Digital real estate agents: how to leverage new technology to maximise mobility and deliver a premium experience to prospects and clients

A real estate agent’s job is one of the most versatile out there. Their duties are wide ranging: from prospecting and valuations to publishing listings, carrying out viewings, managing properties, understanding the market and ensuring legal compliance. This sets them apart as an expert authority on the property market.

Unfortunately, knowledge alone isn’t always enough. Nowadays, there are several solutions that enable agents to be more efficient and mobile by coupling the on-the-ground work with a premium digital experience.

But how do real estate agents position themselves as trust-worthy experts? Read on to find out how digital tools are aiding property agents and the benefits of being a 100% mobile digital agent.

Today’s real estate agent

All the technological advances in recent years as well as the global pandemic have highlighted the need for many professions to accelerate their digital transformation. And real estate agents are no exception.

Digital tools have become a necessity in our ever-more connected world where social distancing has become the norm and everything is moving at break-neck speed.

The two hottest topics in the world of real estate right now are how to digitalise the property agent profession and what impact technological advances are going to have on the industry as a whole.

And rightly so. In 2021, over 6.4 billion people owned smartphones and 54.8% of website views were made on a mobile device (vs. 31% in 2015).* Digital media is constantly growing and, consequently, real estate agents must diversify their communication channels to be more efficient and adapt to their customers and/or leads.

The work of a real estate agent is like no other: it combines both on-the-ground duties with more administrative tasks, the latter of which could be digitalised. Property agents are always on the move, which means the idea of a mobile real estate agent makes perfect sense.

Technology as an answer to the global pandemic

The pandemic has served to accelerate change in the world of real estate. Metrics such as increased sales of secondary residences in 2020*show that this type of crisis can create challenges but also open up new possibilities and opportunities. Real estate agents have no other choice but to adapt and leverage new technology to ensure they don’t miss out on new leads and earn new listings.

Real estate agents must adopt new technology in response to the pandemic and the needs of clients and/or leads: being more mobile is vital to staying ahead of the competition and ensuring a business prospers.

Non-mobile vs. mobile agent: what’s the difference?

Digital tools play an integral role in a real estate agent’s job and day-to-day activities, but what added benefits do these tools truly bring? What differentiates a mobile and non-mobile agent? Let’s take a look at a few examples:

A real estate agent is on the way to a viewing:

🙅‍♀️Non-mobile agent: the agent forgets their notebook in their local café and doesn’t know the lead’s address off by heart. They must therefore go back to get the notebook and end up arriving late to their meeting.

📱Mobile agent: the agent has the meeting’s address in their CRM, which they can access via their phone or tablet. They also have all the important information on the prospective seller. They arrive on time and are even able to look over their notes while waiting!

The real estate agent is in the middle of a viewing:

🙅‍♀️Non-mobile agent: They are taking notes but can’t make a valuation on the spot. As a professional, they can provide information based on their market knowledge but they have no digital data to support their case.

📱Mobile agent: The agent can easily create an accurate valuation report on the spot, saving time thanks to complete and precise data that is readily available.

The viewing is over, the real estate agent leaves:

🙅‍♀️Non-mobile agent: They must recopy all the handwritten information to make their valuation once back home or at the office. Moreover, the property needs diagnostic reports, so the agent must send several back-and-forth emails with suppliers. They encounter difficulties, lack efficiency and have little direct visibility on the price of reports. A lot of time is lost.

📱Mobile agent: All the data collected during the viewing is automatically copied to the specialist software: no need to recopy everything after the viewing, saving time and letting them concentrate on other tasks.

Digital solutions such as Toolimo help real estate agents easily schedule appointments for their diagnostics and check-in inventories all from one single location. They have a direct overview of the price of diagnostics, can directly make appointments and inform the customer.

Digital tools like those developed by PriceHubble enable real estate agents to leverage property data in order to provide genuine added value to their prospective customers and clients. Solutions such as Property Advisor supply accurate and complete estimations to facilitate listing agreements or justify a future real estate project. Lead Generator makes it possible to capture prospective sellers as early as possible to boost acquisitions and convert leads more easily.

In conclusion, a mobile agent:

→ Gives leads and clients access to the most important information in every case

→ Saves precious time by avoiding long and time-consuming processes (e.g. recopying notes, making several appointments for diagnostics, etc.)

→ Combines on-the-ground intelligence with the power of digital tools

→ Converts prospective sellers into clients more efficiently while also offering a better customer experience

Tomorrow’s real estate agent

The use of digital tools has transformed real estate into a phygital business (where technology bridges the gap between the digital and physical world). Real estate agents now provide their leads and clients with an interactive experience that combines a physical experience, customer relationship and human contact with a digital experience and online interactions.

What will the real estate agent of the future look like?

The digital transformation process is well under way, but we already have a glimpse into what trends will shape the future of the real estate agent profession and the property business as a whole.

• Real estate professionals want to continue investing in property data and digital tools. This is the case for the notary profession and the Proptech industry.

• The emergence of hybrid agencies (which offer a mix between a low-cost agency and a property portal, with the aim of renting a client’s property quickly for a fixed fee that is cheaper than a traditional agency) and iBuyers (companies that offer to buy a person’s property in 24 or 48 hours, with the price determined by an algorithm then approved by an expert).

• The increase in virtual viewings, as offered by NodalView, one of the market leaders.

• The growing interest in augmented reality and holograms: viewing a prospective purchase or the final result of a property refurbishment in 3D, as offered by Microsoft Hololens.

If you would like to know more about digital tools or expanding your 2.0 toolbox, check out this article written by Toolimo.

If the recent interest and enthusiasm for digital tools is anything to go by, 2022 is sure to be full of surprises. And as we’ve already seen, staying up to date with technological trends is vital for the real estate sector because they hold the key to reaching a new generation of leads.

If you want to know more about the digital tools offered by PriceHubble or how we use property data to develop our valuation solutions, please contact us.