The real estate market is under a spotlight right now, it won’t wane anytime soon. With a frenzied demand for real estate and soaring home values, business has been good for agents and brokers. Now, with the shift in the industry, change in customer preferences, and agents with a broad selection of firms to choose from, the time is right–more than ever–to use technology to move money and stay competitive in the market.

Moving money digitally is the future of real estate – check out these four reasons why:

Consumer Preferences are Digital

Think about who, as a demographic, is buying homes right. The housing market is inundated with Millennials who make up the largest share of home buyers. This is a population who has grown up with digital devices in their hands from a young age and do everything from their banking to shopping to communicating online. With daily tasks from bill paying and investment done right from their phones, you’ll be hard pressed to find a Millennial who even owns a checkbook. Agents and brokers looking to capitalize on this demographic will need to speak their language. That language is digital.

Process Speed Drives Sales

You snooze, you lose. The old saying is even more relevant in today’s face-paced world where no one has time to wait for a check to clear or money to be deposited. Our society is a well-oiled machine accustomed to getting things done quickly and efficiently. Anything that gets in the way of proficiency gets cast aside, and that’s true in the real estate realm as well. This study shows that multiple generations of home-buyers–from baby boomers to millennials–were satisfied with their mortgage experience, half of which reported being “very satisfied” with the pre-approval speed, closing time, and digital capabilities. Even still, a third said paperless transactions would have made the experience better. Sixty-five percent of borrowers applied for their mortgages online Noticing a theme? It’s the demand for ease and speed and we’ve boiled it down into one simple equation; digitizing the process = quick results = customer satisfaction.

Moving Money Efficiently Suppresses Market Volatility

Learning to roll with the natural ups and downs of the market is all part of the job. The last year and a half have been what dreams are made of for agents and brokers, with an intense demand for real estate resulting in houses selling like hotcakes. Now that the market has cooled and new listings have receded, the landscape is shifting.

With a more volatile market coupled with fewer listings to go around, efficiency and ease need to remain at the forefront of brokers’ minds if they want to stay competitive and keep customers happy. The more streamline you make the process, the more likely you are to close the sale. That means using convenient methods of payment that effectively get money where it needs to be and your clients into their new homes fast.

Cutting Edge Tech Attracts the Best Agents

Becoming a tech-enabled brokerage (i.e., a firm that invests primarily in technology to increase their agents’ productivity and improve customer experience) benefits both you as the brokerage as well as your customers. Position yourself on the cusp of the most cutting-edge technology and it’s only natural you’d attract driven agents–and retain them–with access to innovative technology. In the last ten years, tech-enabled brokerages have invested in technology and have gained a massive share of the market. Stats like this grab the attention of the best agents who want to work for powerhouse brokerages that have abilities to close sales quickly and earn them more money. An efficient money-moving process means more homes sold and more commission earned, and this is the kind of success that retains top agents.