Here’s what brokers need to focus on first instead of flying drones
Drones. Drones. Drones.
Everybody seems to be “droning” on about the use of drones in real estate.
Do you know what the word “drone” really means? To speak in a monotonous tone.
And all this talk about drones is certainly meeting that definition.
One blogger suggested the use of drones in real estate would be one of the top 10 trends in 2014.
Fair enough.
But he also said the No. 1 trend that people really need to pay attention to is the ability of a broker or agent to use “Big Data.”
“Big Data” is basically the ability to easily and quickly process an enormous amount of information.
And you can easily get that data by embedding the real estate search tool SpatialMatch on your website.
Adding the SpatialMatch data widget is certainly easier than trying to maneuver a drone over a seller’s house.
Sure it seems easy on YouTube. But what about wind? Or trees? Or power lines?
How cool would your drone be if you flew it into one of the seller’s picture windows? Or scratched their Mercedes in the driveway? Or got it stuck in a tree?
Not very cool at all.
And for what, an aerial view that is maybe interesting for about five seconds?
With SpatialMatch and its “Big Data” application you get so much more (for quite a bit less!).
First of all, SpatialMatch is map-based.
With a regular street map version, terrain version and satellite version (see example below).
So, you can easily show prospects and sellers an aerial view of the property without running the risk of crashing your tiny aircraft in the neighbor’s pool.
An aerial view is nice. But what about all the other data a buyer wants to see?
With SpatialMatch you have it.
There are more than 100 layers of data accessed by that data widget on your real estate website.
And it’s all integrated with the local MLS, so you can also show all properties on the map.
What that means, is that a broker or agent can use SpatialMatch to point out where the schools are located in relation to a property.
Where the best restaurants are located.
Where the train terminal is located.
Where the main thoroughfares are located.
A drone can’t do all that. It’s only going to show mostly roofs and will probably end up crashing on one of those roofs at some point.
This year, a broker or agent can save themselves a lot of trouble, headaches and money if they skipped the “drone” fad and focused on the hyper-local tool they will get with SpatialMatch.
Amazon created a big stir when they said they planned to deliver packages by drone. Well, what they failed to mention is that people will probably start a new sport shooting Amazon drones out of the sky to see what shipments they can pilfer.
Don’t get your expensive drone shot out of the sky.
To see the article on Inman’s about how “Big Data” is the top trend for 2014, click here.
