”The responsibility lies with the agent to ensure they break the shackles of traditional marketing, they’re up-to-date, and they’re utilising the best practices in order to give the seller, the buyer and themselves the best possible results.”
Technology has changed, and will continue to change, the way we live our lives. Tool yourself with a device that can connect to the Internet and you’ll struggle to find things you can’t do from the comfort of your own home.
A subsequent ripple of today’s fast-growing, ever-changing digital world is that consumers now have more power and choices than ever before. They can get what they want, how they want it, when they want it.
To see the effects this, one only needs to look as far as the online markets that have emerged in the last couple of years that have shifted power away from corporations into the hands of everyday people. Uber, Airtasker and Airbnb, to name a few, have taken the world and the “sharing economy” by storm. Individuals are now enabled with near-frictionless, easy-to-use tools that allow them to purchase goods and complete tasks often at cheaper rates.
A 2014 report released by the Institute of Public Affairs sums it up perfectly.
“Services like Airbnb, Kickstarter, Airtasker, and Zopa are disrupting traditional industries to bring benefits to consumers and producers alike – they mean cheaper services, fewer middlemen, and a more sustainable use of resources,” the report reads.
While consumers have unsurprisingly eaten these services up, there’s also been an even more unsurprising pushback from the industries – otherwise known as the middlemen – affected.
HVS (Hospitality Valuation Services) estimates that hotels lose approximately $450 million in revenue every year to Airbnb. The figures are daunting: between September 2014 and August 2015, a mere 480,000 hotel nights were booked compared to an enormous 2.8 million room nights booked via Airbnb.
Similarly, Uber use in Sydney has increased nearly 100 per cent every year since 2014 as consumers feel they are getting more value for money by opting with the ride-sharing service.
As well as the steady loss of customers, taxi drivers argue they’re also getting the short end of the stick having to fork out $9000 for third party insurance, compared to Uber drivers’ private passenger vehicle rate between $600-$900.
And then there’s Airtasker. With Uber and Airbnb already having the taxi and hotel industries against the ropes, Airtasker delivers a less powerful but far more widespread punch.
Anyone can post tasks they need done at a fixed cost of their choosing, workers apply to complete the task, and then the job poster selects the person they want to do the job. While not affecting one specific industry, Airtasker takes jobs once reserved solely for business professionals and empowers the consumer to choose who they think is the best option from a list of applicants.
It’s no secret that real estate is among the most competitive industries operating today. Sellers compete for buyers with the most money; buyers compete for the best properties hoping for the cheapest possible price; and real estate agents compete for the most sales.
However if you’re a real estate agent who’s reading this and you haven’t yet realised; you’re a middleman. And the times they are a-changin’, with entrepreneurs constantly looking for the next multi-billion dollar idea that cuts out the middleman by increasing efficiency, empowering the consumer and saving them money.
But while that idea mightn’t have hit and taken over the real estate industry just yet, it’s not for lack of trying. Companies such as Agent In a Box, Buy My Place and Minus The Agent have all popped up in the last couple of years tempting vendors into attempting to sell their property minus the help of a real estate professional.
It’s a sign of the times for the real estate industry that another – possibly more dangerous – warning shot has just been fired, and it should come as no surprise that it’s come from Airtasker co-founder Jonathan Lui. After stepping back from Airtasker in October last year and needing to relocate to Singapore when his father-in-law fell ill, Lui listed his property online. The overwhelming response he got from potential buyers sparked his next business idea, which he describes as a “LinkedIn for property.”
“When we were relocating last year, I listed my property online and had 30 people through the door and four offers within a few days,” Lui told the Australian Financial Review.
“It made me realise there were lots of buyers who knew what they wanted and what they wanted to spend, but they couldn’t buy what they couldn’t see and it got me thinking there had to be another way.”
The online portal allows property owners to connect with interested buyers and complete the transaction in the one place from start to finish. While Lui insists that the platform isn’t trying to cut out agents, it’s unlikely they’ll warm to they idea of less commissions, listings and authority over sales.
However at Twillis, we recognize and respect the importance of agents in the entirety of the sales process.
Selling a property, which is more often than not someone’s biggest asset, is a difficult, stressful and emotional event. At least for the time being, people will always want – and need – an experienced and knowledgeable middleman to guide and support them through the process.
But while agents are still an important cog in the machine of the sales process, it’s imperative this does not lead to complacency. Just like the hotel and taxi industries, the recent attempts to lure vendors away from using agents to help sell their property should be a red flag that there’s no guarantee that the real estate industry won’t suffer a similar fate.
The responsibility lies with the agent to ensure they break the shackles of traditional marketing, they’re up-to-date, and they’re utilising the best practices in order to give the seller, the buyer and themselves the best possible results.
Because in the end, that’s all everyone wants to achieve.
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