The REIQ Real Tech 2017 Conference was created to fill a gap in the Queensland market – a conference that was solely dedicated to bringing only relevant technology to the real estate practitioner.
REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said the idea sprang out of her recent trip to Inman Connect in New York.
“It was an inspirational event and I realised we don’t have anything like this in Queensland, where agents can come and learn the important things that have immediate and practical applications to their daily lives,” she said. “So we created it!”
Far from being a ‘just another’ tech junket, the event also launched a new digital tool called Agent.ID, which can assist QLD agents with verification of identity requirements from a mobile device. Lee Bailie, GM of Products and Innovation at InfoTrack – as well as an Elite Agent Top 50 Influencer in 2017 – presented a live demonstration which verified the identity of Antonia in real time using a iPhone.
A collaborative effort between the REIQ and InfoTrack, Agent.ID is a free downloadable app that can verify the ownership of real property and which can be used to verify 100 points of photo ID for easy ‘reasonable steps’ compliance. Simply search Agent.ID in the app store.
“We know there is a section of this profession who haven’t got themselves up to speed with what’s going on in the digital technology space. And we know there are agents who are burying their head in the sand about this stuff – we get it! It’s hard and it’s complicated. But Real Tech is about helping agents understand it and learn what they need to know,” she said.
While many events will talk about Facebook, it was interesting to hear from the horse’s mouth with Facebook’s Oli Moore explaining how agents can leverage ads and the Facebook platform to reach their marketplace.
Antonia said, “Facebook is doing some amazing things with Dynamic Ads and real estate agents need to know this stuff – so we’ve brought Facebook to the agents.”
In a noisy world overpopulated with channels, Oli’s advice to agents was, “Don’t mistake motion for progress. Have a list of non-goals and be ruthless about what you don’t do.”
Undeniable themes of a digital future and customers demanding a frictionless and user-dedicated experience across computer and mobile devices dominated the day. It was a powerful moment to see a live demonstration of the Docusign integration with RealWorks, due for release soon, which will mean e-signing capabilities for RealWorks subscribers.
“Technology is the Achilles heel for many working real estate professionals – we’re all so busy and learning these new things takes time away from the business,” said Antonia. “It’s no longer an option to do business the old-fashioned way, or the way you’ve always done it. Today’s buyers and sellers are extremely sophisticated and tech-savvy, and they’re demanding we meet them in their space,” she added.
