It was some ten years ago when Virgin Real Estate tried to gain a foothold in the real estate industry in Australia. It did not work.
They were going to come in with a customer service focused delivery where everyone would expect the same thing. Fantastic when you are dealing with singular transactions such as booking an airfare or a taxi .
With real estate transactions you are looking at a 6 month relationship with the client. It starts when they start thinking about it. Then they start collecting advice and researching . A good agent can take three months to get the client to that point of actually placing it on the market. Then there is a 2 week to a month preparation – organizing the services such as stylists, signage, ad campaign etc to ensure maximizing the sale price. Then you move into the next phase of data base and buyer engagement and other marketing aspects. And this is before you start the actual selling campaign to sale and settlement. You cannot do that for a fixed price of say $10,000.
One key thing to remember is that every property is different. There is no “One Size Fits All.” There are so many elements and variables.
It’s like virtual Realty, which will come in, but it will never replace that requirement for personal interaction. This is one of the highest emotions most will go through, 3rd behind death and divorce.
Humans buy from humans and it is that emotion connection that is so important to the real estate transaction. This is what drives this industry.
Forty years ago the percentage of private sellers was at around 15-20%. Now it is between 1% - 2%. Why is that?. It is pretty simple It is specialization. It is that I require that trusted advisor to do the transaction.
With the advent of “UBER Real Estate” it should make the Professional stand tall above the “cowboys”.
Will they lowest trained, the lowest skilled and can they provide the service?
Uber is a non friction based business. Real Estate has a lot of friction. When you have a lot of friction you are subject to disruption. The industry has the option of disrupting itself before disruption happens.
The only constant around, is change and anyone in this industry that thinks that change is not inevitable is a fool. The industry needs to disrupt it selves before disruption happens, get their heads out of the sand and realize what responsibilities and accountabilities they have with their clients – John Cunningham REINSW
It's been called the "Rise of", the "Attack of" and the "Invasion of" "UBER."
At the end of the day it is just "Disruption"
Isn't it?
Attack of the UBER Machines - Part 1