Reimagining the Real Estate Advisor of the Future (Transmission #223)
The once ubiquitous travel agent has been under attack for years—since Expedia, and even before that. I recently came across Fora Travel, a “business-in-a-box” for the next generation of travel agents—now called travel advisors—that just raised a $13.5 million Series A. It promises a modernization of the travel agency experience: for travelers, by travelers.
Granted, this “tapping into the wisdom of the crowd to source expert recommendations” idea has been tried numerous times over the past decade (Plansify, Think Places, and OutTrippin, with Origin a more recent attempt). Timing is everything; we’ll see how Fora fares. The co-founders previously founded OneFineStay, so they know a thing or two about travel startups. But, let’s not get sidetracked.
In his Better Equation for Travel article, co-founder Evan Frank states that their goal is “to make a Fora travel advisor genuinely the best job in the world—flexible, fairly compensated, tech-enabled, fun, and social.”
Sounds a lot like, well, real estate. Another industry where the traditional real estate agent model has been under attack.
Real estate agents will not lead with the same value proposition in the future as they do today. Today, it’s basically: We’ll help you buy a home. Three core questions drive the conversations and leads (mike simonsen has been beating this drum for years):
- How much is my home worth?
- What’s for sale?
- How’s the market?
Cementing the agent-client relationship is a result of opening the door for showings, getting prospective buyers into a backseat, and making an actual offer. Throughout, the core consumer goal is to buy a house.
But, the dynamics are shifting as housing prices rise and financial complexity increases, while buying options splinter and multiply.
The traditional model needs an upgrade as some buy a second home without owning a primary. The value prop becomes something closer to a wealth advisor, as consumers look for guidance in building real estate wealth, where buying a home—or a share of a house—is part of the goal, but not the entire goal in and of itself. For some, renting a primary residence may be the better decision.
AN UPGRADED VALUE PROP
Imagine a real estate website of the future, one that doesn’t lead with a prompt to “search for homes.” Instead, it addresses increasingly complex and diverse questions, such as: