San Diego Estates Real Estate Broker Jeff Campbell sounds excited and says he was well placed to work from home since his business prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was already about 60% online with digital signatures, electronic documents, and video marketing already well-established practices.
“We’ve had to reinvent the other 40% of our business and that has come down to modifying onsite business: agent inspection, home inspections, appraisals— we’ve had to consolidate those on site visits into one displacement of the homeowner. Now, I arrange one morning or afternoon for the family to take the dog on a long walk, then orchestrate everyone to come in within that three hour period, have all the onsite work done,” Campbell said.
He says it is feasible to compress what usually requires multiple visits into one modified session and if everything goes according to plan, that is the single time a homeowner needs to leave their house to get their property sale completed.
Campbell acknowledged social distancing has challenged the real estate industry, but said there is an abundance of caution being executed to protect consumers.
“Right now, we have six brand new contract forms dealing with COVID that are designed to protect the clients and give them ample notice reiterating the state of affairs that are going on right now, but also asking them if they have any symptoms or if anyone has been in their home has had symptoms. We’re not recklessly pulling them in; there are no open houses right now, there are only virtual open houses,” Campbell said.
Meanwhile, agent Ryan DePrizio of Ryan’s Real Estate said he is taking steps to have homes as ready for sale as possible before they are put on the market at all, ensuring that tasks are completed earlier than they would have been without social distancing in place.
“My listings include professional photos, drone video, video walk thru and matterport (a 3D virtual tour). I am also having termite and home inspections done before going on the market. All this gives buyers all the info they need without having to leave their home,” DePrizio said.
However, California Options Real Estate agent Greg Fox said while it is indeed feasible to complete many practical tasks online, he believes the relationship between agent and consumer is being somewhat sacrificed along the way.
“Many agents weren’t set up to be tech gurus, we built our business on relationships and this is a challenge. I’m the type of agent who is more for the type of seller who wants someone to walk them through every part of the sale. I like the service end, I like connecting with clients and that isn’t completely possible right now,” Fox said.
He also said that with so much about the industry shifting online, it might just permanently change how agents do business, possibly with some gravitating toward virtual caravans and as-yet unseen properties that have not yet hit the market.
“It definitely creates some challenges for our industry and how we handle our business… open houses and virtual caravans (networking meetings with home services like pest control companies) have moved online so you’re still putting your property out there for other agents to see but it is with virtual photos and you talking about your property, like a Zoom meeting with agents pitching properties that are new to the market. You’re going to see agents gravitating toward these online meetings to check if there is anything their clients are looking for, including properties that are just coming to the market,” Fox said.
DePrizio said the market itself is changing as well as social distancing affects employment.
“I’ve had a couple sellers decide to hold off on listing their homes. I’ve also had a handful buyers put their search on hold as they’re concerned with the unknown of when they will be able to go back to work or open their businesses,” DePrizio said.
Acknowledging there is increased vulnerability right now, Campbell is assembling anti-fraud information related to the real estate market.
“One of the things that my business is doing is putting together an anti-fraud campaign. We had a meeting last night where we drafted ten tips to avoid mortgage payment fraud which is so important because some people out there right now are vulnerable, their jobs are iffy and we want to make sure they don’t fall for some of this bologna. We compiled tips from the Federal Communications Commission and others into one list that is going to be on our website. We’re not collecting information or anything like that, we just think it is important information,” Campbell said.
He added: “It compels us to streamline, and I think that could be said by so many businesses right now.”
Fox asked members of the community to be patient with each other as the industry embraces doing business online.