Future 15: Tackling next-gen buyers with The Agency and Knock CEOs

Inman Connect is off to the races in New York City. Kicking off the conference, Mauricio Umansky, Founder and CEO of the premier brokerage, The Agency, and Sean Black, Co-Founder, and CEO of Knock, took the main stage of the Hilton Midtown Grand Ballroom by storm Tuesday to tackle the next segment of Future 15: the next generation of homebuyers. Read on for the key takeaways.

Takeaway 1: Becoming an advisor to new homebuyers

Sean: What does the future of real estate look like in ten years, and is the broker a part of it?

Mauricio: 100 percent the broker is a part of it. The future of real estate is interesting because there’s a lot going on. There’s a lot of tech over the past years that has tried to replace the real estate agent, the broker, and purchasing through iBuyer programs, and we’ve seen how that works out. They’re trying to get rid of the middleman. Real estate agents and brokers are part of the transaction because we deliver a tremendous amount of service. What we have to do as brokers is create a platform that makes our agents become better real estate advisors.

The future buyers are young. They’re not experienced. The problem is they’re sitting there buying on their phone, but they’re not getting advised. That is a tremendous service that is so important for all of us, to be thinking, “How can I better advise my client?” The consumer is not protected, the buyer needs a buyer’s agent, the seller needs a seller’s agent, and both of those agents need to do the best job to protect the consumer. There are so many little things that can happen in a transaction.

Takeaway 2: Continue to innovate on social media

Sean: The next generation of buyers are tech-savvy, on their phones, and social media is a part of that. What can we learn from the social media aspect?

Mauricio: If you want to understand what the future looks like, go watch your kids. Today, kids are doing their homework in front of their computer, watching a YouTube channel, TikTok, doing something else, and doing their homework at the same time. And then they’re on Snapchat and Instagram. They’re multitasking and that’s the way you communicate.

From a company perspective, it’s about where you’re going, and that’s formulated by the next generation. The next generation today has to do with social media. It’s a very important aspect for all of us. At The Agency, we continue to be innovating on social media, whether it’s video or high-touch. We’ve sold houses on social media and gained clients because of social media. You’ve got to use it for different programs and reach.

Takeaway 3: Obsess about service through the help of tech partners

Sean: When you think about arming your agents with the best technology, what other things do you think are important?

Mauricio: Right now, we’re obsessing about service. What we’re trying to do at The Agency, that might be a little different than what others are working on because technology is amazing, but a lot of the companies have been focused on making agents more efficient. Agents are “people people”. The last thing agents need is a system that keeps them behind their computers. That’s not that exciting for you. I need a system that gets you out into the street selling, marketing, lead generation, talking, that’s what makes agents better. We’re obsessing with tech on the backend, to create more time for our agents, so they can be doing what they do best, and having fun.

Watch the full episode for more.