies like eSignatures, 3D tours, and mobile apps doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the process. End-to-End transaction management technology, like Shaker, ensures that you never lose out on a real estate deal again.

If you’d like to learn more about Shaker, contact us today.