Technology is changing things everywhere, including how we shop for a home. It used to be that the only way to get a look inside a home you might be even mildly interested in was go to an open house or make an appointment with a real estate broker, coordinate with the home owner, and schedule a visit.
Now, real estate agencies are adding on-line capabilities that allow you to “virtually” visit the home. Web-savvy real estate agents are courting online clients with virtual home tours – visitors can view video of a house’s interior as well as its exterior from the comfort of their own computer. But, not to worry, the conveniences afforded by computerized search methods haven’t replaced the personal touch, according to two Rhode Island real estate agents.
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“We strongly believe in the Web,” said Howard Lazarus, owner of Lazarus Properties in Cranston. “We want to make certain that people can find us. In our business we can see that so many people are accessing information from the Web that we realize that if you don’t have a site, you’re behind the times.”
Libby Isaacson, manager at Residential Properties Ltd. in Providence agrees.
“It is a way that we get new business,” she said. “It definitely has been a way that we get new clients.”
Isaacson estimated that 10 percent of Residential Properties customers visit the company’s Web site.
“There are transactions we can tie directly to the Web site,” she said.
Both companies have been on the Web for years, but have only recently begun virtual tours, by which Web site visitors can choose from four different 360-degree images of a home, usually one exterior view and three interiors. It is as though the viewer is standing in the house, looking around a room.
The service is particularly advantageous for showing off areas not seen in the front view of a house that real estate agents generally use in advertisements, Isaacson said, referring to other improvements, including internal renovations. Isaacson mentioned another key area this technology shows off – yards.
“You can’t tell what a back yard is like at all – especially in the city – from the street,” she said.
She said this type of preliminary “touring” via computer can also be useful to people in the process of relocation.
“It eliminates some of the early leg work,” Isaacson said.
Lazarus has made similar observations.
“It gives people – especially out-of-state buyers – the opportunity to really view the house before coming to see it,” he said. “It’s very, very helpful.”
Lazarus added that being online has improved his business “without a question. We are doing many more relocations from out of state.”
To a seller, the service can offer another avenue in which to market a house in addition to the profession’s more conventional methods.
“It certainly makes the seller feel like we’re doing everything we can do,” Isaacson said.
Even with these advantages Isaacson stressed that this new tool is precisely that – a tool.
“It’s an additional service we can offer,” she said. “To the extent that advertising sells property, this is just a small part of it. It’s just another way to get information out. It’s not a substitute for the actual process.”
Lazarus concurs.
“We still have not abandoned our traditional methods of promoting property,” he said. “It’s just another component.”
But Lazarus does not deny the service’s importance.
“We strongly believe in the Web,” he said. “If you are a person who has grown up with computers as a way of life, it’s just automatic that you’re going to shop that way. The money spent maintaining a Web site is not elective money – it’s the cost of doing business.”
