Technology is now easily the biggest driver of change in the real estate industry. Love it, hate it, don’t get it, it doesn’t matter. If real estate investors and agents don’t accept this and recognize how tech is changing migration patterns and shopping habits they are going to miss out on the best opportunities and returns.
‘Remote presence systems’, outsourcing and digital media is not just changing how people work but where they will work, what cities and areas see the biggest demand for housing and the types of home features home buyers will insist on and pay more for.
Google’s new venture in rolling out free public Wifi combined with Nectar’s ability to keep mobile devices charged for weeks at a time without ever needing an outlet means complete mobility and free roaming. The impact on real estate marketing will be huge but so will the freedom it provides real estate agents and investors too.
When people ever do get together at home or in the office again it may well be around Lenovo’s new game changing interpersonal computer; a coffee table sized PC screen allowing 4 users to interact at once. It offers huge possibilities for collaboration and presentation and will no doubt be one of the hot devices marketers will want to connect through in the next 18 months.
Outdoor advertising might be making a comeback if CBS’ billboard business being converted to a REIT is anything to go by, though forget anyone actually being able to hear you in the street as Monster brings huge over-sized headphones back into fashion.
Of course you can’t talk about tech or real estate on the web today without mentioning Facebook. Zuckerberg is making some big moves, though while it might not be enough to save the social network there is always Justin Timberlake’s New MySpace to check out and dominate before the competition jumps on it.
