How Technology is Changing the Real Estate Industry and How to Leverage It

The future of real estate technology is unfolding to meet the growing expectations of the public and to embrace the latest AI developments. The Internet of Things, to name but one area, is a powerful step forward, and so are tools powered by AR or VR. Taken together, the latest real estate technology tools form a combo that transforms the experience of buying, selling, managing, and designing real property. In this article, we’re going to examine the existing and emerging trends and solutions and see how they impact the practice of property management and marketing. 

What is real estate technology?

Real estate technology, property technology, or proptech in short, is considered a major disruptive power. It offers a range of improvements, helps reduce paperwork and workload related to property management and marketing, and optimizes the way people buy, sell, research, and manage real property. Available real estate technology tools range from real estate marketplaces and portals, which we have already known for some time, to innovative landscaping tools and software that combines a few areas of experience, e.g. finance, design, and modern search facilities.

The available technological innovations come in a few categories:

• Tools for real estate agents
• Solutions for property managers
• Fintech
• Construction technology
• Investment and venture capital solutions
• Climate technology – cooling and warming options
• Universal solutions for all stakeholders

Emerging technologies in real estate

High-tech marketing solutions for commercial real estate are there to show rather than tell – and to this end, they rely on animation, visualization, 3D immersive experience, and AR/VR-based tools. Advanced tools make it easier for designers to visualize a project and create an impression of how it is going to look when finished. This is a great asset both for real estate brokers and clients who are on the lookout for property.

Another category of innovative solutions is known as building information modeling (BIM). While construction continues to be a lengthy and laborious process, with the latest IT tools you can monitor the entire project from start to finish, and test various alternatives before they are implemented in production, which is a major cost-saving option. 

Technological innovations even reach as far as customer service and communications. With a modern interactive system, integrated with e-mail and database, you can use a wide range of available data to drive better decisions in real estate marketing.

Impacts of technology on real estate

As shown above, individual modern solutions can help you streamline your real estate business, but you need to remember that each major development also poses a challenge, if only related to the need to master new skills and integrate a multitude of data. Below we pick a few examples of how real estate technology tools optimize user experience and elevate the property business.

Property management technology

Technological advancement is probably at its best in this area of experience. It’s not only real estate brokers who rely on state-of-the-art solutions to optimize their management processes with the help of virtual reality; also end users benefit from the Internet of Things, where more and more household devices can be integrated and controlled remotely, taking a significant burden off your head. Think of Nest thermostats or smart water meters, which can be programmed to optimize costs and monitor any irregularities to keep you informed in advance.

Property management solutions can be helpful if you want to project certain expenses before you let or occupy a property. Augmented reality software is a gem when it comes to organizing a virtual tour of a place, which facilitates the experience of choosing real property, and it can be used to outline the cost of living, so that the broker can offer accurate information, and prospective users can envisage the experience before they place an offer.

High-tech marketing for commercial real estate

Commercial property technology uses innovative tools to help real estate brokers run, search, rent, and sell office buildings, industrial property, and retail facilities. Digital marketing in real estate begins with marketplaces that integrate a variety of data to drive informed decisions and appeal to the target audience.

Commercial property tech considers the following aspects:

• Property search platforms and marketplaces to facilitate listing and search process
• Construction tech for architecture, design, and construction site management
• Commercial real estate CRM
• Appraisal and financing tools, and automated valuation models
• Climate tech for energy and carbon management, including AI-powered tools 
• Investment and venture capital solutions

Such applications integrate a range of operations, from marketing to leasing. Modern technology promotes apartment listings and speeds up the lease process, thus minimizing vacancies.

Predictive analytics and artificial intelligence

Access to information means you are ahead of your competitors. With advanced data models, you can forecast the real estate industry trends or test various scenarios without having to face the financial consequences of missed decisions. 

AI-driven predictive analytics is useful in both commercial and residential real estate management because it helps you predict the performance of specific property assets and get insights on the ROI. Reliable big data analytics can be set up to monitor the available data to drive evidence-based decisions and formulate accurate predictions to forecast trends for your customer’s behaviors, property prices, and potential risks in the market.

Customer relationship management (CRM) evolution

Modern technology is there to support you in offering high-quality experience to your prospective customers. With access to the data integrated with your systems, you can tailor marketing and advertising efforts to match the needs and requirements of specific client groups and make sure your customers receive information suited to their preferences. Integrated systems for aggregating and processing data will reduce your paperwork burden and save the time needed to probe the changing market expectations.

With a properly updated database and an efficient CRM system, you can update listings, publish information, monitor and manage your customers’ sensitive data, and offer secure property deals. On top of this, automated reports will keep you informed of the performance of your assets.

At the design stage, you can rely on visualization tools to optimize your customers’ journey by producing realistic imaging of your property even while it’s still under construction. This way, you can boost your listings and speed up the selling rate. A properly marketed and presented real estate will be sold before it’s ready.

The future of real estate technology: Staying ahead of the curve

With great opportunities come considerable challenges. Since we’re well into the 21st century, we realize that with technological innovation, the main issue is data security. The real estate sector deals with sensitive data and resources, so the priority is to ensure confidentiality in all transactions. While choosing solutions to help you keep abreast of the latest developments and integrate them with your business, make sure you screen solution providers for compliance. 

The future of real estate technology is happening now, in front of our eyes. As always, embracing innovation gives you a great competitive advantage. Innovative solutions have the potential to transform our experience and elevate your business to a new level. Find experts who are already in the thick of things as far as real estate technology is concerned, and see how they guide property businesses through their journey into the future.