- Today's buyers want a full-immersion experience. Use maps, video and other technology in your marketing to bring a listing to life.
- Use social media to give potential buyers a feel for a neighborhood and reinforce your role as the local expert.
- In competitive markets, technology combined with strong relationships can help you get an edge on the competition.
In today’s tech-dependent culture, buyers want a full-immersion experience — with tech tools such as maps, video, community information, etc. More homebuyers are using the Internet during their home search than ever before.
And many of them, especially millennials, are searching for homes online as the first step in the homebuying process.
In highly competitive markets, if potential buyers don’t get a definite feel for the listing, they might scroll right past it without giving it a second thought.
Quench your buyers’ thirst for information while improving the marketability of your listings with these essential tech tools.
1. Video
Buyers are eager for information, whether it’s about the homebuying process, the state of the local market, listings or how to get a mortgage.
Short videos on these topics give buyers the information they want while driving home your experience and expertise as an agent.
2. Interactive maps
Of recent buyers, 45 percent said that interactive maps were one of the most valuable features on a real estate website. Today’s buyers want to see the homes that are for sale within a given neighborhood or community.
An interactive map pinpoints the location of listings while also revealing important information such as average listing price, property size and much more. This tool helps buyers decide which neighborhoods to focus on during their search.
3. Virtual tours
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but a video gives buyers an accurate depiction of the overall property.
Quality photos are the most useful feature of a listing; however, a virtual tour offers the opportunity to paint a complete picture for potential buyers and show how the home flows.
Whether you give a full tour or focus on the best features, a virtual tour piques buyers’ curiosity and makes them want to schedule a showing.
4. Community spotlights
Buyers not only purchase a home; they reserve a spot in the overall community. A home might be perfect, but if the neighborhood isn’t right, a buyer might move on.
To give buyers a demographic overview of a city or neighborhood, include information from City-Data.com. City-Data culls information from a variety of sources to reveal crime rates, average property taxes paid, education levels, average household income and much more.
If you want to give potential buyers a feel for a neighborhood or community, social media is a great platform to leverage. Use Facebook and Instagram to give buyers a pictorial view of the neighborhood, including funky boutiques, holiday parades, festivals and restaurants with mouth-watering cuisine.
Photos not only give prospective buyers insight into the community, but they also reinforce your role as the local expert. That’s a win-win.
Brian Buffini is the Chairman and Founder of Buffini & Company. You can follow Brian and Buffini & Company on Facebook.
