Estate agencies in the digital age

Digitalisation of the real estate sector

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the digitalisation projects already underway in many estate agencies. Despite the introduction of digital tools enabling professionals to offload low added-value tasks, the role of the human element remains central.

Gone are the days when the search for a property to buy or rent necessarily involved going through the doors of an estate agent... Today, the vast majority of property searches are carried out online. On dedicated platforms, buyers can easily find the property of their dreams, based on their various criteria, and even visit it without leaving home. Sellers also benefit, since they can have their property pre-evaluated from the comfort of their sofa and put it up for sale in just a few clicks.

For many years, however, real estate and digital have not been a good match. While customers have embraced the digital boom with considerable appetite, the industry has shown a certain reticence, resulting in a gulf between the expectations of real estate customers and professionals.

The emergence of digital tools from PropTech - property-related technologies - and their services, capable of responding to the new concrete needs expressed by users, has reminded professionals of the extent to which their digital transformation has become a priority. an absolute necessity.

Covid as an accelerator of digitalisation

For estate agents, most of whom were already busy going digital, the health crisis has played a role in accelerating this digital transformation. For many traditional estate agents, this digitalization has been the key to adaptation and a real lever of resilience during this period when physical contact has been reduced to the strict minimum.

This acceleration of digital real estate has manifested itself in a number of ways:

• virtual tours in general;
• use of electronic signature to complete the distance selling process;
• Maintaining contact with buyers and customers through digital channels (social networks, web, chatbot, etc).

To date, the digital real estate industry has seen more signs of dematerialisation than digitisation of its business processes. To keep pace with their customers' growing digital appetite, real estate professionals need to completely rethink their service offering and processes, and even reinvent their business by incorporating the new dynamics brought about by digital technology.

Digitalisation, a vector of opportunities for the sector

Sometimes perceived as a constraint, particularly because of the financial costs involved, digital transformation can also be a real source of opportunities and benefits for real estate professionals. It can lead to real gains in competitiveness, particularly through the implementation of real estate software, which enables the entire work organisation to be put in place and helps professionals to think through their real estate marketing strategy more effectively, the prospecting process through to the completion of property transactions.

Digital tools such as virtual visits are an excellent way of digitalising your agency. Saving time, energy and money, our partner Previsite can take care of your visits remotely thanks to its service LiveVisit.

People at the heart of the estate agent's profession

In a world where digitalisation is becoming increasingly important, the question of the relevance of the estate agent's profession cannot be avoided. The answer is clear: estate agents are not destined to go completely digital, and certainly not to disappear. Above all, digital tools should enable estate agents to offload repetitive tasks with little added value, so that they can serve customers more quickly.

By relying on technology, estate agents can devote themselves full-time to their core business: advice. The effectiveness of digital technology depends on specific data. When it comes to dealing with complex situations, where empathy and creativity are needed to best interpret the customer's expectations or concerns, the human touch remains of paramount importance.

Find out about all the trends in Real Estate Marketing HERE.