Change will happen; people know it. Yet almost everyone will resist change when it happens. But no one can stop change; they can only delay its effect upon them. When something works, people don’t want to think of a better way of doing it; they love the comfort of what is familiar.
This is why change hurts.
As a real estate investor, you are successful because you have mastered the way things work. Therefore, the last thing you want is for things to change. If things stay the same, you know you will win. But you are not so sure this will be the case if things change.
This is why we resist change.
But resisting change is futile. The best way to deal with change is to work with it. When you collaborate with change, you go from being a victim of change to an agent of that change.
By finding out what direction change is going, you can go ahead to wait for it.
That is exactly what we will do in this post. We will highlight the things changing in the real estate industry and show you the direction things are likely to take in the future. With this information, you can go ahead and position yourself to profit from the change.
The Future of Real Estate Investing
IoT (Internet of Things) Smart Homes
Tomorrow’s homes will be packed full of domestic technology that gives them the ability to connect intimately with the people who live in them. The ambiance of rooms will be customized to the needs and moods of individuals, and homes can be controlled remotely.
Automated Rental Property Management
Almost all aspects of managing rental properties will become automated. Smart devices will make it easier to oversee many properties without losing track of the flow of data coming from them. Functions like maintenance checks and financial reconciliation will be carried out without human involvement. Some of these things are already made easier with software like Buildium, but they all will be automated in the future.
New Construction Materials and Techniques
Building contractors and property developers will have more options for the materials they use in buildings and the construction methods they employ. Newer types of materials will come into the market. Modular buildings and prefab homes will take a bigger share of the industry.
Completely Electronic Mortgage Processes
The entire mortgage application and approval process will move online. Wholly digital home financing platforms will rise to challenge the dominance of traditional financial institutions. Banks will be faced with the choice of adapting their processes to accommodate this new method or going into obsolescence.
Fully Digital Loan Closing Systems
New technology and new legislation will make this possible. Electronic signatures will become the norm as government regulations facilitate their widespread adoption. E-notaries will become a standard fixture of the mortgage process; they will verify, notarize, and distribute documents without ever touching them physically.
Diminished Role for Realtors
Technology will reduce the need for intermediaries in real estate transactions. Internet technologies will put those services traditionally performed by estate agents at the disposal of buyers and sellers. Realtors who want to survive will evolve into delivering value that is not easily provided by an algorithm.
Limited In-Person Interactions
People will be able to search for, find, inspect, and pay for homes without ever visiting them physically. Video walkthroughs, 360-degree photography, and drone tours, all in their infancy today, will become so advanced that buyers will feel like they have actually visited home after they view it online.
A Shift to Secondary Real Estate Markets
The interest of buyers will shift from primary real estate markets, namely, big cities. Homebuyers will shun big cities with their crowds and prefer secondary cities (locations with populations of up to half a million) and tertiary markets (small towns of up to a hundred thousand people). The result will be a more highly dispersed population.
The Rise of Work-From-Home (WFH) Tenants
The rental properties of tomorrow must include dedicated work zones to cater to the needs of tenants who are working remotely. Rental properties which have such amenities will be more attractive to renters. These properties will also require more living space to accommodate this demand.
Application of Blockchain Technology to Real Estate Transactions
Blockchain is a technology that lets users initiate, verify, and record transactions without any chance of someone else altering or falsifying the records. It can inject an additional but deeper layer of trust into real estate transactions. Contracts and financing are just two aspects of real estate investing that can benefit from Blockchain technology.
Expanded Options for Property Investors
Real estate investors will have more ways to invest than they currently have. Today the definition of what constitutes commercial real estate is very narrow. There will be several niches within the category of commercial real estate that investors can choose to focus on in the future. Alongside this, investors will have access to a diversity of trusted online real estate markets where they can put their money.
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