Real estate agents are facing a potential crisis, as REX Real Estate Exchange’s artificial intelligence sells houses for lower commission. The company’s AI service charges a rate of 2%, competing at a much lower rate than the 5% – 6% that traditional, human brokers offer.
The AI uses highly targeted data to crunch hundreds of thousands of data points to target likely buyers. Buyers are then targeted with ads on social media and websites.
The company’s AI claims to be able to determine which potential buyers in a five-mile radius have the financial means to buy a home as well as motivation to buy homes based on clicks. The AI has sold over 231 homes since 2016.
Automated marketing is also making its way into real estate offices across the country. Re/Max remains bullish on automated marketing, according to a recent report. The company has relied on traditional marketing avenues for decades, with iconic signage and REMAX business cards fueling the company’s marketing for years.
Re/Max has since developed a digital marketplace and has turned to Adwerx in a partnership to generate 1 billion impressions. Re/Max received 850 million impressions from its other digital campaigns that did not involve Adwerx.
In an interview with Inman, Re/Max’s VP Mike Ryan claims that the company’s most powerful marketing tool remains the physical yard sign. The company is now turning to the “digital yard sign” to increase sales. Re/Max’s “digital yard sign” is highly targeted ads promoted to users with engaging behavior that is most likely to buy a home.
Adwerx’s platform offers hyperlocal ad targeting that automates the advertising process. Re/Max introduced Imprev, which is less hyperlocal than Adwerx, to push the company’s digital marketing forward. Imprev allows real estate agents to add listings quickly into the company’s database and will provide agents with automated marketing materials.
YouTube videos, physical marketing materials, virtual tours and other marketing materials are automatically created through Imprev to make marketing homes faster and easier for real estate agents.
Re/Max offered the Adwerx tool to agents for free for the past five months and plans to keep the tools available through June. Re/Max will then offer the tool to independent agents on a paid basis, which is $36.75 a week. The real estate firm promoted 350,000 – 400,000 using Adwerx, with 90,000 – 100,000 agents using the service.
Re/Max joins a growing group of companies that are turning to technology real estate. Re/Max has also started to invest in real estate tech startups with a recent purchase of Booj. Re/Max made the acquisition public. Booj is a web design and technology firm that is from Colorado.
Booj has been responsible for technology systems for 40 regional real estate companies and has worked with over 20,000 agents. The company focuses on websites, lead generation, predictive analytics, mobile app development and cultivation systems.
Re/Max plans to lower their reliance on third-party companies for their marketing efforts while offering agents across the world real estate technology to sell homes. The company’s foray into real estate technology helps position Re/Max for multiple sources of income outside of their own agents selling homes.