I’m at 38,000 feet right now, thinking about a plain fact filled with beautiful potential for real estate.
That fact is this: The divide separating the Web from the physical world is closing – fast.
For an industry to which location is everything, this is a big deal.
Where you are – and what you are doing there, in that place – can now be effortlessly meshed with the data, media and social interactions on the Web.
I want to explore this a little bit. If you think the altitude has got the better of me, say so in the comments.
Real estate technology and real estate behavior
The Web used to live on our desks. It was remote – we “went on” the Web. As such, discussions of technology in real estate usually took place in abstraction from the “real” business of sitting for opens, touring buyers and building relationships with people in the physical world.
This divide – between ethereal and temporal, digital and personal – made big behavioral change driven by technology nearly impossible to achieve in real estate.
It also provided comfort to those who liked citing what I’ve called “real estate exceptionalism” to argue that the elemental dynamics of the business would never change.
That’s over.
Location platforms, applications and technologies are proliferating. And the Web will soon be ambient, enveloping us like a mood as we move through the world.
This is not futurist bullshit. It’s unfolding before our eyes and presents the opportunity of a lifetime to every innovator, every technologist and every dreamer of wild dreams in this business.
How
The path forward is being lit more fully every day.
Take StickyBits, a startup that launched just two weeks ago. StickyBits allows you to place bar codes on anything in the physical world: a car, a place of business, a house.
You scan the bar codes with your phone camera and leave your own mark on the object at hand in the form of comments, media, or your profile. You can also view everything anyone else who has engaged with the object left.
So think about this: a buyer scans a barcode attached to a house. They get the standard specs but also all the disclosures, the sales history, comments from other buyers, messages from neighbors, properties others who scanned the code visited and more.
The whole enchilada.
This could be done now, today. An MLS or brokerage could create a barcode stickers for every listing. A little bleeding edge, but not for long.
Let’s take the idea further. Let’s say our buyer has a question. Well, she could ask the listing agent or the seller. Or, because someone has developed a property app based on scannable codes that integrates Facebook Connect, she could ping any of her friends living in the area and see what they think.
Sure, you can do something like this via SMS. But the idea is that we can collapse the distances between us and what we want still further and do it in a way that is open and connected, not siloed.
Of course, this is all just a run-up to the time when every house will have an IP address, a chip, and privacy controls set by the homeowner.
But that’s another post.
A head start
I know. This still seems a little squishy. But those who want to build location-based apps for real estate aren’t starting from scratch.
Both Mixer Labs (which was acquired by Twitter just a few months ago) and SimpleGeo have launched robust location APIs that can quickly erode a lot of barriers.
Double Dutch, which launched last week, is a mobile/local/social app that can be white-labeled and turned into your own real estate Foursquare. Think about how the information from listing “check-ins,” for example, might be used to measure market activity and guide pricing.
my6sense offers an API that streams highly tailored information to users based on their behavior. Think about that, made location aware, as a replacement for the email listing alert.
On the eve of disruption
Online listings. Map mashups. “Web 2.0.”
These things jiggled the real estate checkerboard. But they did not fundamentally alter the behavior of practitioners or consumers because they remained largely remote – detached from the places where real estate really happens.
The coming wave of real estate innovation will be immediate and connected to the people and the places that matter.
That has the potential to change the game altogether.
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A mist of difference
Freaking...
Brian,
Yes these are very exciting times. Then the plane descends from 38,000 feet and lands and reality checks in.
All these technologies, applications, and APIs are indeed great. And there will be early adopters like me that will pick these, do the programming or setup required to make it useful in real-estate. Have you read the book “Crossing the Chasm”? The plane descends, oxygen levels begin to increase, and that lightheaded “anything is possible” demeanor begins to fade.
I had my first taste just yesterday. Over the years I have developed a number of very cool applications for real-estate. Not the wiz bang things you and Davison talk about, but real applications that get real work done like CRM, Document Management, and a very cool but very useful WordPress/Social Media/SEO framework for agents. Many of you have seen my video demos on YouTube and contacted me about using them. There lies the problem.
All these applications, tools, and technologies are great. But unless we can simplify them and make them useful to the real-estate agent masses it really doesn’t matter. This came painfully evident as I try and setup one of the most successful agents in my region with my website framework. Everything has to be boiled down to simple, easy to use and follow steps that the average agent can use day in and day out. Sounds easy until you go try and do it. It aint easy.
Yes you may get some early adopters like me and some early attractors who will try and then get easily frustrated and cancel their monthly subscription to the service. All this stuff takes money to make and money to keep going. Unless we can figure out how to take all this cool technology to the masses in a way they can understand and use…well we might as well stay up there at 38,000 feet.
Barrett
THX for this Brian. So StickyBits is unreal! I see some cool applications and fun with it. I just ordered some stickers and will have them plastered on a lsiting later this week to see what happens. Keep turning us on to great stuff.
Barrett,
While I agree with the inherent altitude analogy, don’t forget that as the plane descends, the ground races up to meet it…
It is true that the great masses of agents out there are behind the technological curve. Have you seen the demographics of the home buyer that is starting to come into the market place?
We are now staring at a home buyer that is increasingly MORE technologically savvy than the agent themselves. That will only increase as time marches forward. So your point is well taken, existing agents, unwilling to learn a new marketing skill, will simply make themselves irrelevant to the up and coming consumer. And by being stodgily resistant to newer marketing techniques, will endanger their sellers interests.
So, does Brian need to take a hit from the mask as the plane descends? Eh, maybe in the short term. But in the long term, the consumer is going to make Brian correct.
Barret –
It is possible to make transformational technology simple and accessible. I learned long ago never to blame the user for lack of technology adoption. They are rarely at fault.
Stickybits is simple. Twitter is simple. The iPhone is simple.
Adoption follows – at any altitude.
Barrett – As long as they can maintain proper cabin pressure issues with hypoxia should not follow. Most 3 year old children can use an iPhone because it has a very simple user interface.
Brian – Thanks for the heads up on Stickybits. I had looked at a company last year called NeoMedia. They create 2D bar codes. I thought this would be a great way to get rid of paper and add some real information and tracking. In addition to the bar code at the street you could add bar codes to items in the house. Want to know the details on the dishwasher scan it. Want to know more about the flooring or the type of counter top scan it. I do not think that NeoMedia thought what I wanted to do had any value. I think Skickybits will see things my way.
Let the bar code madness begin!!
How long you figure it will take? A year maybe.
Seriously, I’m picturing every in-tune and in-touch agent rolling everywhere with their iPad, big enough for old eyes, small and light enough to fit in your purse. Wi-fi, 3g, etc. all searches, contracts, presentations, MLS, RPR, email, geo-location, your bar code tagging, long battery life, simplicity, inexpensive. Everything and agent needs to impress, serve and deliver. Add all that with tapping into all the social media rivers and lakes (FB, 4square, style stuff) and it really is a whole new world. The speed is like a snowball rolling down hill….isn’t it?
[...] “The coming wave of real estate innovation will be immediate and connected to the people and the places that matter.” – Brian Boero, 1000 Watt Consulting [...]
[...] was introduced to a product called StickyBits today (thanks to Brian at 1000Watt) that I think could become a major part of Real Estate marketing plans across the globe very [...]
Most of what you say is true, but, I still believe that it is more true that most of this stuff is junk and noise and not helpful for those of us who sell real estate for a living. The fact that there is more of something doesn’t mean it is a more helpful something.
In our business of real estate, we still have to actually meet people in person and anything web is only a communication tool.
Again, important to stay up on technologies, but most of it is worthless to us – or maybe better stated – most of it will not be a good use of our time.
[...] On the eve of disruption: location and the real estate opportunity of a lifetime – How do you know when you are a geek? You read this, stat thinking about driving around with [...]
@Ryan
I think you’re right. There are more flops than hits. And augmented reality, bar codes and check-in style apps may ultimately fail to alter real estate behavior. But I think they will. We’ll see!
[...] world is changing, and quickly. On the eve of disruption: location and the real estate opportunity of a lifetime takes look at a lot of the mobile technology out there that could be changing our industry in the [...]
I’m loving this talk about technology vs. adoption, especially since it’s coupled with a pitch-perfect airplane analogy.
The truth is, Barrett is right, but so is everyone else. To Barrett’s credit, he hit the nail on the head: it comes down to simplicity and usefulness.
But Todd, you’re absolutely right, too (“And by being stodgily resistant to newer marketing techniques, will endanger their sellers’ interests.”).
Buyers and sellers are more tech-savvy than most agents, but a sea-change is happening and eventually, buyers and sellers won’t tolerate an agent who is not reachable via text or who insists on filling out twenty-page long contracts using a Bic pen.
The world is becoming more mobile and more paperless everyday. The agent who gets this now will only benefit from it in the future.
Great post!
Nick Sweeney
The DotLoop Team
http://dotloop.com
Hi Brian,
I don’t mean to imply that we can sit by idly while others explore new ideas and technologies. Only that we MUST temper the technologies with here and now work.
It’s easy to get caught up in new bells and whistles and can lose track of proven technologies/strategies. I often find that the more things change, the more they stay the same…
All good points in the comments. I tend to slant with you Brian. I think that the industry is long overdue for a technological overhaul from the consumer standpoint and the impending tidal wave that I feel will be the second coming of a Mobile Renaissance is knocking at the front door. The new consumer may not even use a traditional computer but rather do everything (including research) on the fly and on-demand.
I do believe that some of what’s “hot” out there is really nothing more than an experiment in coolness of technology but the practical application of that coolness is a small hop, skip and jump away. 2010/11 will be huge for mobile and decision making. It’s a very exciting time to be in the industry – actively or as a voyeur.
-PH
I had never heard of StickyBits before this post! It definitely can turn into something completely effective and useful in selling and creating links to rich information resources.
I also agree with Patrick — it’s about time we got some new technologically savvy, on-the-fly technology in real estate. It’s amazing how times have changed even in the past few years from desktops to laptops to mobile devices that do everything for you when you’re away from a stable internet line.
[...] ) On the eve of disruption: location and the real estate opportunity of a lifetime – Technology has changed the game a lot in the last year. The tablet is the next round of [...]
[...] On the eve of disruption: location and the real estate opportunity of a lifetime by Brian Boero at 1000Watt Consulting [...]
WOW Technology is change the face of real estate quicker than imaginable. I consider myself pretty tech savy but I am still glad I have a “20 something” on my staff to help me out!
Please don’t shoot the messenger. I love technology. I am the poster child of a tech geek. In fact I am right now trying to figure out how to productize and market a number of fairly cool but very useful technologies I have developed. The difference being my technologies were developed BY a Realtor to solve problems from a Realtor’s perspective, not from a tech company creating a cool gadget looking for a problem to solve.
Here’s where the train starts to leave the tracks. The real money is with the buyers and sellers. But they don’t usually pay up front for technology when they are buying or selling. In fact, pretty much every technology a buyer and seller uses on the Web is FREE. And that’s not likely to change. So there is no sale to this group for these technologies. Yes you can try and figure out a ad based business model, but these can be very difficult to pan out.
So that leaves agents. And like I’ve been saying, the majority of the agents and firms alike don’t get it, and won’t for some time. I agree the changes taking place in the market are going to drive change in the agents, but this is likely to take time. What we are actually seeing are fewer agents doing more of the transactions. Fewer agents with money to invest in technology.
What we really need are good basic tools that promote lead generation, contact follow up, transaction processing, and promote continued follow up and referral generation. Oh, and can it all be integrated, run over the web so it supports all platforms, and not cost an arm and leg. Then we can move on from there.
Again, think “Crossing the Chasm”. Going from early adopters to the masses is the key to technology success.
Sorry,
Just one other thing. Why do you need barcodes stuck to your property? I can see barcodes for smaller items, but a house? Why not just use your geo-location (lat.& long.) or just street address? I mean the problem is that Stickybits would have to be the “standard” in real estate for it to be a meaningful investment of time. Everyone needs the Stickybits app and database. Where a website mashup with the same data is simpler to implement and works just as good.