The unmatched value of buyer agents in today’s market

by Inman | Aug 20, 2024 | Industry, News Feed

Tech companies that could smooth out a rough 2024

by Inman | Aug 16, 2024 | Industry, News Feed

Innovation is in our DNA at Inman — that’s why we’re excited about August’s Technology and Innovation Month. We’ll kick it off by celebrating the companies and individuals pushing the industry forward with an expanded slate of Inman Innovator Awards at Inman Connect Las Vegas. Then, we’ll continue to celebrate the brightest minds in real estate all month long.

Inman Innovator Award winners Inspectify and Courted have been in this column a lot the past couple of years, taking up word count because of their respective business models, each aiming to improve crucial trademarks of longstanding industry inefficiencies.

Inspectify aims to change the outsized impact post-contract home inspections have on closing, recently introducing an insurance option that could shrink the rate of canceled closings or unreasonable buyer credits. Courted is making brokerages much smarter about recruiting and retention, applying machine learning and intricately crafted data to hiring decisions. In their own way, each application is an asset to the industry.

This year brought me a few more companies that could fit the bill, which if adopted and dutifully integrated, can make the brokerages that use them more consumer-centric, expedient and operationally stable. And that’s good for everyone. So let’s have a look.

San Francisco-based Avenue 8 ceased operations as a brokerage to focus on scaling Sidekick, its artificial intelligence-based brokerage productivity solution.

For $25 per month, the AI allows users to request help with a number of common real estate business tasks using a minimal interface. As it goes, it learns each user’s preferences to ensure it responds to, say, a person’s specific location or workflow habits.

Sidekick can pull MLS data to generate market reports and use listing images to generate property descriptions, as well as execute client communications and marketing campaigns, retrieve mortgage product information and local sales data, and generally create what many agents would traditionally take hours to produce for a client or pitch meeting in moments.

Building a mobile app isn’t easy. It’s a longer, more expensive and more convoluted exercise than most realize; yet, the team at Eden got it done driven by the hope they can change how people search for homes and what they pay to find one. Using AI to better search wasn’t their idea, it’s been around, but their algorithm is to date the smartest and most intuitive I’ve seen.

Eden is not a discount brokerage but instead uses its AI to reduce the workload and add value for any agent working with buyers. According to the company, the app’s search capabilities are advanced enough — and its AI so quick-learning — to significantly alleviate the tour burden and hand-holding that has, for too long, challenged buyer agents. The buyer can be granted control of the search without the agent being left out the relationship.

Last year, Ylopo showed me an AI voice mimicry system that can handle cold calling for its users. However, there’s a good chance that won’t be legal for long, so the company took that AI and taught it how to teach people. MaverickRE is technically a sister company of Ylopo, but it could be the Marcia Brady of Ylopo products.

Along with typical agent leaderboards and lead source analysis features, all of which can be partitioned by team or brokerage branch, MaverickRE’s other core value proposition is its AI-based sales training.

Users can select a sales scenario, such as pitching a “confused buyer” or a “disinterested seller,” start the AI player, and respond in real-time to the bot. Email performance reports are generated after each call and naturally, the AI will get more realistic over time. As of this writing, there are 60 scenarios included, spanning an array of sales challenges specific to divorce, a relocation, death on the property and the need for a 1031 Exchange.

This application just merged from its stealth phase to provide a digital on-ramp for foreign real estate investors to buy property in the United States.

Waltz helps investors establish a U.S. banking presence and LLC, gain an EIN, transfer currencies and safely wire funds. Although the company will conduct direct marketing efforts to investors, it will work with real estate agents to educate them on its workflow efficiencies and demonstrate that the long-standing administrative hurdles for outside investors only need a sharp technology solution to be conquered.

This is a great vehicle for real estate agents who have friends overseas or property managers wanting to carve a new market. It wouldn’t take much to start spreading the reach of your marketing to places like Spain, Switzerland or Brazil.

Waltz deploys a very lightweight, mobile-inspired front-end that’s certainly had time to mature in its lengthy stealth period. I saw some future looks, and it’s only moving in the right direction.

StackWrap is productivity software that serves as a top layer to a brokerage’s tech stack, enabling better organization, access and understanding of a company’s most-used applications. The solution was built by Max Fitzgerald, who owns the independent brokerage Craft & Bauer.

Users can connect any number of common systems — Follow Up Boss, SkySlope, their MLS, etc. — to the StackWrap interface, giving them a single place to begin their workday. The primary dashboard offers a modern, smart layout with a simple navigation design that allows one-click access to what you need when.

Need to check in on an agreement signature? Click your DocuSign link. Did a new lead sign up for a newsletter? Hop into Mailchimp or SendGrid to see what’s what.

This app isn’t adding to the proptech noise, it’s offering a way to control its volume.

HomeStack is a mobile app Lego, a build-as-you-go solution for independent brokerages to create powerful, consumer-facing business applications with features on par with much more expensive scratch-built software.

HomeStack comes with home-search functionality, CRM, on-board communications with two-way activity notifications, lead routing, tour scheduling and other tools that should match the expectations of any tech-savvy tech admin or broker wanting to find new ways to add value to their operation. It’s linked up with 200 multiple listing services to ensure its listing data is tightly integrated.

The advantages of using a branded mobile experience for business are many, but in truth, good ones are not easy to find because it’s too big a lift for the agent. HomeStack is a B2B2C model, meaning it’s a business selling a product to a business that sells its version of that product to a consumer. Agents are not in software sales.

This isn’t everything that’s been good about tech this year, but rather a few companies I consider standouts. For a few more popular options, check out this piece from Inman contributor Jimmy Burgess.

There are a few months left in the year and a lot of industry issues about to unfold. I’ll be watching how our innovators respond.

Email Craig Rowe

Lesson Learned: Realtors are keepers of the American dream

by Inman | Jul 29, 2024 | Industry, News Feed

Inman Connect Las Vegas is LIVE this week! Get all your real estate questions answered and network with thousands of industry leaders. Join us virtually from anywhere in the world — the future of real estate is unfolding now.

With a specialty in farm and land sales, Hunter Hindman, one of the National Association of Realtors’ 30 under 30 recipients for 2024, requires a unique kit when he goes out on a showing or listing appointment. His supply list often includes a utility vehicle, trailers, boots, mapping programs, chainsaws and, in his words, “anything else it takes to get the job done.”

Find out how this third-generation Realtor puts his background and love of the land to work for clients ranging from farmers to hunters to developers of therapy and religious retreats — and why he’s such a believer in the American dream of land ownership.

Name: Hunter Hindman

Title: Land specialist

Experience: 7 years in the business with a degree in agricultural business sales and marketing and a minor in real estate

Location: Leasburg, Missouri

Brokerage name: Living The Dream Outdoor Properties

Team size: Me and two buyer’s agents, Lucas McElhannon and Donna Housewright; transaction coordinator, my stepmom Tammy; listing inputs coordinator and marketing manager, my sister Paige Hindman; and, of course, my broker and father, Darrell Hindman, from whom I seek advice almost every day.

Transaction sides: 49

Sales volume: $15 million-plus

Awards:

• National Association of Realtors 30 under 30
• No. 1 agent in company out of 50 agents for the number of transactions sold (2021)

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

I am very proud to be a third-generation Realtor, following in the footsteps of my grandfather, Clifford Hindman, and my dad, Darrell Hindman.  I attended my first Realtor event at the age of 2 when I watched my dad be installed as president of the St. Louis Realtors.

While I didn’t grow up playing with lockboxes, I grew up appreciating our family tradition of outstanding service to clients and customers.  From an early age, I knew that I wanted to continue in that tradition as a keeper of the American dream.

What’s the best advice you ever got from a mentor?

My mentor, my father Darrell Hindman, taught me to always go the extra mile for our clients.  He showed me from my first day in this business that my success was tied to the success and satisfaction of the buyers and sellers I served. 

As a land specialist, he showed me the importance of not just selling the property but selling the outdoor lifestyle that he and I both love. He taught me that looking out for our clients and doing everything possible to help them succeed in their real estate journey would help me grow in life and my profession. 

I will always remember the words that he taught me to live by in our profession: “No commission is worth your reputation.”

What do clients need to know before they begin a real estate transaction?

Clients need to think about and know what they are hiring their Realtor for before they begin their buying or selling journey.

Clients need to ask questions of the Realtor they are interviewing:

• Do they have the right tools?  In my business, that probably includes an off-road vehicle, maybe a chainsaw, and boots that make walking acreage workable. 
• Do they have the right knowledge and experience?
• Have they sold the type of property you are selling? 
• Are they knowledgeable about real estate values in your community or county? 

While countless surveys show that clients are generally happy with their Realtor after the transaction, so many clients don’t listen to their agent’s advice. They sometimes forget that it is just as crazy to hire a Realtor and ignore their advice as it is to ignore their doctor’s or lawyer’s advice.  

What do too few agents know that would make their lives easier?

Few agents know how to compartmentalize and allocate their time. This can be a hard business that can take a lot of time, but a successful agent must know how to manage their time.

Allocate time for clients. Never quit prospecting for new clients and new listings. Allocate time for marketing and promotion to keep business coming. Our business is constantly changing, so our lives will be. Most importantly, allocate time for family and friends. A well-rounded life will bring you success in your career and business.

Tell us a story about your most memorable transaction

Helping clients through what is usually the biggest financial transactions of their lives is always a reminder of the vital role we play in the lives of our buyers and sellers. My most memorable transaction has always been an illustration for me about serving our clients and “doing right” by them can impact their lives as well as ours.

My memorable transaction began one morning when Mick walked into my office. He was looking for help selling his 160-acre farm in Osage County, Missouri.

We chatted for over an hour about the farm and, while he didn’t have to sell, he wanted to move to Florida. He shared with me the good, the bad and the ugly of the property. We quickly hit it off as agent and client and soon became friends. 

In life and business, I have always strived to be bound by my word and doing right by clients, friends and families. To me, in business, I have always worked to go beyond my legal responsibilities and to treat clients like I would want to be treated. When we got an offer on his property that was somewhat lower than he had hoped for, I feel I did the right thing and adjusted my commission so he could receive close to the net proceeds he needed. He promised that he would not forget my kindness and hard work.

A few months later, Mick called me to list his home in Sullivan, Missouri. The beautiful home on 25 acres sold quickly and without issues. Due to the hard work and dedication, Mick had no concerns or issues with listing his home at the full commission normally charged by my company.  

Mick tells me that the closing gifts I gave him at each closing — Orca coolers with our Living the Dream logo on it — sit beside his pool at his Florida home as a reminder of our working together. Working with Mick showed me once again the importance of “doing right” by people in business and all aspects of life. Having a client call you his friend is the greatest reward you can receive in our business.

Email Christy Murdock