The real estate market is changing fast. In the past, the refrain was “location, location, location”. If you had a decent property in a good neighborhood, you were bound to sell sooner rather than later. Now, it’s not just the where that matters, nor the what. The how of selling is becoming more and more significant, and this “how” is all about convenience and distance. 

In the last couple of years, several trends in real estate have come together to make remote property purchases an increasingly attractive option for many home buyers. Naturally, people buying remotely also need and want to view property remotely. That’s where virtual property tours come in. 

In this piece we take a look at the key trends driving the growth behind remote real estate deals and at the best ways to serve this demand.

The rise of remote work driving remote property sales

Covid-19 opened the floodgates on remote work. Lockdowns, stay in place orders, and social distancing measures made ‘work from home’ arrangements the norm in many white collar fields of work. This allowed professionals to pack up and quite literally move to greener pastures, and many did just that, opting to leave High Cost of Living cities for cheaper locations, or to pursue life far from the hustle and bustle in favor of an environment surrounded by nature.

To make the move, many opted to buy homes remotely. This forced real estate professionals to adapt quickly in order to capitalize on a surging wave. Luckily, the right tools have just become available to make that easier than ever before.

The growing popularity of remote technologies

While covid-19 is not behind us yet, tensions and fears have certainly subsided from the height of the pandemic. But many of the changes brought about by lockdowns and social distancing measures remain as popular as before. Teleconferencing, remote work, online shopping and more are things that most people are not only comfortable with now but have come to expect as standard, and for good reason.

The advances in remote technology over the past few years, especially accelerated since early 2020, have made their adoption much more likely. The videoconferencing of 2022 is light years ahead of its 2019 counterpart in convenience and quality. The same goes for various technologies supporting real estate businesses. From listing platforms to virtual tours, all have dramatically improved in quality. And people generally feel much more comfortable using them compared to before.

Homebuyers are more technologically sophisticated

Millennials now make up the largest share of home buyers at 43%, according to research by the National Association of Realtors. It’s now more likely for an older millennial to be a first-time home seller than a first-time buyer.

What this means is that the real estate market is now firmly in the hands of the digitally native and technologically savvy. They expect technology to augment their lives whenever possible, and that includes buying and selling homes. 

But millennials are not the only people who are enjoying the benefits of technical advancements. As the technology becomes easier to use, increasingly older generations are growing more comfortable with using it to its full potential. And that includes advanced solutions like virtual property tours.  

Buying a home is a time consuming process – virtual tours make it easier

Buying a home takes time, effort, and sometimes, a little bit of sweat and tears. The average first-time home buyer tours 15 properties before closing on one, but 33% view 20 or more. That's a significant time investment that could be made much shorter. Virtual tours can help with that, and that’s part of the reason that they’re becoming so popular. 

A Planet Home study found that 75% of home buyers consider a virtual tour to be a significant factor in their decision-making process, and it’s easy to see why. In fact, Gautam Pant, a professor of business analytics at The University of Iowa, found that homes with virtual tours sold about 6% faster and sold for 3% more compared to similar listings without virtual tours.

We at Vizit.co definitely recommend a virtual tour for the property you’re selling.