Real estate agencies With ads, chat and virtual visits

What is more “physical” and less delegable to the virtual tool of looking for a house? Mistaken. The era of the Covid emergency has denied this too, or rather confirmed a trend already underway that is now rampant.

Not only does the first search increasingly take place online, but the direction taken also leads to the world of virtual tours, for example. No surprise for Cristian Fresolone, CEO of RevoFactory, the company that distributes the Miogest real estate management system: technology is at home for them, who have around 2,000 agencies as clients and push for innovation.

The impact of ads

Let’s take a step back, however, to then take the “momentum” towards the future. The forest of signs as the main means of guiding towards the purchase is a memory or so. «Finding a house is always easier – observes Fresolone – we are moving from paper and signs to portals and applications. Technology leads customers to have information of all kinds at their fingertips ». In the age of geolocation, the ads have another impact and there is a certainty: “Today the fundamental characteristic – explains Fresolone – is that before you see an apartment, you already know where it is, in the sense that you know all the most detailed. In short, before entering the house to buy, you already know that you will find the school or the station nearby, which is a served area and so on. Profiling on real estate portals has brought many benefits ».

The process was already underway, but now it has accelerated: “The lockdown has done a lot – confirms Fresolone – let’s think of the Idealista portal, a leader in Europe who found himself in the right place at the right time and in Italy they climbed the rankings . Before, few paired videos with offers, now here are the virtual tours and they have recently launched a chat ». Yes, you don’t even have to call the agency, but you can chat with the real estate agent. With a perspective: disconnecting, for the latter, becomes difficult. Chat, virtual tours and other tools that were previously unthinkable, or at least little valued, have now taken off. Smart phones make their way too, with customer calls stored. The research changes, as well as the way of doing the work: «Going forward at this rate – he notes – real estate agents will do it almost without leaving the office. The sites have become more and more professional, then of course the final decision is made by going to see the house. But before that it happened several times. ” Attention also to the change of devices: research has in fact moved from computers to mobile phones and this is very important, because the app acquires value. Real estate agencies will be led to exploit augmented reality, in short.

Waiting for the blockchain

Another relevant element: it is no longer a question of age and this too has been accelerated by the lockdown. “By now this experience has been so lived that it is adopted by several generations. Not just millennials in short”. Clearly this will lead to other metamorphoses, in the skills required for increasingly digital professionals. But what will the future offer even more disruptive? «In five years – predicts Cristian Fresolone – I hope even something less, the data of a property will no longer be saved in the cadastral networks, but only on the blockchain. It guarantees transparency, immutability ». With some surprises to take into account: “If tomorrow morning you see a property with one agency and in the afternoon with another, you could close the deal with the second, but the first agent is entitled to the commission.” How to prove it? With the blockchain that first step will be certified. Risks ahead at this point? “The big one – concludes Fresolone – is having to increase the current technological budget”. Companies will have to invest heavily. And then also here: beware of web reputation, with reviews lurking.

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