The real estate industry is evolving over the years, and of course, agents have to follow these changes in order to stay competitive in the market. Most of the changes in the real estate industry allow agents, brokers and brokerage companies to be more successful on the market, but there are several switches in the market they are not satisfied with.
The year of 2021 has started with changes. A new era has begun in the real estate industry.
The biggest change is Zillow’s purchase of ShowingTime, a company with software used by over one million agents. Step by step, we are going to discuss what this means for agents and brokers and how it will affect the industry itself.
ShowingTime in a Nutshell
ShowingTime is a software company that has run its business for 22 years. This company is mainly focused on the management, scheduling and showing processes of a property. The software is mainly used by real estate agents and brokers. ShowingTime is used by at least one million agents and brokers around the United States and Canada, and this number increases from time to time.
Speaking about ShowingTime and its influence in the real estate industry, we should highlight some of its features. We will discuss three features, in order to have a general idea of what ShowingTime means or does. The three features are:
Communication- This is the most important feature because it relates to communication between agents and messaging. Unlike email, the structure allows you to have comments or messages that stay with listings.
Announcements- The ShowingTime mobile app is used by agents to send announcements to all showing agents who have viewed the property in the past three months.
Snapshot- All activity led by agents is provided in the listing activity report (LAR). When an agent or broker opens the LAR, the first thing they see is basic listing information, current MLS status and statistics for that day.
The Upcoming Changes
Zillow was launched in 2006, and it has been growing over the past few years. The company has already announced that it is going to buy ShowingTime for $500 million. Zillow supports everything related to the property, like selling, buying, renting and more.
One of the theories about why Zillow needs ShowingTime is to be more engaged in the real estate industry and to take advantage of ShowtingTime’s vast database. Zillow has already clarified that this platform will stay open for all participants.
Critique of the Decision
There is no denying that Zillow’s impact on the real estate industry is huge. The company is an important factor in many home transactions. Like others in the industry, Zillow tries its best to be the leading company in real estate and to generate as much profit as possible.
Following Zillow’s announcement, some agents and brokers worried about monopolized data in the real estate industry. On ActiveRain they said Zillow will now have information about their clientele. For its part, Zillow has said that ShowingTime will maintain its existing data privacy policies.
Last Few Words
A new era in the real estate industry has been launched. Time will tell how it plays out.
Check this article about RealtyFeed and get information about the new trends in real estate industry: REALTYFEED – THE UNIQUE SIDES OF REAL ESTATE BUSINESS APP
