Pankaj, a real estate agent is smiling while on a video conversation with his client. He is on the verge of striking a property deal, pegged at INR1.2 crores. His client, Mr. Sunil, a retired banker, is upbeat about this new fad of virtual property buying amidst the ongoing lockdown.
He is elated to lap up a good property deal in a convenient location in Gurugram and thanked his stars on securing a brand-new retirement home. Pankaj is no less happy that his real estate business is not left in the lurch and revenues are handsome, thanks to online real estate selling.
For real estate agents like Pankaj, the pandemic-induced lockdown has flipped the nature of property businesses virtually overnight, putting a halt to physical site visits with clients, shuttering their brick-and-mortar offices and unsettling homebuyers and investors.
In an out-of-the-blue contactless world, real estate agents whose business was dependant on physical interactions with homebuyers, felt as if they have been cheated by fate and were left to fend for themselves. Some were in the final stages of closing a deal; others had clients waiting to pay a physical visit before they make a booking.
Who will now buy a home unseen, was the question running in the minds of real estate agents!
Stuck in such limbo, real estate sellers tried their luck on online real estate platforms, while still riding on the fact that technology won’t replace brokerages.
Averse to technology for a long time, real estate sellers woke up from their slumber when a contagion threw them into the abyss of reality. When the world is racing to adopt every facet of technology to be on top of the game, real estate sellers were still cocky on their conventional ways of selling properties.
Putting foot on the online real estate ground, their pretentiousness went up in smoke when they found the opportunities online real estate platforms bore and how they can milk them to continue their business.
The mammoth transition to this unchartered territory thus began. With the demand for homes continuing to be buoyant despite the lockdown, realtors felt the change was worth it.
Resorting to 3D walkthroughs and virtual tours of properties to give home seekers a novel taste of home buying, real estate agents drank the tech potion to the lees. From getting fresh leads on listings without breaking a sweat to conducting virtual meetings through video interactive mediums and earning good brokerage money, real estate agents found the magic pill to ride them out of this unforeseen crisis.
We at Square Yards played a stellar role in helping real estate agents enable business continuity. With over a lakh channel partners on its platforms, Square Yards has set a benchmark for online real estate transactions, clocking more than 1000 bookings within 30 days of lockdown.
With the pandemic situation raging across the nation, this virtual leap of faith emerged as a boon for real estate brokers, providing them sustenance and a lesson that staying ahead of times can be a virtue in disguise.
