Will there ever be a “Buy it Now” button on Real Estate Websites?
First they said the Internet was a fad, then they said nobody would ever shop online, then they said Social was a fad, and now many “This is how it’s always been done” real estate minds are saying the internet can never replace the human in a real estate transaction. Well, whenever someone says that a “thing” is never going to happen, it tends to trigger something in my brain that asks: “Why not?”
In our experience, some Sales Reps and Brokers actually get in the way of a transaction with their own emotions or sheer laziness and unprofessionalism. Wouldn’t an emotionless website remove those obstacles and streamline the Buying process?
Right now, the answer is NO. No, only because the leaders in real estate technology haven’t quite figured it out yet but many are trying. Real Estate moved online a decade ago so when some Sales Rep is sitting in your living room telling you that you should hire them because their (insert big box brand here) will give your home all sorts of exposure on this fancy new thing called “The Web”…guess what? I’ll bet my itty bitty brokerage has more relevant digital reach than you…nana nana na na!
Back to the point, many registered Brokerages (which shall go unnamed here) have gone completely digital. They offer online real estate searches that are better than the MLS (ours is seriously the best…check it out here). We even want to be able to publish SOLD data but we can’t publish that yet so the only way you can get that is by signing up for our weekly sold report here.
So with all of this information out there what do you still need a sales rep or broker? What do we bring to the table when you can do all the research yourself, get all the information right when you want it where you want it? Honestly, if a sales rep or broker doesn’t have a hyper-focused niche that they work day in and day out, in our opinion, they add no real value beyond what’s available digitally right now.
The only way the human sales rep or broker is still relevant in a real estate transaction is with super specific, hyper-focused, geographic or demographic knowledge (that’s how our sales reps roll at Spring). It’s really that simple. I’m sure this will ruffle some Real Estate feathers but hey, when you stand for something and shout it from the rooftops it tends to create some tension with some.
