Why Tech Doesn't Matter in Real Estate
It goes without saying that technology is an essential component of any industry, and real estate is no exception. When choosing a real estate company to represent you in your home sale or purchase, you are likely noticing more and more brokerage firms touting their technology tools and wondering if this is going to make a difference for you as a buyer or seller.
Those of who have been around long enough to remember the days before smart phones, email, the internet, even voice mail, surely appreciate that technology has made us tremendously more efficient and productive in our business lives (of course, it cuts both ways—it’s also made us more available than we’d necessarily like to be).
Technology means that as real estate professionals we can communicate with clients more effectively, we can remotely respond to questions, negotiate offers, set up buyer tours, and conduct most aspects of our work without having to be tied to a desk. We can draft documents and obtain signatures without having to meet in person, we can address transaction issues without delay, and we can create effective, far-reaching property marketing within minutes.
As for our buyers and sellers, technology has given them full-time access to property details, photographs, data, and every imaginable source of information to help them make decisions about their home purchase.
Technology is so prevalent and so essential, in fact, that it would be easy to assume it’s changed the essence of real estate. While Donnelly + Co. has adopted all the technology necessary for conducting business in the 21st century, it’s also worth pointing out that we’re not a technology company.
We’re a relationship company, because real estate is a relationship business.
No matter how it changes, real estate is an old-fashioned business in many ways. Yes, we’re selling homes, and technology is a powerful, game-changing facilitator of the sales process. But the selling of homes is really just the skeleton of the job. What we’re really doing is accommodating seismic shifts in lifestyle, enabling personal and family growth, fulfilling dreams, and recalibrating goals. Our clients are looking for places to be married, have babies, celebrate birthday and holidays, welcome friends, retire, and live out their lives. There’s no app for any of that.
At Donnelly + Co., we believe that you need an agent you trust, an agent who listens, an agent who can demonstrate to you their knowledge and experience in transacting real estate. You need an agent who can negotiate effectively on your behalf, and understand what it takes to get you successfully to the closing table. You need an agent who will fiercely protect your interests and handle the details that you don’t need to.
Technology might help your agent communicate more efficiently with you, access information more quickly for you, but technology is no substitute for the hours your agent will spend explaining the real estate process to you, and technology won’t help you feel more confident in your agent’s abilities to work hard for you. Technology can’t help your agent present your case to the other side, point out the important features of your home to a prospective buyer, or understand how to resolve post-inspection arguments.
At Donnelly + Co., we use technology just like everyone else. But at Donnelly + Co., it’s our commitment to our relationship with you that makes us better.
