Proptech has already impacted our lives (and you haven’t noticed)
Far away are the times when the only thing you could do with your house was to sell it or buy it through an agency, or get information…
Far away are the times when the only thing you could do with your house was to sell it or buy it through an agency, or get information about the prices by gossiping about how much your neighbor got from his home…
The new millennium brought with it things as popular today as Coldplay hits or the Gilmore Girls series, but also technology got inside the Real Estate industry in 2000. Proptech refers to that, to the technology applied in properties. The data, algorithms, photo-scraping and image-recognition capabilities, dynamic-valuation models, customer-relationship management systems and everything else that can power AI to better inform users and improve systemic efficiencies.
You may not have noticed, but we are used to many of the tech applications in real estate as we are used to listening to the song Yellow. For example, can you imagine trying to rent a room without an online platform like Idealista? Or looking for an apartment for your holidays without Airbnb? And this keeps growing with iBuyers like Tiko or other companies specialized in home automation, data analysis, financing, real estate software, virtual reality…
These are some of the advantages that technology brings to Real Estate:
# 1 Simpler
Processes in real estate, like selling a house, are considered one of the most stressful in our lives. Digitalization has simplified them in an industry that hadn’t experienced much significant change in centuries.
For instance, data analytics is being used in developing more accurate property valuations like we do in Tiko. We are capable of giving a competitive and accurate offer in just seconds thanks to our automated valuation model, Tikoanalytics.
Another example is the simplification of the rental process, including applications, approvals, rent collection and property management.
# 2 More transparent
People now can find immense amounts of information about properties in their areas, across the country and around the world thanks to listing sites. And, for investors, there are companies specialized in analyzing Big Data about the property market in real time.
# 3 Accesible
Additionally, property technology tools like virtual reality can be used to give potential buyers a more immersive experience of a property without having to visit the site physically.
This was key during the lockdown. When it was impossible to visit homes, people could watch video tours and make offers online.
The end of realtors?
No. Realtors give an added value, a human closeness that cannot be replaced by AI. What technology does is help them, giving them more tools to professionals in this area.
Actually, people within Proptech companies need to have the right skill set to be able to proceed and adopt the transformation, so we must work to teach them if needed.
In conclusion, I believe that technology is no longer a driver of business, but it is the business. Digital transformation must be seen as an ongoing process that will benefit either customers and workers. Organizations must adapt to tech evolutions, or become irrelevant.