Key Highlights
- Part II of this multi-part series focuses on “Working with Sellers” via digital home showings
Digital Home Showings Are the Means to the Seller’s End Goal – A Fast, Hassle-Free Sale
One of the most valuable aspects of digital home showings to sellers is that virtual tours get more eyes on the home faster. Assuming that you as top producing agent publish the virtual tour on major website portals, your own website and that you advertise it on social media, your seller’s home will be available to the marketplace 24/7.
Create a Curated Shot List with Your Sellers
The savviest agents work with their sellers to develop a “curated shot list” that best represents their home and attracts buyers in a digital showing. Your sellers may have a “preferred” shot list, but you are the professional here.
Work with your sellers to create a “curated shot list. You know what buyers want to see and what sells. Once your sellers understand that you want to best show off their home, they’ll likely go out of their way to work positively on this project with you.
Less Can Be More
According to Daria Sarah, an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty in the San Francisco Bay Area,“Less can be more if (the) goal is to get someone to come to the house – via a curated video.” Sarah also suggested, “Don’t forget to focus on outlooks from various rooms in the house, as that is what many buyers will want to know before coming.”
Remind your sellers that prospective buyers, just like everyone else, have short attention spans and limited time.
A digital shoot ought to take no longer than one day. Make sure there is some flex time within that day to allow for reshoots and “pick-up” improvisational shots.
Digital Showings Limit but Don’t Eliminate In-Person Tours
Make sure your sellers understand that sight-unseen purchases that rely solely on digital showings are highly unusual. The goal of a virtual home tour is to engage prospective buyers who are looking for features that seller’s house has.
Sara Farsani, a realtor with Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty, often asks her buyers what they want in a home and then includes those features in the digital tour. Other agents take videos as if they themselves were looking to buy the home.
Use Digital Showings as a Story Telling Tool
To help make the home come to life in a virtual tour, use the audio advantages of video. Ryan Mathys of the Ryan Mathys and Tracie Kersten Compass Luxury Team, advised, “Use video to tell the story of the home and where it is…what restaurants are nearby, what schools it feeds into, traffic time to major freeways, beaches and venues. Sell the lifestyle, not just the home.”
Thanks to Inman.
