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Technology extends your new Domain
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business
THE property market has been changed by technology.
John Foong, Domain’s chief revenue officer, said the biggest change has been giving everyone access to data and insights at a much faster pace – and deeper way – than ever before.
“Now everything is at your finger-tips,” Mr Foong told Talking Business. “You can see and do comparables. You can look at valuations from multiple sources. You can read some of that great research from Domain and other providers. It’s a lot more smart.
“I would also say, on the agents’ side, there is a lot more intelligence too. They can draw insights, they can use artificial intelligence, they can aggregate things in data and make more holistic smarter recommendations,” he said.
“Both seeker and agent are a lot smarter than they were before.”
Mr Foong said this made it challenging for buyers as there were now so many more options. 
“It’s the tyranny of choice,” he said.
“You might be competing with other buyers from out of state, or overseas, so there’s loads of possibilities, more competition and more information.”
TECH ADDS TO AGENT CHALLENGES
Mr Foong said technology had also made it more challenging for agents.
“I think as an agent, a lot of the value you would have historically provided by being an expert with access to industry knowledge has been eroded,” he said.
“So you have to be smarter with publicly available information, which is now freely available, with insights and the way you help people think, and coach them through the process, whether it’s selling or the buyer buying.”
Mr Foong said the great access to information also made it exciting for investors, although it also meant one was competing against “a much broader set of investors”.
“There is still no substitute for an investor going and walking the streets and looking at the house, but there is more information yet to figure out where you should be visiting first, than there would have been a decade ago.”
PANDEMIC CHANGES EVERYTHING
Mr Foong said COVID changed the way people used artificial intelligence because they were spending more time on their computers.
He said mobile apps were now ‘hot’ in the real estate market.
“People expect an awesome mobile app experience,” Mr Foong said.
“They expect to use the 20 seconds they spend at a bus stop or while they’re walking from one place to another to have a meaningful interaction where they find out information by reading content or by browsing a house.
“So it’s got to be easy, it’s got to be quick, it’s got to be accurate, it’s got to be easy to use, it’s got to be shareable, it’s got to be social,” he said.
Mr Foong said he could see the potential for the Internet of Things in commercial real estate.
“We are trying to help the big property managers around the world, the CBREs, the Colliers,” he said. “How do they not just make transactions, like leasing and buying and selling, but how do they develop a lot of value through property management as a service?”
“With the Internet of Things, you would have eyes all over the place. These are things where you can automate value that can be added, and they can charge a premium for that.
“It’s brilliant for commercial. We all want to outsource as much as possible.”
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
https://play.acast.com/s/talkingbusiness/talking-business21-interview-with-john-foong-from-domain
