This is the longest period of time most of us ever spent at home non-stop. The risk of COVID-19 has grounded about 1.5 billion people worldwide, meaning people are engaging with their homes more than ever before.
Regarding real estate this means that many people have time to think about their living arrangements. They may see things they like to improve in the house or they might shop around for a new house that suits their needs even better.
Whatever the reason why someone may shop around for a new home, it’s simply amazing to see how realtors have already adapted to the new circumstances. I saw that many newsletters were send out by them to keep their clients informed and engaged.
Target buyers who are at home
Also, they started to offer some great new services to buyers, for example to make a house viewing via video conference. While the agent would walk through the house for sale the client can follow along while sitting at home. The agent would explain while doing the walk-through and answer any questions that arise.
Another less personal but equally effective way to target buyers is the virtual tour, where the real estate agent made a video recording of a house viewing and puts this video online. It might surprise how many people will actually look at it who otherwise would have never asked for a house viewing.
My absolute favourite is the 3D tour. As far as I know, the real estate agent needs some special equipment to make a 3D tour for a house but from all options this is probably the best. The 3D model that is created allows anyone to “walk” through the house. It is similar to Google Street maps just indoors.
What about private seller?
Well, nobody can stop you from doing your own video where you walk through your house for sale. This is something everybody can do.
This is definitely some positive side effect of the COVID-19 and I hope this new digital strategy for real estate is here to stay. It saves a lot of time for buyer and seller – house hunting can be very time consuming – as this already helps to get a good overview of a property.