Industry experts say real estate agents can use technology to build trust with their customers and keep them as lifelong supporters.
REACH Australia managing partner Peter Schrevemaid said recent research by Roy Morgan and the Australian Governance Institute showed that many Australians do not view real estate agents as honest or trustworthy. He said there are many things that can be done to change perceptions.
“The vast majority of people who are in this industry and work closely with real estate agents and property managers are well-trained professionals who 100 percent do the right thing and are there to help their clients. , I know they are very good people,” he said.
“A small number of mistakes have stained the industry with the same brush.”
Real estate trust challenges
A Roy Morgan study published earlier this year found that real estate was rated the third lowest profession for trust, with only car salespeople and advertising scoring lower.
“Only 5 per cent of Australians rate real estate as high or very high in terms of ethics and integrity,” Roy Morgan chief executive Michelle Levin said in a research webinar earlier this year. That’s one in 20 people.”
“This was the third-lowest number of any occupation…and this number appears to be going backwards.
“Only 5% of Australians rate the real estate profession highly, less than half of the peak of 12% recorded in 2023.”
Interestingly, Levine said younger demographics rate real estate as more ethical and honest than older demographics.
Transparency is key to building trust
This is echoed by the Australian Governance Institute Ethics Index, which listed real estate as the least ethical profession this year, with a score of -19.
The Real Estate Institute of Australia fared better with a score of 5. We recently invited GIA’s CEO, Megan Motto, to speak to industry experts on his live webinar to help elevate the status of real estate agents in our communities.
Mr Motto said there were many things the real estate industry could consider to increase public awareness of the industry.
Overall, transparency is key to mitigating some of the pain points, and remedies could be as simple as having marketing photos of every room in the property, not just the best ones. She said there is.
“Could there be an industry standard for telling everything, including the truth, and being a little more transparent?” Motto said.
Technological solutions to strengthen ethical standards
Mr Shrevemaid agreed that transparency was key to unlocking trust between Australians and property professionals.
But he also said that a more holistic approach to who constitutes a “customer” would be highly beneficial.
“The people who don’t like us at this point are the ones we don’t have a fiduciary interest in,” he said.
“So if you look at residential real estate, if I’m an agent, I have a fiduciary interest with the seller.
“If I were a property manager, I would communicate that to the landlord.
“We’ve gotten so good at guarding that that we’ve somehow forgotten that there are other consumers involved in the transaction, which are still our consumers. I think.”
Schrevemeade said real estate agents and property managers can improve their ethical reputation by also protecting their relationships with buyers and tenants.
“We need to protect the fiduciary interest between sellers and landlords. I’m not discounting that. It’s a legal requirement,” he noted.
“But I think we kind of forget the cycle of real estate transactions and the fact that typically the tenant becomes the buyer and the buyer often becomes the seller.
“If we can protect those relationships as well, I think it will go a long way toward changing the score for Roy Morgan and the GIA.”
Future Directions: Integrating Technology and Trust in Real Estate
Macquarie Bank backs this up, with research showing that 70% of tenants who have had a great experience with a property manager want to buy a home and become a seller or landlord.
Shrevemaid said there is a lot of technology out there that can help agents and property managers increase transparency with buyers and tenants, foster stronger relationships and, in turn, improve ethical rankings.
Offer management platform Market Buy is one of them.
Shrevemaid said Market Buy puts control and transparency of real estate sales in the hands of buyers and sellers, allowing them to view and market properties in real time.
“It’s almost impossible to annoy a buyer,” he said.
market buy
John Hellaby, CEO of Market Buy, said the platform will enable vendors and buyers to trade with confidence.
“Agents can go to a listing presentation, hand over a sales activity report and say, ‘Hey, do you know about 123 Smith St.’ “We achieved this price as, by the way, this is the offer history and this is the sales activity report,” he said.
“Sellers immediately have confidence that no further sales spin will occur.”
Meanwhile, Hellaby said Market Buy also provides transparency for buyers.
“It’s going to be a seller’s market for a while, and the transition to buyer’s market territory will be very short-lived,” he said.
“So we give buyers the ability to make offers on their own terms from their mobile phones, and also know that they are truly competing, that there are other offers, and that there are other buyers. If you can do that, you’re giving them equity,” and an equal opportunity to compete to get the real estate they want.
“It’s an interesting dynamic because if you give buyers a fair and equal opportunity, you’re no longer going to say, ‘Oh, but I would have paid more.’
“They see[the offer]they get a real-time notification that there’s another offer, and they change their mind.
“Buyers who miss out on a property are obviously not happy about missing out on a property, but they acknowledge that they had a fair and equal opportunity, so they may feel angry or distrustful of the agent. It doesn’t mean that it is.
“They didn’t have the money to go where the property was for sale.”
Erin Living Technologies
Shrevemaid said Erin Living Technologies is another platform that provides transparency for buyers and tenants.
A livability platform with a resident app named “Erin”. Covers residents of entire buildings, gated communities, retirement communities, student housing, houses and land.
Thomas Walkley, co-founder and CEO of Erin Living Technologies, said their aim is to connect residents with their homes, buildings and communities.
Through the app “Erin,” residents can use their smartphones to do everything from entering the building and opening the front door, to logging maintenance and repair requests, receiving notifications about the arrival of packages, and even communicating with neighbors. You can do everything from joining social chat groups with. They are grouped according to their interests.
“We are using a number of features to engage tenants and residents to create transparency and inclusivity,” Walkley said.
“It starts with driving engagement on the platform…and we do that by giving people what they really need in the building.
“So we have smart access on our phones, and everyone uses their phones to get into their buildings and apartments.”
“From a transparency perspective, if a user submits a maintenance request or defect on the app, everyone can see it, and if it’s a common area defect, you can also see the status change.
“So everyone can see that it has been updated.”
“There’s also industry transparency. It’s time-stamped and integrated into construction management software.
“That way, the contractor records it as an item that needs to be fixed during the defect liability period, and the whole system is time-stamped.
Walkley said Erin can also be integrated with property management systems, allowing tenants to view things like rental documents and owners to see things like strata documents.
Special Interest Groups also allow residents to customize their living experience and use in-app chat groups to connect with other like-minded people and feel part of a community.
How does this create trust in the property management sector?
“If you reduce the information burden on property managers, that will naturally create trust,” Walkley said.
“If I don’t have to talk to you as a property manager and I have a good impression of you, then you’re doing a good job because we didn’t have to have any involvement.” It means that.”
Mr Walkley said the app had also built trust as residents used it repeatedly and it worked well with no negative side effects.
“When you use your phone to open a door or share a digital key with a plumber, you’re obviously sharing something very personal, secure and sensitive,” he says.
“If you’re comfortable doing these things, I think you’re building trust through your platform on behalf of other stakeholders.”
Walkley said that for now the platform is only operational across communities and not in real estate management portfolios, but he expects the functionality to be available in 2024.
Other PropTechs that help build trust
Mr Shreibmaid said other technology platforms that help agents and property managers build transparency and trust with their customers include using AI to help people plan, buy, build and manage properties in Australia. He said there are companies such as Milk Chocolate Property that are helping to do this.
According to the article, australian financial reviewMilk Chocolate Property focuses on data and AI to power real estate decisions, leveraging over 1,500 data points across every suburb, region and city dating back to 1980.
Co-founder Michael Cleary told AFR: “We carefully benchmark around 35 key indicators to ensure the suburbs we choose offer stable capital growth over the long term. I set it up,” he said.
“The industry is realizing the benefits of incorporating AI and machine learning into traditional business models. Leveraging big data to analyze economic and real estate trends. Automating once-simple, labor-intensive tasks. Optimize your real estate buying, selling, and building decisions.”
Other platforms include Soho, which uses AI to instantly match buyers and tenants with matching properties, and Gavl, which allows agents to broadcast auctions and reveal homes in real-time.
Apps such as Property Calculator Australia can also create trust and transparency, while simplifying the ‘numbers’ side of property including stamp duty, loan balances, required deposits, loan repayments and more.
Shreibmaid said App Liz also provided financial management tools for tenants, and Tapi provided instant property maintenance support.
“Technology that provides immediacy and transparency regarding transactions and real estate processes creates trust,” he said.
“And building trust is an important part of the equation for real estate stakeholders to improve in the eyes of consumers.”