Once in a while, I get some notion of where this industry could go and I like to share it here. In this case, I have been thinking about Facebook and Google, their efforts in the social media and search spheres, and how residential real estate could evolve. As such, I see a tremendous lot of pressure on the industry in the future and much likelihood that the industry could be turned on its head as the internet, social engagement, and technology evolve and change how we do things.
Here is a glimpse of what I could see the future being…
The key point to my discussion below is that a residential property would have an internet presence much like a Facebook or other social media user has today. The residential property would have the opportunity to be an identifiable, ‘living’ thing on the web whose history shows everything about the property that can be known from the emotional to the factual.
Being on Facebook, I could see the incorporation of our homes as an extension of ourselves. I mean the physical asset that is our home. In a sense, Facebook could be extended to incorporate our actual property and the changes and dynamics that we add to our home.
For instance, perhaps part of your facebook profile captures your address, photos of your home from the outside, photos of the inside, comments and histories about changes you have made to your home, information on work that has been done by outside vendors, etc.
It would also capture information on the community you belong to and allow the ability to ‘friend’ homes that are around you in your community. In effect, this would allow subdivisions to aggregate into a fan page or ‘friend’ network. Additional capabilities would allow the easy flow of communication to homeowners in the same neighborhood - events, news, items of interest, and perhaps allow for sharing of personal belongings. For example, perhaps I want to give up or trade a kids bicycle that is no longer being used for something that might be of use. Or perhaps, I just need to borrow something such as a truck to haul a barbeque home in and I don’t have one.
Coming back to the real estate discussion, one could imagine that Homebook could become a living history of a home and span multiple owners. Service vendors would provide updates of services they provide on the home over time if desired. Remodeling work could be communicated easily. Smart metering activity could be incorporated. In all, any and all information as it pertains to a properties details would be tied in. This would include tax information and property characteristic information such as square footage, bedrooms, etc.
With such an extensive amount of information available, it may then be possible that when a homeowner has a home to sell, they could change a setting to make its availability more public. This would allow the homeowner a significant marketing mechanism in addition to how the property is marketed if a Realtor is involved. I say, “if”, because I do believe it is possible that the internet and technology could change the need and role of a Realtor quite dramatically.
Perhaps Google has a role to play here (they seem to have a substantial role to play in about everything one can imagine). Google could serve as an aggregator of data on properties combined with tools that work to allow similiar functions and ways of looking at properties. Google Maps, Google Street View, Google.org Power Meter would be just a small few of the capabilities involved. Again, vendor records on work done on properties, insurance claims information, remodeling, tax and title records, comments about the home by the owners, etc. would be incorporated.
This also includes similar capabilities as mentioned above that would bring neighborhoods and their occupants more closely together. As such, I see dramatic advantages to having these types of capabilities available.
Comments by the owners would be available too. A homeowner might make comments as to what they love about the property or area.
Coming back to smart meters, perhaps usage information is provided as well. For the environmentally conscious consumer, changes to insulation and ‘green’ characteristics for properties could be provided. Eventually, we could see a ‘green rating’ system whereby a home’s green characteristics and owner usage patterns give the home a rating and recognition attribute.
Summary
I see big potential changes ahead for the industry and how we look at our homes. Given the central importance our homes have in our lives and how much really can be going on with our homes, this is just a sense of what I believe is possible.
Email this Post
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
There is no doubt that social bookmarking and internet marketing is the wave of the future. With these tools (as well as all the new Google applications), it will change the way we sell homes.