“For real estate agents in particular, having a more connected experience enables them to have a better transaction,” said Jamie Kump, Qualia’s Director of High Growth Accounts. Kump spoke alongside Maureen Kiely, CEO and Founder of RealCheeky, and Jose Perez, SVP of Sales at homegenius, at Inman Connect New York last week.
The panel discussed the role of technology for real estate brokerages in 2023. Kump, Kiely, and Perez shared their insights on how brokerages should be thinking about technology, processes, and consumer experience to compete in today’s market.
Centralizing all transaction parties onto a shared system of record
All three panelists focused on how real estate brokerages can simplify the transaction experience. While there’s a lot of technology focused on showcasing a house and getting to signing, they agreed that technology that enables consumers and other parties to collaborate more effectively on the closing process will stick out to consumers in 2023 and beyond.
Kiely said that one of the biggest trends she’s seeing on the horizon is “technologies coming together on one centralized hub for the consumer.” The centralization of real estate transactions onto a shared system of record has the potential to create a better experience for everyone involved. During many of today’s transactions, real estate brokerages, lenders, and title agencies all use different tools to accomplish various stages of the transaction. This operational setup can lead to miscommunication and inefficiencies if these tools can’t integrate with each other to share information easily.
Kump explained that consolidating these tools and investing in “technology that comes together and connects everyone enables an end-to-end transaction.” This digital transformation can result in more efficient processes and improved communication among transaction parties. These enhancements can lead to more seamless transactions and, ultimately, a better experience for the end consumer.
Standardizing processes and removing manual tasks
Today’s technology options have the ability to create more effective processes that enable a modern transaction experience. Kiely urged real estate professionals to “get away from antiquated processes in real estate.” She focused on how brokerages should think when evaluating software. Specifically, real estate brokerages should look for solutions that simplify the transaction experience itself for the end consumer.
Kump agreed with Kiely’s point and encouraged real estate brokerages to use standardization to modernize processes and remove repetitive tasks. Doing so can create efficiencies that speed up transactions and give agents more time to focus on building relationships. Standardization can also make it easier to share information across transaction parties. Kump said that by standardizing data that gets entered into a system, data “can feed into other parts of the application and really make it a more digital experience, as well as a more secure one.”
Create transparency to deliver a better consumer experience
Perez said that “transparency and data are incredibly important for consumers.” Consumers are more knowledgeable about real estate transactions than ever before, but they’re still looking to real estate professionals for expert guidance. Historically, the closing experience has been a mystery for consumers and even for real estate agents. Greater transparency into the transaction process can help meet these consumer expectations. Perez said that in 2023, consumers are looking for relevant information on their specific transactions. He said that real estate agents that can provide the right information at the right time will be able to deliver a better consumer experience and have an advantage over their competition.
Kump added that the industry will see more visibility, predictability, and flexibility during closings. She explained that the siloed nature of the real estate technology ecosystem makes it challenging for real estate agents and other professionals to offer a connected experience for consumers and other closing parties. Using technology—such as operating within a single platform and leveraging integrations—to improve communication and data sharing can help remove these informational silos. She said that this additional transparency will enable real estate agents to have deeper relationships with their consumers. It will also give real estate agents insight into how a transaction is progressing. These additional insights can help agents identify and address potential issues before they arise.
Interested in learning more about how real estate agents can deliver a simple and secure homebuying experience for buyers and sellers? Learn more about Qualia Connect for real estate agents.
