In our high-tech world, technology has changed the way most business is transacted. The real estate Industry has also seen the effects of new technology. 

There are many ways that technology has changed the real estate industry for the better. We have seen a vast improvement in how efficient an Agent can be. 

Looking back, selling real estate 25 years ago, we did not work on computers and did not have all the information needed at our fingertips. Can you imagine, we got all our information from a book that had all the listings in them. By the time the book came out in new print, the listings were already sold. (Many disappointed clients.) Yes, we remember the day that the fax machine was our only source of getting that offer to the other agent. There was an incident where we told our client the offer had been verbally accepted and was asked to fax it over. We kept trying to fax the offer and the phone was busy, busy. By the time the fax went through another offer had come in and was signed and accepted. Our poor client was devastated. Today, we have Dot Loop and Authentisign and other ways of sending a contract to an agent or a client no matter where we are in the world. The signatures are e-signed and enables the Client, Buyer, Seller and Agents to sign a document without even meeting with them. We have sold, signed and closed on properties without ever meeting the seller. 

Today, we can visit homes through virtual tour and decide if we are ready to buy without even personally walking into a home. We can find out where the property is located by the help of drones taking pictures. We have our cell phones to call or text real estate agents to serve you and respond to you within minutes. Paperless transactions are used in our business world, and everything is kept in the cloud. 

Texting and emails can be advantageous to all of us. We used to rely on what we used to call a paper trail. We could always go back to check and recheck our documents. Boxes and Boxes stored with contracts and pertinent information used to be the norm. Using text and emails allows us to have important dates and conversations without any second guessing. 

Siri or the internet can be a dictionary, provide us with medical information, help us spell, do our math and calculate. We often think of what our parents would have thought. No arguments over stopping to get directions. Ask and you will receive a map and sometimes the right directions.

How things have changed in our lives, is it all for the good?     

These are some of the PROS offered to us in our high-tech world. We could go on and on about how many wonderful things that we now have in make our lives easier. Agents today need to stay ahead of the game and know how to transact business in a universe gone mobile.

Now let’s look at the CONS in the real estate Industry. 

We always ask our clients how they would like to communicate. Phone call, text, email?? We always respect their wishes. We would like to remind you that sometimes, communicating by texting, the verbiage can be misinterpreted. We have experienced where the client completely interpreted the text wrong and vice-versa. When dealing with something as important as buying or selling a home, this is the time that talking one-on-one with your agent will clarify all questions.       

 We think that we are all able to adapt to the changes that we will encounter in the future. However, even self-described tech enthusiasts think we should all take a step back and know that technology can be a double-edged sword. Real Estate is a business that requires a personal relationship. We find real estate success comes from social networking, but NOTHING will ever replace communicating face to face with our clients.

Living in a world where there is no communicating will become a lonely world. Experts say that the younger generation is the loneliest generation of all times. We all know there is no going back. Lets all look forward to future technology and live in the present. It’s a great world to be living in today. ENJOY!

Thought for the day: Little children step on our toes. Big children on your heart.