The spread of the coronavirus has put New Zealand and the rest of the world on hold. For real estate, that brings new challenges. How do you inspect a house or attend an auction when the country's in lockdown?
Australia-based entrepreneur Kylie Davis, who is a leading advocate of new real estate technologies and solutions, says the virus will speed up the industry's embrace of virtual open homes and auction apps.
She says that there are already some great solutions for contact-less real estate in Australia and other countries although some of these have yet to hit New Zealand.
"As an industry we need to work to keep transactions because the examples from SARS in Hong Kong show it's the lack of transactions that will hurt is more than prices easing," Davies says.
Start your property search
In Australia there are apps that allow to agents negotiate contracts remotely, market properties and do virtual staging.
Creator and founder of architectural visualisation app Home AR, Richard Penny, makes life easier for those who are working on new builds.
The app helps tracking the build from before the foundation is even laid until the project is complete – all in 3D.
The tool was normally used in business meetings between architects, builders and clients but is now mainly used to working remotely.
“Our role is to help builders and clients can carry on their business and still review different plans for the section and go out to the site and see what the house looks like but virtually in 3D,” he says.
There’s no need to meet face to face to track building process or update plans as it can be tracked through the app, he says.
“It’s like VR but rather than being in the room with goggles on, you can see the house design in the comfort of our own kitchen and don’t have to go into builder’s office to look at a plan.”
In the current climate of social distancing to avoid the coronavirus spreading the architectural visualisation app is gaining popularity.
“Sometimes it takes unique circumstances for people to realise there’s better ways to go about things and the ways technology can be used, whether normally people just do things the way they are used to.”
Ray White Remuera’s head of growth and performance Mark Covich says his team is working remotely.
Galv allows potential buyers to tune into the auction but the app doesn’t let you place bids in New Zealand yet.
“People can watch the auction live but they will have to bid through the telephone with the selected agent, which they’ll have to pre-register for.”
Bayleys Matakana agent Kellie Bissett says property agents and clients are following government’s guidelines and are doing ghost auctions - where buyers make bids over the phone to agents. No buyers or vendors are physically in the auction room, it is all done remotely.
Bissett says she buyers can arrange to inspect homes via video calls.
"They can always use a video call to see the property or it might be that the individual has somebody who's healthy and well to inspect the property on their behalf,” Bissett says.
