I think it's smart to develope a Modern Business Model, that leverages technology and be the agent that out performs!  

Allegheny County has generally been one of the older populations in the country and we are beginning to see an influx of young, college grads staying in this area due to the growing technology, healthcare, and education industries.

The beauty with technology these days is the flexibility it provides landlords. 

The additional features like rent reminders, tracked tenant ledgers, etc are a big bonus as well.However I'll add that I recommend always having a "low-tech" option - you don't want to alienate tenants who aren't up on technology.

, How can real estate as we know it be integrated much more tightly with the upcoming technology waves of the future?

I'm all for streamlining processes via technology. 

Plus there are a lot of technology solutions now to help you self-manage.

My hypothesis is that these sites, particularly Airbnb (which clearly has slicker technology / algorithms) are competing for market share of your listing.We don’t know how the industry will evolve  so definitely do not have all your bags in one basket.

One person bands fail miserablyTakes maximum advantage of technology to automate the business- This includes collection of rent, payment of vendors, managing owner trust accounts,.... 

If they don't have the technology in place or the flexibility in how they're doing business, move on to the next.