Virtual Home Sales: Residential Real Estate’s Solution to a Disrupted Industry

Even in the best of times, real estate sales tend to be high-stress transactions.

Their big-ticket nature and complexity lend these dealings to a degree of nervousness for buyers and sellers alike. And amid the COVID-19 health crisis, that stress level is amplified many times. As the real estate industry works to address the health concerns of agents and clients, virtual home sales experiences are becoming the solution.

In this article, we’ll explore some of many ways realtors are getting creative to make their properties shine in today’s digital reality.

Create an impressive interior design through the magic of virtual staging.

Stunning online visual marketing is a requirement for successfully showing and selling homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Savvy sellers are turning to virtual staging to fill empty homes, eliminating the need for an on-site staging professional. Not only does this approach alleviate potential health risks, it’s also easier, more cost effective, and it creates endless decorating possibilities. A virtual stager can replace ratty old furniture with elegant pieces, fully furnish a vacant home, remove distracting clutter, and much more.

Take prospective buyers on a memorable virtual home tour.

Similar to Street View from Google Maps, virtual tours enable viewers to click their way around a home’s interior and view it in three dimensions. Those on the tour can open doors, walk down hallways, and even take the stairs to upper levels. It allows viewers to experience every turn and see all of the details as if they were actually walking through the property.

Rely on the power of live streaming to host virtual open houses.

In this high-tech sales tool, agents go live on Facebook or Periscope as they take online audiences on a guided tour of the home, showing every detail of the space and answering questions as they’re posed. Viewers can tune in safely from the comfort of their own home, interacting with the agent in real time. Some agents even take their virtual open houses to the next level by positioning multiple cameras in various parts of the house and switching between the views during the live stream. Not every open house viewer will be ready to buy, but it provides an opportunity to show the property to many people at once, saving time and money. When the live stream is over, the virtual open house video becomes on-demand content that can be shared, downloaded, edited, and re-purposed for use on social media, the web, or email.

Stay safe by relying on digital client interactions.

Zoom and Google Hangouts are among the many online collaboration tools that allow agents to check offers virtually, share important documents, and review them with others in real time. Most of the paperwork for real estate closings needs to be notarized, but there are ways to handle notarizations without in-person meetings. For example, web video conferences can work hand-in-hand with digital services such as DocuSign, or documents can be overnighted back-and-forth via FedEx or another delivery service. These options vary by the jurisdiction where the closing is taking place, so it’s important to consult with the lender and title company to determine the available options.

Digital experiences will never fully replace face-to-face selling in the real estate business, but during the COVID-19 crisis, they’re indispensable. If you have questions about virtual home sales tools or need assistance with a real estate transaction, please contact our experienced professionals.

About Certified Title Corporation: Since 1994, attorney-owned Certified Title Corporation has been furnishing residential and commercial real estate stakeholders across the nation with robust title insurance, settlement, and escrow services. Renowned for their industry-leading reliability and exemplary level of service and quality, the Maryland-based company helps clients from all walks of life achieve their asset goals. To learn more, call (888)486-5511 or visit https://www.certifiedtitlecorp.com/.