PropTech: Where Tech Meets Insight

There are plenty of different criteria that sellers should apply when choosing an estate agent and increasingly, their use of property technology better known as PropTech is one. It’s certainly more important than ever but as I’ll show in a moment, it’s not the only factor you should have on your checklist. However, technology has transformed buying, selling and renting. From what used to be a closed shop into something much more consumer-friendly. There’s still a vital role for that most precious of all elements – the human being!

Consumer-facing PropTech

Let’s first examine how property technology helps us as individuals. The best-known and most widely used examples are the property portals. Data from one of the major property portals suggests that a portal is the first place 80% to 90% of all home buyers look. When searching for and shortlisting properties they want to view in person.

Some portals have been around for decades and are highly sophisticated. Potential buyers (or the merely nosey!) use filters to see homes according to their price, location, off-street parking or factors like eligibility for part-exchange, for example.

Many listings, whether on portals or an estate agent’s website have virtual tours or flythroughs. Allowing potential would-be buyers to see rooms and outdoor spaces and get a feel for a property. Online floorplans offer further assistance too.

Property technology and AI

Increasingly, ‘Artificial Intelligence’ helps further. Search on a portal for, say, Bristol and there’s a strong chance local advertising will appear. Promoting services you might need like removals firms, utility suppliers and tradespeople.

AI is also behind the latest feature on agents’ websites today – the automated valuation. For many homes coming to the market, there’s a vast reservoir of data available. Based on their history and similar properties. PropTech trawls this information and indicates value when we enter our details onto an automated valuation screen.

And of course, one other example of technology is the online estate agency. It’s possible to market a home online for…well, nothing at all – a free service.

As a seller, you must upload details and photographs, make sure the content is accurate and abides by the appropriate laws and regulations, and then handle viewings and negotiations yourself. It’s not for the faint-hearted and the results are very mixed – but it’s an option made possible by PropTech.

Likewise, agents are increasingly using technology not just for marketing to buyers, but also for communicating with sellers. Prefer SMS texts to phone calls? Favour emails over any other form of contact? Now it’s easy for us to be choosey how we receive our communication.

Few agents offer only one way of communicating in the age of the mobile phone.

‘Under the radar’ PropTech

If the list above shows how we benefit from PropTech, give a thought to the technology within the property business and how that indirectly benefits us too.

The rental sector is a good example. Some 170 laws and regulations apply to landlords, and there are ‘regional variations’ depending on which part of the UK a property sits in.

Most large lettings agencies have software that identifies which rental laws and rules apply to which area, schedules reminders to update mandatory electricity or gas checks, and can calculate ongoing costs to landlords for repair and wear and tear. This is not just a benefit to the owner but ensures that renters are safe.

All agents have to abide by regulations. Ranging from anti-money laundering checks to ensuring renters and buyers have the right paperwork and credit records. The sort of due diligence used to take weeks but can now be done almost immediately. Thanks to online referencing software.

Property details will be created by agents using laser pens (not tape measures) to create floorplans. They will then access a database to check the property’s energy efficiency, and perhaps even use AI to help write the descriptions. 

PropTech and the human touch

So, have we reached the point where we don’t need humans at all when it comes to selling or letting property? Not at all – and here are many reasons why:

Market information

All the algorithms in the world won’t beat the estate agent working (and possibly living) in the community. When it comes to detailed local insights on specific streets and properties. That knowledge is then channelled into sound advice for sellers. When it comes to asking prices, marketing strategies and the rest.

Marketing advice

The best agents don’t just list your home on property portals and wait for the enquiries to roll in. They will give you advice and tips (and sometimes home truths) on how best to present your property to get the best result in the shortest time.

Buyer Intelligence

Again, a local agent is most likely to know whether a buyer wanting to view your property is ‘serious’ in terms of their finances and their enquiries. Or whether their circumstances have changed because of life events.

Keeping deals alive

Even when the housing market is running well, between 25% and 30% of deals can still fall through. At more difficult times (like now, when the time to conclude a transaction is long due to conveyancing delays) an agent can step in and reassure sellers and buyers alike, avoiding the disaster of a fall-through if one party gets cold feet.

You get the picture, I’m sure. Technology has transformed the house buying and renting process. Mostly for the better, but there comes a point in every deal when software cannot replicate the expertise, experience and common sense of the human being.

Thank goodness – we humans are still useful after all!

Last Updated: November 1st, 2024