Technology Has Simplified the Home Buying Process
Technology has made buying a home easier in recent years by improving the processes involved and helping both sellers and buyers save time and money. It is a major factor behind making home buying a reality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The real estate industry can make the home buying process utterly confusing and overwhelming. By helping tackle the challenges presented, technology has become a significant part of home buying.
Consolidation of Home Buying Processes
Fintech companies have streamlined digital mortgage lending services. Applicants experience convenience and efficiency through the ability to upload key documents anywhere and anytime, integrated credit card checks, and automation of underwriting. Consequently, loan processing timelines have become much shorter.
Additionally, companies have embedded homeowner’s insurance into the mortgage lending process. People can get a mortgage as well as the insurance needed to secure financing from the same institution, as opposed to getting homeowner’s insurance from one institution and then proving it to their lending institution. Consolidation of the different processes offers benefits like:
- Saving time
- Removing unnecessary information transfer
- Eliminating the potential for making errors when filling applications
Personalized Selections
Technology is personalizing home buying. Big data can help interpret the preferences of a person looking for a new home. Under ideal circumstances, some platforms present a person with the homes that fit his or her individual likes and needs, even those needs that the person did not know that he or she had. The platforms rely on buyer-facing information, like neighborhood statistics and property history, as well as predictive analytics using consumer behavior data to determine a person’s ideal purchasing conditions.
Virtual Tours
Technology has simplified how homebuyers view potential homes. In the past, they had to drive past the homes they were interested in, evaluate the exterior, and then wait for open houses or realtors to set up a showing. The COVID-19 pandemic spurred the adoption of virtual tours.
Many online listings now have virtual tours. People can virtually open doors and step into every room of a house from the comfort of their current home. This immersive walkthrough of a home gives a person a physical sense of the space and helps create an emotional feel.
Virtual tours made looking at potential homes quicker and easier. The tours come in handy for people planning to move to distant cities or have demanding schedules. For homebuyers who prefer to see homes in person, taking virtual tours helps them narrow their options down to a few potential homes.
iBuying
iBuying, or instant buying, has created a buzz in the real estate market. The algorithmically driven technology involves the purchase and sale of homes on demand. This occurs on iBuyer platforms like Opendoor, Zillow, RedfinNow, and Offerpad. iBuying tries to establish more accurate home values by using data science, fixed inputs, and probability. That helps control some of the subjectivity that usually goes into pricing a home.
Digital Signing
Thanks to technology, closing on a new home no longer has to be long and tedious. Remote closing has become feasible for buyers and routine for sellers.
Contracts are drafted after a person chooses the home he or she wants to purchase. The contracts require multiple signatures, including those of the realtor, seller, and buyer. All the parties can sign the important documents from anywhere easily and conveniently on Digital Transaction Management (DTM) platforms. This helps expedite the home buying process.
With the improved buyer experience that technology has brought about and the changes on the horizon, it pays for people to keep up with the latest real estate market trends.