5 Tips for Real Estate Investors in the Age of COVID-19

5 Tips for Real Estate Investors during COVID-19

The times of COVID-19 have altered the way of life among individuals and businesses alike. The way people used to meet, work and socialize, they can no longer do so. People’s mobility has been compromised due to travel and state restrictions due to which much of the dealings have been forced to take from home settings.

Such a scenario presents a unique and demanding challenge to the real estate industry that runs on individuals and businesses moving about and physically checking out prospective property buys.

So how does the business adapt to changing times? How differently does it function? Here are 5 tips for the real estate investors in the age of COVID-19:

  1.   Create A Strong Online Presence

Taking your business online is something that should be top in your priority order if not already done. Start an online newsletter, schedule a blog post, open a Facebook page for your business, create a LinkedIn profile for your company and showcase the best images and videos of your product on Instagram.

(5 Tips for the Real Estate Investor in the Age of COVID-19. Souce: Unsplash)

Create a content marketing campaign that can help you strategize your advertising and marketing goals with the help of online content. Let it be your website that a homebuyer visits first when checking out inventories online. Be it displaying competitive real estate prices or showcasing the latest architectural designs, take it online. 

  1.   Provide Virtual Tours and Open Houses

With the current social distancing rules it has become apparent that it’s imperative to take the prospective property to the buyer and the only way to do that is through virtual tours and open houses. Take advantage of the latest technology and create video walk-throughs and cover all aspects of staging online.

Before launching a project, give the buyers a sneak-peek video of what benefits lie in store for them. You can hire a professional production team for this or if budget is a constraint, use your smartphone to record videos, go live via Facebook, connect with buyers and answer questions like what are their condo over a townhouse instantly to garner trust and expand word of mouth publicity.

For those who are still going directly to the project, send to them the local guidelines, help them abide by social and hygiene parameters by providing sanitizers, masks and gloves at the venue. Ensure cleanliness at the project site and safety for all in attendance. 

  1.   Establish yourself as leader

Be on the top of your game by providing valuable details like market reports, local trends, design ideas and various buying and selling options for your customers. Seek help from people who’ve benefited from your project to write reviews and testimonials. Create a video-based series online, a vlog or podcast to highlight the advantages of investing in your property.  

  1.   Check in on clients

Make it a habit to enquire the wellbeing of your clientele and speak to them about how they’re doing and if you can offer any help in crisis and not utter a word of real estate in the conversation. You can offer them help sourcing groceries or take them shopping. Reach out to the clients over phone or emails and send them encouraging content during these trying times.

(5 Tips for the Real Estate Investor in the Age of COVID-19. Source: Pixabay)

  1.   Investing in strong markets

During times of the pandemic do you still go by indicators like job growth, population increase and affordability to determine a good real estate market? Or should you be paying more attention to other factors like where will the ‘future jobs’ come from. Places that harbour growth for technology, healthcare, bio-tech, higher education and military sectors, they can become strong markets to invest and launch your next product in.

Explore areas where there were plenty of jobs which may appear again post pandemic. Invest for potential growth in appreciation value and not just cash flow, be mindful of the market trends in the area.

Cater to the different needs of the people. Some may prefer a condo over a townhouse, some may go for an easier long-term pay-out plan, be flexible in your schemes. Go ahead and push out useful information about personal finance, home improvement and renovation techniques so that the customers come back and thank you later.

Continue to train yourself with the best online and social media practices, the more real you appear to the client, the better your chances of a good deal.