Are Sunday Open Houses A Thing Of The Past?

Virtual home tours grew into an increasingly important real estate phenomenon prior to the pandemic’s incursion. As it did other tech innovations these past 14 months, Covid sent the online touring trend into overdrive.

The result: A level of comfort and familiarity with the advancement that might otherwise have taken years longer to achieve.

Last month, research from Zillow divulged if shopping for a home, 79% of Americans would favorably view the idea of a virtual tour and digital floor plan. That percentage climbed to better than 80% if the home shoppers were Millennials. One month earlier, Zillow found nearly 6 in 10 Millennials reporting they’d be fairly self-assured making an offer on a residence they’d toured virtually. What’s more, almost 4 in 10 would be agreeable with the notion of purchasing a domicile online.

When initiating sales at The Reed, a 41-story luxury condominium in Chicago’s Printers Row enclave earlier in 2021, developer Lendlease and the building’s exclusive sales and marketing firm Wolf Development Strategies didn’t just unveil a cutting-edge sales gallery. They also created the sales gallery’s virtual reality technology, and made it viewable remotely so shoppers wouldn’t have to even visit to begin the process.

“Historically, purchasing a home has always been a hands-on, sensory experience,” observes Ted Weldon, executive general manager of development for the Chicago office of Lendlease.

“Yet this year has shown there are circumstances under which a prospect might buy sight unseen or at least start the process virtually. For those prospective buyers, we have invested in a robust suite of virtual tools that provide an immersive look at The Reed, supplementing – and in some cases replacing – a visit to the sales gallery.

“This technology is so advanced it can offer views from any home in the building at any time of day. And they are lifelike, right down to boats floating down the Chicago River.”

In-person partiality

During the pandemic, four condominium projects from Chicago-based Belgravia Group have taken shape, each in different stages from sales launches to construction. Renelle on the River and Three Sixty West in River North offer homes for immediate delivery. CA6 West Loop in the West Loop and Triangle Square in the up-and-coming East Bucktown enclave are currently under construction, the latter promising first deliveries this autumn. Buyers have displayed a partiality for in-person tours of the properties in recent months. But that doesn’t mean virtual touring is going away.

When the pandemic and social distancing were at their peak levels, Belgravia Group had its brokers stage live tours over Facetime. This enabled would-be purchasers to customize tours to their specific needs. At the same time, this practice fostered a tighter one-on-one connection between prospects and members of the company’s sales team, says executive vice president of sales and marketing Liz Brooks.

“But even now that the majority of our showings are by in-person appointment, our team is still using Facetime to offer a preview of our developments before buyers tour the models or an immediate-delivery home,” she adds.

“We’ve found we are able to establish a stronger relationship with prospective buyers with this type of introduction, versus communicating by email or text, which is how our initial conversations usually happened prior to the pandemic.”

Baird & Warner is another company that moved quickly to virtual open houses to accommodate those moving because of a new job, growing family or fresh work-from-home situation. “Our agents got creative and even took clients on a virtual tour of the neighborhood surrounding a home to give them the full experience,” says Laura Ellis, president of residential sales and executive vice president at Chicago-based Baird & Warner. “When it was safe to do so, our agents pivoted again to enable a secure open house situation. And today, many clients prefer that in-person tour. Our agents typically take a hybrid approach by offering a quick virtual tour prior to a live one, which is typically preferred by those more engaged buyers.”

More sophisticated

In the past 12 months, Wolf Development Strategies’ developers have found it essential to invest in cutting-edge VR technology to meet buyer expectations, says president and CEO David Wolf. “And the quality of the VR experience has evolved quickly to become more sophisticated to keep pace with consumer demand for a true-to-life walkthrough of their future homes,” he adds.

“VR tech also satisfies a need for sales teams to more easily identify serious prospects who are ready to move forward with a home purchase.”

This post first appeared on Forbes.com. To see the original, click here.