Coronavirus Precautions: How Virtual Tours Help Maintain Regular Business

Schools are closing, events are canceling, and as of yesterday, the U.S. declared a travel ban to Europe. As necessary safety precautions are put into place, some businesses are scrambling to prepare for a growing pandemic. 

One industry in particular, residential real estate, is currently preparing for less face-to-face contact due to the Coronavirus. Another industry impacted is senior housing as more and more communities go on lockdown to prevent the spread of virus.

With in-person interaction being a huge part of day-to-day business for sales and leasing agents, especially on-site tours, we’re here to offer resources for safe and effective home search alternatives as the spread of COVID-19 continues to increase.

How has the real estate industry been affected by Coronavirus?

While many companies have been advised to work remotely, some agents still rely on in-person interaction to make a sale. As we all know, it's an extremely important piece of residential real estate.

Currently, many agents are left to debate whether or not they should continue to hold open houses or give property tours - especially with the dramatic shift in buyer and seller behavior.

CDC mandated health precautions, such as having Purell on site as well as encouraging healthy and hygienic behavior, have only proven to go so far in maintaining regular business.

So, due to the potential for significant decline in foot traffic, we wanted to share with how leveraging the right digital tools can help maintain regular business.

Virtual tours

Virtual tours are an interactive tool created by stitching together 360 photos to make a completely immersive tour of both the interior and exterior of a building. Prospects receive a 360 experience or simulation accessible from any desired screen (desktop, tablet or smartphone).

This immersive tool has been engineered to overcome daily obstacles and can be leveraged by all industries affected by Coronavirus and/or any of the following:

• Individuals with disabilities or illnesses that affect movement
• Seniors with medical or physical impairments
• College students and out of state renters
• Busy schedules
• Epidemics/pandemics

Preparing for less face-to-face interaction with a virtual tour can provide the same benefits as an in-person tour, while taking preventative measures for decreasing the risk of Coronavirus.

Host a tour with Panoskin

In addition, the ability for prospects to ask questions and form a personal connection with sales and leasing agents doesn’t have to be lost with a virtual tour.

As many property management companies are seen leveraging FaceTime tours in response to COVID-19, there's an even better alternative that has proven to be extremely effective.

Our custom virtual tour software, Panoskin, is embedded to a community's website for an all-encompassing home search experience complete with a shareable link as well as call to actions designed to convert. Think of Panoskin as a robust property gallery, complete with still imagery, videos, a walk-through and hot spots to include description information. (The photography and virtual walk-through also lives on the property's Google listing.)

Overall, it provides all of the tools necessary for an informed and immersive touring experience.

Most importantly, Panoskin includes a built-in virtual meeting feature that sales and leasing agents can use to host remote tours, so prospects don’t even have to leave their homes. And to ensure a seamless and effective delivery, LCP360 offers a monthly open forum training session to walk your team through best practices for using your websites virtual tour.

The main purpose behind these services is to eliminate obstacles so that real estate agents can safely and successfully continue their work through unpredictable challenges.

Speak to our team to learn more about the benefits of Panoskin.