Why a realtor shall always exist! -Mr. Uday Lamba

The future of real estate transactions all around us in myriad forms today take place over mobile phones, PCs, tablets, and sometimes even through voice-assisted devices. The near future could see other forms as well, in addition to the inclusion of the likes of meta-verse. The latter would be for better visibility across varied uses – in real-time scenarios with all the bells and whistles in place. Meta-verse, for that matter, is beyond AR & VR. It’s that state where everything is in flux, and one could be anybody doing anything for any number of reasons. Juxtapose this reality with realty, and you know where it’s headed! Beyond sci-fi!

Does that mean the humble go-between, the brokers (you could call them by any name, but they essentially remain the same!) days are over? Do they quietly disappear into the “enveloping darkness” slowly enveloping others?

If history and human behavior are an indication, they may not disappear entirely and in fact, come back with a bang! As to why the following reasons could be enlightening!

• Purchasing realty (and more so the first one, home, office, or factory) is an emotional affair!

And where there are emotions, there can’t be logic, the mainstay of machines. Like the first child, the first brush with realty is something we cherish intensely and need to be assured about again and again. The only way to get that is to have the assuring presence of a human agency in the form of an advisor (or broker or whatever else you may call them!) whose constant and reassuring presence can calm every nerve and make the purchase seem worthwhile. That in fact, is the case with subsequent purchases as well, though the intensity rightly reduces with every new transaction.

• Purchasing realty calls for enormous leg-work!

Anyone who has ever held realty will tell you of the footwork one needs to get to the best. While photographs, videos, AR-VR-MR, and the rest are fine to attract the right set of eye-balls, one’s senses calm only after physically visiting the site. And in that, there’s nothing that comes close to a realtor. With the right team, a realtor is assured of survival and growth, given that property from open land to apartments and buildings have all manner of encumbrances – right down to even pesky neighbours that get sorted out only when visited in person. The reassuring presence of a mediator thus plays a part in easing things for both the parties, i.e., buyer and seller.

• Purchase of realty calls for keeping aside and making available considerable resources that by itself calls for an assuring presence!

Emotions aside, purchasing property calls for keeping aside large sums of money. With the (uncalled for in most cases) likelihood of concern bordering on fear creeping in, the assured presence of a go-between is always helpful in soothing frayed and concerned nerves. This person with the correct information, team, and attitude can make the difference between a deal and a great deal, never going out of fashion, irrespective of the heights to which technology goes.

• Handling grey areas in the arena of realty!

Take the case of India, where everything about property, land and the likes is opaque, be it ownership, transfer, division, use, sale, or the usage of sale proceeds. That being the case, India and places like it can never be comfortable with the idea of machines whose knowledge of the subject and its implications would perennially remain suspect. The only thing one could fall back upon would invariably be a known property agent who has been in the industry long enough to know it like the back of one’s hand. Property agents will then not walk into the night in silence and shall, on the contrary, shine a torch where needed.

• Property-related paperwork!

Where there’s opacity, there’ll always be a trail of papers to be procured from all places like the registrar’s office, housing society’s office, property tax office, and so on. These activities add only to cumbersome procedures, costs, and increased noise value. That said, being a legal requirement to prove ownership, one cannot do away with it entirely. Among all the stakeholders in the industry, the one who can help a buyer or seller successfully navigate the trail of paper and come out the winner is a seasoned and knowledgeable liaison, a broker.

• Bringing forth the value of a property!

A realtor is the right resource to enhance the unusual features of a property that could otherwise get ignored and highlight the benefits of living in a particular neighbourhood. Having a keen sense of business and ground realities that exist in a specific place, such a person or agency could best analyze the property’s potential to give returns in the future, something automated portals may be lost on.

That said, the best human agency in the field of property invariably is the one that uses technology judiciously to give his/ her/ their customers the right set of experiences and brings them back often for future deals. It is thus an ideal mix of the man and the machines that make for a great realtor!