CHRISTMAS QUIZ | How proptech are you?

There aren’t any right answers to any of the above (and they aren’t that serious are they), but how you answer does say a lot about how you see the future of real estate. And business. You might even answer them differently on different days. Some days we think the world is moving incredibly fast and anything that smacks of being ‘the next new thing’ seems like just around the corner. On other days, when your train is late, the printer doesn’t work, and you go round and round in circular negotiation with a client, you feel like nothing will ever change.

In reality, this IS how the world works. Often misattributed to Bill Gates, Ray Amara (because this is Amara’s Law) said: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run”. And he was right. Just think back to 2008, when many products we take for granted, such as the iPad, Spotify, Airbnb, Instagram, Uber, WhatsApp, Slack did not even exist. Seems like a different time doesn’t it?

Almost certainly, real estate will be a very different industry in 10 years’ time. The wider technological changes across society ensure that. The big question is timing; just like real estate markets when the tide turns – that is it. Sentiment changes very slowly then very suddenly.

Regardless where you stand on the questions above right now, the critical skill will be making sure are aware when to swap to a different answer.