The following is a guest post from Jessica Thiefels
Last year, low-interest rates and limited housing inventory pushed sales to new highs by the fall. With reasonable interest rates continuing to drive demand, forecasters predict 2021 sales of existing homes will increase by 7 percent.
The availability of the coronavirus vaccine might help consumer spending patterns return to normal by the second half of the year as well—all of which means: you’re going to be busy.
At the same time, buyers and sellers are likely still going to be cautious about in-person home tours and meetings. You’ll be doing a lot and managing the stress of making it all work with COVID regulations still in place.
Don’t let stress slow you down. Instead, find out why it’s so bad for your health and then use these tips to de-stress your business in 2021.
Why De-Stress in 2021?
Stress is normal—yes. But too much of it can be dangerous for your health. When you power through instead of finding ways to minimize it, you put your health at risk. In How Stress Impacts Your Life, health experts explain that some common stress-related problems include:
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Heart Disease and Hypertension
- Asthma
- Depression
- Headaches
- Digestion Issues
If you let stress go, you risk putting your business in danger. If you’re struggling with depression or trying to manage headaches while keeping your business afloat, your business will suffer as well.
Don’t let stress run your life in 2021. Instead, use these tips to stay healthy and watch your business thrive.
De-Stress: Get Your Virtual Tours Right
Even before COVID, buyers wanted more virtual tours. In fact, according to a 2019 Zillow report, 26 percent prefer virtual tours to in-person and 46 percent said they wished more virtual tours were available. With so many regulations, virtual or 3D home tours let your buyers “walk” through a house, touring multiple homes, all while staying safe.
If you’re not great at virtual home tours, or just not quite comfortable with them, it’s time to remove that stress by perfecting them once and for all. Here are a few basic tools you need to have for a high-quality virtual home tour, according to Realtor Magazine:
- Get your camera or phone ready. If you don’t have a camera, you can do a 360-degree camera tour. Get an overview of the best apps available from GBKSOFT.
- Invest in a tripod so you can place the camera in the center of the room for a perfect 360-degree shot.
- Get the lighting right. Natural mid- to late-afternoon lighting is best.
- Choose a tour website to upload your photos and create the video, like Matterport, Ricoh360 Tours, Box Brownie, Giraffe360, or EyeSpy360.
- Publish the final tour on your website, social media, or YouTube.
Practice at your own home to get a feel for the equipment and process.
De-Stress: Automate Your Email Marketing
Email marketing lets you engage with prospective buyers and sellers—but it can be stressful keeping up with your emails each week if you’re trying to keep potential clients up-to-date about new homes and offerings.
While it can be difficult to automatically send new listings to clients, since each one has specific needs and requirements, focus on setting up automated emails that will help drive business and keep you connected to clients.
Here are a few examples of emails that you can create and automate at the beginning of each month through your email provider (I.E. MailChimp or ActiveCampaign):
- Weekly tips and strategies for buying or selling
- Content updates; share all new blog content
- FAQs about home buying or home selling
- Market updates
- Recent home sales and purchases
- Client testimonials
De-Stress: Update Your Cleaning Processes
While using technology minimizes in-person contact throughout the buying and selling process, many buyers will still want to visit a home and schedule an inspection before closing. This can be stressful for you to manage—how do you keep it clean? How do you ensure everyone’s safety? Luckily, there are many ways to keep everyone safe while maintaining your sanity.
Step 1: First and foremost, invest in the right cleaning products. The cleaners you use matter—not every cleaner is COVID-19 approved. Some professional cleaning companies have designed disinfectants to kill COVID-19 specifically.
To find all COVID-approved cleaners use the List N tool provided by EPA. You can search by brand or do a general search to get a list of approved brands and products.
Step 2: Clean before and after visits when buyers or home inspectors tour the house. Specifically disinfect frequently touched areas including the doorbell doorknobs and light switches. It may even be helpful to leave signs reminding visitors what they should and shouldn’t touch or ask them to wear gloves.
Step 3: Finally, provide masks and hand sanitizer. This is also a branding opportunity. Give everyone who does a walk-through a small hand sanitizer with your logo on it. For example, use UPrinting to make your label, choose the size, and have the stickers shipped to you.
Real Estate With Less Stress in 2021
The market is looking good, but buyers and sellers are cautious about home visits, you still need to keep up with your marketing, and there’s even more to think about when you do in fact do a home visit. Use these tips to perfect your home tours, get your email marketing automated, and update your cleaning process so your business runs smoothly and everyone stays safe.
Jessica Thiefels is an entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Jessica Thiefels Consulting. She’s been writing for more than 10 years and has been featured in top publications like Forbes. She also writes for Business Insider, Virgin, Glassdoor and more. Follow her on Twitter @JThiefels and connect on LinkedIn.
