Conducting Business During the Coronavirus Pandemic
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has substantially slowed business for many, those working in the real estate industry included. But that doesn’t mean the business has to stop altogether.
For you real estate agents, property managers, and others attempting to conduct business from home, here are some tips to help you maximize your productivity:
Give tenants mobile options
If you don’t already have digital platforms in place to receive rent payments and maintenance requests, now is the time to set those up.
Online rent payment and communication platforms will allow you and your tenants to self-isolate while conducting necessary business. You can use online services like Innago and Avail to convert your rental management business to the digital world easily.
Innago
Receive rent payments, track invoices and financials, process late fees, store documents, and much more. Innago is essentially free, but it does charge a 2.75% fee to tenants for processing online payments. You can opt to take on that fee yourself if you feel like helping out your tenants during this difficult time.
Avail
For maintenance requests, use software like Avail to submit tickets online and chat between landlord and tenant. It’s free to sign up, and you can send images and descriptions of the needed maintenance right from your mobile phone. Avail also has options for online rent payments and other property management essentials, if you’re interested.
Create virtual tours.
This strategy does require you to leave the house if you don’t already have all the necessary images, but you might find this extremely useful in minimizing your contact with others during this pandemic.
You can create a virtual tour of your property in order to help sell it and give prospective buyers a great visual to keep them interested. For this, you need a camera that is capable of taking high definition photographs and at least has a panorama mode. This isn’t too difficult, since most newer smartphones come equipped with both. You can also buy or rent an expensive DSLR or 360 camera or if you have the resources, but you can achieve a quality virtual tour with only your smartphone if that’s all you have.
Start by readying the property for images. Open all the blinds and turn on all the lights to maximize the open feel of the home. Thoroughly clean and stage as much as you can with what you have on hand.
Then, take panoramas that showcase as much of each room as possible. Take 360-degree photos if you have the capability. Be sure to show of all aspects of the property you want to highlight.
Next, use software like Zillow’s 3D Home App to upload these images and stitch them together. Plenty of software options exist to help you create a cohesive, interactive virtual tour that will provide interested buyers with an engaging experience of the property, even if they are self-quarantined.
Conduct virtual meetings.
Virtual meetings are all the rage of the 2020 global coronavirus pandemic. For all your communication needs, software exists that will make it possible for you to conduct your business from the safety of your own home.
Here are a couple tools you can try out for little to no cost:
Zoom
Zoom is a video conferencing tool that allows you to host or join virtual meetings with up to 100 participants for free. With the free basic account, you will be limited to 40 minutes on group meetings with more than two people, but there are other package options if you find you need more. Talk face-to-face while social distancing or share your screen to give your colleagues, clients, or tenants all the information they need.
Free Conference Call
Free Conference Call is a service that does exactly what you’d imagine. Like Zoom, Free Conference Call allows you to conduct virtual meetings. You can interact with these meetings by phone or online, as you’ll receive access codes for both at sign up. Send out your dial-in number and access code to your contact, and communication is as simple as making a phone call. For large audio conferences, you’ll want to try Free Conference Call. It’s super easy to use and completely free.
Stay home, be productive
This pandemic is an inconvenience at best, but it shouldn’t stop you from conducting your necessary business. Conduct property management business online, create virtual tours, and host meetings from the comfort of your own home to do your part in reducing the spread of this deadly virus. You’ll be surprised what you can accomplish from the couch.
Stay safe and remember we are all in this together.
For more information on real estate and property management during the coronavirus pandemic, contact 208.properites today.