An array of new technologies designed to visually represent listings may actually lead to fewer home showings, but the people who do still show up are likely to be more serious.
Mark Tepper, vice president of sales and business development at 3D imaging company Matterport, said Tuesday afternoon at the Inman Connect New York 2019 conference that today consumers want more transparency and efficiency than they might have in the past.
Where previously a would-be homebuyer might have spent hours and hours viewing dozens of different homes, now that same person expects to get a deeper, richer view of a home before they even step inside.
“It’s all about efficiencies of time,” Tepper said. “You think about the time that’s wasted when somebody walks into a home. You wasted the person’s time who is selling the home who spent hours cleaning it. And the agent who transported you there, and the person who is buying.”
Tepper conceded that displaying richer home imagery might drive some people away. But they are likely to be the people who either weren’t really ready to buy, or who might have eliminated a home immediately after walking through the door. In other words, showing more imagery — including the kinds of 3D tours Matterport creates — whittles down the pool of people so only the most serious remain.
“You’re going to get less showings but the people that come are going to be what we call ‘buyer-ready,'” Tepper concluded.
Gayle Weiswasser, a vice president at mobile house shopping app Homesnap, also stressed the importance of creating a seamless, more efficient consumer experience.
Speaking during the same session with Tepper at Inman Tech Connect Tuesday, Weiswasser pointed out that consumers today have apps that play the music they like and that help them easily buy things online.
Weiswasser’s point was that consumers have come to expect that same kind of ease and transparency in all of their transactions, and real estate is no different. Succeeding in real estate, then, means working with those expectations to help would-be buyers cut out whatever doesn’t actually help them get closer to a home.
“We want to make it seamless and easy,” she said.
