This year, Delta Media Group is celebrating thirty years of being in business serving the real estate industry. So much has changed since the company was founded and even more will change in the coming years. 

In celebration of our anniversary, let's look back at some notable innovations over the past thirty years. Here are a few snapshots of technology that may be novel today but were extremely innovative at the time they were released:

Access to the listing inventory online

When our company put up the first real estate website with listing photos, known as RealtyNet, it was such big news that newspapers were writing articles about it. It was so innovative that people could search the listing inventory from the comfort of their homes. On December 17, 1994, The Oregonian published an article titled HIGH-TECH HOUSE HUNTING. Given how far technology has come since then, the opening sentence is quite amusing today: "At this rainy time of the year, the idea of staying dry and warm while looking at real estate has a certain appeal."

The ability to make requests and schedule showing online

In 2001, Delta launched the ability to ask questions about a property and schedule showings online for a specific date and time. While commonplace today, when this first launched, we had multiple conversations with MLS' and Boards about whether we were even allowed to do so. The idea of agents and prospective home buyers never speaking to one another sounds absurd today, yet scheduling a showing online was completely foreign twenty-three years ago.

IDX and VOW and the ability to handle massive amounts of data

So much debate and energy has gone into all the rules and regulations relating to IDX and VOW over the years, and this continues today. One of the top technologies I have been most proud of over the years is our ability to handle IDX and VOW data quickly and efficiently while maintaining compliance. This has been no small task, but because of the brilliant people and complex systems we have, we made it all possible.

Search Engine Optimization of listing data

I have long been a passionate pioneer of listing data search engine optimization (SEO). My most memorable moment in my time at Delta concerning SEO was back around 2003. I had been experimenting with an SEO platform for real estate, and it started to work for the real estate firms I was testing it with. It worked so well that the MLS' thought we were sending their listing data to Google. I remember our MLS Manager spending hours on the phone with MLS executives, attempting to explain what was happening and how we were not sending their data to any third parties. He had to educate quite a few MLS executives on how SEO worked and convince them that what he was telling them was real. This was a really fun time for us and quite disruptive as well.

The evolution of lead routing

Delta has been on a thirty-year journey of evolving and advancing our lead routing engine capabilities. Today, lead routing capabilities are incredibly advanced, and we still have functionality that we have not launched because of how forward-thinking it is for the real estate industry. Much of what hasn't been launched yet is AI-driven, specifically in the Predictive Analytics area of AI. I anticipate this functionality launching sometime in 2024 — actually, I can guarantee it :)

Smartphones and tablets

Generically speaking, these two devices, coupled with all the technology in the industry, have fundamentally changed real estate. How open houses operate, where agents work, and what office space is necessary are just a few examples of what has changed due to being mobile. If you had asked me ten years ago if I would release an open house app, I would have told you that you were crazy. However, with how integrated everything is today, having a fully mobile real estate business doesn't just make sense; it's a requirement to be truly successful and efficient moving forward.

Now that we've covered the innovation that has occurred in the past, it's time to look to the future. Without getting too specific, here's what I believe is coming for our industry that will change how real estate brokerages and their agents conduct business daily.

AI and Predictive Analytics will drastically change all aspects of business 

Although bits and pieces of this have already been deployed, AI is maturing and will pave the way for a much deeper level of full-life-cycle client interaction and business management, resulting in more business taking place in less time.

You have most likely at least played around with AI for your marketing by now — maybe you've tried writing a blog post with an AI engine like ChatGPT. We are seeing this area get very advanced very quickly. We have been using AI for our clients for years, but believe me when I say that big changes are coming quickly.

Some of the AI tools being built right now are gimmicky, and those will go away as more useful AI tools and features help take market share for those that deploy them. Everything being done with AI right now will empower sales associates to continue doing more of what they're good at, which is not just knowing their markets but knowing them on a lifestyle level coupled with high levels of business-level social skills. What is being launched right now regarding AI for real estate will probably shock you when you see it in action — and it is happening now.