Use of Real Estate Technology Divides Top and Mid-Earning Agents

Driven by the popularity of smartphones and tablet computers, the real estate business is becoming both digital and mobile. An InmanNext survey comparing top-earning real estate agents (annual gross income of $100,000 or more) to mid-earning agents (annual gross income of $30,000 to $50,000) found that high-income agents made more extensive and more frequent use of real estate technology tools than their less successful peers. Survey results were based on responses from nearly 1,400 agents spread fairly equally over the income spread.

• The majority of high-grossing Realtors spent twice as much time (20%) on internet marketing than their lower-grossing peers (10%).
• The highest-income earners, those grossing $200,000 or more annually, spent four times as much on marketing ($20,000) compared to their lower-income peers ($5,000).
• Top-earning real estate agents also outspent their peers on technology, $5,000 compared to less than $2,500.
• While all agents used smartphones, high earners preferred iPhones to androids and were more likely to also own an iPad.
• Both groups used paperless technology to transact business, but more top earners (80%) had embraced cloud computing.
• More than half of high-earning agents updated their real estate website and blog several times a week, while their lower earning peers posted updates only once a month.
• Nearly all agents belonged to Facebook, but top-earning agents updated their Facebook page daily and had more than 500 friends, compared to other agents who updated their Facebook page only occasionally and had fewer friends. The highest earners ($200,000 and more) had 1,000 friends and earned twice as many “likes” as less socially-active agents.
• Top agents were also more likely to have YouTube and Twitter accounts with more than 100 followers.
• While email communication with clients was important to all agents, high-income agents preferred to communicate via text or social media.
• Listing domains were universally used by top agents.
• Top earners ranked search engine optimization as very important compared to average earners who felt SEO was of limited importance.

Need to get up to speed with real estate technology? Contact Properties Online.