Reality Isn't Virtual

In real estate, technology is our future. Or is it?

This past week, we talked a lot about technology at our management retreat. How 85% of home buyers begin their search on line. How many buyers feel they don’t need an agent because all the information on every property is right there at the touch of a keystroke. So much information is now on line that buyers view properties virtually, through photos and video; they can eliminate many properties without ever seeing the actual bricks and mortar, thus making themselves much more efficient.

These buyers are right; there is a LOT of information on line about properties. But does information actually drive purchases? Does anyone really want to buy a home based on information alone? Are the facts about a property (or a person) and its essence the same?

I love Facebook. I check it every day, often several times a day, to see what’s new in my newsfeed and who has been reading my posts. I post regularly on Facebook, though not multiple times a day as some of my colleagues do. But if you read about me on Facebook – if you and I become Facebook friends – what you know about me is carefully curated. I make conscious decisions about what to post and what not to post. I create a context for myself around the areas I write about on Facebook: real estate, cooking, a little music, my children and grandchild.  Knowing me on Facebook is not actually knowing me. To a certain degree I actively avoid nuance. I want to create an appealing distillation: these interests, this focus, these ideas. I avoid controversy in my Facebook self.

I believe this is the paradigm for responsible, professional on line interaction. And I think the implications spread far beyond Facebook. We are all curating a projection of ourselves, be it curmudgeonly, friendly, wise, or funny. And the goal is always attraction.

The same paradigm holds for on-line real estate. Every agent tries to put his or her listing’s best foot forward. The on-line projection reflects careful editing. It lacks nuance. And that is where agents come into the picture. Frequently the property the buyer has rejected based on its on-line depiction is precisely the one he should be seeing. You can only imbibe the feeling of a place – the light and air, the way the space flows, the detailing – as you walk through it IN PERSON. What looked small on your iPad may look just fine when you are there, and vice versa.  Buyers know just where they want to live, and they refine their Internet searches accordingly. But agents know that time and again people end up enthusiastically buying in neighborhoods they had never even considered until their agent led them there.

I say often in this blog that we as agents sell both a property and a sense of home. Anyone can buy a condo on line. But to find a home requires your presence in the space to soak up the intangibles. That reality can never go virtual.