Ray Ellis returns for his second episode on the series. Being in the industry for a long time, he shares how he’s integrating technology into the space and where he sees the industry going.
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Here’s the transcript of the video:
I just want to touch a little bit more about, I guess, property technology and more of the future of real estate. It's a pretty interesting landscape, 2019. But where do you see it going forward? What's your, kind of, views? It's a tremendous environment real estate, because we get involved in people's hopes, dreams, acquisitions, family lifestyle, investments, at the very basis of society because most Australians make their wealth out of some form of property investment. And the fact that we play a leading role in that as an industry is what makes us an exciting industry. And what's driving our industry is separate to what most people think is the norm which is interest rates, stock availability, the market pricing. They’re are given. We have no control over that. That is always going to happen. So what we look at, at First National is, particularly myself and my board of directors is, What is the future for the consumer? What is going to be their buying experience? What is going to be where they want to live? For example, we're driving around the suburbs of Sydney at the moment and there's a great issue here about construction of apartments. In Victoria, it’s a great issue about cladding. So how do these things happen? Because the consumer is very savvy and their experience is what's going to drive the market for them. So if you're building a block of apartments like we did in the 60’s that has no car parking space and is an ugly building, again, welcome the bankruptcy. Apartments now have to have an ecosystem. What is their green footprint? What is their lifestyle? Is there a cafe in the building? Is there shops in the building? How do I live and work in this ecosystem of my local environment that is a living experience for me? And that is what is driving consumers. The demographics of where and how to build property, the demographics of what is driving consumer behavior to buy that, that is not about the construction, that is not about the interest rates. That’s about their enjoyment and their experience. And the organisations that get that right, and thankfully we do that at First National with our research, will continue to lead the way in our industry. So this focus on the consumer and what their ecosystem is; understanding the demographics of why they want to buy but more importantly, how they want to live, is the key to the Future. Yeah. I just want to touch briefly on the market. I know we chatted off-camera about it, I guess, the market and you had some really interesting comments. So yeah, I guess what your views about property market now, but I guess, broadly more in general about the real estate market? The state of the market is irrelevant. And I don't say that to be condescending because we have to make money, we have to sell properties, we have to do a whole range of things in what we do, but we spend too much time on interest rates up and down, government information, what is a stock levels. All these things are the mechanics of real estate. They're not the selling of real estate. The market is what the market is. The real estate market was bouyant during the depression in the 30’s, well before my time and yours as well Trent. But that's what it is. So when we complain or get excited about the market, all we’re really doing is giving ourselves and our salespeople and our property managers an excuse not to involve ourselves in the market. A poor market is a great time for real estate. A strong market is a great time for a real estate. How you differentiate yourself from the competitor and not get involved in the misery of the market and not get involved in the joy of the market will set you apart from your competition.
