Real Estate Technology is Not an Expense. It is an Investment

More and more these days, when doing product demos and trainings, I am hearing from real estate agents how expensive it is to be in business and how whatever piece of technology they happen to be looking at is just going to be an additional expense.

I agree and disagree with this statement. First off, I am keenly aware of how expensive it is to be in business. I am, at the end of the day, responsible for all my employees, the company overhead, and ultimately, making sure our company is going down the correct path. This is incredibly stressful at times, as I am sure running a real estate practice can be.

What I completely disagree with, though, is technology being looked at as an extra expense. Technology should never be looked at as an expense. It should always be looked at as an investment. There are multiple reasons I think this, but the most important one is that if you look at any piece of technology as an investment, you are instantly going to begin thinking about what your return on investment will be (e.g. how much more business is that piece of technology going to allow you to do?), and at that point, thinking of things in those terms, you can never lose.

First, For The Doubters

So if you are wondering why technology is nothing more than just another expense, like your car or a laptop, let me explain it to you like this:

You most likely have some sort of assistant working for you. It could simply be a transaction coordinator, or maybe a full fledged assistant. Those people do things for you when you aren't there, out out of the office, focusing on other things. These things they do for you make you more productive and therefore give you an opportunity to do more business. Clearly you wouldn't consider these people an expense. They are people. They are people that are contributing to the growth of your team. You are investing in them and they in turn are investing in the growth of your real estate practice.

Technology works the same way. If you are looking at a piece of technology and it can't do the same types of things above, then it's not really a technology platform worth considering. If it does do those types of described things, even though it's not a human, it is something that you are investing in, that will be working towards the common goal of making you more successful.