Real Estate Technology | What’s Next in 2018?

 

With so much happening in the real estate technology world, what is important in the coming year?

A lot has happened in the last month in the world of real estate technology—RE/MAX announced their purchase of the BOOJ website platform, Keller Williams rolled out a new voice AI technology platform and REAL Trends released its 2018 REAL Trends Online Performance Study.

With all this technology news breaking, one can’t help but take a step back and guess what will truly be important in the real estate technology landscape in 2018 and beyond.

Trending

The main trends that are emerging in the technology landscape can be summed up by two main bullet points: The continual importance of an all-in-one platform and taking advantage of AI and advanced marketing methods and solutions.

All-in-one Platform

The emphasis placed on having a proven platform from which to run your brokerage is paramount. With the advent and integration of numerous technology platforms and lead sources, it’s critical to have a solution that works well alone but also plays friendly with other ancillary systems your brokerage may have in place. Many of these all-in-one solutions only display their quality on the surface level. Just as the adage goes “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” the same can be said for technology—You can’t judge a web platform by its design. Many times, the design is trivial and can easily be manipulated to a brokerage’s liking. What really matters is how the system can handle and distribute leads from multiple sources, execute on automated follow-ups, incorporate reporting and workflows, integrate with other systems, and be simple enough to use to support widespread agent adoption.

Artificial Intelligence & Predictive Analytics

The second major trend that the industry will be observing comes from the digital marketing side. Being able to deploy elements of AI, predictive marketing, interest marketing, intent-driven marketing and big data analytics have all made for the perfect storm. The result has introduced some of the most sophisticated marketing solutions to date.

Some of these focus on the predictive and physical locations of potential buyers and sellers, while others present relevant messages based on shown intent across the internet. Tried and true digital marketing juggernauts (looking at you Google and Facebook) have also continued to improve their platforms and include advanced marketing tools and tactics to their platform. Not only do these allow the correct messages to reach the correct people, but they also prove an ROI on your marketing dollar with built-in analytics, reporting and tracking features.

Keep an eye on these technologies; they will mature quickly. Those aware of or taking advantage of these tools will noticeably pull away from the top performing brokerages in their market area.