R.E. uses to mean real-estate, but,

at present time, it should move to mean

“Roof & Environment”.

I´m convinced that post-internet world will be completely different than pre-internet one. And this will happen also at real-estate industry. Slowly, caused on the intrinsic characteristics of the RE industry (big investments for being depreciated at long life buildings), but firmly.

 

The key point is: who makes a decision for using exactly that sqm, where it is located, and just now?.

Short answer, in the past, to that question was: not the end user. And,… this is what will change now.

The trend is that end users of square meters will decide, ever changing, which one of them they use at any time. And, for making that decision, they will ask for ordinary real-estate characteristics, like having a ROOF for being protected from rain, air conditioning,… And, also, they will pay attention to having an appropriate ENVIRONMENT for what they want, or need, to do at any moment. Please, have in mind that, with the "environment" word, I don´t mean only ecology (important issue), but also the kind of intimacy, noise, beauty, charm, proximity to whatever, that end user wants each moment.

Just think for a while on what real-estate you used on a normal day of your life at the 80´s. You slept at home, went to the office, or your working place, had lunch, back to the office, spent some time at shops, or at the pub with your friends, back to home for having some relax with your family, and sometimes went out for dinner, theatre, conference, or whatever.

Maybe you would say that there´s no difference with what you do now. But there is a big one: who had chosen buildings you used for doing that?.

Most of the people didn´t choose where their office was. And they needed to attend there, because there they had their papers, files, and the tools for doing their work, and for communicating with the outside world.

Is it that way now?. Don´t you have almost all your files, working and communication tools (and more) in your computer?. Or, even better, at the “cloud”, or accessible through remote access from everywhere?. Do you really need to go to that old office for doing most of your work efficiently?. Is your old desk the best option for doing now all you used to do there?.

Of course, there are some things you still do better at the old office, like meeting your company colleagues, or storing a few, but important, real paper documents.

But it´s sure you will concentrate yourself better for reading, writing, thinking, or even for having telephone conversations (maybe Skipe) at a different place, with the environment you like for, and wasting less commuting time. You can do that at home, or at any other space being offered to you (not to your company´s boss) by the real-estate industry. And the company´s boss will like that, as your efficiency will improve, and he will need less sqm at the headquarters.

The problem is that real-estate industry doesn´t offer you (yet) the adequate, in quality and quantity, options for doing that. Be sure it will, and very soon. The real-estate player doing that will become a winner.

There are many different ways for doing it. Just as an example, for better explaining myself, think on a city full of buildings opened for anyone, where you can rent space for as short time as an hour. And think that your boss buys, and give to you, some kind of bond with which you can pay your stay at the building you choose. The same thing that lot of people has done with lunch bonds in order to avoid having space for that at the office, and also for giving some freedom to workers.

For doing that, building owner needs to understand that his customer is no more the company, but the end user (maybe a company specialized on operating it that way). And needs to offer the kind of “Roof & Environment” end users are looking for, cause otherwise they won´t choose that building.

What about shops?. Shop owner is still the one who choose the building for his shop. But the difference is that, in the past, you needed to go there for doing your purchases, and now you can do most of them at internet, not having the need to go to the shop. Going there will be a voluntary decision that you will do only if you feel the experience good enough (a matter of roof & environment).

Future for commercial buildings looks like being available space for showrooms, having at each of them different brands every week (for example). Clients will go there with an attitude closer to the one they have at a conference, or at the theater. Just to see and learn. After that, they will buy at internet (if they became convinced).

And, how are things with homes?. It´s true that the choice of buying a house has ever been on end user hands. But they do it once, and stay there for a long time. During that time, they move to a different job, and increase commuting,...

Residential will be the last space you can use at different places even hourly. Because you have there your clothes, and lot of things you need, not so easy for moving them very often. Also for a psychological reason of feeling there like at your “castle”.

But we use homes for some different activities, and some of them can be integrated on the trend I´m describing. For example: relax. Do you really need to go home for having an hour at the sofa reading, or watching tv (apple tv, of course)?. No, you don´t. A lot of times you have wanted to do that, out of home, when you have had a free hour, have you had the available space for it. The only reason for not doing it is a lack of offer. I would pay some euros an hour for that kind of relax space, if there where places dedicated to that, close to where I have found myself with a free hour (far from home).

Last issue: pubs, bars, and so. It´s very interesting to note that this kind of real-estate spaces are absolutely integrated on the topic of this post since a long time ago. There are lots of them everywhere. You use them by hours. The choice belongs to you. And you start using a different one without any effort, no contract. You can find inspiration for the future at pubs, or enjoy, at least.

I have tried to explain that, now, we are more like nomads, and we need a different offer from real-estate industry for doing what we want.

All of us will be the direct clients. And we will make our decision based on “Roof & Environment”, and also on the very old word: location, cause you need the space exactly where and when you want to use it.