Aug 05 - 4min readHow Is Proptech Influencing The Buying and Selling Process?By Launchbase
Proptech has influenced the way in which estate agents are approaching new business and how they communicate with sellers as well as buyers. Besides the obvious gadgets that we use on a regular basis like smartphones, tablets and laptops, estate agents tend to lean towards various proptech to reach out to their audience.
How are agents using tech to communicate with buyers and sellers?
Dan Hughes, CEO of Alpha Property Insight, explains that 80% of an estate agent’s day consists of marketing their product and doing additional admin tasks. This goes against the general idea that this time is taken up by closing and negotiating deals. He believes that by using proptech, they can invert this process completely. Self-service portals and around-the-clock accessibility are already allowing managers of property to embrace the change to proptech. Portals are delivering better services to customers by providing means for tenants to view rent payment history and the ability for tenants to request work orders. This allows property managers to focus on business-generation activities that boost overall sales. Out-of-hours email responders, online seller and buyer registrations as well as e-signing services have thrived over the past couple of years and have allowed for changes in how agents interact with growth opportunities and driving that forward with proptech.
Now, more than ever before, proptech is making waves in the real-estate industry and changing it forever. Whether it is the agents personal use or the buying process in general, the changes are obvious. On a financial level, a study in the United States showed that 26% of estate agents spent $1,00 – $3,000 on technology so estate agents are making the changes in incorporating technology into their daily practice. Multiple Listing Services(MLS) is a marketing database that has proved popular amongst estate agents. The MLS was designed by real-estate brokers which allows for estate agents to view other’s properties and provides accurate and shareable data about the property as well as sharing commissions with each other. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the most valuable tools provided by MLS include critical market analysis, property data and history, and automated emails to clients/prospects.
Is enough being done to speed up the process?
Platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook have become a prominent tool in the estate agent’s arsenal. Social Media allows for estate agents to connect with a wider pool of clients and maintaining relationships with their clients as well as promote their listings. NAR have released statistics stating that 70% if estate agents use social media for their business, 25% used it to maintain customer relationships and 26% used social media platforms to promote their listings. The development of new mobile apps has also made it significantly easier for estate agents to incorporate proptech into their daily practice to provide information to their clients. The mobile app Curbcall is like the Uber app as it allows for individuals to clients to connect with estate agents and whichever one responds first would get the job. Apps like these make the process of buying and selling properties easier both clients and estate agents.
Student rental property is the one consumer property sector where proptech is making itself known the most! The young demographic of clientele being the main target market, they are more inclined to embrace technology. Most estate agents that make use of proptech tend to use a cloud-based property software suite and progression sales tools. A most recent one being MIO which has significantly reduced the time it takes estate agents to reach the end of result of a property sale.
Has the use of tech increased or decreased the percentage of sales that go from offer to completion?
The pace can slow down to a crawl-pace from the point at which an offer is made for the property. On average, in Wales and England, it can take up to 12 weeks. This delay can cause put the transaction at risk which is unpleasant for both the buyer and seller. According to official statistics, over a quarter of transactions fail. It is because of this why the property industry and government agencies are eager to make use of proptech to speed up the buying process to avoid sales from falling through.
As this a consumer-led movement, proptech has been brought forward by consumers that rely on technology in their day-to-day life such as mobile apps to control different elements in their day-to-day life. What does this mean for you? This means that there are significant opportunities for your property business to have access to these individuals on their devices directly and stand out from the crowd. What is key for these individuals to is transparency and flexibility. Clients in today’s modern world are busy and want to view properties in their own time and by not offering this, you may be missing out on a whole pool of potential clients. Nowadays, estate agents are more inclined to use a mobile app for convenience and flexibility. In fact, it offers a 225% higher reach than standard websites. We are working with one of the UK’s leading independent estate agencies Joseph Homes. to create an app to speed up the offer to completion phase of selling properties.
