When health and safety are a high priority, business practices need to be adjusted. Ideally, we can make changes without having to compromise on the level of service we provide. Currently, the biggest sticking point for real estate is home showings. If you are a buyers agent, you are probably thinking about how to minimize the number of homes that your clients need to see in person. The solution: virtual showings.
The good news is that you are now able to harness technology to provide a professional virtual showing option for your buyer clients. If you aren’t familiar with virtual showings, it’s when you take your buyer on a personalized showing of the home they are interested in while they follow along on a live stream. In the past, agents have used tools like Facetime, Skype, or Zoom to facilitate virtual showings. Now, agents can use the HomeRover app for virtual showings and better collaborate with clients before, during, and after their home showings.
Best Practices for Virtual Showings
So how can you help keep your clients safe and still give them a high touch, customized showing experience? Here are our virtual showing best practices:
- Identify the homes they are most interested in and plan a schedule of the homes you will be showing them virtually.
- Plan ahead to be sure you will have WiFi or cellular coverage.
- Schedule the showing times within the HomeRover app and invite your clients to join.
- Work with your clients to create a checklist of items and features they want to make sure are part of the showing, and add that list to the scheduled showings in HomeRover.
- Would your clients like to include anyone else on their showings? Do they want friends or family to join in? You can add them to the scheduled showing times as well.
- Make sure your clients know they can snap their own photos in the app as the showing progresses. The photos will be available post-showing along with the recorded video of the home.
- When it’s time to show the home, start the showing on the app and proceed through the home just as if your clients were with you. Start from outside the front door, and move through the home.
- Encourage them to interact with you and ask questions as if they were in the home. You can explore the listing together.
- Use the checklist to mark off the features and areas as you get to them. This will create markers in the video playback that let your clients jump straight to the parts that are important to them.
- After they have finished seeing the home, encourage them to include a rating and notes within the app, so they don’t forget what they thought after viewing a few different homes in the same day.
Post-Showing Playback
Once you have finished showing your clients all the homes on their list, they can easily refer back to the showing video as well as their photos, notes, and ratings within the HomeRover app. They can even share the showing video with friends and family. While some buyers may still want to visit homes in person, using virtual showings first can help them narrow their choices, saving time and keeping them safe.
If you would like to try out the HomeRover App for your virtual showings, click here to download.