The future of real estate — DTS Convention
I did a jam packed session on Wednesday at the DTS Attorneys Prestige Convention, looking at all the latest real estate trends, from fixed fee models, to portal monopolies, how real estate brand have become commodified, the millions Wall Street is throwing at the iBuyer model, and how we underestimate how fast disruption is happening in the business world.
This was followed by a riveting analysis by Nicky Weimar from Nedbank on the current state of the South African economy and a heart warming testimony from Priscilla de Jager on how she turned life’s problems into opportunities and became a top performing KW agent.
The rize of the fixed fee agency
We looked at the UK’s largest real estate agency, Countrywide, that is in trouble and on the verge of bankruptcy while fixed fee online agency, Purple Bricks is now the largest agency by listing number count and is now profitable in the UK, with expansion into the US, Australia and Canada. We also looked at how fixed fee agencies need volume (listings) to be profitable and the opportunity for traditional commission models to optimize their business processes.
Not an eazi discussion
We looked at fixed fee operations in South Africa including the rize of Leadhome and discussed the sale of fixed fee agency Eazi.com to Pam Golding Group in a panel format led by Rian du Toit from DTS Attorneys. Kudos to Justin Kreusch from Pam Golding who did a great job in communicating their decision and strategy to the audience in a professional way. Representatives from RE/MAX and KW noted that that this would not be a route their franchises would follow. This was also clearly communicated in recent press releases following the sale of Eazi.
We also looked at the advantages and disadvantages of being aligned with a real estate franchise and the value of agents in a property transaction. Gordon Smart noted that he sees a future of real estate dominated by highly efficient agent teams, I couldn’t agree more!. I noted that small independent agencies are agile and can make quicker decisions when it comes to changing or optimizing business models.
Future real estate models
I discussed the dominant future real estate models we would see:
- iBuyer model for hassle free quick home sales.
- Hybrid and Online set fee models that are technology 1st companies.
- Traditional models that will grow into more specialized premium services.
I finished the session looking at advancements in AI including how Amazon Alexa will disrupt search via voice, and some practical tips on improving your real estate website, including taking note of Google’s preference to responsive and mobile first indexing.
Overall a great event from DTS Attorneys, don’t miss it next year!
