Real estate agents today tend to rely heavily on technology in order to sell their properties, and for good reason. According to research, 80 percent of all home buyers are searching online for their properties rather than thumbing through the paper and driving through their preferred neighborhoods. It turns out that buyers today are much less interested in driving around for hours, in search of the perfect property, and more interested in instant gratification.
Because the majority of your buyers are online, it’s important that you focus your marketing efforts on using technology to market your product. When you do so, you’ll be able to truly target your preferred audience and speak the same language. The best way to stay competitive in your chosen niche is to add a few of these tech tools to your repertoire.
Photography Tools
Images are what will really sell your property. “If a homebuyer can’t walk through the home in person, they want to see quality images of the interior and exterior,” says a blog post from Green Residential, property managers and real estate pros in Houston.
Offering these high-quality photos depends on your tech. First of all, having a high quality camera is a must. It must be able to offer a variety of manual settings and high pixels in order to truly capture the lighting.
Aside from the camera, top-of-the-line editing software is also a must. Software like Photoshop, Gimp, and Pixlr can help you add the touch-ups necessary for delivering a polished listing photo.
Video
According to research, 50 percent of online interactions in the real estate market are video based, and that percentage is only growing. Videos also receive more than 400 percent more inquiries than simple images.
As mentioned, if a homebuyer can’t walk through a property in person, they want to be able to replicate the experience online. A video makes for an excellent replication of this irreplaceable experience. In short, if you want to offer your clients a great online experience, a video is the best tool you have.
Apps
There are a variety of apps made just for realtors. These help agents stay in touch with the interconnected world while also making their lives easier. “Since real estate is centered around an on-the-go lifestyle, apps on your smartphone or tablet can make it easier to keep up with your goals even when you’re out of the office,” says a blog post from RIS Media. Some of the apps most often used by realtors include:
- Yesware: An email tracking system that tells you when consumers have opened your email.
- HelloSign: An electronic signing system that eliminates paper and snail mail.
- EasilyDo: A free personal assistant app that will keep track of appointments, confirm orders, track clients, and more.
- Buffer: A social media app that lets you manage all of your social media profiles in a single app.
- Rapportive: An extension of Gmail that helps you track emails and their senders.
- Online Listing App: Zillow, Realtor, Trulia, and any other listing site of your preference is bound to come in app form so you can manage listings on the go.
These are just a few of the hundreds of apps specifically designed to help realtors and business people keep their lives in order and improve their businesses.
