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How The Internet Is Changing Real
Estate
According to a 2007 National Association of
Realtors report, 84 percent of prospective homebuyers used the Internet
as a source of information for buying a home. With such a high usage
rate, it isn’t a stretch to say that the Internet is revolutionizing how
real estate is bought and sold. Let’s look at the ways in which the
Internet is affecting almost all areas of the real estate business:
The Availability of Information. In
the past, access to the Multiple Listing Service was limited to real
estate agents, but that’s not the case anymore. Not only is MLS
information accessible on the Web, but search engines such as Google and
web-based software such as Microsoft Live Local have also contributed to
the wealth of home information now available with the click of a mouse.
Other data—such as local demographics, crime statistics, and school
reports—is also easily available to prospective buyers. With this
availability of information, the real estate business has become more of
a do-it-yourself industry than ever before.
The Rise of Real Estate Websites.
Websites such as Zillow.com and Trulia.com have upped the ante in terms
of the real estate business going online. Going beyond information
gathering, these sites are actively involved in real estate
transactions. Zillow.com began as a website that listed estimated values
of homes, but it now shows homes for sale and offers a “Make Me Sell”
option, which allows homeowners to post a price at which they’ll sell
their home—even if it’s not on the market. On the flip side, individual
real estate agents and real estate brokers have increased their business
with their own websites. Not only do they show their own listings, but
they also provide multiple photos and virtual 360° tours of their
listings.
New Online Capabilities. Email,
instant messaging, and voice and video links have increased the speed of
communication between agents and clients and real-time communication is
now the norm. Also, the growth of web technology has allowed buyers and
sellers to use the Internet to electronically complete contracts, escrow
and title paperwork, and other real estate and mortgage functions. The
technology is currently available to have real estate transactions be
completed 100% online and that may become a reality in the future.
With the rise of the Internet in the past
ten years, some have questioned the future role of real estate agents.
Will they become obsolete as technology progresses? The answer to that
is a resounding no. Although the Internet has indeed changed the way
agents do business, it will never be able to replace the two most
important qualities that all real estate agents have: knowledge and
experience. ∆ |
