Can You Sell A House and Move Using the Web Exclusively?
By Drew Meyers | March 5, 2008
One can accomplish a lot on the web — but, can you sell your home and move to a new location using ONLY the web? To help answer that question, I ran across an interesting post on Proud Geek this morning — A Moving Experiment. The blogger (and his wife) conducted a 8-month experiment to sell their home using the web. No phone calls. Only e-mail, text messaging, and web tools.
There were 6 main steps they went through during the experiment (you can read their findings on Proud Geek):
- Find a realtor via the web and who’s willing to do everything through email
- Advertise the home on the web
- Find a lender who’s willing to deal exclusively via the web
- Switching or starting new utilities and services for a new house
- Find a moving company willing to deal via web and email
- Changing addresses for a range of organizations, stores, banks, employment-related sites, etc
Many foreign buyers buy homes in the United States, many likely without ever picking up the telephone or visiting a house, but I didn’t realize individuals living inside the US had any desire to try it. After all, phones and in-person conversations certainly simplify many tasks — but, leave it up to a geek to make an attempt at using the web exclusively to get things done (you can check what tools he uses here).
The end results were mixed. While many things can be accomplished online, some tasks (such as calling Comcast to cancel) still require a phone call. The RE.net is full of geeks, so I’ll ask several questions:
- Have you ever had a US-based buyer who has wanted to communicate exclusively through the web?
- Have you worked with a foreign buyer who you’ve never talked to?
- As a Realtor, how many of your tasks can be accomplished online?
Please share your story in the comments if you have one that relates to communicating through the web.
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Author's Website: http://www.zillow.com
Topics: Communication, Marketing |
5 Responses to “Can You Sell A House and Move Using the Web Exclusively?”
Comments
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March 5th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
1. Had many that strongly preferred web based communication. Throw in texting and there are several that I actually spoke to only once or twice.
2. I can only think of 2 clients that I never spoke with. Both were from California.
3. If AZ would accept electronic signatures on contracts, I could theoretically do almost everything on line. But I still think that when negotiations get tough, face-face is best, followed by voice, followed by electronic. Tone of voice and body language can go far in negotiations. Those are really hard to express electronically.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
1. We work with lots of folks that prefer electronic communication, and it’s not limited to the web. Our younger clients prefer text to email.
2. I have not experienced representing someone and never, ever speaking to them. The majority of our relocating buyers, however never hear our voice until they get in our car.
3. We can do everything for a client online. Our only limitation is our need to see the property.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:36 am
I’ve sold two houses sight unseen, one was a couple in Germany they found on the internet. His sister lived in Ann Arbor and I made her go to give her OK to them.
The other couple had been in town 2 weeks before and we hadn’t found them anything, a home came on the market in a neighborhood they liked so I video’d it and they bought it.
Made me nervous when I showed it to them the first time, yikees what if they hadn’t liked it?
March 19th, 2008 at 11:46 am
The Web is obviously a powerful tool to use when buying/selling a home. Do I think it should be the only tool? No.
Residential real estate is still a very emotional process and buyers/sellers need to hear your voice and hear that you care and are working for them - emails don’t always convey the tone of your voice.
I’ve never sold a house without speaking to a client, but I do have clients who prefer emails over phone calls.
April 13th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I helped a family buy a house sight-unseen using video and having her Mother and Father tour the house. The actual Buyer was living in Italy at the time. It was for $1.7M and it was all cash. They found me through my website! I was hesitant to work with them at first until I realized how serious they were.