As technology progresses, there is always the fear that jobs (or worse, entire industries), will be lost. This isn’t new. With each major technological development, there are scares of how it will impact society. For some industries, like, say, a factory - technology taking over for humans’ jobs is a natural progression. Machines don’t need to eat or sleep, they can work 24 hours a day, and don’t ever get hurt. But what about jobs that truly need the flexibility, empathy, and nuance that only humans can have? Below we dive deeper into why agents have not been replaced by tech - and why if nothing else, agents should embrace tech for their own good! 

Managing Relationships

While it may seem as though if everyone just logged on the same platform, all aspects of a transaction could be seamlessly done through a login and a click of a button. However, there still has to be someone managing what parties and entities would be using that online tool. The real estate industry is such that an agent, among so many other things, is needed to wrangle many different people and expertise's and logistics together. Yes, technology has helped some aspects of those transactions - but to get all necessary people to that transaction and arranged in the right timeline is absolutely a human job.

Variability

No matter how many algorithms and data points a technology is able to have, there is an extreme amount of variability of each real estate transaction. If you factor in all people, companies, banks, insurances, and on and on - it is rare that any transaction would have even 80% of the same set up of parties involved. Then, there’s the variability of buyer and seller needs, hiccups that comes up in the process and the great variance of negotiations. When you think about the variance alone of a single negotiation an agent deals with, it's no wonder that technology hasn’t been able to replace the role.

Human Intuition

In terms of searching for homes on the market - everyone knows what happens when you set the filters to the specifications in your parameters; you get exactly what you filtered. And, everyone also knows, just how unhelpful that can be. Buyers and sellers don’t know what to do with a list of all three bedroom homes in a certain price range and area of town - there are nuances, subtleties and emotions involved that no technology could aid someone in deciphering.

Empathy 

Similar to intuition, empathy is something that is an absolute must when it comes to helping clients buy and sell homes. There has to be someone that understands what a client needs out of a home beyond the floor plan and price. There is also the “counseling” aspect of helping clients buy and sell homes that goes far beyond just choosing what home they should buy. Buying a home is a huge and intimidating commitment that most people very much need to be led through emotionally, in addition to transactionally.

Word of Mouth 

Just because homes on the market are online now, does NOT mean that networking and word-of-mouth transactions are off the table. Most agents still feel like some of the best deals are the ones that never even make it online, and are all about knowing what’s coming up, and who’s ready for that very home - before ever actually making it online. Without humans in their normal, social way of life - many of the ways homes are bought and sold wouldn’t exist - it would simply feel like looking through homes on an online store (without the ability to simply click and buy, of course). Human connection is still, and will remain, a key part of the real estate world.

…and Lastly - Take Advantage!

A quick side note when it comes to technology - although we have very much established why technology has not and will not replace agents, that doesn’t mean you should shy away from technology! The best agents moving forward into the future will be ones that embrace technology, and look for opportunities to benefit their business. Keep learning and embracing what can help you do what you do, best; being the human in real estate.