The COVID 19 pandemic has changed the way we feel about spaces and our homes. Staying close to the workplace or heart of the city to save time seems no longer like a viable option, neither does rent a place and changing it every few years seems to be happening any time soon.
The short-term human and economic impact is undeniable, but as the world restarts and the economy kicks back to life, people will want real estate solutions that are up-to-date with the changing times. The demand for real estate properties is set to further increase as a result of prospective buyers and clients who now feel the necessity to own a home during such a crisis.
The Right Time is Now
A study reveals that developers were able to shed their unsold stock by 6% in the first half of 2020 while the pandemic was still active as compared to the same period in 2019. The affordable budget category is also responding well as we can see that the pandemic has accelerated some trends already. In the real estate sector, for instance, demand for window shopping has increased and will likely continue to grow. People who had been sitting on the fence concerning getting a place of their own or asset investment are now making the biggest investment of their lives – buying a house. The real estate sector is witnessing green shoots of revival as demand and inquiries have begun to attach up to pre-COVID levels.
During the times of pandemic staying connected to your buyers is important, while also ensuring that automated solutions are ready. Real estate businesses should think of promoting their businesses using social media platforms like Instagram marketing and provide new ways for virtual home tours to keep the home buyers in the know during unpredictable times.
Let’s take a look at how you can manage your real estate business during the times of COVID 19 pandemic.
Redefining Real Estate Business During the Times of COVID 19 Pandemic
Provide Help and Share Informative Content
Homebuyers and real estate investors are now making choices based on safety and on what makes them comfortable. Especially when the home-buying process has been interrupted by a global pandemic. The best way to ensure that you provide helpfully and up-to-date information to your clients is to regularly post about your safety measures, health guidelines, and update home-buying processes.
This is especially useful to share on social media channels because that’s where your potential customers will look for information and can directly interact with your service representatives in case of any questions. Furthermore, sharing tips for people who want to rent a house or those working from home — like how to create a home office space can be useful and increase engagement. For customer reps interacting with prospective buyers on the ground, the best way is to keep them ready with informative flyers or handbooks that include safety guidelines, best practices to stay healthy while also ensuring there is minimum contact.
Ensure that the content you are sharing is verified and checked from reliable sources before posting them.
Act as a Quick, Resourceful and Timely Platform
Today more than ever, a timely and fast response is what prospective customers are looking for. As a real estate business, it is not just a best practice to have customer service executives reply to potential queries but to provide lines of communication that are fast, timely, and resourceful. This can add to customer value. Prepare yourself for any questions with a Frequently Asked Questions section, highlight and share your business contact information with your clients and buyers at the front, and ensure that they can reach out to you at any point in time.
Conduct a timely review of your emails, messages, social media comments, and chatbox. Ensure the queries are attended to in less than 48-hours. You might also want to consider recording a video or conducting a LIVE session on any social media platform to answer client/buyer queries. This can be an exclusive and resourceful way to understand what people are looking for and fine-tune your business accordingly.
Invest in Automated Solutions
The pandemic has changed the way we feel about our homes and interaction with people. People are looking for fast home solutions that involve less human contact and can save time while focusing on their needs. While investing in automated solutions might not have seemed a pretty useful strategy six-month ago, it is very much a choice that many real estate businesses during the times of COVID 19 pandemic have adopted. By automating your responses like social media replies, question and answer segments, and certain aspects of your businesses, you can save a lot on human resources and automate your process. These solutions are not just for the COVID 19 pandemic but also for the long-term adaptation of your business strategies.
Provide Virtual Open Houses and Tours
One of the harshest side effects of COVID 19 has been the COVID-induced social distancing rules, and these have drastically reduced the number of people interaction — meaning tours and open houses being canceled. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t provide an alternative solution. One of the most innovative ways to real estate marketing during COVID 19 has been through virtual tours and AR apps. This provides prospective buyers and clients with the ability to see their new home, apartment, space using their laptop or smartphone. The advantages being that, any individual can stay as long as they want and visually see all the nooks and corners. This virtual walkthrough is a great strategy to encourage people to be in the space, and you can add information like dimensions of each room, facilities, and services that make such a virtual tour an interactive and memorable experience.
Back in Business — The World of Real Estate During the Times of COVID 19 Pandemic and After
The economy is gradually starting to adapt to a ‘new normal’ following the COVID 19 pandemic and the attendant nationwide lockdown. The real estate sector is also witnessing green shoots as prospective clients and homebuyers are back in the market. The path to recovery might not be straightforward and adapting to changing times is of utmost importance. Real estate businesses can be hopeful that they are back in business and homebuyers can rest assured that good times are ahead.