Embracing the Virtual Adventure: Working with Remote Clients as a Realtor®
With remote clients becoming more prevalent in today's fast-paced world, and with San Antonio being a big military relocation hub, a virtual house hunting adventure is becoming a new normal in our industry. More agents are helping their clients buy homes from afar and with that come an entire new array of things to keep in mind! Here are a few items to consider as realtors (and buyers for your realtors to do!) when shopping remotely!
1. Technology rules, especially video
Realtors: it's time to put on your tech-savvy hat on 📱💻! Conversations will be virtual and so will showings. The pandemic forced us to get used to virtual platforms like zoom. So, if you are going to work with clients virtually, make sure you have a zoom account for your chats and introductions. Platforms like Facetime and WhatsApp video work too! Just make sure you have a good way to communicate via video conferencing and make sure your clients are familiar with the platforms you offer. Most likely your clients have used one of the many virtual platforms available to us today, so make sure you offer two or three to choose from. Phone calls are great as well but remember that this is a people business, and some clients want to see you before they work with you. Always have the option to chat via video!
2. Effective Communication with the buyer is even more crucial and attention to detail is key 🔍
Starting with the buyer's consultation, it is not just about the numbers and budgets 💲. It's also about getting to know your clients' unique tastes and preferences. For example, we have had clients that are highly interested in the water pressure of the home (we had to make sure to check the water faucets), or noise around them. If you hear lots of barking dogs 🐶 next door or even loud airplanes, you need to let them know. Are they located near a busy street? You need to highlight that. Perhaps creaky floors are something your clients cannot live with, and they share that with you, which means you will have to point that out in a home you are touring for them! If your clients suffer from allergies and you smell pets 🐱during your showing you need to clearly state that. The more thorough you are the better. Also, it will not only be about the home itself, but you will also need to show them areas of the neighborhood, the street the home is on, distance to the schools (if that's important to them), etc. You are their eyes 👀, ears 👂and nose 👃.
3. Questions about neighborhoods and areas
When your clients are shopping remotely, you need to remember they cannot drive around 🚗. If commute time is important to them, encourage them to map out their commute on navigation apps during rush hour; that way they will get a good idea of how much time they will spend in the car. Also get familiar with how to create specific maps for your clients. 🛤️
Google Drive has an amazing map creation tool where you can highlight areas and add tags to specific locations to make a truly customized map of properties for your clients. MLS can also create a map by selecting properties they are interested in and using the driving time feature with the car icon 🚗. There will come the question "Is this a good area?" Remember that means different things to different people. Encourage them to research the school districts as well as crime maps (www.spotcrime.com is a good one) and don't be shy to share any of your previous clients' experiences if you have any in the same area. Even better, connect them with some of your clients if they are open to that. That way they get real-life feedback. If there are social media pages about specific neighborhoods, encourage them to visit those and ask some questions as well. 💪🏡
4. Virtual showing how-To's
Agents have different ways of doing virtual showings. Some clients like to do "live" virtual showings by having a videoconference 📱 with you while walking the property. It has been my experience that good cell phone reception is not your friend in these situations, which leads to frustration. Until technology gets better in that regard, a well shot video is your best bet 📹 . Whether you would like to use your phone or a better camera, you just need to make sure you can either share it easily or uploaded to a sharing app so you can get it to your clients. Videos longer than one minute do no share well via SMS (regular text) so many agents choose to record short clips of various rooms and areas so they can text them. If your clients have WhatsApp, you can share longer videos.
I actually like taking one video of the entire home and then upload it to our YouTube Channel in an "Unlisted" status, which means only people with the video link 🔗can watch it. It gives the clients a better experience versus a "choppy" one. Always remember, however, that unless the home 🏡 is your listing, you are not allowed to promote or advertise the property, so a "Public" status on YouTube is a gray area for that. The great thing about YouTube is that you can give the videos a title and a description, which will help you (and your clients) keep track of which house is which and easily re-watch the videos and share the with their friends and family for their opinion. Just to be safe you can also notify the listing agent you will be doing a virtual tour but that it will only be shared privately with your clients. Give your client a heads up that sometimes uploading a video takes a while so there might be some time delay between you shooting the video and you sending the link.
And when you are recording, keep in mind bullet point #2 up top; be thorough. We have added some links 🔗 for our virtual showings so you can get a better idea of what we are talking about! See below links:
5. The rest of the transaction
The rest will be very similar to local clients thanks to online signature platforms 🖋️. It is very important, however, for you to attend inspections to make sure you can communicate with your client more effectively. If your clients will also be closing remotely, communicate that with the title company as soon as possible so they can share remote closing options with your clients. If they are not in town for closing, make sure you are extra thorough with the final walk through and have a plan to keep the keys 🔑 safe until they arrive.
So, there you go! If you follow the above steps and ALWAYS put your clients interests before anything else, you will be incredibly successful when working with remote clients! You will probably perfect your video shooting and sharing skills with any video you do, and you will also have a ton of fun! Better yet, you will give your clients peace of mind by making them feel like they are truly there! Enjoy your virtual adventure 🗺️!
Comments