Exponential Technologies and their effect on the R.E. Industry

[Rick Doctor]

I've been listening a lot to Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis seminars on the future of the exponential technologies and how these technologies will disrupt every industry as we know it, similiar to what uber is doing to transportation and airbnb is doing to hotel industry.

I am no expert (understatement) but I was hoping we have some people on the forefront of the R.E. Industry who have thought these things through.

For instance, we’ve seen in China that 12 homes were 3d printed in 24 hours by a machine, another 3 story and a 6 story building was built using 3d printer machines and then the modular pieces were used to construct the buildings.

What would this technology do to the cost of building homes, let alone building custom homes? For that instance, what affect would it have on all real estate prices?

On top of that, the future of driverless cars is coming, and some believe that within 10 years the majority of cars will be driverless. If (big if) this is true, and your commute becomes PRODUCTIVE time rather than a waste of time, then living further away from your office or metropolitan area becomes much more tenable because you can use your commute to Read, Work, Socialize, Play Games, SLEEP more, etc.

If this happens I believe the cost of Real Estate in these metro areas will drop significantly and the land near the outskirts of these areas will then increase.

I just read an article in the Wall street journal today that showed that someone had bought a house and the ENTIRE Mortgage process (notary included) was done digitally from his kitchen table.

Has anyone else looked into these topics or questions?

Does anyone have an idea of what the future of the RE Industry looks like in an exponential technology world?

[Alexander Felice]

This stuff is coming, but you will have time to adapt.

It's like saying don't buy a hedge clippers to trim your yard because in a few years you'll be able to 3d print one at your house. While technically true, the interim will still be profitable.

In 10 years many NEW cars will be autonomous, but it will take decades for that to become the majority of cars on the road, new cars only account for something like 15% of fleet. Over those decades people will be able to start moving away from cities, for sure, but it will not be abrupt.