How To Buy A House Or Rent An Apartment During COVID-19 Crisis
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick real estate agents are continuing to sell homes during the coronavirus pandemic, turning to online tours and adapting to doing business through new technology.
Sheila Henry, president of the New Brunswick Real Estate Association, said several listings have already sold virtually from start-to-finish over the last month.
“We are a face-to-face business, there’s no question about it,” she said. We’re not saying that video calls and video recording are substitutes for the personal touch.”
Agents are using apps like FaceTime, Whatsapp, BombBomb, Duo, and hiring professionals to produce 3D tours, drone footage and video walkthroughs.
“Right now, most of the innovation seems to be agents literally going in with smartphones themselves if there are no other means of these tools being available, and walking through the house, and actually speaking to their client at the same time,” Henry said.
The province has designated real estate as an essential industry permitted to continue operating under the state of emergency in response to COVID-19.
The industry association, which represents more than 900 realtors in the province, has created a risk-management guide and determined what services are considered essential during the pandemic. Categories include the closing of an estate, a job transfer or financial distress.
The guidelines identify practices for working virtually with a client and avoiding in-person contact. For a final walkthrough, the association recommends agents open the door of the home and return to their car while the buyer views the property with a list. After the client returns to their vehicle, the two are suggested to talk by phone before the agent returns alone to lock the house equipped with gloves and sanitizer.
Henry said a Saint John agent conducted virtual tours with a buyer last week and then used Zoom video conference software to meet, review photos and answer questions. The client put in an offer electronically and the home inspection will be done through live video with the buyer.
Those practices come as open houses are cancelled and paperwork with lawyers and mortgage officers goes digital with electronic signatures.
Henry said she sees much of the shift sticking around post-pandemic, as younger buyers are increasingly interested in online services.
“It’s become quite an eye-opener in the industry how these tools are totally able to be used in conjunction with our line of work,” she said.
Renting apartments by FaceTime
Landlords and property managers are also adapting to new ways to show apartments during the pandemic.
Gabriel ElZayat, the owner of Bella Properties in Fredericton, is conducting video visits of his buildings and considering investing in software for virtual tours. He’s already rented a few units for the summer after showing them to prospective tenants via FaceTime.
While interest has dropped, the company received more than 30 emails after putting an ad up last week for apartments available in a new downtown building this summer.
“People do want and will do things more and more online,” ElZayat said. “So we’re definitely going to switch gears going forward in the year and we’re going to be prepared for this,”
Bella Properties has only done online tours at this point but is preparing to use masks, gloves and take other safety measures in the event a serious potential tenant wants to see a property in person.
The company has done video visits in the past for people located far away, but the situation under the coronavirus is prompting a major shift towards business online. Every step from touring to signing the lease will soon be possible electronically.
“We knew it was coming, we just didn’t realize it was going to be that fast and that soon – so here it is,” ElZayat said. “Now we have to react to it and just adapt to it.”
Industry ‘changed forever’
The move towards virtual tours means production companies like Aspect Visual are seeing an uptick in interest. The Saint John company uses a 360-degree camera to produce interactive tours where a user can move to different points in a room, look around, zoom and click on objects to see more information.
“I think down the road we will definitely see a bigger movement that way, but I think some people are still kind of grasping what the situation looks like, how long the situation will last,” said owner Harrison Teed.
The company has done mostly real estate in the past but is now getting business from smaller grocery and health food stores that are producing virtual tours to help customers browse for online orders.
It’s basically as if you’re walking through the house yourself,” Teed said. “You can spin around in every room, you could walk to every nook and cranny.”
About 25 to 30 percent of agents already had some kind of virtual tours before the COVID-19 state of emergency, according to Henry. That number has been increasing as agents are forced to adapt to the circumstances.
Teed said New Brunswick’s real estate industry was heading in that direction, and the pandemic situation is going to “speed it up.” He expects virtual tours will become more valued in the industry, as a way to narrow down in-person visits to serious buyers, streamlining the process and saving agents time.
“I’m of the mind that our world has kind of changed forever,” he said. “Moving forward I think people are going to look at all aspects of business a little bit differently, whether it be my industry or otherwise.”
Housing market expected to fall
The Canadian Real Estate Association has yet to release sales numbers for March, which are expected to hold due to sales made in February that took time to close. But as buyers stay home during social distancing and owners become wary and restricted in selling, the market is projected to take a tumble in April.
Housing prices in the province were strong and rising heading into the coronavirus pandemic. Overall sales in New Brunswick for February were up 25.9 percent, while the average price rose by 7.1 percent compared to the same month in 2019.
Henry said she expects the market turndown in the province to be substantial.
“There’s still a necessity in a lot of ways for people,” she said. “So decisions are certainly being made and houses are certainly still closing, even in the situation that we’re in.”
“I think it’s just the manner of which we do business and perhaps the speed at which it’s happening is changing because of the crisis.”