Real estate isn’t what it used to be many years ago. Before, there was a lot of emphasis on physically seeing the home, meeting the real estate agent, and auctioning it. However, nowadays, most of these interactions have changed. The digital world is taking over real estate, and the pandemic only makes its effects ever more permanent.
The pandemic has affected the real estate market in various ways. One big way it has affected it is by increasing the prices of homes because of the lack of manpower to build them and the lack of supplies. Another way it has affected the industry is its shift towards digitally-oriented sales. This is to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances we are experiencing. However, people still need to purchase homes despite the pandemic, and many are willing to let go of physical interactions for the transaction.
Online Real Estate
Online real estate is booming. The pandemic has shown that if an industry has to survive, it has to go digital. Today, many people are looking for homes for sale online. They check various real estate websites to see homes and contact real estate agents. Gone are days of calling cards. People are more likely to notice the home you are selling if you have some online presence.
Many experts believe that this is good for the industry. It creates a new dynamic and one that shifts and changes daily. This is good because even amateur home sellers can now gain a decent profit out of it. However, there is a downside to this: real estate agents are affected by this change.
Now that people can sell homes online, swiping left and right to see a home that’s meant for them reduces the need for real estate agents. However, experts believe that this shouldn’t remove the need for agents entirely. Millions of Americans will still be willing to hire an agent because of their connections, especially in banking.
Digital Tools for Efficient Home Buying
Lastly, we should discuss how digital tools are becoming more available for home buyers and what it means for the industry.
We all might have used digital real estate tools and apps to check for mortgage prices, apartments near us, and homes we can purchase. These digital tools can easily be the new sub-sector of the real estate industry, as the need for apps for all sorts of real estate transactions is direly needed because of today’s circumstances.
People like convenience, and millions of Americans now want to make their home-buying experience a breeze. They want the homes to come to them, instead of them looking for one. As stated earlier, online real estate is booming, and digital apps for real estate are also booming.
Apps such as Zillow, Xome Auctions, and Redfin bring homes, apartments, and condominiums to potential buyers. For example, Redfin has real-time listings on its app and website. This is revolutionizing home buying and making real estate apps even more essential for future home buyers.
There are other ways that the online world is affecting the real estate market. One way it’s affecting it is through cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency for Mortgage Payments
As we all know, investing in cryptocurrency is one of the hottest debates in the recent decade. A couple of years ago, only a handful of people knew about cryptocurrency, and many investors believe that it won’t have any value by this year. But now, more and more people are integrating cryptocurrency into their daily lives. For example, some are planning to use it to pay for their mortgage.
United Wholesale Mortgage, the second-largest mortgage lender in the US, plans to use cryptocurrency as a payment option for their mortgages. Considering that one of the largest mortgage lenders is planning to leap of faith in cryptocurrency, experts believe that many other mortgage lenders are planning to follow suit. But what does this mean for the real estate market?
Experts believe that the adaptation of cryptocurrency in the real estate market shows that cryptocurrency is a much stabler currency than we thought. This can easily replace other payment options in the future as more people invest in it. Moreover, this makes the industry more versatile in payment options because crypto-wallets are becoming more common, especially for those who spend a lot of time on the internet.
The future of real estate is online, and almost all sorts of real estate transactions are inevitably available online at some point in our lives. This is good for the industry because it will drive sales because of its convenience. It will also make the home buying process much more accessible, even to new buyers.
