There is no question that technology has influenced and shifted many industries around the world over the past two decades. Real estate was more resistant than others, but technology has finally crept its way into this industry too. Although it can seem scary or overwhelming, there are benefits that come with it. Why not use technology to our advantage? We live in California, and are known for being the front runners for anything innovative and technology-based. 

If you have an upcoming open house, there are new technology-based tools and strategies that can help make it stand out amongst the rest. Home sales typically increase in the Summer months, making open houses more and more competitive. How do you get people in your door if ten other nearby homeowners are hosting an open house on the same day? What if your home is located in Carlsbad, but most of the open houses are taking place in Chula Vista? Depending on your timeline, an open house may be the one weekend you have to fully showcase your home. Have you had concerns, like ‘I need to sell my home in San Diego fast’? Below, we outline several, powerful technology tips to make your next open house a success. 

Film an Aerial Drone Video

In the age of technology, consumers learn about products and buy products over the internet now more than ever before. The real estate industry is getting there with technology, as it begins to play a bigger role in the entire real estate experience. Returning our focus to selling your house, half of the battle for hosting a successful open house is getting the word out and enticing potential buyers to show up. 

You can crank your marketing up a notch and film an aerial drone video of your house. This will automatically make your listing stand out amongst the crowd. Do you have a large front yard? How about a grandiose viewpoint from your patio? Highlight the top features of your home, and let them shine to online viewers. By advertising your home through an interactive and entertaining drone video, you can attract more potential buyers. I recommend placing information about the upcoming open house you have scheduled in the video, either at the beginning or end. Here’s an example of a professional drone video. 

Drone videos, and videos in general, are also a good way to weed out buyers that are not serious. “A picture is worth a thousand words”, but a video is worth more. Home buyers can get a very clear idea of the layout, topography, and other features of a property that are difficult to convey solely through photos. Drone videos are not meant for every property. For example, if you live in a condo located in the Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego, we may not advise flying a drone in between the skyscrapers for an aerial video. 

Film a Virtual Tour

Now that we’ve covered the bird’s-eye view of your property, let’s take a deeper dive inside. According to Wikipedia, 79% of Americans own a smartphone. Words like ‘virtual’ and ‘3-D’ and ‘digital’ are becoming more common in our everyday lives. Filming a virtual tour of your home is a fantastic way to highlight the inside features and rooms. Certain homes, apartments, and condos can have unique layouts. Although professional photos can help convey what the inside of a home is like, it is sometimes difficult to capture all of the angles. What if the photos didn’t turn out as you expected? Would you rehire another photographer? 

By providing a virtual tour of your home, you allow potential buyers to experience what it would be like to walk through and live in the property. You will attract more buyers since many new home buyers jumping into the market now will be millennials. They are accustomed to virtually experiencing things. A virtual tour would undoubtedly bring the serious buyers to your open house. Similar to the drone video, this can also save you and your real estate agent time because it can weed out buyers that aren’t actually serious about buying your house. 

Virtually Stage Your Home

If you want to leave potential buyers at your open house with something memorable and of value, try virtually staging your home. Let’s face it, visualizing your future home in someone’s current home that you are in can sometimes be difficult. If you own an iPad or Laptop, you can have preload different variations of your home virtually staged. There are many resources, including Fiverr, where you can pay a small fee to have a graphic designer create this for you. The goal is to have multiple variations of rooms and spaces in the house virtually staged, since many buyers will have different ideas and visions for each room. 

A great use of this strategy is for a spare room or space that is currently empty. You can virtually stage this as different types of rooms, such as an office, sun room, mud room, guest bedroom, man cave, or any other creative idea you can think of. Remember, the goal is to appeal to as many each type of home buyer. Help paint the picture of the buyer’s future home vision in your current home. Offering to email this to them is a great way to leave them with this vision of their future home, and hopefully have them make an offer. It also gives you a talking point if you decide to reach out to them after the open house. 

As mentioned previously, marketing your open house can be hard. Thankfully, due to technology, it is getting easier! Use whatever tools and strategies you have at your disposal to get buyers interested in your open house. Once they are there, do your best to make the experience enjoyable and memorable.