The company, which enables home sellers to update their property with no upfront costs, was crowned at NAR’s annual technology conference.

Revive(link is external), a technology startup enabling home sellers to update their properties with no upfront costs, was named Thursday as the winner of the fourth annual Pitch Battle(link is external) at the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2022 Innovation, Opportunity & Investment (iOi) Summit in Los Angeles.

Twelve companies bringing solutions to the real estate market, from simplifying the home inspection process to helping renters save for a down payment, competed in the “Shark Tank”–style contest hosted by Second Century Ventures, NAR’s strategic investment arm. The contestants, representing companies in the U.S. and U.K., presented four-minute pitches to more than 400 conference attendees, including venture capitalists, futurists and real estate professionals. The Pitch Battle also was livestreamed to thousands of virtual attendees.

Revive founder and CEO Michael Alladawi highlighted the company’s hands-on approach to helping sellers maximize their property’s ROI. The company combines processes, technology and expertise to help owners and their agents create plans for renovations. Revive provides capital at no upfront cost to the homeowner and a vetted contractor to execute those plans. As the Pitch Battle victor, Revive will receive a prize package that includes $15,000, a national platform to help gain market share, and a booth at NAR NXT, The REALTOR® Experience(link is external)—the association’s annual conference—this November in Orlando.

“Revive embodies the essence of iOi and our Pitch Battle,” says NAR CEO Bob Goldberg. “The products and services that were on display will have a tremendous impact on consumers and real estate agents. I’m thrilled we have this opportunity to promote the progress unfolding in the market, and I congratulate Revive on the well-deserved victory.”

In-person and virtual iOi audiences also voted on the Pitch Battle’s Crowd Favorite, which was awarded to  Stake(link is external), a loyalty program delivering cash back for renters. Available in 30,000 homes nationwide, Stake empowers renters to save, build wealth and unlock free and equitable banking services. Stake cofounder and CEO Rowland Hobbs explained how rental communities that offer Stake outperform others with dramatically improved demand, loyalty and retention.

See the full list of 2022 Pitch Battle finalists(link is external).

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Safety and security is a given with a door locks, but aesthetics, ease of use and the many features available make the smart lock a smart home must-have.

Any listing agent or home building will tell you that a home’s curb appeal is important. When the prospective buyer pulls up in front of the house, that first impression can make or break a sale. But what about when the prospect leaves the car and walks up to the front door?

Your next chance to extend that first impression is just above the welcome mat. The front door is where style, security and convenience may all come together through smart locks, which play an increasingly significant role in home sales.

Smart home devices in general are fast becoming an expected part of a new home purchase. According to a recent study by Security.org, seven in 10 home buyers are looking for a smart home, and 78% are willing to pay more for a home with smart devices. This same survey found that “security and safety” was at the top of the list of smart device categories. In a 2022 Z-Wave “State of the Ecosystem” report, smart locks were listed among the top three most popular smart home products, along with smart lightbulbs and Wi-Fi cameras.

An Entrance Set Apart From the Rest

Buyers want to live in a beautiful home with a beautiful entry point. Design innovation has always been a key element in differentiating, positioning and selling any home-based technology, and smart electronic locks are no exception.

Smart locks are often a homeowner’s first step into smart home technology. The devices allow them to introduce their own personal style right at the front door, whether through the color and carpentry of the door itself or the hardware.

To stay competitive, today’s smart lock manufacturers have to offer ever-expanding design options to complement everyone’s taste. For example, Kwikset offers push-button smart locks like the new Home Connect 620, which features maximum control and interoperability and is available in a range of finishes like polished chrome and bronze. Sleek, style-forward smart locks like Obsidian and the SmartCode 916 give a contemporary aesthetic with touch screen pads.

Many manufacturers also pair their smart lock offerings with matching handle sets—pairing color, finish and style to give the home’s entrance a cohesive look.

A Welcome and Appealing Connection

With connected smart locks, sales agents no longer need to find a key or fumble with a lock box. Real estate professionals use a personalized key code to open the door, highlighting the benefits and ease of a smart lock at the very start of the home tour.

Smart locks are the safest way to show who has access to a client’s home. Key codes can be created in advance, or if a homeowner knows someone is coming to their house, codes can be created on-demand and then removed when no longer needed. Homeowners can schedule codes for everyone from the plumber scheduled at 11 a.m. to the home healthcare worker coming to check in on an elderly parent.

Smart locks provide a degree of security and peace of mind that most home-automation devices simply do not. Other technological advantages of smart locks that can be demonstrated at the front door, or at least be part of a sales pitch, include:

• Re-key technology allows homeowners to re-key their own locks quickly and easily, without removing the locks from the door.
• Features like Kwikset’s SmartKey SC1 technology mean added convenience. With the SC1, any Kwikset lock using SmartKey can be keyed to an additional lock so that a single key can open both. Now all the doors in a home can share one key.
• Users can also remotely communicate with and control the lock using their smart phone, tablet or laptop.
• Smart locks can be part of a smart security ecosystem. This can include any combination of smart locks, smart doorbells, indoor/outdoor cameras, door-window and motion sensors, alarm systems, control hubs and more. These home automation products not only improve the lives of homeowners but also protect them and keep the home and family safe.
• Connected smart locks not only connect with and control all the security devices, but they can also control the other devices in the home.

Bringing the Appeal Inside

With a central hub and a home automation protocol like Zigbee or Z-Wave, smart locks can wirelessly communicate with and control the network of devices that make up a home automation system – everything from thermostats to lighting to entertainment systems.

With home automation control conveniently located at the front door, homeowners (and home sellers) can set up the home with customized smart-home scenarios that will take effect just before they step inside. Here’s an example: A homeowner can program the lock so that every time they unlock the door, the foyer light turns on, automated shades go up, and the smart thermostat sets their desired temperature. This kind of customization is a perfect differentiating detail during a showing.

Smart locks and their capabilities aren’t just for front doors, either. Homes with built-in wine cellars, bar areas, libraries, or home offices have the option of extra security and convenience when smart locks are added to them.

Smart Opportunity Knocks

Builders focus on building homes people want to live in for the right price. For home sellers, competitive advantage is the key. When price and location are similar, most builders and sellers welcome any differentiating factor that won’t break the bank. This is one reason home automation devices, and smart locks, are becoming part of a growing percentage of new home builds.

For security dealers, the trend of attracting homebuyers with new technology is a major new business opportunity.  Many builders need a partner who can educate them and deliver this advanced technology, not to mention service it. Ultimately, dealers need to reinvent themselves as technology providers rather than just security providers. In doing so, the dealer becomes a valuable partner to the builder who passes that value onto the homeowner.

Smart locks add value for everyone from the listing agent to the homebuyer and the builder to the tech company. They aren’t just a sound investment from a safety perspective. They add a level of convenience and aesthetic rarely achieved by other smart devices. They’re relatively easy to install and have a reasonable starting price, making them accessible as well. Starting with a smart lock is an easy way to boost value, add security and jump into the smart home realm.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

NAR uses a three-tiered strategy to keep cyberattacks at bay.

With well over 1 million member records and an e-commerce system that processed more than $1.5 billion in transaction volume in 2021, NAR databases are an attractive lure for cybercriminals. That’s why comprehensive data security is one of the most important benefits NAR provides its members.

There’s a saying in the IT world. Cyberattacks are like outrunning a bear: You can’t. But you can make yourself so secure, the bear loses interest. Under the direction of a cybersecurity team, NAR uses a three-tiered strategy to keep those bears at bay: prevention, protection and recovery.

Prevention involves front-line tactics like antivirus software, multi-factor authentication, password reset policies and staff training. Protection goes even deeper with 24/7 database monitoring and routine checks for vulnerabilities. In addition, NAR strictly limits who can access databases and segregates the REALTOR® Electronic Commerce Network and other platforms from each other. NAR also follows financial industry protocols, known as PCI, for credit card transactions. Finally, there’s recovery. NAR maintains redundant, off-site data, which enables the association to retrieve lost information quickly.

Members can opt in to or out of NAR newsletters, and can hide their information from the Find a Member search on nar.realtor and Find a REALTOR® search on realtor.com®.

In recent years, NAR has brought improved efficiency and accuracy to the member database, known as REALTORS® M1. To help prevent errors, access to certain form fields is limited to specific association levels. For example, only the local association to which the member belongs can enter member license information. An upcoming system release will compare old and new member data to prevent inaccurate overwrites. And form features like auto-lookup streamline data entry so associations can spend more time being productive for their members.

The bottom line is that accurate member data enables an stronger overall member experience: When NAR better understands its members, it can provide even more useful and customized resources and services.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Cyber criminals aim to take advantage of those who aren’t familiar with the nuances of the closing process.

Younger home buyers who don’t have prior experience in the real estate market may be more naive to the red flags of wire fraud. That’s why scammers likely are targeting first-time buyers, which means you need to beef up on cybersecurity best practices and share ways to thwart common hacking threats with these clients. The threats are real: About half of title and settlement agents report receiving at least one phishing email a month with fraudulent wire instructions, according to a recent survey from the American Land Title Association.

A new generation of home buyers and sellers must learn to be alert to the dangers, says ALTA CEO Diane Tomb, who spoke with REALTOR® Magazine about the increasing threats.

What makes first-time buyers most vulnerable to wire fraud?

Tomb: First-time home buyers, who are not as familiar with the nuances of the closing process, are often the most vulnerable to scams because they don’t know what to look out for. Even though many are digitally savvy, cybercriminals have become more sophisticated over the last decade and are willing to wait for weeks or even months to strike. These fraudsters will often use fake emails, phone numbers or websites to impersonate a trusted real estate professional.

How do you explain how a wire fraud scheme works to clients?

Tomb: Wire transfer fraud, where home buyers are tricked into wiring a down payment or closing costs to an escrow account controlled by criminals, is by far the most common real estate scam impacting first-time buyers. Most often, cyber criminals begin with a common social engineering technique called “phishing.” By tricking a future buyer into inputting their private information or clicking a link, hackers then steal their login and password information. Once hackers gain access to an email account, they will monitor messages to see if the person is in the process of buying a home. Then, they use the stolen information to email fraudulent wire transfer instructions disguised to appear as if they came from a trusted real estate professional.

What can real estate pros do to protect first-time buyers?

Tomb: We know through experience that increased consumer awareness and educational efforts by real estate professionals lead to fewer victims. Real estate attorneys and title companies should continue to educate their customers on these scams, including putting consumer warnings on websites and communications, securing email communications, and sending notices to consumers and real estate agents informing them of the scams.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

As a conduit to consumers, you can help technology developers understand how their products are—or are not—meeting homeowners’ needs.

Imagine you’re a Florida property owner with an electric car and an EV charging station at home. You may be at the forefront of the electrification trend in real estate. But if you were in the path of Hurricane Ian in September and lost power, this burgeoning technology did nothing to improve your circumstances during the storm. 

“Our grid is a piece of junk; it can’t withstand heat or a hurricane,” Shana Schlossberg, CEO of venture tech firm Upward Labs, said at the recent 2022 Innovation, Opportunity & Investment (iOi) Summit(link is external), which the National Association of REALTORS® hosted in Los Angeles. It doesn’t make sense to focus innovation toward greater electrification—including EVs—without also focusing on building a sustainable grid, she said. 

But who’s telling this to the innovator? 

As a real estate professional with an intimate understanding of the interaction between homes and technology, you can. When new innovations come to the market, often what’s missing is the insight into how the user adapts to it. “Real estate professionals have this unique opportunity to be a conduit between the technology and the consumer, understanding what to do with that and how to make it actionable,” said Janine Sieja, senior vice president of product at Realtors Property Resource®(link is external). “You’re valuable in the technology food chain.” 

Charting an Ever-Shifting Future  

The iOi Summit is itself a venue for such cross-collaboration, drawing more than 400 real estate pros, innovators and investors annually to explore solutions for evolving real estate technology. This year’s iOi included a talk by leading futurist Thomas Frey, a discussion on how sustainability is driving innovation, a look at tech-focused legislation and a pitch battle featuring 12 tech startups vying for REALTOR® support to expand their market reach.

Attendees this year got a window into the rapidly increasing value of sustainability to future real estate technology solutions. “Sustainability is about preparedness for the future,” Schlossberg said. “If your building isn’t sustainable, you’re in trouble in the next few years because energy costs are going up. Suddenly, there’s a market for sustainable homes because of things like grants and rebates. Sustainability is going to be one of the best ways to make money going forward.” 

Perfecting technology requires an open mind, said keynote speaker Thomas Frey, a futurist and founder and executive director of the DaVinci Institute. Because our understanding of the future is constantly changing, so must our ideas of how technology can move us forward, he added. “How does the future get created? In our minds and the minds of everyone around us. … People make decisions today based on their understanding of what the future holds. If you change your vision of the future, you change the way you make decisions today.” 

Frey predicted that further advancements in autonomous vehicles, in particular, likely will impact homebuying behavior over the next decade. 

Dreamers vs. Skeptics 

Government policy will play a critical role, said Sam Love, director of business and politics newsletter Invariant. However, a disconnect between the technology industry and Capitol Hill is stalling legislation that could encourage more robust innovation, he said. “In the private sector, there’s balanced optimism about what tech could be doing to solve people’s problems,” Love said. “There’s bottomless skepticism in Congress; their interest is in protecting constituents.” 

REALTORS® must continue using their voice on the local, state and national levels to support legislation that benefits the expansion of technology to improve the real estate process, Love added. Lack of Broadband, for example, continues to have an impact on home sales in many places, particularly in rural communities. “In order for real estate professionals to sell homes, those homes need high-speed internet,” Love said. “REALTORS® have a lot of stake in other issues like data privacy, augmented reality and remote online notarization. It’s very important that REALTORS® remain engaged and that real estate has a voice in Washington.”

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

NAR’s 2022 Technology Survey reveals the innovations members are using now and watching for the future.

REALTORS® believe cybersecurity, 5G and drones are the areas of technology that will have the most impact on the real estate business in the next two years, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2022 Technology Survey. Nearly half of REALTORS® also believe the metaverse will have ramifications for real estate. Thirty-five percent say blockchain technology will “definitely” or “probably” have an impact.

The three tools REALTORS® say they currently use most in their business are e-signatures (79%), lockboxes (67%) and MLS apps and technology (67%), the survey shows. REALTORS® also say social media delivers the highest number of quality leads—even more than their CRM systems, digital ad campaigns or the MLS.

“It’s clear that technology plays a key role in our members’ lives and businesses,” says NAR CEO Bob Goldberg, noting the association’s efforts to keep REALTORS® on the cutting edge of real estate innovation. This year, NAR’s Innovation, Opportunity & Investment (iOi) Summit, for example, addressed how real estate pros can help tech developers improve their products. NAR also supports up-and-coming innovations in the real estate space through its REACH tech accelerator program. “NAR has its eyes on the future,” Goldberg says. “By partnering with innovation leaders and empowering REALTORS® with the latest technology, we’re driving the future of real estate and helping our members build staying power.”

How Much Do REALTORS® Spend on Tech?

With technology an essential part of real estate pros’ toolbox, many are spending more money to purchase and use solutions. About one in three REALTORS® say they spend between $50 to $250 per month in costs related to technology, while 19% say they spend more than $500 per month, according to the survey. The majority of those expenditures are for lead generation tools. The following chart shows how much REALTORS® are spending monthly on lead generation:

Survey respondents say that of the tech tools their brokerage provides, e-signatures, lockbox and showing technology, and transaction management systems are the most valuable. Some brokerages may charge a fee for this technology; 47% of respondents say their broker charges a “reasonable” fee while 38% say their broker does not charge a fee, according to the survey. “NAR continues to research, vet and champion the most promising new tech to ensure members remain at the forefront of new innovations and ideas,” Goldberg says. “At the heart of everything we do is an insatiable drive to empower our members by providing them with innovations that will impact their businesses for the better.”

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission