How to Buy and Sell Properties Virtually

Here are 3 things you can do right now to set yourself up for buying and selling properties virtually.

At the time of writing this article, nearly everyone on the planet has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Employees have been forced to work from home, companies have gone remote overnight, and social distancing means human contact is more limited than ever.

In the real estate world, that means no in-person meetings or house tours. You might think that would mean everything is going to come to a grinding halt—but that’s not the case!

We’ve been buying and selling properties virtually for years. Sometimes we never even see the house or the seller in person—yet these are deals that are still lucrative, often breaking our average of $75,000 per deal.

As a result of these unprecedented times, we’re doing something a bit different today. We’re going to be covering three things you can do right now to start buying and selling properties virtually so, like us, you can be thriving right now—not just merely surviving.

1. Utilize technology!

This should go without saying, but technology is the number one thing that will allow you to do deals virtually. It might be a bit scary, but if you want to keep your real estate business moving forward, you’ll need to embrace it.

The most important piece of technology you’ll need to navigate virtual deals is a video-conferencing tool like Zoom. In our buying and selling process, there are multiple parts of the process where we would typically meet in person. But nowadays, those appointments can all be done on Zoom.

These meetings work just like they would in person. If we’re meeting a seller, we go through the same process. Here’s an example of how we’d approach a remote meeting with a seller…

“Hey there, do you still have 30 minutes to chat about your property? Could you use your phone and walk through the property for me so I can take a look? After we’re done, do you mind setting aside some time so I can answer your questions and we can move on to the next steps if you’re interested?

That’s it! It’s the same thing—just through a camera.

On the buying side, we recommend investing in someone in your area that does virtual house tours. This will cost some money, but it’s just the cost of doing business these days. The beauty of a virtual tour, though, is that once it’s done you can put it up online and any interested buyer is able to look through the property without any time spent on your part.

Virtual tours are so good these days that it’s truly like being there in person. Really, the only time someone would physically see the house is if they’re ready to sign.

If you don’t have the funds to pay for a virtual tour, you can use the same tactic we mentioned with the seller. You can always virtually walk interested buyers through the house with your phone.

If you can master these few simple methods, you’ll be able to not only stay afloat during these times, but even increase the amount of deals you’re doing. The reality is that many realtors are unable to do house tours right now, so you’ll be one of the few options available for people that need to buy or sell a property.

2. Scripts and rapport are more important now than ever.

Normally, we build rapport with sellers or buyers as we walk through the property and when we first meet them in person. But since you’re going to be handling 99% of your deals over the phone or over zoom in the coming months, your only chance to build rapport will be over the phone.

This is a bit more difficult than in-person, as you can’t get the same personal connection. The key to building rapport will be to internalize your scripts to make sure you’re nailing all of your phone calls and virtual interactions.

If you can not only memorize your scripts, but make them your own and make them feel natural—you’ll be able to build a solid rapport with all of your potential buyers and sellers. It’s probably going to take a few extra phone calls, but that’s okay! After all, you’ll have a lot more time than normal these days.

3. Get your remote team set up.

If you’re just starting out, you might not have a team established yet. But as you progress in real estate, you’ll need to utilize other people to make sure you have all the skill sets you need—and so that you’re not forced to do everything on your own!

Nowadays, it’s important to have a team that you can utilize remotely. You may even want to have some back-ups in place if certain people are unavailable or unable to work due to circumstances like COVID-19.

At a minimum, here are a few people and roles you may want to have in place:

• Someone who does virtual tours
• Someone who does inspections
• A virtual assistant to help with finding and reaching out to leads
• A notary

As you continue to grow your real estate business, you’ll need to add additional roles and people. But the beauty of this is that most of these roles can be filled by subcontractors—meaning you’re only going to pay per job with no commitments.

If you’re looking to set your business up remotely right now, these are the first three things you should be doing. Just take it from us—we’ve been doing virtual deals for the past few years and they’re just as successful as the ones we do in person...even more so now.

Have you done deals remotely? If not, are you going to get your real estate business set up to handle virtual deals?