How Social Media And Technology Have Changed Real Estate Investing

Buying, funding, flipping, and selling real estate is now easier and faster than ever before.

Technology and “real time” data sources are available – at our fingertips – on our computers and “smart phones.” What may have taken months (in the past) to research a specific property may now be found within minutes.

Online Research Data = Quicker Closings

Many investors are purchasing real estate all over the country without ever getting on an airplane to visit the property or the state.
Some real estate investors are more focused on the potential numbers associated with the deal, so they rely on their data found on social media and the Internet.
Most title and escrow companies are able to send updated property and contract information at a moment’s notice. They allow online signatures, email or text signatures, and overnight package deliveries to anywhere in the country for very quick closings.
Real estate agents can email or text property links to prospective clients all over the world within just a few seconds. In many cases, the real estate agent or mortgage lender never even meets their clients in person due to the efficiency of modern day technology.
Online sites like Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, Trulia, and ActiveRain offer incredible databases of updated information on most types of real estate. As a result, more buyers and sellers than ever before can accurately forecast or predict what the target purchase or sale price may be for a property without even venturing outside of their own home.

2014 Social Media Statistics

Facebook

  • Over 1 billion monthly mobile users as of March 31, 2014
  • 72% of online adults visit Facebook at least once per month
  • 50 million + Facebook pages
  • 75% of the interaction on a post occurs within the first 5 hours

Google+

  • Approximately 1.6 billion users worldwide
  • An estimated 540 million monthly active users

Many Google+ users, like real estate agents and investors, belong to over 100 + different Google+ Communities that share their same interests (e.g., Real Estate Communities, etc.). These Real Estate Communities on Google+ and LinkedIn allow investors to market their properties for sale or find new funding sources or capital partners.

YouTube

  • Over 1 billion YouTube users worldwide
  • Over 100 hours of video is uploaded onto YouTube every single minute
  • More than 40% of all YouTube traffic originates from mobile devices
  • Over 1 billion YouTube mobile video views per day

Savvy investors and agents market their properties using quick YouTube or Vine videos.

Twitter

  • An estimated 1 billion total users worldwide
  • 78% of Twitter’s active users are on mobile devices
  • 46% of Twitter users tweet at least once per day.

Instagram

  • An estimated 200 million monthly active users
  • Over 20 billion photos on Instagram
  • Almost 50 million users signed up in the past 6 months

LinkedIn

  • An estimated 300 million+ total users
  • Almost 187 million active monthly users
  • Approximately 39 million students/graduates
  • 41% of LinkedIn visits are via mobile devices
  • An average of 44,000 daily mobile job applications

Pinterest

  • An estimated 70 million total users
  • Over 40 million monthly active users
  • 80% of Pinterest users are female
  • 84% of women and 50% of men stay active on Pinterest
  • 23% of users on Pinterest use it at least once per day

Vine

  • An estimated 40 million total users
  • Vine videos are typically 6 seconds – one second less than the estimated average attention span for Americans
  • 5 Vines are tweeted every second
  • Weekends are usually the most popular time for Vine sharing
  • 3 of the 5 most retweeted Vines ever were made by musicians

Realtors and real estate investors should pay close attention to the power of music when considering how to best market their properties, partly since music is one of the best triggers for memory recall. Your viewers may better remember your property or service details when linked with music.

Snapchat

  • 60 million+ total Snapchat users
  • 30 million+ monthly active Snapchat users
  • An estimated 400 million Snapchat “snaps” per day
  • 70% of Snapchat users are female
  • 12% of all Snapchat “snaps” are shared with more than one recipient
  • 5% of all Selfies shared on Social Media are from Snapchat

Blogs

  • Over 6.7 million people blog
  • Over 77% of internet users read blogs
  • 12 million people blog using social network sites
  • 23% of all Internet time is spent on blogs and social media networks
  • Companies with blogs have 87% higher inbound traffic links than those without blogs
  • “Business to Business” marketers using blogs generate 67% more leads

Socialnomics’s 2014 Statistics

The exponential growth rates of social media are incredible as compared with past media outlets. Years to reach the first 50 million users: Radio – 38 years, Television – 13 years, Internet – 4 years, and the iPod – 3 years.
Almost 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old today. These are the future buyers and sellers of real estate, and they’re using social media to find and fund their investment options.
53% of Millennials (people who reached their young adulthood by the year 2000) would rather lose their sense of smell than their technology. And 96% of these same millennials belong to a social network.
More people own a mobile device than a toothbrush. What? When will someone design a mobile device with a built-in toothbrush?
iPod application downloads reached 1 billion in under just 9 months. iPods, iPads, and iPhones are some of the best ways to reach out to prospective buyers, sellers, agents, or lenders now.
The average person today has just a 7-second attention span. (The average goldfish, in turn, has a slightly more impressive 8-second attention span.) People prefer quick videos, short blogs, and snappy photos as proved by the success of various social media network sites.
With our shorter attention spans these days, investments that can be completed quickly and efficiently will likely be the most successful deals.
In the race towards prosperity, time is of the utmost importance in today’s lightning quick world.
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By Rick Tobin

I have over 30 years' experience in the financial and real estate industries. As financing is what truly drives the real estate market, I provide my clients with the best forms of financing options available. I've held eight (8) different types of real estate, securities, and mortgage brokerage licenses throughout my career. I'm also an alumni from the University of Southern California. I own a mortgage company that specializes in residential and commercial lending. For residential loans, I am proud to be partnered with United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM - America's largest wholesale lender). In 2019, UWM funded over $107 billion dollars. We offer some of the best rates and terms nationwide and quickest close options that average near 15 days with completely paperless or doc-less options. I also have financial relationships with hundreds of other financial partners