The real estate industry has been flipped on its’ head. Things have changed quickly and some haven’t been able to keep up.
If you weren’t using virtual technology before COVID-19, you’re either using it now or looking for a way to implement it. Most real estate agents won’t survive this crisis without using some form of virtual technology.
It’s very likely, virtual technology will be used long after COVID-19 has been tamed. Here are some of the types of virtual technology every real estate agent needs immediately.
Virtual Home Tours
Before you implement anything else, adding virtual home tours to each home listing is a must. You may not survive this crisis without using virtual home tours.
Some buyers are afraid to leave their homes, while others are looking for ways to tour fewer homes in-person. In this new world of contact-less deliveries and experiences, virtual home tours offer the contact-less option for the real estate industry.
If you’re not using virtual or video tours yet, start immediately.
Virtual Open Houses
The traditional open house will likely never be the same now. While they may return in some areas of the country, many agents are using virtual technology to hold virtual open houses.
Even when traditional open houses are okay again, virtual open houses may stick around. Not only can you hold these live online, but you can also offer the virtual open house as a playback option with the listing, on social media, and your website. You can even take clips of the event and use them to build a social media presence.
Virtual Staging
Another form of virtual technology every real estate agent needs to get acquainted with, virtual staging offers many benefits. Right now, it means fewer people coming into a home and you don’t have to trust a stager to sanitize all the items they bring in.
With virtual staging, the furniture is added virtually for the listing pictures. This makes the home show better online and also offers the opportunity for before and after pictures.
Electronic Closings
A new way to close on a home, electronic closings are certainly going to become the new normal. While some title companies and lenders may return to the old way of closing in-person, electronic closings offer a more affordable way to handle more closings faster.
Since buyers are given time to review the documents before signing them electronically, a closing agent doesn’t have to spend hours at one closing anymore. In addition, electronic closings help cut down on the commuting time for closing agents.
As a real estate agent, if you have the financial ability, now is the time to invest in a high-quality camera. While most phones offer a good camera, you will want something you feel comfortable with for virtual open houses, virtual tours, and anything else you might need to handle.
Virtual technology is here to stay in the real estate industry. The sooner you start to embrace and use the available technology, the more successful you will be.
