Real Estate and COVID-19: How Realtors are Surviving the Pandemic

COVID-19 is forcing realtors to adapt. Will they sink or swim?

Well, that depends on how inventive a realtor is. The novel coronavirus pandemic is impacting realtors all over the world and forcing them to rethink every area of their business—communicating with clients, hosting open houses, closing deals remotely, etc.

With the virus taking control over every aspect of real estate, selling has become incredibly challenging for real estate agents.

Yet, some realtors are “minting thousands” through house sales amidst the pandemic. So how are they doing it? In this article, we’ll explore the various strategies successful realtors have employed to keep selling amidst the pandemic.

1. Working from Home

Thanks to the popularity of remote working tools, real estate work from home has become a straightforward endeavor.

Today, many realtors are leveraging tech tools while working from home to reach out to their clients and conduct business. By creating a distraction-free home office, agents are able to perform their duties as usual and stay organized.

But having a home office is not enough. To survive as a realtor in the age of social distancing, you must have top-notch tools in your arsenal. These include:

●           Real estate CRM for lead generation and keeping in touch with your clients

●          Transaction management software

●          Video conferencing tools, and

●          Drone for quality photography

Top-performing agents have learned the art of working from home and have devised working productivity strategies that help to protect their focus.

2. Hosting Watch Parties

The most crucial rule for real estate agents is to keep marketing.

While COVID-19 may have paralyzed marketing activities (like networking events) due to the social distancing rules, astute agents are leveraging watch parties to market their listings.

So, what are watch parties and how do they work?

Watch parties are live video walkthroughs that you can create on your smartphone. These videos are then posted to popular social networks, like Facebook and Instagram. Since watch parties are live, they are very interactive—which makes them perfect for client engagement. During a watch party, the agent can take questions from their clients as they would in an open house.

3. Using Video Communication

In-person interactions have traditionally been the bread and butter of the agents’ job.

But with stay-at-home orders in place, it has become impossible for agents to establish physical contact with their clients. To keep connecting, tech-savvy agents have switched to video communication tools that elicit a personal feel and touch.

Video conferencing tools like Skype and FaceTime have become very common and allow agents to meet with their clients “face to face” as opposed to cold calling. Thanks to video chat tools, you can now teleconference with your clients as they sign the documents.

4. Coordinating Transactions Remotely

The sudden shift towards virtual workforce has forced realtors to fully embrace technology. Overnight, real estate agents began testing out applications that have long existed but may have been overlooked or deemed irrelevant in the industry.

For instance, virtual tour tools have been around since the early 2000s, but their use exploded in the wake of COVID-19 when social distancing and stay at home policies were enforced. Real estate agents are now using virtual tours to showcase properties and give buyers a feel of the home they’re buying without leaving their homes.

Online document signing software like, DocuSign, are also being used to electronically sign documents without coming into contact with clients. These solutions are empowering agents to provide a seamless experience to their clients when working remotely.