The only thing that’s certain these days in real estate is uncertainty, and in order to succeed agents — particularly those who work at the luxury end of the market — need to be “smarter than the internet.”
That was the message from Brad Inman, who kicked off Inman Luxury Connect Wednesday morning in Beverly Hills by describing an industry in flux. Inman compared today’s market to the 1970s, saying that both periods saw recessions, wars, racial strife and other conditions.
Further complicating today’s market is the fact that wealth is now scattered across more regions and demographics. Tastes and buying patterns have changed. Design preferences are finally moving away from the “generic.”
It is, in other words, a time of great change.
Inman said that to thrive in these changing times agents need to be smarter, and he specifically cited three areas to focus on. Inman called these areas his “IQs”: emotional intelligence, technology intelligence, and market intelligence. These areas collectively mean that agents need to have a deeper understanding of what their clients need and how to go deeper into the market than those clients could on their own.
The have to grasp the client’s needs and the market’s nuances on multiple levels.
“The average luxury agent needs to be smarter than the internet about market conditions,” Inman argued.
Brad Inman speaking Wednesday at Luxury Connect in Beverly Hills. | Credit: Jim Dalrymple II
Inman went on to mention the example of his wife, who sometimes suggests that the couple buy a home in Tangier, Morocco. Inman’s wife is from Morocco so the country is naturally on her radar, but she also learns of actual properties in the region by watching YouTube and scanning the internet. She isn’t alone, and luxury agents need to be able to offer something to clients like that, who already understand how to find their own far-flung listings around the globe.
“For agents that are serving the luxury market,” Inman said, “they need to have the most sophisticated technology tools to meet these aspirations.”
