An essential piece of purchasing a home has always been the walkthrough. The inspection to ensure that your thoughts and hopes match what is there.
What about now? In the time of a pandemic? Social Distancing makes this all but impossible, doesn’t it? With virtual home tours, the task of having a full home walkthrough is as easy as doing the same in person.
There are many other benefits in addition to that. Continue to find out what they are and how virtual home tours have helped during the COVID-19 pandemic
Benefits of Using Virtual Home Tours
As of 2019, approximately 50% of consumers shopped for their home online versus 28% from a Real Estate again, according to the National Association of Realtors. The focus on technology is only going to continue to grow.
Because of these numbers, it is obvious what value a virtual tour or 3D walkthrough can hold many benefits.
Three major points of having a house showing online will boost its benefits by a measurable degree.
- Exposure
- With the virtual tours, there is more traffic being directed to these listings. More traffic will convert into more offers ultimately and most likely drive the price/value of the property up.
- Efficiency
- Fewer showings will need to be booked. With the ability to view all of the homes and walkthrough on your own time, it saves the consumer and the real estate agent a large amount of time potentially.
- Audience
- Playing into the ability to look at the home in full detail, the range of people viewing the property grows because they are better informed and more likely to make an offer because they did not have to make a trek out.
The Market Adapts
With the state of things at this point in the world because of the COVID-19 pandemic that need and benefit continues to grow. It is allowing real estate agents to continue to work, allowing people to not have to put their lives completely on hold.
To give a clearer picture of the situation and the importance of virtual tools in the real estate market at this point, according to N.A.R, there was a 191% increase in 3D Home Tours in the first half of March when you compare it to February.
Even more dramatic were the numbers at Redfin, a brokerage company. They saw an increase in requests for “agent-led video home tours” of 494% in the same time frame. Additionally, almost 19% of all tour requests across the board at Redfin have been video-chat, at this point.
Social Media has become an even more powerful tool now for the real estate market. As if it was not previously, it is all but required now. Facebook Live showings and Instagram live being the biggest as they can allow for guided tours with commentary.
It’s About Where You Lay Your Head
Virtual home tours have been growing and were certainly popular before the COVID pandemic began. The foundation that was laid made for the perfect setup to still have a functional market after the fact though.
The real estate market is only going to keep flourishing too.
Have questions? Read the collection of information we have curated for at our blog. Still, have concerns? Get in touch, fill out our form or give us a call so we can get you one step closer to a new home.
Wonica Realtors & Appraisers are Staten Island’s #1 independent full-service real estate firm, serving the needs of the community for over 30 years. Whether you’re buying, selling, renting or relocating, our staff of highly trained professionals will provide quality realty services with personal attention to your individual real estate needs.