It’s no secret that the nation’s housing market has ground to halt. Sellers are wary of letting strangers into their homes, and buyers are afraid to venture out. In fact, many sellers have simply removed their homes from the market as they are waiting for things to improve before relisting; or they’ve opened up to the idea of real estate virtual tours.
That said, mortgage rates, however, are at historic lows, and buyers with safe jobs and excellent credit scores are in a great position to acquire the property. If you do need to sell your home during this unprecedented time, this is an excellent target market, and by using virtual tour real estate technology, you can move your property. We’ve compiled seven tips that will help you go virtual, so let’s take a look:
Facetime
The time for real estate virtual tours is now. Anyone that is interested in buying your home will have a cell phone, and the easiest way to do a virtual tour real estate showing is by utilizing Facetime. The prospective buyer can not only have an up-close and personal look at your property, but any questions that arise can be instantly answered. And, since no Internet connection is required—although Wi-Fi calling may make for a more seamless presentation—Facetime has been shown to be a great—and free—resource.
Skype
Facetime is great for real estate virtual tours, but what else? Think of Skype as enhanced Facetime. You do need to download the app, but you can have multiple parties on the phone, and they can be located anywhere. While facetime is very easy to use, first-time Skype users are encouraged to view a short explanatory video.
Facebook Live
Facebook is continuously trying to monetize its platform (great for real estate virtual tours), and for many years the company has been striving to create a useful home sellers’ marketplace. Prospective buyers have been able to use private messaging to contact real estate agents regarding showings, and now sellers’ agents can put together a nice video that does a great job of showing a home.
Facebook Live also allows Realtors to save their virtual tour real estate videos, and these can be shown on their company websites and distributed on social media networks. Some agents are also using these videos to help qualify prospective buyers.
YouTube
YouTube has come a long way form the platform that enabled silly home videos. YouTube is now the second-largest search engine in the world with over three billion monthly searches, and in addition to allowing buyers to find properties for sale by search, savvy Realtors craft great videos that showcase homes for sale. Buyers are then emailed or texted a link that puts the property for sale right in front of them instantly.
Periscope
This is another virtual streaming app like YouTube, but video creators sometimes take this a step further and add local neighborhood points of interest that can give the prospective buyer an intimate feel for the surrounding area even though they may be thousands of miles away.
Don’t Forget the Landscaping
Curb appeal is still very important, and even more so if would-be buyers are looking at your property virtually. Why? Because they can still do a drive-by:
- Without putting themselves at risk,
- without even getting out of the car,
- and without you even knowing it.
You don’t want to have spent time, effort and dollars to make a great interior video and have your work negated by a scraggly weed-filled lawn accompanied by overgrown foundation plantings. Therefore, take some time to work on the landscaping, and if you can’t do it yourself, search online and find a company that is still doing outside work. You can pay with a credit card and you don’t have to meet anyone in person.
Do Some Research
Finally, before blindly picking a virtual tour option, do some work and find out what methods have worked best for sellers that have unloaded a home during the coronavirus pandemic. What worked for them could work for you, so again, get into it and do some research!
Again, this is a crazy time, but it doesn’t mean that homes will not sell. Buyers are out there looking for bargains and mortgage rates are at historic lows. Do everything you can to make sure that anyone that is looking to buy a house is aware that your property could be a great option.