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A generation ago, few could have imagined how technology would change real estate.
Agents may have spent much of their marketing budget on newspaper ads. A large part of their job was to let clients know which homes were available. Knocking on the door was a rite of passage.
Fast forward to today and most buyers are used to finding listings via major portals. Many agents work almost entirely over the phone. And just this year, artificial intelligence exploded into the public consciousness, promising to fundamentally transform work.
In that light, Intel recently launched its first-ever technology survey to read how members of the industry feel about technology. About 300 people responded to the survey, and an interesting picture emerged from the responses.
While there has been a growing interest in recent years for all-in-one or end-to-end technology platforms that handle all of an agent’s needs, most respondents indicate that they are not using anything close to it. In fact, our findings suggest that many agents and brokers combine solutions from a variety of sources, giving individuals a great deal of autonomy over the technology they actually use.
What this means is that three years after Inman dubbed its end-to-end platform the “Holy Grail” of real estate, the real quest for that solution remains open.
A piecemeal approach to technology
One of the survey’s first questions asked respondents where they got their technology. This question partly pays homage to big name companies like Compass and Keller Williams.
However, only 7.6% of respondents said they have developed or are considering developing their own technology. On the other hand, 45.5% of respondents said they buy off-the-shelf products. Interestingly, 47% actually said he uses a combination of the two options.
Credit: Jim Dalrymple II
The responses were early indications from the survey that industry members prefer combining individualized technology solutions, and responses to later questions only further strengthened that thesis.
For example, another question asked respondents who work for companies that partner with major brands whether they use the brand’s full tech stack. However, only 12.5% of those who responded to the survey said he did.
On the other hand, 42.3% of respondents who partner with big brands say they use “some” of their own technology. (Another 36% of respondents worked for companies not affiliated with major brands.)
Credit: Jim Dalrymple II
The good news for companies offering comprehensive tech stacks is that only about 8% of respondents ignore those options entirely.
Similarly, another question found that many companies offer options to their agents. This question specifically asked if the leader offers a customer relationship manager (CRM) or asks agents to purchase such a tool themselves. Multiple respondents (about 46%) provide agents with her CRM. Only 19% asked agents to purchase such technology.
However, about 35% of respondents said they offer agents a “both” option. This again shows that it is common for industry members to choose which parts of their technology they want to use.
Credit: Jim Dalrymple II
On the other hand, when asked about the adoption rate of company-provided CRMs, several respondents (33%) said adoption was “good.” Another 26% described hiring as “fair” and 18% described hiring as “excellent.”
Only about 11% of respondents said their company-provided CRM implementation was “poor”.
Finally, the survey explicitly asked respondents whether they had an end-to-end platform, or instead a technology stack of individual products. Nearly half of the survey respondents said they would prefer the tech stack.
Less than a third (about 32%) say they have an end-to-end platform.
Credit: Jim Dalrymple II
Overall, the findings suggest that despite a great deal of attention and years of development, end-to-end platforms remain somewhat of a rarity. Moreover, even in an environment where companies provide more or less comprehensive technology, people in the field are still picking and choosing what they want to use.
This is good news for many agents who clearly have a high degree of self-determination when it comes to finding technical solutions. In other words, many agents may not actually want or need the kind of all-in-one platform that many big names in the industry have long touted as their goal.
But these findings may not be too reassuring for some industry leaders who have invested heavily in building their own platforms. Depending on where your agents work, these solutions already exist. Sometimes, but in any case, agents are still doing what they love.
Technology spending is limited
The survey also asked respondents about their spending on technology, and found that an overwhelming majority (about 75%) viewed technology as an “investment” rather than an “expense.”
Additional questions, however, found that per-agent spending on technology was somewhat limited. For example, when asked how much a leader spends on productivity solutions, a majority of about 40% said he spends less than $500. Nearly 30% of respondents said she spends between $500 and he spends $1,000.
Credit: Jim Dalrymple II
When the survey asked about spending per agent on CRM, the results were pretty much the same, with about 45% of respondents indicating spending less than $500. Another 26% of respondents spend $1,000 from her $500 per agent on her CRM.
Findings like this may indicate that industry professionals have a range of options and can find affordable solutions. The crowded and competitive real estate technology landscape should lead to options that won’t break the bank.
On the one hand, these findings suggest that spending on technology is not as exponential as ever. Industry leaders are investing in technology, but so far at least, the amounts are limited.
Interestingly, however, in light of these findings, the survey also asked leaders about their top concerns when buying technology. A majority of respondents, or 53%, say their top concern is ‘support agents’. The second most common response, at about 30%, was to provide a “competitive advantage” to agencies.
Additionally, technology “price” was only the most important consideration for about 6.8% of respondents.
Credit: Jim Dalrymple II
Somewhat strangely, the least popular answer to this question was “recruitment lottery”.
This is a surprising result, given that some companies, such as Compass, have made their technology a key part of their pitch to agents. In fact, just this week, multiple agents told his Inman that he returned to Compass because of the tech, after previously retiring.Compass also investigated so-called boomerang agents and said the tech could be their biggest asset. He told Inman that he has found it to be a selling point.
However, research suggests that companies such as Compass may be industry outliers. Compass clearly makes technology part of its recruiting pitch, but most other leaders don’t seem to be doing the same math.
Isn’t technology as big a deal as we thought?
Inman begins the story by briefly highlighting the transformative power of technology in real estate. The situation today is very different from 20 or 30 years ago.
But it’s also clear that some of the more high-handed approaches to real estate technology haven’t materialized. The findings (not scientific, of course, but by a self-selected group of Inman readers) suggest that end-to-end platforms are not prevalent. Few people use technology as a recruitment tool. Most people don’t use all the technology available.
Real estate in 2023 may look very different than it did in 1993, but it may not have changed as dramatically since 2013, for example. Observers often describe real estate as a slow-moving industry, and the findings of this study say that’s true, at least for some.
Whether that’s good or bad depends on where you stand. Agents and intermediaries may retain the ability to create piecemeal solutions to give you access to more options. In other words, real estate technology exists in a Darwinian setting, and it is still unclear where the evolution will go.
However, the survey reveals that many industry players are at least interested in the future of real estate technology. In an open-ended question, Inman asked respondents what technology they are most excited about in the future.
This question elicited a range of answers, but one of the most popular was also the most advanced artificial intelligence. In fact, respondents have mentioned their interest in integrating AI with existing tools, how platforms such as ChatGPT will change real estate work, and one even said he was “scary to death”. I’m here.
What is clear is that the real estate industry is looking to the future.
One person wrote about AI:
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