Just like paying taxes and searching for food joints, the internet and digital age are playing a major role in our lives and the housing hunting process. American Government census data has found that more than 85% of Americans now use the internet on one device or more. It also says that more than 92% use at least one computer or mobile device. Your real estate customers are surely one of them, and developing strategy and leadership to cater to this audience is crucial to growing your business.
Though house hunting was at one time, up until recent times, quite a human-centric experience. But with the advent of digital devices, even this sector is going through massive change. Though many of your real estate businesses have already adopted a selection of technology in project management, many still have not digitalized the house-hunting process.
But you should start soon if you have not already. Why? NAR survey and reports have mentioned that after the pandemic, in 2020, more than 97% of homebuyers have used the internet to look for houses. Among them, 76% of them also used mobiles or tablet devices to conduct these searches. Along with going digital, you also have to be mobile-friendly to address the larger chunk of the audience.
To know all about how digital house hunt is becoming the future and reshaping the way real estate companies conduct business, read this article.
The pandemic changed the housing hunting experience
After the pandemic hit us, there were a lot of travel restrictions and health concerns with meeting more people. Though the real estate industry was slowly progressing towards a digital shift, the shift was very minimal. The pandemic helped this industry get the last push to get into the digital game of real estate.
A RedFin News survey has found that more than 63% of Americans in 2021 have made offers on homes they had never seen physically or set foot in due to the pandemic. Before the pandemic, this was unimaginable. People made 5 - 7 home/site visits before they made an actual offer to the sellers or real estate agents. The travel restrictions have put a pin to this, and people have learned to adapt.
In 2020 and 2019, the numbers were only 45% and 32%, respectively, of people who made offers on homes without seeing them physically. Due to the pandemic, online meetings with realtors, 3D tours, and virtual reality visuals have become credible resources for both buyers and sellers to bet their money on houses. A lot of these people have also closed their final deals with e-contracts and digital signatures without so much as a face-to-face meeting with agents. The industry is changing, and you should too.
Better digital sales tools
There is a huge range of technology selections in the present real estate market. Many new-age PropTechs are shaking up the market and helping grow this digital house-hunting trend. Here are some tools you can integrate and use to drive sales.
CRM software for remote customer relationship management
When the whole world is working remotely, real estate does not have much choice but to join the bandwagon. Be it a real estate agent, broker, or property manager; you must use CRM software to keep in touch with your customers. Why? This will allow you to contact them from remote locations. CRM also keeps updates on your inventory so that you can give real-time updates to your customers on the go.
CRM also sorts out leads of customers and potential customers, and you can answer all their queries on the software dashboard without always calling and bothering them directly.
Virtual reality for virtual home tours
Matterport survey says that in the present house hunting era, companies with virtual tour options of the homes under their portfolio get 49% more leads than those without. Another survey by Matterport also found out that more than 90% of customers depend on virtual tours to do a primary scan of the homes before they talk to an agent.
If you are just starting out, you can easily stage your own apartments/homes and shoot the videos from your phone or a basic DSLR to make the VR tour. But many third-party VR tour providers like Zillow do the work for you and provide you with finished videos. You can easily talk to your outsourced IT service provider or get a strategy and leadership planner to decide which VR tour provider will be best for you.
Drone shots
You can also use autonomous drones to get aerial shots of your property to help customers know every nook and cranny of the property they are interested in. It will also give them an idea about the neighborhood and motivate their final decision.
Why is online house hunting gaining popularity?
Digital house hunting has a lot of advantages, and the pandemic showed the industry how it can benefit both buyers and sellers if the industry makes the digital shift. Why?
Saves time and labor
You do not have to visit multiple different homes and conduct home tours, saving time and labor. Your agents will be less burdened and become more efficient.
Real-time updates
When you are working digitally, all sales reports are on the cloud. So when an agent makes a sale, he no longer needs to run to the office to update the system. They can access the system remotely and send updates.
Reduces carbon footprint
Once you reduce the number of field/site visits, your and your customer's carbon footprint automatically goes down.
Connects with the tech-savvy generations
The new homebuying crowds are the millennials and Gen Z. They are both tech-savvy generations and always research everything on the internet before making a purchase, including houses.
The future of real estate is digital, start your digital journey with Assetsoft
Digitization of the house hunting process has many different layers and steps. If you are new at this, then getting overwhelmed is quite natural. But we are here to help. We have decades of experience in digitizing multiple different real estate businesses to help them stay afloat and grow.
To know more about our services, like technology selection, software integration, property management, and more, give us a call. Talk soon!