As I devlop more and more custom sites I wonder about the future

**Johngalt** · 02-19-2010, 08:36 AM

The future of the real estate agent and their interaction with buyers and sellers. It just seems that some company is going to pull all of this together on a monster of a system, and it will be all automated without user intervention.

**kschweick** · 02-23-2010, 05:41 PM

That's is a really interesting issue that's been on my mind as well.

I read a study from the Journal of Consumer Marketing where the researchers looked at which home buyers were most likely to use the Internet to get information about homes (the study was done in 2000, now I think everybody would use the Internet at some point in the process). Among other things, they found that those who were less satisfied with their agents were more likely to use the Internet (yes, seems obvious I know, but it's always good to have real data).

So that makes you wonder, is success online more often a result of good service on the Internet or poor service offline?

No matter how good virtual tours get though, nothing is going to replace actually going to a home and experiencing it in person. Realtors will still be needed to make that go smoothly. But it seems the legal aspects could be checked by a lawyer over the Internet without meeting in person, and as we develop better methods of searching for homes and matching them to buyer characteristics, I wonder if Realtors will start to move towards working only with sellers and if buyers will be left alone with their computers to find a home.

**Lease_Abstract** · 02-26-2010, 01:30 AM

Let's think positive, hope the future looks bright for real estate agents and more buyers to come at the industry.

**Makati Condos** · 03-04-2010, 10:28 PM

We should look at the future in the brightest side! And I think, in that time, realtors would be able to make such ideas that will help the industry be on top again.

**San Diego Condo King** · 03-05-2010, 09:31 AM

as long as G, FB, and the other social networks don't stick their noses into Real Estate, I'm okay.

I don't tell the contractor how to build the house, and he doesn't tell me how to fill out my contracts.

**maui** · 03-05-2010, 02:06 PM

As professionals we need to evolve in order to provide clients with the service they want. An informed consumer is actually a great thing, a buyer who searches online will tour less properties (as they already eliminated many) and will generally go through the buying process faster. We need to be an authoritative source of information and interact with them in a manner that they want and best uses technological advances. Realtors who embrace the reality of change will prosper, those who do not...well, you know where that goes.