Technological Advancements Impacting the Real Estate Industry

The real estate industry is constantly reinventing itself, with the latest onslaught of technological changes brought on by the advent of third-party platforms like Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin, among others. Watters International Realty founder Chris Watters noted that while these platforms bring a wealth of information to the masses, they also create a lot of ambiguity. The best way for brokerages and real estate companies like Watters International to rise above and remain relevant, Watters said, is by harnessing technology to build better platforms that leverage their market expertise and create opportunities to work collaboratively with clients.

“Investing in technology that enhances customer experience and improves real-time feedback in the home buying and home selling process is how companies need to innovate,” Watters said. “Customers are entering the real estate process with more information than they ever have, so our role should be to disseminate relevant information and act as a subject matter expert,” he added.

“Real estate agents are scared technology will replace them, but they’re not selling a ticket to go on vacation,” Watters said, calling to mind how technology rendered the travel agent profession largely obsolete while pointing out how the services are fundamentally dissimilar. “Technology may make real estate transactions more efficient, but they are extremely complex and will never be devoid of human involvement,” he noted.

Team-based real estate models,Watters International in particular, are better equipped than individual agents to embrace and harness technology to better their offerings and keep businesses going . The brand has made huge strides with its back-end technology to adapt its offering and remain competitive in the changing market.

Watters International utilizes an ecosystem of various tech applications that are totally integrated through a proprietary system developed specifically for its sales team, the first such industry tool of its kind. “Having a custom-built, enterprise-level system designed for us specifically has been an incredibly worthwhile investment,” Watters said.

“We also invested heavily in integration,” Watters continued. “It's so important because we use a number of industry-specific applications and it would be wildly inefficient to have to log into multiple systems. All of this feeds together into a single system using a cutting edge bidirectional integration tool called Real Synch, which happens to be the first of its kind in the industry.

Watters International has also adopted a marketing tool that uses artificial intelligence to target buyers that are most likely to purchase a particular home. “We can use this information to advertise a listing and get it in front of people that are looking for the very specific attributes of a property,” Watters said.

For Watters, one of the biggest advantages of establishing better technology in the real estate industry is the improved client experience it brings. Creating a means of transparency for sellers throughout the purchasing process mitigates their most common complaint: lack of communication. “Great technology allows for better communication and consumer understanding,” Watters said.

“Our technology allows reports to be shared at every step, educating clients about the data behind our efforts. When the clients are included in the feedback loop and can validate campaigns, they can witness the real estate transaction progressing in real time,” Watters said. “This transparency creates for the seller a sense of confidence that is another huge differentiator for us.”

By embracing technological advancements, Watters International has developed unique systems to benefit its team members by bolstering the back end of the real estate business so its real estate agents can focus on building customer relationships and delivering great results