Much of what used to be done from an office window or in the local paper has moved onto the web, and from there onto mobile phones – a trend presenting the real estate industry with enormous challenges

In a world of remorseless change, it’s not only new technologies, but also new techniques, working practices and skills that could prove the difference between success and failure.

‘The chief areas of technology that people should be concentrating on are customer relationship management systems and a marketing set-up that allows them to carry out all of their marketing from just one place,’ says real estate technology guru Professor Bernice Ross. (See also her blog in this issue of Future World.)

‘With a one-stop marketing shop they should be able to carry out just one upload that places their listing on many sites, and they should be able to do the same with their videos.’

Some 90 per cent of buyers now go online as part of their search, but Ross – an Emeritus Professor of psychology who coaches real estate staff – says many real estate companies do not know what is generating their online sales, neither tracking leads nor finding out what is causing their conversion ratios.

‘They do not know what is generating their qualified leads and they think that technology is a substitute for connection,’ she says.

Research recently carried out by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has found out that 98 to 99 per cent of those people who view a property online will drive by and see it, something that Doug Garcia, the director of research for San Francisco Bay area commercial Realtors Colliers Parrish states will routinely involve the use of a mobile phone.

Garcia says his company is now looking at both mapping technology to guide clients to a potential property and, in the future, the use of locational tags to alert a client to the fact that they may be passing a property.

However, the use of smart phones and internet mobile is also presenting the real estate community with issues. ‘The President of Nokia has referred to it as iPodification,’ says Ross. ‘All of your services should be delivered to one point. Because of that, there should be two variants of a real estate website – a full-blown version and a dot-mobi version, which carries short, one-line descriptions for mobile.”

Ross is not alone in picking mobile technology as a rich new area. Intensive research carried out by Future World has revealed that real estate agents are all trying to find ways into a device that is increasingly being seen as a pocketbook. New products and systems being promoted by the mobile phone industry itself should make that process easier, allowing text messages and adverts to be sent direct to mobile.

Internet websites being developed for mobile by companies such as Unity Mobile (also featured in this issue of Future World) are being closely followed by phones – from companies such as ‘3’, which open Skype and Facebook to show who is online without connecting to the web – which offer opportunities to real estate companies to connect via mobile.

This interest in social networking could help evade moves by governments in the US and Europe to regulate access to mobile due to privacy concerns: people will happily supply information via social networking applications that they would not dream of providing to market researchers.

Which comes back neatly to one of Ross’ other tips: the use of social networking technologies like Twitter and Facebook by the real estate industry. Much has been written recently encouraging the use of social networking by Realtors, but little about why they should. The answer is simple. Not only do the systems provide valuable potential leads, which many have already recognised, they also provide localised information that can be mined to provide an invaluable lifestyle resource.

Says Ross: ‘What we are going to see is the growth of community information. That information will come from co-creation by users, word of mouth, the picnic and cocktail party circuit, and from people who share common interests. Real estate agents are going to start drawing on that.

‘There are sites that are being put together now that are looking for people who are 35-50 years old, and who either work on Wall Street or are involved in the media, film or art. The idea is that they will form a community online and that they will also want to live near each other.

‘It’s “Where I’m doing business” and “What is my lifestyle”. Into that you will get local information being factored in, so you will get the local restaurant owner and other people who have local businesses putting in information, and people buying a property will want to know all about that.

‘The real estate companies that exploit this trend will be successful because they will become the manager of my zip code; they will become experts for that area and its lifestyle.’

Real estate agents would then add this community-rich information to a rapidly developing data mine.

‘Mapping is one of those components that has been around for a long time now and it is expected,’ continues Ross. ‘One of the very interesting developments is www.rottenneighbor.com which lists bad neighbours, sex offenders and foreclosures. That is a development that I think is going to really pick up pace because at the moment anything that is pushing from the bottom up is gaining momentum.’

The final area of technology development identified by Ross is the evolution of 3D.

‘Interactive 3D will have the same sort of role to play in providing local and specific information: it will also give people a competitive edge.

‘I am involved in a real estate business in Beverly Hills, and if I were wanting to advertise a $3-5m listing, then I would do it in 3D because that is what would give me the competitive edge.’

An opinion backed by some of the most tech-savvy companies in real estate, with many now researching the potential of 3D offerings from companies like Google and Microsoft to provide views of local communities, streets and neighbourhoods.

Taking people inside the houses in those areas – so that they can see the view from the window – is the next logical step as technology begins to populate the virtual world.

For those wishing to read Professor Bernice Ross’ full article click here.

For those wanting to know more about United Lane’s unique 3D technology, contact James.digby@unitedlane.com

If you have any queries regarding this newsletter, or would like to contribute, please email Peter Warren at peter.warren@unitedlane.com