Photo by Chad Waterhouse
During last week’s Inman Connect San Francisco, I was asked to be a participant on the Luxury Power Broker and the Hear it Direct Broker Wrap-Up panels. Hosting more than 2,000 industry leaders from across the nation, I was honored to take part in this year’s conference, and discuss the latest in real estate trends and technologies. Here are my seven takeaways:
1) San Francisco is cold and foggy in the summer; be sure to bring a sweater!
2) Technology and venture capitalist mavens have theirs sights set on creating a technological breakthrough app or search engine/lead generation model to revolutionize the real estate industry and transform it like Uber and AirBnB have done in their respective sectors.
3) 3-D search photography technology is coming to a website near you soon.
4) HTML-5 sites may disappear, as tech industry recognizes that everyone has a mobile device and increasingly does all of their searches and even more purchases on them. Code written for the best mobile experience is beginning to dominate those that are made for desktop users.
5) Tech professionals like to party and sing karaoke with fellow tech colleagues and real estate profesionals. Who would’ve thought?
6) San Francisco and New York are experiencing similar trends in slowing buyer activity after an extremely strong 9-12 months of record sales. Both cities are also benefiting from the technology sector’s newly minted millionaires. Los Angeles’ ultra high-end market is still surging.
7) I heard a lot of talk about how buyers and sellers need real estate brokers as advisors. Brad Inman was quoted saying that he wants a salesperson to sell his home, not an advisor. Sellers revealed they cared more about price than marketing conversation.
Working in an industry where evolution is key, this year’s conference reinforced my understanding of the importance of technology in real estate. Too many professionals are relying on old models and belief systems that stifle creativity and growth. To grow and continue to remain relevant to consumers, we all need to elevate our game as brokers and real estate market agents, adopting and creating the best new technology to enhance user experience.