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A generation ago, few could have imagined how much technology would change real estate.
Agents might have spent much of their marketing budgets on newspaper ads. A big part of their job was simply making clients aware of which homes were available. Door-knocking was a rite of passage.
Fast forward to today and most buyers are comfortable finding listings via a major portal. Many agents work almost entirely from their phones. And just this year artificial intelligence has exploded into the public consciousness, promising to radically transform work.
In that light, Intel recently debuted its first-ever technology survey to get a read on how industry members feel about tech. Nearly 300 people responded to the survey, and an interesting picture emerged from the responses.
Though recent years have seen a growing interest in an all-in-one or end-to-end technology platform that handles all of agents’ needs, most respondents indicated that they aren’t using anything close to that. In fact, the survey results suggest that many agents and brokers are cobbling together solutions from a variety of sources, and that individuals have a large degree of autonomy over what tech they actually use.
What this means is that even three years after Inman described an end-to-end platform as real estate’s “holy grail,” the actual quest for that solution remains unresolved.
A piecemeal approach to technology
One of the first questions in the survey asked respondents where they get their technology. The question was in part a nod to big-name firms, such as Compass and Keller Williams, which in recent years have made a big deal of their willingness to build proprietary tech.
However, only 7.6 percent of respondents indicated they have developed or would…