How Fast Are Brokers Adopting New Technologies?

“Technology can process data and find facts and do what it’s supposed to do most of the time. Call me old-school, but I keep 3 by 5 index cards, just in case,” George Mantor, real estate expert and broker, tells GlobeSt.com. The real estate industry has been slow to adopt new technologies, and in many cases, industry veterans don’t see new technologies as a necessity. Not only so veterans like Mantor believe technology won’t replace brokerage, they actually see it as potentially detrimental to the relationships that drive deals.

“The money behind the technology makes assumptions based on view of the life of a real estate transaction. The envision an army of buyers in a sea of houses and have focused on how to position themselves to tap off some of those revenues,” says Mantor. “This may be where technology has failed the real estate industry by intending to replace the practitioner, rather than support her in the building of meaningful relationships. Ironically, the information relied upon by all of the technology is supplied by the practitioners themselves, entered into the system for no compensation and is then utilized by third parties to attract leads which they then sell back to the inputters of the data.”

While Mantor isn’t opposed to technology tools that can assist brokers and create efficiencies, he argues that they don’t currently. As an example, he says buyers have used tools to find homes and still sought out an agent to assist in the process. “If new technologies and platforms can assist some buyers, that’s great, but that doesn’t appear to be the case,” he says. “According to the NAR, in 2001, the dawn of real estate technologies, 69% of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker; by 2018, that number increased to 87%. This, despite the fact 50% of buyers reported finding the home they purchased on the internet while only 28% were introduced by a real estate agent. The new technologies enable people to find the home they purchase but they still use a human.”

While tech tools aren’t replacing brokers, they might be helping to generate business. Most new buyers are reporting finding homes online while partnering with an agent, only 1% reported finding a home in newspapers. “The newspapers have been disintermediated,” says Mantor. “Despite the rise in do-it-yourself selling sights, 91% of sellers were assisted by a real estate agent.”

On the other hand, most sellers are finding agents through referral, not online. According to Mantor, 39% of sellers found an agent through a friend or family and 24% used an agent they had worked with in the past. “In other words, 63% of sellers chose their agent from prior relationships and word of mouth,” says Mantor. “Ironically, this number would be a lot higher but for the fact that most are still chasing leads instead of creating this future business.”