With the current restrictions in place due to COVID-19, many realtors and prospective homebuyers are unable to attend open houses or home tours in person.

So what can realtors do to showcase the houses they have up for sale? How can buyers look at prospective homes while abiding by the national guidelines to stay home and social distance?

Enter the latest solution to this problem: Virtual home tours.

We will be discussing:

• What you need to know to set up the perfect virtual home tour
• Best online marketing practices for virtual home tours
• Available online programs that you can implement

Let’s get started!

Virtual Is the New Reality

When trying to sell something it’s important that you are triggering the senses of the consumer: enticing their eyes with alluring images, stimulating their ears with sound, and making sure the feel is just right..

Now that real estate is making the shift from being a face-to-face line of business to a virtual one, it’s imperative that you set the stage for your virtual home tour to entice your audience!

Key things to pay attention to are:

• Tone: Speak in a personable, warm voice – as if you were actually with the buyer.
• Timing: Hit the key notes and details of the house – keeping aware of the time length.
• Quality: Highlight the most attention-grabbing features of the house and find ways to stand out and demonstrate that you are an expert on this subject.
• Convenience: Emphasize how virtual tours are convenient to the consumer. We can watch them anytime, in the comfort of our own home, and on many devices!

Don’t view virtual home tours as an inconvenience, but rather view it as a solution. The benefits of creating one, outweighs the few negatives. Virtual has become our new reality and by conveying this message and catering to your target audience, you will be able to create a tour that feels personal as well as seamless in it’s transition from in person to on the screen.

Think of your virtual home tour as a personal conversation that you are having with the viewer. Just because you’ve gone digital, doesn’t mean you can’t be engaging!

Marketing Your Virtual Home Tours

Since many realtors are turning to virtual home tours in the era of covid, the question then becomes:

What can you do to make sure that your virtual home tours stand out?

1. Set yourself apart through branding (tone, colors, images, music, style).

Make sure that you stand out by cultivating an image of your brand that is distinct to you – use a set of colors consistently or add soft background music to your videos that will make consumers remember your videos after viewing others.

1. Use descriptive text with closed captions and translations.

Many virtual home tours don’t include closed captions in their videos, so make sure you do so! It’s imperative that you make sure to keep in mind that some of your prospective buyers could be impaired or non-native speakers so by adding subtitles or closed captions you are going the extra mile. In addition, it makes it easier for the viewer to follow along with what you are saying.

1. Join social media platforms to reach your target audience

When applying social media strategies for realtors, you should consider joining platforms that will lead you directly to your consumer. Facebook has many groups where prospective buyers and renters look to find available listings posted by virtual realtors . By joining these groups you are making direct contact with your intended consumer and are able to market your virtual home tours in a non-abrasive manner.

Channel Surfing, But for Your Next Home

Just like people are able to  flip through the channels of a TV to find entertainment, they can also switch through different platforms to find virtual home tours!

Some of the post popular are:

• Facebook Live
• Facebook Groups
• Youtube
• Instagram Live
• IGTV videos
• Snapchat promotions with swipe up link to your tour

Choose a platform that is most convenient for you, one that reaches your target audience, and always post with frequency.

Conclusion

The real estate market is doing very well at this time, and refinancing rates in California are lower than ever. Therefore, it’s important that both consumers and sellers learn to adapt to the changes that are being made to real estate  business operations.

Interested in learning more about real estate practices or how to go more digital in today’s world?

New Venture Escrow offers virtual escrow services for real estate agents via our new app, VentureTrac 4.0! Provide information to your clients within seconds, send or email direct files from your phone, and save and store all of your information in one convenient location. With New Venture Escrow, it’s never been easier to maneuver the real estate market in the middle of a pandemic.