Why Proptech is Important for your Homebuilding Business in 2020
Proptech has become a fast-growing buzzword and trend in real estate. The tech in this category is set to not only revolutionize the way real estate functions as a whole but has the potential to disrupt the entire homebuying and homebuilding process outright. Far from a temporary trend, proptech is here to stay and is poised to take over. Why is it so important for your home building business? Here are several reasons.
Proptech Changes How Properties are Sold
Professionals in every industry have come to realize the more they have access to data, the better informed their buying, selling, and marketing decisions can be. Real estate and home building are no different. Imagine you want to build a set of single-family homes in what you believe to be a nice undeveloped area just north of a well-known suburb. Basic data gives you the valuation for the piece of land, population counts give you a general trend for area growth, and employment numbers show you whether the area is growing or declining. What it can’t do is let you in on the reality that the city is trending away from high-income jobs, has a growing sense of homeowner dissatisfaction, and is seen as tired, backward, and old-fashioned. It can’t show you that millennials consider the area to be a place where their parents might retire, but they’d never move there and, to boot, they’re planning to build a small place in their new home for their parents, anyway.
Proptech analyzes data from every possible source, including social media and generational trends and can speak into these issues. At its most basic, proptec can help ensure you won’t have a housing tract that is priced too high, in an area that can no longer afford it, or where no one wants to move.
Proptech Changes How Houses are Seen
Before the advent of VR, the best you could do as a homebuilder to show prospective buyers the concept of your unbuilt housing creation was to show them a rendering of the house. That’s no longer good enough, nor should it be. Now that you have VR, you can give a homebuyer a virtual walkthrough of the various floorplans and home types you are building. You can even switch out the floorplans as you perform a virtual walkthrough, which is especially helpful if you’re building custom homes.
By using VR, you can bring your unbuilt homes to life and even “stage” them to appeal to your prospective buyer. Do they like Farmhouse décor? Done. Modern Rustic? Victorian? Mediterranean Revival? At the touch of a button, you can customize any virtual walkthrough to display the type of décor your prospect buyer will respond to the most.
Proptech Changes How Houses are Marketed
Not only can you use proptech to “show” houses and ensure your building site is the best possible, but you can also use it to market properties that have yet to be constructed. Imagine selling out your entire housing tract before you’ve finished a single model house. With proptech, it’s possible. By using VR, you can show “finished” houses to multiple prospects at the same time. You can place advertisements on popular social media platforms with full walk-throughs of your soon-to-be constructed homes. You can set up automatic AI integration to interact with prospects viewing your advertisements and collect information such as email addresses, interest level, and desired location for moving. Proptech offers you the capability of not only advertising your units, but interacting with customers, customizing what they see, and gathering their information – without even talking to them in person. This kind of proptech will revolutionize the way home building and home buying is conducted – and for the better.
