After 8 years as a full-time realtor, I’ve seen some changes in my career and that got me thinking about how much buying and selling a home in Phoenix has changed in the last 20 years:
– MLS (all listed homes are online in our searchable realtor database vs found in a printed book much like a telephone book)
– Docusign (approve documents with a few taps on your phone, table or laptop vs having to sign paperwork with a pen)
– Pictures (homes for sale have lots of professional photos online vs one blurry shot of home exterior taken by agent to print in book)
– Lockbox (agents obtain key at property using their phone vs driving to listing agent office for key and returning it)
– Internet (nothing could function without it today vs somehow millions of homes have been bought and sold without it)
– Zipform (documents generated and completed online vs having to press hard with a pen to be sure you could read carbon copies)
– Drone (home pictures and video taken from remote controlled aircraft vs nothing like it)
– Matterport (gives viewer 3D experience of walking through home vs nothing like it)
– Phone apps (closing cost estimator, mortgage calculator, value estimates and MLS search vs nothing like it)
– Texting (texting for property info vs calling an agent for details)
– Short sale and foreclosure (very common in 2011-2014 vs essentially non-existant)
– Mortgage interest rate (30-year fixed 7% then vs 4.75% now)
These are the big changes I could think of and I’m sure there are many other smaller ones I have omitted. As with most everything the past 20 years, technology has revolutionized how we work, play and function.
