IN THIS ISSUE:

         • Snapshot of spring market: 'Business still happening'

         • The 2020s series: Technology to continue its impact

         • A list of 'events' for you to access virtually

         • Solutions for Seniors: Prepping homes for 'Golden Years'

         • REBGV statistics: March 2020 a split month

The 2020s: Technology around long before now

     In the final instalment of a series about life in the 2020s, News From Nexus reviews some of the changes in technology that affect you, the client, and us, the realtor. As buying, selling and funding your property has been impacted by the Internet and technology in general, realtors have gotten into the 2020s by changing many of the traditional ways of caring for clients.
     The best way to sell or buy your house is by utilizing a realtor’s expertise. Artificial Intelligence may be fine in a lot of areas but it’s always wise to pay attention to the adjective Artificial.
     Using technology is not new to realtors, of course.
     A few weeks ago, we had a client who had made an offer. It was accepted as our client was driving to Vancouver from Oregon, but was able to finalize the transaction by signing the documents on an iPhone while in the car, just an hour before the deadline. Our client may well have lost the house if we’d been restricted to traditional methods.
     A few years ago, friends of ours were in Vietnam when their house sold in the Okanagan. Again, using an earlier generation of technology, the deal was completed because they were able to receive the documents electronically, photograph them and return the signed copies, all from their hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City!
     In both cases, the technology was an asset but didn’t replace the value of a realtor to negotiate the correct way through the process, and to make sure the transaction didn’t slip through the cracks. Technology helps but doesn’t replace quality expertise.
     Then there’s video.
     Realtors used to “introduce” clients to a house at first with photographs and details and then, if they were interested, a face-to-face visit. Video tours of the house, the yard and things like a stream that runs through the yard are now an effective way of making that first introduction.
     Right now, this is particularly vital. The government has strongly discouraged open houses, because of the COVID-19 virus, to the point where the Real Estate Board removed that capability from the MLS® system. That makes it even more important to put clients “in the home” that piques their interest, and while a video tour is an answer to the complications caused by the virus, its importance is now a staple.
     Remember the Real Estate Weekly?
     Before technological advances, it was a free newspaper, listing almost every house that was for sale in B.C., or your part of B.C. Like many newspapers, Real Estate Weekly is online now, as Real Estate Wire, giving potential buyers another tech tool in searching for a home. Today, realtors reach clients (present and future) by advertising electronically on Facebook, Instagram, FaceTime or Skype, LinkedIn, Twitter and other Internet vehicles, to the point that less than 5 per cent of a realtor’s sales currently come from print media.
     In the 2020s, you can be sure of this: There will be more technical advances in real estate.
To read the entire series about the 2020s, go to past issues of News From Nexus and newsletters starting from November, when the first article was published, through March.