James Du Pavey talk about how things have changed for estate agents, house buyers and house sellers in 2020.
2020 has been a strange one and we have all had to get used to a new normal and find new ways to do the things we have always taken for granted. I think we would all generally agree that the use of technology has been vital. How many of us had heard of Zoom before March? Now it’s become commonplace for friends and family of all ages to get together on a Zoom call to catch up and share some time together. Somehow conference calls or phone calls just don’t quite cut it. We feel the need to see someone or something in real-time to connect properly with it.
At James Du Pavey Independent Estate Agents we have always been ahead of the curve in using new and exciting technology to provide fresh and innovative ways to help our clients sell their homes. We have been using the Matterport virtual reality tours for 4 years to allow buyers to walk around properties in a super high resolution and real-feel tour, similar to Google street view and had some good success with it. During this pandemic it has come into its own in ways no one could have foreseen and now all properties which come on the market with us have a Matterport tour created for them as part of their marketing package.
An example of one of these amazing tours (The Coach House, Darlaston Park – £975,000) can be found here https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=2BPMzR3yhaL
Obviously, to reduce the spread of Corona Virus we are all being asked to reduce our in-person interactions as much as possible, I am obliged by the government to ensure that any in-person viewings are only conducted by ‘serious’ buyers, and what better tool than Matterport to ensure this? Anyone who comes to view a property in person will have already had a good look around and seen the layout and interior of the property in all its detail, not just from the clever angles a photographer might choose, and our statistics bear this out.
We have had 12 800 Matterport viewings of our properties conducted online, imagine that exposure to potential buyers! Pre-covid it took an average of 5.6 in-person viewings for a property on our books to sell. In August, with all of our properties having a Matterport tour, this has dropped to 3.4. Meaning on average 2.2 fewer in-person viewings are needed to get an offer. Great for our vendors and good for reducing our in-person interactions. Following an offer, buyers can also use it to take room measurements to check where their furniture will fit, and spot anything that raises a query at their leisure, reducing the need for subsequent viewings.
This is actually something I have experienced personally. I have just sold my family home and Matterport has been absolutely instrumental in the sale. We generated 6 in-person viewings within 4 days, all of which had already viewed the property online. I went to greet the first viewer and as soon as I welcomed him in he said, “We’ve already seen it online and are fairly sure we’re going to like it. We’re really only here to make sure it lives up to what we’ve already seen”! He made an offer within an hour or so and will be moving in shortly!
I am so pleased to be able to offer this incredibly useful technology to my clients as standard, it really does help us all to keep moving whilst staying Covid secure. If you would like to find out more then please contact your local office at www.jamesdupavey.co.uk.
