Articles Tagged "Virtual Open Houses"

The days when buyers needed to set foot in a house to fall in love with it are long gone, thanks to all of the online resources now available to shop for homes. Many buyers spend countless hours browsing listings, analyzing photos, taking virtual tours, and finding reasons to fall in love before they even consider going to an open house or showing. Are you doing everything that you can to inspire confidence in buyers who discover properties on your website?

Properly showcasing your properties online is an essential step in generating interest, inspiring action, and standing out from the competition. Here's how to make your properties shine on your website and help modern buyers fall in love with your listings.

Start with Great Listing Photos

While buyers spend significant time checking listings specs, descriptions, and agent comments, there's no doubt that they focus on listing photos above all else. Professional, high-quality listing photos are one of the most reliable ingredients for generating interest in properties online, so it's critical to have a real estate photographer you can count on to make properties look their best.

There are a few key factors to remember for producing great listing photos. Ideally, the home will be staged in advance in order to highlight its best features. Every photo should be well-lit, and everything in the image should be clearly visible. Of course, you also want to make each room look as large as possible. These are just a few of the many factors that a professional photographer will consider when presenting a home in its best light.

Be Descriptive and Take Advantage of SEO

You want buyers to be able to easily find your properties when they're searching for homes in your markets and be able to learn as much as possible about the property when they arrive. Taking advantage of real estate SEO by conducting keyword research and integrating the right keywords will help your properties stand out from the crowd online.

The listing description is your opportunity to use creative content to highlight anything that's not captured in listing photos and go in-depth on the features that appeal to buyers the most. Sending a draft of the listing description to the seller before you publish is a great idea because they can point out any features that you might have missed. Lastly, make sure that your listing title is catchy, captivating, and highlights the best features of the home.

Showcase Features that Make the Home Special

When describing a listing on your real estate website, try to capture all of the things that make the home unique. If the kitchen is loaded with high-end appliances, include the brand names. If there's a beautiful breakfast nook, a great place to enjoy a morning coffee with a view, or a well-equipped outdoor living/entertaining space, describe it in detail. When a buyer is considering two similar homes, these features can make all the difference in their decision.

Never Forget that Location Matters

For the overwhelming majority of buyers, location is a critical factor in choosing a home. So if you want to make your properties shine, it's worth pointing out all of the perks of where the home is located. Is it a walkable neighborhood with great parks and restaurants? Is the home located in an excellent school district, with ample attractions for families to enjoy? Just as with the home itself, you want to point out all of the things that make the neighborhood special.

Share Your Listings in All of the Right Places

SEO isn't the only tool for helping buyers find your properties. If you've been keeping up with your social media marketing, then you already have a built-in audience on the biggest social platforms. Make sure that you're sharing your best listings on any social platform where you've built up a presence.

Enhance the Online Shopping Experience with Virtual Tours, Showings, and Open Houses

Not every buyer who's interested in a home will be able to drop everything and come visit it in person. Virtual tours are great for helping buyers fall in love with homes, while tools like virtual open houses and showings can help encourage buyers to take the next step by making an offer or traveling to visit the home in person.

The Bottom Line for Making Your Properties Shine

There's no one magic tool or solution to guarantee that properties shine on your website. Instead, it's a combination of all of the little things that you do to present a property in its best light. Start with great listing photos, captivating descriptions, and a focus on all of the things that make the home/neighborhood special. Mix in the right promotional strategies, and you have the recipe for generating maximum interest in your properties online.

If you're in real estate, you can't do without a real estate website.

Millennials are aging into homeownership, and Generation Z is starting far earlier than analysts guessed. With the numbers of younger buyers (and first-time sellers) surging, it's crucial to be where they are.

And "where they are" is overwhelmingly online. The vast majority of first-time buyers 40 and younger go online to start their home search. They check out dozens or even hundreds of properties before looking at local real estate agents. And they research those agents in detail before reaching out to just a few.

In fact, the greatest predictor of whether or not you'll be able to welcome a new customer is whether they choose to reach out to you before anyone else. While many would-be customers write a short list of local agents, they often end up going with the very first person they interview.

What does it all mean?

You can only succeed if you:

• Address prospective customers where they are in the process
• "Meet" them as early as possible, before they ever reach out

It's not an exaggeration to say that digital marketing is the only way to do that. And for digital marketing techniques to work, you need something that ties them all together. That "something" is your website, a reflection of your brand that represents you across the internet.

An effective website is an absolute must-have for real estate agents and brokers at any career stage. Done right, your website draws leads to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no matter if you're awake or asleep. That means proportionately less time spent chasing business down.

And that's a crucial shift.

Just about everyone in real estate spends the first year learning the ropes and, yes, chasing down leads. But staying in that mode is a recipe for burnout. Because your website is always working for you, it's the very foundation of developing a practice that offers you a healthy work-life balance.

But not everyone is getting all the value they could from their website.

In any industry, the majority of businesses aren't making a dent with their website. It's not getting any traffic, and so it's not converting traffic into leads. This is a disappointing situation, especially for those entrepreneurs who spend lots of time on social media with nothing to show for it.

So, how can you avoid the same fate – and reap all the benefits a website can offer?

Seven "Must Have" Features for Your Real Estate Website

• A Real Estate Blog
  First and foremost, a real estate website with real value needs a blog. By posting helpful, informative content on subjects of interest to customers, you position yourself as a trusted expert. Vitally, every blog has the potential to raise your search engine visibility and grow your monthly traffic.
  
  
• A Video Introduction
  Video is the next best thing to being there, and it's particularly powerful in real estate. Video helps you to craft a human connection, showing people exactly what they can expect from you. You might discuss why you chose real estate, your personal style, your local market, and what customers can expect.
  
  
• Current Listings
  A website gives your listings a true online home. You can display your listings directly from your MLS on your website. This makes them more personal and accessible. At the same time, having them there is a gateway to lots of useful and interesting data on which listings appeal most to your website visitors.
  
  
• Social Media Integration
  Since social media is always moving, it imparts a sense of life and vitality to your website. Real estate is the industry with the best chance of converting social followers into bottom-line business. Many agents use Facebook and Instagram, which attract new customers while deepening existing relationships.
  
  
• Email Marketing Sign-Up
  The majority of people will not be ready to do business with you when they see your website for the first time. But if they leave your website without interacting, you're not likely to see them again. By trading something like a local market report in exchange for an email sign-up, you can stay in touch.
  
  
• Open Houses and Other Events
  Whether it's a virtual tour or a traditional open house, more people are signing up for events. Your website should be the first place they look to see what's going on now and next. Collect registration data directly on your website, and following up will be a snap.
  
  
• A Modern Design
  To be trustworthy, a website needs to "look and feel" right. In real estate, that means a website that's fast, responsive, and easy to navigate on smartphones. It's also crucial to use the latest security features.

Contact us to learn more about putting your website to work for you.

Quick — what's the most powerful form of marketing for real estate agents?

These days, the first thing that comes to mind might be something like social media. And it's true that of all the professionals active on Instagram, Facebook, and the rest, real estate pros have the best shot at transforming all that time spent scrolling their feed into real business value.

Next, you might think of email marketing. And it is the best in at least one way: Experts estimate it has the highest ROI of any digital marketing technique. After all, it only costs a few cents to send emails all month long. And each one could help you close a transaction valued at $50,000 or more.

But neither of these is the best option.

In fact, there isn't one.

Over the last few years, digital marketing has made a big impact on the world of real estate. Millennials are stepping up as the biggest group of homebuyers, and Generation Z is just one step behind them. In both cases, these younger buyers look to the internet when it's time to launch a home search.

It's crucial to be where they are since they might be deep into that search before they reach out to local real estate agents. But, despite all of the techniques that can reach your audience, there isn't a surefire approach that definitely will. It's crucial to have a variety of methods at your disposal.

"Doing It All" Versus Doing a Few Things Well

Whether online or off, effective real estate marketing helps you do two things:

• Build and deepen relationships with prospective customers before they contact you directly
• Turn those prospects into leads who are engaged with your brand and prepared to call you

Both these functions are crucial to growing your real estate practice. Buyers of any age or background can take weeks or even months before they decide to enter the market – with marketing, you can be sure they're on your radar. As you communicate with them, they're more likely to choose you.

Likewise, you can motivate and inspire prospects to become leads who are ready to take action. Yes, you can't get someone to buy a house when they aren't ready, but you don't have to. Education is the key — as a real estate expert, you can highlight when it might be the right time for them to make their move.

The question then becomes, "How do you do it?"

There are dozens of different marketing tactics that can help your business grow. The challenge is to apply a variety of skills but practice them consistently. Inconsistent marketing usually fails to make a difference. At the same time, it leads to frustration and disappointment.

Getting reliable ROI from marketing also has a few easily identified planks:

• Choosing an approach you can make part of your routine, hone, refine, and improve over time
• Using digital marketing automation technology to save time and accelerate the value you'll get
• Once automation is working, moving on to and setting up another digital marketing technique

An AI-driven center of excellence for marketing is the secret behind some of today's fastest-growing real estate agencies and brokerages. Using an all-in-one real estate solution like DeltaNET®6, you can ensure that you are in constant contact with leads through a full range of digital channels — while spending minutes a week.

What should your marketing toolbox look like?

These are some of the most potent marketing moves around:

• Social Media
  Facebook and Instagram are second to none when it comes to getting the word out about your listings. Many people surf "aspirational" properties on Instagram because its visual nature is ideal for real estate photos. LinkedIn can be an effective way to connect with motivated luxury buyers.
  
  
• Email Marketing
  Email marketing helps you share your expertise and position yourself as a trusted expert who'll be there when your subscribers need you. Beyond listings, agents should also publish articles that answer burning questions and help solve problems your ideal customers are having on their real estate journey.
  
  
• Open Houses
  Face-to-face open houses are becoming popular again. At the same time, digital tours aren't going away — used correctly, they can attract would-be buyers from a much larger radius. Brush up on your staging skills and make sure both forms of open house are in your marketing quiver.
  
  
• Real Estate Website
  Your real estate website is where it all begins, tying your digital brand together. A good website is fast, easy to navigate, and provides visitors with useful information. The more blogs, videos, and other content you share on your site, the more likely you are to appear in relevant online searches.

Contact us to learn more about marketing automation for real estate professionals and teams.

The real estate industry is always innovating, and new technology often alters the way that agents serve clients. Today's real estate clients are typically much better informed than they would have been in years past, but that doesn't change the fact that they still rely heavily on their agent throughout the process. So while your role may have changed due to technology, that same technology also holds the key to putting people first and generating a steady pipeline of referrals from satisfied clients.

Putting people first starts with providing easy access to the information they need to make informed decisions when they're buying or selling a home. This is one of the key ways that the role of an agent has evolved due to technology. In the past, the agent was the primary, direct source of information for clients. Today, you can provide much of that data through your real estate website and other online resources, which frees up more time to put your clients first in other ways.

• Listings Search Integration
  Thankfully, the days of an agent having to dig through paperwork to find listing specs for clients are long gone... as long as you make it easy for them to search for listings through your real estate website. By making this information easily available, life is made easier for both agents and clients.
  
  
• Informative Real Estate Content
  The real estate content on your website is another key ingredient in the recipe for building trust and keeping your clients informed. This is where you go beyond the information contained in listings to dive deep into the cities and neighborhoods where you do business. Your content is also a great place to provide detailed real estate advice that's always available on your website when clients need it.
  
  
• Newsletters and Market Analysis
  Beyond your website, email drip campaigns and AI-driven newsletters are reliable ways to provide the information that clients want at just the right moment in their journey. Auto-generated reports, like My HomeFinder, Market Watch, and Seller Reports, make it easy to keep clients up to date on the markets that matter to them.
  
  
• Virtual Open Houses and Showings
  While they grew in popularity during the peak of the pandemic, it's safe to say that virtual open houses and showings are here to stay. These valuable tools put people first by allowing them to tour homes in detail from the comfort of their favorite device, no matter where they're currently located. Reducing the need for in-person tours and providing a convenient, powerful way to market homes makes this technology just as beneficial from the perspective of the seller.

Leverage Technology to Be Responsive and Share Your Expertise

Providing all of that data, information and market analysis, up front leads to more informed clients, but that doesn't mean that they won't still rely on your expertise. Technology also makes it much easier to communicate with modern real estate clients who expect speed and responsiveness from their agents. Whether you're communicating through SMS text messaging, instant messaging apps, social media, email, or video calls, being available to clients is still a key part of the job description. Clients have questions, you have answers, and technology makes it easier to handle those communications in a quick, convenient manner.

Technology Unlocks Time to Be the Trusted Advisor Your Clients Need

While technology has changed the real estate industry, it doesn't change the fact that buying or selling a home is a monumental, potentially life-changing experience for your clients. They don't just want an agent who will provide them with the facts and then get out of the way. They want someone who understands where they're coming from, values their time, and advocates for them at every step of the process.

By taking advantage of the time-saving benefits of real estate technology, you have more time to be the trusted advisor that clients need in order to buy or sell a home with full confidence that they're making informed choices. They count on you to help them negotiate, navigate the closing process, and handle the key details from the start of the process to the day that they sign the paperwork. Technology makes it easier to focus on providing the best possible experience for your clients, and that's truly what it means to put people first.

Does Your Real Estate Tech Make It Easy to Put People First?

If you're still devoting too much time to tedious tasks that could easily be handled by the latest real estate technology, there's a better way. DeltaNET®6, our all-in-one real estate solution, puts at your fingertips all of the tools you need so you can put people first. Make life easier for everyone by choosing the best real estate tech for the job.

Artificial intelligence is no longer just a sci-fi fantasy, a dream of data scientists, or a catchy buzzword. The technology for AI has developed so much in recent years that it's quickly making an impact on — and potentially reshaping — nearly every major industry. Real estate is certainly no exception, with AI already making its presence felt in both subtle and obvious ways.

Does that mean that agents will soon be largely replaced by AI, with little work left for humans to do? Fortunately, you can take a deep breath, exhale, and know that your job is not in danger from AI. The truth is that AI in real estate can save you tremendous time on monotonous, repetitive tasks, allowing you to spend more of your working hours on the things that matter most.

Let's start with the basics. When we talk about AI in the present day, we're not talking about an all-seeing, all-knowing computer like you've seen in movies or read about in novels. Today's AI is designed to handle specific tasks in a fast, reliable, consistent way. Here are some of the ways that AI can lighten your workload on repetitive tasks and create more time for you to serve your clients:

• Keeping Clients Informed
  One of the ways that we're already using AI in DeltaNET®6 is to help you keep clients and prospects informed. With AI-driven email and print newsletters, you can easily keep your audience up to date on the topics that matter most to them. Create valuable, informative content and ensure that it always reaches the right person at the right time, without taking time out of your busy day.
  
  
• Quickly, Conveniently Find the Documents You Need
  What real estate agent enjoys digging through court records and spending hours searching for relevant documents? If you're the one agent out there who enjoys that process, we're sorry to break the bad news. AI can now help you search through millions of documents in a matter of moments, saving time for both you and your clients.
  
  
• Creating Better Virtual Open Houses, Showings, and Tours
  Digital tools like virtual open houses and showings, as well as virtual tours, have dramatically increased in popularity over the last few years. AI is partly to thank for this valuable real estate tech, which allows buyers to make informed decisions more quickly and creates new, powerful ways for sellers to market homes.
  
  
• Identifying Homes Ready to Sell and Pricing Them More Accurately
  Wouldn't it be nice to know with confidence which homes in your market are most likely to sell in the next year? AI can help you do just that, by analyzing market factors as well as factors unique to each specific home. In addition to helping you identify opportunities to win new listings, AI can also help you finish the job by pricing the home more accurately.
  
  
• Segmenting Leads and Reaching the Right Prospect at the Right Time
  AI excels at sorting through vast amounts of data quickly and reaching accurate, dependable conclusions much faster than we humans. Sounds like a useful skill for sorting through all of your leads, right? With the help of AI, you can more easily identify which leads are ready to pursue right now, which ones need nurturing, and which ones can be put on the back burner. Less time spent segmenting leads means more time to pursue the leads that are ready for action right now.

How Will You Invest the Time Saved by AI?

The examples above are just a few of the ways that AI can make life easier for real estate agents and dramatically speed up tasks that once took up far too much time. That means less work on the tasks that you probably didn't want to be doing anyway, but not less work overall.

Ultimately, the promise of AI in real estate is that you'll have more time to focus on the work that really matters. Think about every day that you've wished that there were just a few more hours to get done everything you needed to do. AI helps make that dream a reality without compromising on productivity or sacrificing your free time. All you have to decide is how to invest those hours that once went to tasks that can now be handled by AI.

The Future Is Bright for AI in Real Estate

One of the exciting things about AI is that despite the significant progress that's been made, we're still only scratching the surface of what the technology can do. The future is bright for AI integration in real estate, and we'll be sure to continue bringing you the best, most modern tech to help you thrive as a real estate agent.

It was only a few decades ago when many experts believed that, due to the rapidly accelerating pace of productivity, technology would render the five-day workweek obsolete in a few generations. There were several visions of how it might happen, including a three-hour, four-day week.

Amazingly, while productivity has continued to rise, most people are working even longer hours. What's more, wages have stagnated in relation to productivity, meaning that earners in many industries are going home with less. Luckily, real estate pros are positioned to reverse both these trends.

Unlike so many others, the nature of your business means you really can have it all:

• Vastly accelerated daily productivity by using technology the right way
• Business results that mean your income actually track with productivity

Where workers once relied on muscle, your stock in trade is concentration — and even that can be stretched to the limit. Good technology investment is something that allows you to do more in less time while focusing more of your attention on things that matter to you.

All machines have one major purpose: To save labor. That hasn't changed at all even though we're now using artificial intelligence and machine learning instead of windmills that grind flour. And by unlocking the labor-saving power of modern technology, you can achieve more in a day than some do in a week.

Let's look at some of the best technologies for a smooth, seamless increase in productivity:

• Customer Relationship Management for Real Estate
  Most real estate agents spend the majority of their time building or evaluating their relationships. It can be both difficult and time-consuming to know where all your prospects, leads, and customers stand in their individual journeys. A real estate CRM like DeltaNET®6 gives you complete visibility into all of your contacts. It also uses artificial intelligence to cue you on the best times and ways to follow up.
  
  
• Centralized Online Showing Management
  While many buyers and sellers are enthusiastic about virtual tours, face-to-face showings are still called for in many markets. A property showing management platform can make all the difference in convenience, flexibility, and accuracy. Combining end-to-end visibility with a self-service element that gives buyers a measure of control means you can leave much of the logistical work to them.
  
  
• Social Media Automation
  Some people seem to be born with the "social media gene," while others — even some of the most outgoing and gregarious real estate experts — don't seem to get it. Wherever you fall on the scale, social media automation can help you capture more business value while spending less time scrolling your feed. Event-driven updates on your listings can be sent to your followers instantly.
  
  
• Simplified Virtual Tour Setup for All Your Listings
  Virtual tours are beloved by just about everyone. Sellers no longer need to invite huge crowds into their homes, and buyers can extend their search radius while minimizing their travel hours. Tours can increase the time buyers spend on listings by 20% or more. However, it can be tough to set up a polished, professional virtual tour. Properties in Motion makes it easy to maximize the impact of every listing.
  
  
• Email Marketing to Build Your Business
  Your email subscriber list is one of the most powerful assets your business has. It gives you the ability to highlight and publicize your most valuable listings to your most enthusiastic audience. But, to get there, you need to be building that list. Automated email marketing is the key to ensuring that every message you send is packed with relevant, valuable content that deepens the relationship.
  
  
• Manage and Optimize Paid Advertising in Minutes
  Whether you're looking at pay-per-click advertising on Google or paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram, it's essential to be conscientious. Carefully maintained ads can accelerate your transactions, but all the pieces must be in place. Delta Media Group tools such as Ad Wizard make it easy to monitor your ads, ensure results, and fine-tune any that underperform.

The secrets of productivity are no mystery. Contact us at Delta Media Group to get inside information on how our suite of reliable, AI-driven tools can help you achieve more in less time in the coming year.

Virtual tours took center stage in 2021 when agents from coast to coast needed to find new, more effective ways to protect their clients. But even as restrictions on travel and gathering draw to an end, they are still in high demand.

Virtual tours are convenient for buyers and sellers alike. Sellers no longer need to worry about inviting large groups of people into a home that's still occupied. Buyers have the opportunity to greatly expand the radius of their search without doing a lot of extra travel as a result.

Virtual tours were already starting to take hold prior to the pandemic, but they skyrocketed more than 750% in the month after shelter in place orders were enacted across the United States. Since then, they have seen steady adoption at agencies and brokerages of all sizes.

Now, virtual tours have been a regular part of doing business for more than a year. Time has taught the industry a lot. Homes with virtual tours get substantially more engagement than those without. In fact, visitors spend up to 10x more time on listings with virtual tours than those without.

What's more:

• Property listings with virtual tours get clicked 40% more than listings with only still photos
• 75% of all prospects asked said that they preferred virtual tours as a decision-making tool

But virtual tours can have a steep learning curve for agents.

How can you use them to the best advantage in your listings?

Six Ways to Make a Virtual Tour Easier and More Effective than Ever Before

It seems like there are new tech skills for agents to tackle every day — and let's face it, few people came to this industry from a past career as a videographer. But you can get a strong start with virtual tours by keeping a few simple ideas in mind. Even if you're already using virtual tours with some success, you can continue to improve by making sure the right fundamentals are in place.

Here's how:

• Start With a Plan in Mind
  Every home is different, and it's up to your virtual tour to help you tell the story in the best way possible. This becomes easier with a little forethought. Walk through the house and put together a shortlist of all the features you want to highlight. Use your list to give yourself a miniature outline of how the virtual tour will work, letting you know precisely which elements to showcase in each room.
  
  
• Prepare the Space Before You Begin
  Staging is just as crucial for a virtual tour as it is for an in-person showing. Make sure the rooms have been decluttered, including large furniture that could get in the way. Coordinate with your seller to ensure lawn work is taken care of and political signs are removed from the yard. Open curtains and shades on all the windows, and be sure to time your recording to benefit from natural light.
  
  
• Find the Best Tools for the Job
  Using your smartphone for video is fine for social media, but a virtual tour should be more polished. The higher quality your video is, the better it will perform. Experiment with your options, including setting up a professional camera on a tripod or carrying one through the rooms with you. When it comes to aerial photography, it's often best to hire the services of an experienced drone photographer.
  
  
• Help Your Virtual Tour Shine with Editing
  When they're still getting used to the process, most real estate agents record their virtual tours rather than streaming them live. If this describes you, you have the added bonus of being able to bring your tour to the next level with editing. This is ideal for cutting out any instances where you repeated yourself. It also gives you creative control over options like intro music and branding.
  
  
• Use the Right Software
  Real estate virtual tour software like Properties in Motion can vastly accelerate the process of getting comfortable with virtual tours. Properties in Motion simplifies the matter by making it easier to create high-quality, branded videos complete with voice-over. It automatically pulls all needed details from the MLS, feeds videos to Facebook and your website, and makes it easy to track lead activity.
  
  
• Implement Automation Elsewhere in Your Practice
  As with everything in real estate, virtual tours become easier when you have the right processes. If you find yourself spending a lot of time crafting the perfect virtual tour, don't beat yourself up over it: Lean into the learning experience. By implementing an all-in-one real estate solution like DeltaNET®6, you can introduce reliable, AI-driven automation to other parts of your business so you can spend more time where it is needed.

Contact us at Delta Media Group to discover just how easy good virtual tours can be.

As the pandemic spread, few industries changed as quickly or as completely as real estate. In many areas, public safety protocols meant real estate was effectively on pause for several weeks. During that time, agents and brokers all over the country worked around the clock to figure out safe and effective ways to continue serving clients. Never before had there been so much risk.

And those professionals rose to the occasion. Real estate transactions have continued at a brisk pace, giving buyers the chance to access historically low interest rates. At the same time, sellers have benefited from rising home prices in some of the most desirable markets. Now, at last, there are optimistic signs of coming out the other end of the pandemic. But things won't simply go back to the way they were.

Many of the real estate trends accelerated by the pandemic were already percolating in the background. Virtual home tours and showings, remote work, marketing automation, and more have gained traction faster than anyone predicted. The benefits of these fresh approaches remain very attractive. Real estate experts often thrive on face-to-face interactions. It will be a relief to see clients in person more frequently. But the top pandemic trends have unlocked ways to get more done and serve more people — all without having to sacrifice the personal touch that makes relationships work.

Let's look at some game-changing real estate trends that have staying power:

• Virtual Home Tours and Showings Are More Convenient for Everyone
  Virtual home tours arose out of the need to show property without gathering large groups of people together. But buyers have enjoyed the chance to peruse more properties with less travel — it allows them to widen their search. Sellers, in turn, don't mind not having to clean up after waves of guests. More agents are now comfortable on camera at a time when video marketing is becoming crucial to marketing success.
  
  
• Remote Work is Helping Real Estate Teams Collaborate Effectively
  A striking 4.7 million people were already working remotely when the pandemic began. Working from home leads to lower overhead costs and can spark higher productivity: team members may no longer need to worry about paying thousands of dollars and wasting hundreds of hours in commutes. Yes, remote work is an adjustment and requires trust. With high-speed internet widely available, though, it is perhaps the best time for this trend to thrive.
  
  
• Marketing Automation Means Real Estate Brands Stay in Touch
  How do real estate brands keep relationships going strong when a personal visit is out of the question? Today's internet enables marketing tools with incredible reach and sophistication. Agents can monitor all of their contacts with Delta Media Group's all-in-one solution for real estate professionals and launch personalized email drip campaigns at the touch of a button. Email newsletters, social media, open house management, and more can be achieved in minutes rather than hours.
  
  
• Millennial Homebuyers Are Moving to Cities in Droves
  A mass exodus from expensive states like New York and California led some market-watchers to predict hot urban markets would soon be cooling down. That's not quite the case, further research reveals millennials are still choosing cities. Attractive interest rates, robust housing inventory, and low down payments are some of the main contributors to urban appeal. More than a third of Millennials still say cities are in their near future.
  
  
• At the Same Time, Older Buyers Are Opting for Suburbs
  While younger buyers embrace the uncertainty of a fast-changing world, their elders are keeping more options on the table. Some have decided to move away from densely populated urban centers. Others are taking the opportunity to downsize or to consolidate into multi-generational households. Creative real estate pros will have diverse opportunities with older buyers in the coming years.
  
  
• Now More Than Ever, Agents Need a Professional Real Estate Website
  As time goes on, buyers of all age categories become more likely to start their home search online. In 2018, 44% of all home buyers went online to start their home search. In total, 98% of older Millennials used the internet for home buying. Photography, detailed property information, floor plans, and virtual tours were among the top features they cited as useful. Real estate website design is now inseparable from your professional brand.

Real Estate Is Undergoing a Digital Revolution: The Right Technologies Are Essential to Success

The pandemic has been a challenging time for everyone. It will pass, but the lessons learned will endure.

Today's most effective real estate agents are using technology to adapt, overcome challenges, and add value to their communities. Modern real estate technology is the key to building a practice that lets you deliver sterling customer care while making space for the work-life balance you want in the long term.

To learn more from the real estate digital marketing experts, contact Delta Media Group today.

Vaccination is underway, but virtual tours are definitely here to stay. It may be months before travel restrictions and social distancing rules are relaxed throughout the United States, and in that time, virtual home tours are continuing to gain traction. Although they started as a safety precaution, buyers and sellers alike are realizing the benefits.

Open houses have long been among the most effective ways to show off any home. They generate excitement and provide opportunities to meet qualified buyers. Virtual open houses have the potential to be just as effective. Plus, they have some advantages all their own:

• Since it means no travel, more people can attend a virtual open house.
• Sellers can hold more open house events without disrupting their lives.
• In many cases, attendees can go back and review open house footage.
• Buyers from out of town or out of state can be included more easily.
• Participants can ask questions and zoom in on key home features.

Agents Open the Door to Success When They Master Virtual Open Houses

The virtual open house has been an unexpected hit with agents, too.

Giving a virtual tour draws on the skills you already have, but it also calls on you to grow and stretch. More agents are getting comfortable both in front of and behind the camera. This, in turn, equips them with more fluency in video marketing, one of the most powerful methods for promoting any practice.

While there are a few different ways to set up a virtual open house, live streaming video has become more popular than video filmed ahead of time. While static video offers more control and a strong environment for practice, live streaming video is the gold standard thanks to its interactivity and personal touch.

But how can you overcome the learning curve quickly? Use these tips to get it done the right way:

• Get Familiar with Your Hardware and Software
  You don't need a fancy camera to give a great virtual open house. However, you should know exactly how it works and how to get the most from it. Get plenty of practice with your camera and streaming software before you plan your first event. Properties in Motion is an all-in-one solution you can use with confidence.
  
  
• Stage the Home Before Your Tour Begins
  Yes, most of your favorite home staging techniques still apply. It's crucial to de-clutter, but no fresh-baked cookies are necessary! When staging, be sure lighting conditions in each room are ideal for your camera. This may sometimes mean bucking old wisdom — use a little less natural light to reduce glare.
  
  
• Experiment with Tripods
  While many real estate agents are comfortable carrying their phone, tablet, or video recorder from room to room, some feel that this provides an unsteady and incomplete picture. Try using a tripod to stabilize panoramic shots of each room. You can carry a lightweight one or set up inexpensive tripods in each room.
  
  
• Promote Your Virtual Open House Early
  Virtual events can feel less urgent than in-person ones. With that in mind, you want to leverage every tool at your disposal to begin promoting early. Start with the local MLS, but don't stop there. DeltaNET customers can automate email messages and target social media updates to prospective event attendees.
  
  
• Make Time for Your Tour
  You should schedule at least as much time for your virtual open house as you would for a face-to-face event. Pencil in additional time to tour each room. Leave ample time to answer questions both during and after the tour, too. These conversations are crucial for building buyer enthusiasm.
  
  
• Use Your Tour Footage for Video Marketing
  Not everyone interested in a property necessarily has the time to go to your event. That's fine: through the magic of video editing and platforms like YouTube, you can make it all available to them. Use your DeltaNET real estate CRM to quickly send out a post-event email linking interested subscribers to the videos.
  
  
• Follow Up With Your Attendees
  While your no-shows review your video and get up to speed, be sure you reach out to those who had a chance to tune in live. Delta Media Group's Open House Connector is the best way to capture, centralize, and act on participant information. Find out what they loved about the home and keep the conversation going!
  
  
• Remember: You Are the Co-Star
  The home may be the star in your virtual open house, but you are the co-star. It may take a few tries before you are comfortable, but always strive to bring all of yourself to the presentation. Whether it's your winning sense of humor or your unbeatable market expertise, build relationships by bringing your unique energy.

Contact us to learn more about virtual open house success from the real estate marketing experts.

When the coronavirus hit, real estate faced a turning point.

The pandemic creates challenges for everyone––none of them being particularly easy. In the real estate industry, old ways of doing business became outdated overnight. Just consider the average day: Until March, sales associates spent hours on face-to-face contact. A home showing was the centerpiece of most transactions.

In those first weeks of shelter-in-place, millions of real estate experts came together to find new ways of doing things, knowing their professional community depended on it. Virtual showings and open houses are emblematic of that effort. They've become some of the most popular real estate marketing tools.

Let's take a closer look at virtual showings and open houses and how this technology shapes the future of the real estate industry

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Virtual open houses have become the norm in real estate markets across the country, allowing clients to practice social distancing while still marketing their property or shopping for their next home. As communities reopen, many clients prefer the safety, security, and convenience of virtual open houses. As all top-performing REALTORS® know, adapting to an ever-changing industry is key to a successful career in real estate. So now is the time to make sure that you're bringing your "A" game with virtual open houses, and we've got some tips to help you do just that.

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Use Video Marketing to Grow Your Real Estate Business

I'm going to level with you. I hate supporting third party software--I really do.

I don't work for Facebook or YouTube. I barely have a Facebook account. When it came to making guides to set up live streams and uploading videos to YouTube and Facebook, I knew they were necessary, but I was going to be in for a rough time. After all, the most challenging part here is going to be the technical side of things, right?.

Well, as it turns out, not so much. Many of you already had some expertise there. When COVID-19 made words and phrases like "quarantine," "stay-at-home order," and "essential businesses" part of our daily vocabulary, you took the creation and uploading of video in stride. These days, the questions we get aren't about the actual act of getting these videos recorded and posted, but rather, what kind of content should be in them and what the difference is between the different types of videos you can make to market your listing and yourself. I'm hoping I can shed some light on that and maybe simplify your life in doing so.

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With the coronavirus pandemic hitting its stride this spring selling year, it comes as no surprise the real estate industry has seen an enormous spike in demand for virtual home showings—some in the triple digits. 

Sales associates with a mindset of adapting to change and adopting new technologies—like virtual open houses and showings—are paving their ways to future success.

Shelter-in-place orders and social distancing haven't necessarily lessened the interest of would-be buyers to shop for a home or sellers wanting to keep the ball rolling toward the sale of their homes. 

Consequently, sales associates embracing today's real estate market are incorporating virtual open houses to keep their businesses growing and provide more modern service to their clients.

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Scott Hannaman of Coldwell Banker Bain Offers Valuable Insights Into How To Run Successful Virtual Showings & Open Houses

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As a real estate professional, staying ahead of the curve and discovering new ways to make your business profitable is the secret to success.

Adopting modern real estate technology is essential to keep your business moving forward when life's challenges get in the way.

While COVID-19 has changed the real estate industry, it has not brought it to a screeching halt. Using technology and marketing, your sellers can show their property to buyers without them physically entering the home using Virtual Open Houses.

Previously, sales associates used Virtual Open Houses as an online marketing tool. Today, virtual open houses posted to social media sites like Facebook and Youtube are the sweetheart of the real estate industry for targeting the needs of sellers, buyers, and you.

Do You Want to Use Virtual Open Houses for Your Business?

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Working from home as a sales associate presents its share of unique challenges, but as an industry, real estate has quickly found ways to adjust to this new normal. We're seeing more associates than ever embracing the marketing tools in DeltaNET 6 while relying on our CRM to coordinate business from home. Real estate technology has become more critical than ever, and embracing technology is the key to keeping business running as smoothly as possible during these unusual times. Get started with our guide to generating leads with real estate technology while working from home.

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Video marketing has become a more vital tool for real estate sales associates than ever before, as the coronavirus disrupts how the real estate industry normally does business. But speaking on camera can also be intimidating, especially if you haven't done it before. Nobody handles video marketing flawlessly the first time they try, and that's okay! With the right tips and a bit of practice, your intelligence, integrity, and honesty will shine through for your audience to see.

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We live in a different world, but that has not stopped buyers and sellers from wanting to engage with the real estate market. The economic realities of the COVID-19 crisis are giving some sellers reason to close the deal, and many buyers see "shelter in place" orders as motivation to find a home that they truly love. While coronavirus precautions have made it impossible to conduct business in the traditional way in many markets, innovative sales associates are pivoting to virtual showings and open houses to keep business moving.

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After conducting a few webinars over the past week and getting feedback from our wonderful attendees, we recognize some of you are intimidated, so we are showing how easy this is and providing useful tips on how to create Virtual Open House Videos, including recommended iPhone and Android settings.

On this webinar, we will take you step by step on how to create a video from your iPhone or Android and upload it to Facebook Premieres. Whether you are a broker or an agent, this is a must-watch webinar! 

• For iPhone Users:  Tuesday, April 7, 2020, at 2:00 PM EST - Hosted by Mike Minard
  
  • iPhone Users Register Here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZBC_ocCoR6K37M85Avo2FA
    
    
• For Android Users:  Tuesday, April 7, 2020, at 4:00 PM EST - Hosted by Harley Wolfarth
  • Android Users Register Here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DWR6ayMWSzGIuU_A1nyrvw
    
     

We all need to learn, grow, and step out of our comfort zone! We are all in this together! It's easy. You can do it!