Sight Unseen

The @ Real Estate sales team has seen a massive increase in the number of people buying site unseen, now approximately 30 per cent recent @ Real Estate sales have been sight-unseen purchases. Most of those buyers are from down south, mostly New South Wales and Victoria looking to move to our slice of paradise.  However, over the last couple of weeks, it has increasingly become more common for local (current residence of the Capricorn Coast) or semi-local (those already living in Central Queensland) to buy sight unseen so that they can secure a property before it gets sold to someone else.

If you are thinking about selling it is vital you chose an agent that knows about this trend and has processes in place to deal with sight-unseen buyers.  Think about it from the buyer’s point of view; the buyer has decided they want to move to Yeppoon, they’re on realestate.com, domain.com.au, or our website … scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.  It’s really important that your home stands out with amazing images, that really capture the buyer’s attention, a good write up and additional information like a floor plan and quality video.

Then by the time buyer sends the agent an inquiry via email, the buyer has already fallen in love with the property and want more information.  Here at @ Real Estate, we have a process in place to instantly reply to buyer inquiries and provide buyers with a buyer information pack, to help them feel comfortable to make the purchase. Included in buyer information pack is; 3D and 2D floor plans, photos, video walk through the property, rates notice, anything else about the property that’s going to be quite helpful such as information about solar power, pool, or the architecture of the home, as well as information about the area and why the property market in Yeppoon and Emu Park is so red hot right now.

The next step is a video call inspection, most of the time we do this on FaceTime, however, we can do it on whatever platform the buyer chooses.  We simply walk through the property like we would if the buyer was there in person. We even point out the quirks of the property, as showing the property warts and all help build trust between the agent and buyer.

Once the buyer is interested and ready to make an offer, we start the offer process.  The @ Real Estate sales teams puts all offers in writing in form of a contract, so the seller knows the offer is genuine, and the process is clear and transparent to all parties.  We can do this using DocuSign, so it doesn’t matter if the buyer is in lockdown in Victoria or out on a mine site out west, as long as they have mobile phone reception.  All parties can sign the contract on their phones so it’s really simple for everybody.

This system is proving to be very successful, with buyers and sellers alike raving about the process.  If you are thinking about selling, remember it is vital you list your home with an agent that has a good process in place for selling sight unseen and this is a growing trend with buyers.