Harcourts Office innovates virtual tour service to counter lockdown pressures

May 13, 2020 7:11:33 PM

As the Coronvirus pandemic intensifies the need for the economy to get going, real estate remains under pressure across the majority of the market. This has forced many real estate practitioners to develop innovative ways to list their homes and present them to prospective buyers and keep buying activity buoyant.

Our local Harcourts Office in Noordhoek and Fish Hoek, Harcourts Two Oceans, has developed an exciting way to create virtual tours that have already yielded amazing results.

All aspects of the property industry are being tied down by the lockdown levels and despite the Department Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development announcing that the Deeds office will be opening soon, exact dates remain a mystery. Therefore agents and business owners have to make the necessary digital transitions to hold onto market share.

"I knew that buyers would still be interested during this lockdown period, the difficulty was showcasing the property in an exciting and personable manner. Many real estate videos are purely focused on the four walls even though our homes are an integral part of our family and personal dynamics. That is when we started interviewing sellers via Zoom and interactively discussing their home. The seller also then used their mobile phone to capture video and images of the home. We packaged this in a digital video and distributed it on multiple channels. Excitingly the video has generated interest from both buyers and sellers," said Robyn Smith, Harcourts Two Oceans business owner.

Virtual tours have long been a part of the Harcourts offering, but including seller insights and interviews with the agent is a new and exciting concept.


"We have always focused on developing technology and training real estate practices at the highest level. That is why our agents and offices are continually pushing the envelope. It is in our culture. Even though the market might be struggling there is still a lot of value in real estate, and if we as the property specialists can identify that value for our clients, then we have achieved our goals," concluded Harcourts South Africa CEO Richard Gray. 

 

Statement by
Richard Gray
Harcourts South Africa CEO

Topics: Harcourts South Africa, COVID-19, Virtual Tour, Virtual Inspection, Harcourts Two Oceans