Property Point

What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?

Finding half a worm in your apple. Boom boom.

It was never a particularly funny joke but those of us who were kids in the 1970s did get it and understood how you could end up with half a worm in your apple.

We were familiar with occasionally finding an insect or something wriggly in a piece of fruit … it was rare but we knew the joke meant that having half a worm in your apple meant you had taken a bite and eaten half a worm.

These days I don’t reckon kids would get the joke. Yes, some of them seem to be surly and very serious but it’s not that; it’s that they would never have been exposed to something as disturbing as an insect or something wriggly in a piece of fruit.

That’s because we now live in a sterile world where everything is sprayed to within an inch of its life. Agricultural produce is poisoned to perfection … so you are never going to see an insect, let alone a worm, in an apple.

Someone pointed out the other day that you don’t get nearly the number of insects splattered on your windscreen on a long drive as you did a few decades ago. And that’s not because insects have improved their evasive skills. I’m not sure all this is a good thing, the natural thing.

But it is definitely a sign of changing times. Don’t get me wrong, not all change is bad. Some change is significant and we don’t know where it’s going but we have to embrace it, or at least work with it.

Digital technology is creating significant change in the real estate industry and definitely improving the service we can offer buyers and sellers.

We can provide more information at the click of a button about a property, a neighbourhood, a market than anyone would have dreamt of even 10 years ago. This is an exciting thing to be part of and I enjoy using technology that provides a better result for clients.

When I do an appraisal on a potential seller’s property, it includes a comparative market analysis that shows, in digital form, relevant nearby properties including photos my client can click on and flick through and lots of detail about those properties and the market.

It all helps the potential seller get a good picture of the market and arm themselves with information they need before listing their property.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has suddenly become a significant part of the picture in the world generally and specifically in the real estate industry.

It is moving quickly and it is fascinating to see how it can be applied to improve the service we can now offer buyers and sellers.

At Gardian we are starting to work with AI apps that create better exposure for our client’s properties, reaching more of the people who are potential buyers for a listing.

The technology works out where to direct the social media marketing so that it has more chance of reaching genuine potential buyers for a particular property, creating more competition and helping us get the best possible result for our clients.

Embracing the technology improves the service I can offer but, having said that, some things haven’t changed. This is still a relationship business. It is still about trust, work ethic and personal communication with buyers and sellers.

While the technology might be intelligent and artificial, the agent needs to be authentic and available. Nothing beats picking up the phone and talking to a buyer or seller.

Yes, the worm has turned, but not that much.

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