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There’s no question that real estate is a technology-driven industry. Whether it’s a lead-generation system or home-search portal, buyers and sellers have come to expect tech to streamline their experience and make transactions faster and more efficient. In fact, according to a National Association of Realtors (NAR) report, 50% of home buyers found the home they purchased on the internet.
Real estate firms are responding accordingly (my firm included), elevating the experience for consumers via new tech advancements. We launched two innovative tech platforms this year alone to make the home-buying process easier for consumers and agents alike.
Yet even with all this tech integrated into our business practices and daily lives, real estate continues to be at its core a relationship business. Every transaction relies on the rapport and trust between client and agent. The real question facing our industry is: How can agents maintain that relationship in an age when the tech is capable of incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) tools that can actually mimic the tone of your voice, the sentiment of your words and your personality?
When I first started in real estate, the relationship between agent and client was developed over time. Buyers and sellers needed a teacher and counselor to walk them through the process. Agents were an important source of intel on communities, schools and taxes, as this information was often difficult and time-consuming for clients to find on their own. Flash forward to today, when so much of that information can be found online instantaneously and transactions happen faster than ever, and that traditional agent-client bond can be challenging to nurture.
But that relationship is as vital as ever to properly serve clients. Only a human can fully interpret real estate data found on the internet for the individual situation. Every house, every block, every neighborhood is different — even in a planned development — and the agent’s knowledge of a consumer’s specific needs helps them match the perfect house with that buyer.
Current AI lacks the sophistication to determine whether a seller has a sense of urgency, or if a buyer is willing to fix up a house or has a lifestyle that makes one home more suitable than another. A real estate agent brings that intuition to every transaction and simply cannot be supplanted by AI.
And industry insiders aren’t the only one noticing this. A recent survey indicates that nine out of 10 Generation Z adults — a generation that was literally raised on tech — plan to use a real estate agent to buy a home. Gen Zers want real estate agents who understand them, understand their values and help them find homes that are extensions of those values. And they’re savvy enough to realize that’s something AI cannot do.
Making sure consumers truly understand how real estate professionals continue to be a vital asset to consumers — as only they have the expertise to strategically leverage tech — is what our industry must better communicate.
Here are the top three ways agents can use tech to build a better relationship with consumers:
1. Facilitate human contact, and convert leads: Tech helps us generate new business, but then we need to use that tech to better engage a prospect and respond more quickly to provide requested information. That opens the door for us to take the next step — to follow up to see if there’s anything else we can provide. It opens a dialogue and allows us to convert that prospect into a client.
2. Foster a continuing relationship with existing clients: By keeping prior clients current on market conditions through automated systems, we maintain a rapport with that client for years after the sale. That helps keep you top of mind so when that client is ready to buy or sell again, they’ll think of you first.
3. Better get to know your clients and their needs: The most helpful systems have the ability to not only track client searches, but also to learn from them to better anticipate that client’s needs. So, if your client is spending more time looking at homes with first-floor master bedrooms, the system will learn from that and show them more houses with that feature. An agent with more information about the client’s needs is in a better position to provide a more personalized showing experience.
With the latest data indicating home buyers still desire the personal touch of an agent — whether for information, advice or just hand-holding during a stressful transaction — the future is bright for agents who take the time to strategically incorporate technology in a way that will nurture client relationships.