Savvy players in the housing industry are increasingly leveraging technology to win potential buyers. The tools and approaches of these real estate professionals now go beyond tapping popular online resources, such as the social network Facebook and the video-sharing platform YouTube. They are exploring not only innovative media platforms but also new modes to further enrich the prospective buyers’ experience in searching for residential properties.
One very promising tool which emerged recently are real estate aerial videos and photography using commercial drones which offer dramatic bird’s eye views of properties and visuals with better exterior home details. So far, as of March 2015, there are only four outfits granted permits by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly small, unmanned remote-controlled drones commercially for real estate-related videography or photography. Two of these pioneers operate from Tucson, Arizona; another is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the fourth is in El Cajon, California.
There could be more of these drone operators very soon though as the FAA is moving to ease its current stringent rule of giving drone flying permits only to those individuals who are already licensed as private pilots. Under the proposed FAA guidelines, those who may operate commercial lightweight drones should be at least 17 years old, must satisfactorily complete an aeronautical knowledge test, and get an FAA certification as an operator for unmanned aircraft systems. Renewal of this certificate is every two years, with the requirement that the operator again pass FAA knowledge tests.
While drone real estate videography has yet to gain firm adherents in Sarasota, the local residential property market is already very much enmeshed in cutting-edge marketing technology. Such techie approach is quite manifest in the marketing initiatives for the VUE, an upscale bayfront condominium rising in downtown Sarasota.
Its developer and realty agents are enticing potential buyers of Sarasota condos for sale with a flyover animation rendering in computer-generated imagery (CGI) of how the residential condominium and its sister hotel would look like when it is completed in December 2016. A giant CGI wall was likewise installed at VUE’s sales office to show interested buyers exactly what the view would be from each floor of the condominium. Construction progress reports via audio-visual materials and photos are likewise disseminated online monthly via VUE’s websites and other online resources since the project began in July 2014.
For an increasing crop of realtors, the software application FaceTime developed by Apple for supported mobile devices has also become a vital tool to quickly reach more buyers and perhaps, even encourage competitive bids. Through this app, property images can be easily sent to interested buyers, a decided advantage since time is often essential in closing many real estate deals, particularly those involving buyers from abroad. Properties, particularly in the current hot market for Sarasota homes for sale, could be sold within days or even hours of their listing.
With FaceTime, it is possible for real estate agents to give instant tours of a property even when the prospective buyer isn’t personally present. In the event that a purchase offer is made, the buyer and the seller can negotiate and close the final paperwork electronically through the assistance of the techie real estate broker.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA, October 7, 2019 – Property values of communities in the Sarasota-Manatee region now face lesser threat from neighborhood eyesores brought about by abandoned, foreclosed homes. Known in the real estate trade as zombie foreclosures, these properties have shrunk significantly in the region. According to an August report of ATTOM Data Solutions, abandoned […] more>>