Does Mobile Technology Matter in Real Estate?
By Drew Meyers | October 19, 2007
I’m going to say the answer is definitely yes (and not just iPhone development). So, I guess the question becomes what impact will it have?
On Wednesday, Inman News put out a 3-part series titled “Mobile matters in real estate” that I thought was worth highlighting.
- Part 1 - Agents, consumers connect with mobile technology
- Congrats to fellow GeekEstate Blog contributor Dee Copeland for her contributions to this section!
- Part 2 - Trends in mobile technology
- Part 3 - Real estate on the go: from GPS to ZipForms
I’m not going to summarize the 3 part series because I think getting a grasp on mobile technology is very important for all real estate professionals — so read the whole thing in its entirety!
After having read the mobile matters in real estate series, I think there are several questions worth discussing –
- How do you think mobile technology will change the way real estate professionals conduct their daily business?
- As more and more consumers adopt advanced mobile technologies, what will that mean for the home-buying process?
- How much of an advantage will agents embracing mobile have on their competition in terms of attracting clients as a result of mobile technology?
- How long until mobile technology such as text messaging becomes mainstream (right now, I think it’s primarily Gen X & Y)?
- In the future, will there be a “Mobile” listing for every home for sale? If so, what will that look like & what information will it include?
- What technology companies will emerge as the leaders in mobile technology?
- Who will lead adoption for new technology — agents adopting technology improvements on their own or consumers demanding it?
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Author's Website: http://www.zillow.com
Topics: Mobile Devices, General |
4 Responses to “Does Mobile Technology Matter in Real Estate?”
Comments
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October 19th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I believe wireless Internet access is the most important factor for real estate, not mobile applications built on any individual phone. Once we have the all over wireless Internet access, the technologies will run thru the web.
Mobile Listings? They are all mobile if everyone could get access to the web through their phone.
We have a strong belief at Incredible Agent that all Realtors need in todays market is a cell phone, a laptop, internet access, and a good website with all the tools they need running off the web.
Realtors & Brokerages will be able to save themselves a lot of money on overhead and create greater efficiencies in their businesses if they had Internet access wherever they needed it.
October 19th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Regarding mobile listings - I just meant listings that are optimized to be viewed on mobile devices.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
As wi-fi data networks and better wireless telephony networks like 3G expand, so will the ability for RE professionals to finally start taking advantage of the benefits. There are the obvious advantages of digital docs and signatures. As far as listings are concerned, I think you’ll see more and more efforts to provide mobile versions of the same content emerge over the next year. It will not be long before the need to create two different versions of the content won’t be necessary. Web browsers are being ported to formats that allow for the display of standard content on hand helds, until then, agents that add mobile delivery of content to their listing distribution points will obviously have an advantage over their competitors,especially in listing presentations. We love hearing stories from our clients about how they have landed listings by demonstrating the mobile capabilities of their broadcasts. Unified communication is something that is becoming mainstream in any business, Microsoft has been pouring a great deal of effort in this area for a while now, just this week they made some new announcements with regard to their effort to develop platforms that tie together texting,instant messaging, email, voice mail and telephony. How long it will be before there is widespread consumer demand for mobile real estate content is anybody’s guess. I think like all things tech, it will take a little longer than the pundits predict, but it’s definitely coming and re professionals that ignore the potential significance do so at their own peril.
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:35 am
I am more reliant on my laptop than my palm phone device. Having a wireless card on my laptop enables me to pull up listings that the customer can see when we are on the road. I also use a bluetooth battery operated printer. I have found that the combination of the two enables me to practically be a mobile office.