Reinhart Realtors and N.T. Callaway are members of The Active Enterprise Network, a union of privately-held real estate companies across the country that share information and strategy as well as a unified technology platform.
What Will the Real Estate Industry Look like in 2030?
More and more people are beginning their search for a house online. In fact, more than 80% of the population now looks at real estate online before contacting an agent. This will only go up by the year 2030. In addition, information will become more and more accessible online and will continue to be the trend in the coming years.
In 2030, a consumer will be better educated on technology and more able to take any and all available information with them wherever they go. In addition, even more information will be readily available to a buyer than there is currently including, facts on original construction of a house, sold history, what has been done to it in recent years, damage and insurance claims, the current owner’s debt situation, tax and ownership history, neighborhood statistics and all sorts of walkability and other social scoring systems.
Will buyers need a Realtor in 2030?
Given all this, it looks like a potential buyer won’t need a real estate “expert” at all.
On the contrary though, they may need an “expert” more than ever.
With all the information made available to a buyer, it will be harder than ever for them to sort out the important information from the all the extraneous details. In addition, there will be more and more rules and regulations involved in the process.
For this, they will truly need an expert to guide a buyer or seller through all the intricacies of the process. And the real estate agent of the future will need to be just that.
What will a Realtor look like in 2030?
No longer will we see the person who gets into the business “for a little extra income” or because the kids are out of the house and they’re bored and want something to do. Real estate is a business and soon most of the agents involved will realize what the rest of the world and most of the brokers and managers already know. To succeed in business you have to be a business person. You need to know your market, study your business and be able to keep up with the changes of the modern world. The agent of 2030 will be that and more.
Here in New Jersey, we are a little behind the times. For the first time, in 2012, real estate agents in this state will be required to do continuing education to renew their licenses in 2013. This has been true in most regions for some time. But continuing ed is just the beginning. In most businesses, people are required to keep up with their industry in response to changes in their markets and the world around them. By 2030 this will have been a given in the real estate world for some time as well.
The average age of a realtor in this country is still around 58. In 2030, the 58 year olds would have been 39 today. That means that they grew up with some computer skills, which the current 58 year olds did not. Excellent technology skills will be standard in the agent of 2030. But technology expertise is just the beginning.
An agent in 2030 will need to be not just familiar with their market, the available inventory and all the processes involved in buying or selling a house, they will need expert knowledge of mortgage, appraisal and legal devices, as well as local zoning and planning laws. Obviously every agent will not be an attorney, but where to get all this information quickly and pass it on effectively will be key.
What will the real estate office look like in 2030?
Real estate offices will likely be much smaller and will be geared toward collecting and passing on information quickly. Again, they will emphasize technology and the space and facilities to use it comfortably and swiftly. Since information will be available to the average buyer wherever they may be, there will be less need to come into a real estate office over and over to consult with a real estate expert. In 2030 this can be done almost anywhere.
However, there will never be a replacement for the time spent visiting a potential home. There will never be a replacement for the time spent listening to a buyer describe what they want in a house and figuring out what is really important to them. The successful real estate agent of 2030 combines technological savvy, business skills and the empathy to listen and communicate well. Sound impossible? Not if real estate is treated as the business it really is. And by 2030, it will be.
By Anne Williams, Broker/IT Director at N.T. Callaway, serving Princeton Real Estate, a proud participant of the Holiday Blog Swap, presented by The Active Enterprise Network.
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More article on Real Estate in 2030 found here: Smith & Associates, Residential Properties, Helen Adams Realty, Murney Associates, Windermere Tri Cities, Reinhart Realtors, The Group, inc., Hasson Company, McEnearney Associates, and LandVest.
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