In business, it’s often said that companies must either adapt or die when it comes to the wave disruption that’s affecting all sectors. That said, the same narrative can undoubtedly be applied to the real estate sector where change can move at a snail’s pace at times, but some companies are embracing the disruption wholeheartedly.
It didn’t seem like long ago when the internet changed the typical real estate transaction, allowing prospective buyers and sellers to perform their own research as opposed to relying on an agent to guide their real estate decisions. Now, disruption is on another level with the advent of technology like robotics and artificial intelligence, which is forcing agents to adapt to the ever-changing real estate landscape.
Doug Gieck, vice president of production at 8z Real Estate, sought out BoomTown as a partner when it came to looking for real estate-focused customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. The fiduciary relationship between the real estate agent and the client is paramount to a real estate brokerage’s success.
“The CRM is the lifeblood of real estate,” said Gieck in an RISMedia article.
Of course, when it comes to making a business decision, the topic of cost is always going to come up. Will the value of the software or other disruptive technology be worth it in terms of the benefits it can yield?
“We were kind of dealing with the classic questions of ‘Do you buy it?’ or ‘Do you build it?’ Unfortunately, we initially tried to build it ourselves, and that didn’t work out,” says Gieck. “In the end, we ended up going with BoomTown. We had looked at a ton of CRMs, and they are the best at what they do.”
Disruptive, Real Estate ETFs to Consider
With the industry set to adopt the quickened pace of disruption in real estate, ETF investors can capture the changes via disruptive ETFs like the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEArca: ARKK). ARKK, an actively-managed ETF, seeks to provide investors with exposure to innovation—thematic multi-cap exposure to innovation across sectors.
If investors want to hone in on real estate itself, it might serve them well to check out the Vanguard Real Estate ETF (NYSEArca: VNQ). VNQ seeks to provide a high level of income and moderate long-term capital appreciation by tracking the performance of the MSCI US Investable Market Real Estate 25/50 Index that measures the performance of publicly traded equity REITs and other real estate-related investments.
For more market trends, visit ETF Trends.