How COVID Changed the Way We Sell Homes
The COVID Effect
Perhaps you are here to learn how to sell my house fast under the current state of affairs. We now apply the phrase “new normal” to practically everything that has changed in our lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From social distancing to wearing of facemasks, America is adapting quickly to these unusual circumstances; and real estate, just like with many other US industries, is experiencing a new normal.
In ordinary circumstances, house selling involves intermingling with many people. Usual formalities include in-person home visits, handshakes, and roundtable in-person closings.
However, in a society grappling with the pandemic’s adverse effects, social distancing and safety gear are now mandatory in almost every social setting. Home sellers have had to devise alternative ways of selling their homes and interacting with buyers. Let’s take a look at how selling a house has changed, thanks to COVID-19.
Better Digital Sales Tools
The COVID-19 pandemic has fast-tracked technological trends in nearly all industries. Things such as transaction management for home selling – that’s entirely online – 3D home listings, virtual tours, and mortgage origination. While such things have been around for some time now, the COVID era has seen a massive acceleration in those trends.
‘Pointing and clicking’ type of home buying has come of age. The era of scant online listings and out-of-focus home photographs is now over. As most business transitions have shifted to online platforms, nobody clicks on a picture that doesn’t appeal to the eye.
Before the pandemic, how many times did you see a listing that made you wonder, “Why are their pictures so bad? Is that really how to sell a house quickly?”
With the restrictions imposed by COVID, more home buyers than ever are looking at homes on the internet, and they love looking at pictures and virtual tours. This means that you need professional top-notch photos and 360-degree crystal clear virtual tours showing everything the buyer needs to see.
If you are going the “For Sale By Owner” route, professional photography might seem extravagant but in this post COVID world, it is a necessary expense. Professional photographers, especially those who specialize in real estate, can take pictures at that perfect angle to show off the best features of the home. To sell my home fast and for the highest possible price, you need those perfect pictures and a virtual tour!
Increased Use of Internet Marketing
With ongoing restrictions on physical interactions, home sellers are now focusing on the best and most effective online services that will help sell my house fast. To facilitate the shift to online selling, many realtors and real estate marketing companies have revamped their websites, social media pages and have established extensive online marketing programs.
The highly contagious nature of COVID has also pushed almost all potential home buyers to start their search online. If your goal is “Sell My House Fast,” then you need to be where the buyers are. Just putting your home in the MLS is no longer a winning strategy. You now need to make sure your listing is syndicated to all of the top real estate marketing platforms like Zillow, Trulia, and even Facebook. To sell my house fast, you need to make it easy for buyers to find and see your home.
The Boom of Virtual Property Showings
As the other sectors shifted into the digital realm after the pandemic hit, it was not long before the real estate sector followed suit. With the comprehensive visualization of homes, virtual property tours have decreased the number of times a home needs to be physically toured for it to sell. There are different types of virtual tours, and you may want to use some or all of the following:
- Virtual reality experiences
- 360 virtual tours or 3D walkthroughs
- 3D floor plans
Before COVID, high-quality virtual tours were reserved for luxury properties, but that has changed. It is now used for homes in all price ranges and has quickly become the new normal.
You can induce similar feelings in clients that they would feel during physical home tours but faster and in a safer manner. High-quality virtual tours make it easy for potential buyers to compare homes, look at features, and quickly identify homes of interest to physically tour. When set up correctly, a virtual tour opens an avenue of communication that will allow you to answer questions and obtain instant feedback.
Sometimes, the changes brought on by COVID have unexpected advantages, which is the case with virtual showings and tours. Many agents and sellers have discovered that virtual tours save time since it reduces tours by people who are just curious to see the inside of the home.
Intensified Safety Measures
Safety measures have become compulsory, and constant disinfecting, wearing facemasks, maintaining social distancing, and regularly using hand sanitizers are now the norm.
As the seller, when you are expecting an in-person showing, it would be best if you leave all doors open and lights on so a potential customer will be able to inspect the property fully without having to touch anything. You should also ensure that you stagger showings and limit the number of attendees so social distancing won’t be a challenge.
Every buyer is different. While most have embraced technology and don’t mind doing everything virtually, others still insist on physically visiting the property. When you are trying to sell a home, it is important to accommodate as many potential buyers as possible. To do this, you can establish reasonable safety protocols and procedures, like requiring everyone to wear a mask while inside the home.
COVID-19 has drastically changed the home showing process. Here are some of the ways home sellers are maneuvering through the process during in-person showings and after showing the property:
During the in-person house showing:
- Real estate agents, buyers, and sellers no longer shake hands.
- Everybody at the property does their best to maintain at least six feet of space between them.
- Just before entering the home, prospective buyers either sanitize or wash their hands, wear a face mask, and many homeowners now provide visitors with disposable gloves and shoe covers.
- Pens, phones, or tablets, and other items are no longer shared.
- To avoid COVID from being transmitted by something that was touched, agents no longer leave business cards or sign in.
- Buyers are requested to adhere to contact rules, including not touching door handles, light switches, and cabinets.
- The total number of people permitted to tour the home at any one time is usually limited to 4 or fewer.
- Home viewers are instructed not to use the bathrooms at the house.
After showing the house:
- After the showing is completed, speaking with clients inside the home is no longer acceptable. Agents will encourage their clients to discuss the home or ask questions outside the home while still keeping in mind social distancing requirements.
- Many times, sellers ask the guests to wipe down —with a disinfectant or sanitizer—any surface they came into contact with, after which the seller also disinfects the property thoroughly.
- To avoid unnecessary contact risk, future communication about the home is usually via email and phone.
- Sellers and agents maintain visitor logs to facilitate contact tracing, just in case one of the owners or guests is later tested COVID positive. The information includes names of all attendees, location, dates, and contact info.
- Most sellers and buyers have eliminated paper documentation and instead, the transaction is completed entirely online. For real estate agents, that means you need to implement online systems that can serve clients remotely.
The Bottom Line
Selling a house is stressful enough, but doing so in the era of social distancing can appear worse. However, with some planning, it doesn’t have to be. Strategies such as those mentioned above can help you sell your home fast and safely.
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We hope this article was informative and helpful.
OutFactors
539 West Commerce Street
Suite 1205
Dallas, Texas 75208
Contact@OutFactors.com
www.OutFactors.com
(800) 420-7030
How COVID Changed the Way We Sell Homes | Cash for House | OutFactors — Dallas Fort Worth, Texas
