Covid19 has changed the way many buyers search for a property. Gavin West from WEST-The Property Consultancy explains.
Before Covid 19 public health crisis, most home hunters physically visited all the properties in which they were interested. They naturally felt they had to as a way of drawing up a serious shortlist of contenders.
Understandably, to a large extent Covid19 has changed all of that. Three months of national ‘lock-down’ has profoundly affected the way buyers look for a property. During the ‘lock-down’, when buyers couldn’t and didn’t want to leave their homes, viewing online became the default method of visiting properties: this is where our use of first class professionally shot photography and virtual tours really came into their own.
Armed with a great virtual tour, Google street and satellite views, maps, floor plans and even - when appropriate - drone video photography, our prospective buyers have never been so visually informed about property.
Now that buyers are essentially free from ‘lock-down’, will they revert to their old viewing ways? It is doubtful.
The large amount of time buyers have to spend in looking around properties - which frequently they won’t in the end buy - is now mostly a thing of the past. For them the saving in time, money and emotional energy is colossal. Our sellers also benefit because only highly interested and well-informed buyers will visit their homes. After all, that final physical viewing is the all-important one: it is the visit when the buyer’s heart confirms what their eyes suspected all along from online visits. The physical viewing will almost certainly not be the first – or even the second, third or fourth time the property has been seen. A buyer might have been inspecting a chosen property online for several weeks.
In the post Covid19 property world, ostensibly all estate agents are therefore ‘online’ agents. It’s just that some, like us, are local and highly experienced and have offices in high profile street / High Street locations, providing our clients with the very best of all worlds. Not that one has to visit our offices to speak to us - the now ubiquitous ‘Zoom’ meetings are another change that Covid19 has brought to the property market with face to face meetings conveniently happening via PC, phone or tablet.
The other dynamic of ‘The New Normal’ is the desire for a ‘lifestyle change’ brought about as a result of people reflecting on their lives during ‘lock-down’. At WEST-The Property Consultancy, since the re-opening of the English residential housing market in May 2020, we have experienced a significant uplift in sales to city based buyers, particularly those with young children, who have decided that they want to escape the ‘built up’ nature of where they currently live. London based buyers being particularly prevalent amongst this emerging sector, with the market in the capital seemingly lively post ‘lock-down’ they represent an immediately proceedable option to our seller clients.
We have all come out of ‘lock-down’ modernised in one way or another. In addition, all of us at WEST-The Property Consultancy have emerged as energised and as passionate as ever to provide the best service, advice, marketing and results for our clients. Call us now on 01865 510000 (Oxford Office) / 01235 772299 (Wantage / Downland Office) or email us at oxford@west-tpc.co.uk if you are considering selling or renting your property during the remainder of 2020. We very much look forward to hearing from you.
