Virtual open houses have become incredibly popular and necessary in 2020. There is little doubt that virtual open houses will continue to be of great benefit to sellers in the years to come. We know that more than 80% of home buyers begin their search online. The modern realtor must be digitally savvy and able to retain the interest of the user. Virtual open houses are here to stay.
Benefits Of Virtual Open Houses
A Guided Tour
When a real estate agent hosts an open house, they typically only have time to greet a buyer guest at the door and offer to answer questions. However, a live virtual open house tour will give a guided tour to each buyer. This way, the buyer can ask any questions they arise and frankly learn a lot more about the qualities that make a particular home special.
Time Savings
The upside in a busy city like Toronto is that anyone can have a tour from the comfort of their home, or if they are stuck at work, they could take 5 mins to review the house rather than take the time out of their day to travel and view the space.
Scheduling: Not Just Weekends
Virtual open houses no longer have to be 2-4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Let’s be honest, if it’s a beautiful day, do you really want to be slogging from house to house when you could be outside enjoying your afternoon? Considering that many people are available to view a property after 5 pm, scheduling an open house for a more socially convenient time may draw a larger audience. Virtual open houses can be instantly available to any interested buyers with the click of a button. For example, please look at our hugely popular tour of 20 Admiral Road in The Annex. This virtual tour provided a very accurate view of one of The Annex’s finest homes!
Best Platform
We find that the best platform for hosting a virtual open house is to use Instagram. The reason being that IG is a visual media, one that has people looking at beautiful things. Plus, the popularity and larger numbers of followers can be great. That being said, Facebook is also great. The key is to look up which MLS link is available.
We expect that virtual tours and virtual open houses will grow in importance for years to come. In time we expect to see new levels of interactive home tours with the advent of augmented reality. Stay tuned. The future of real estate is bright and exciting!
