Seven Ways Technology Makes Buying and Selling a Home Easier
Buying or selling a home is an exciting time. But it can also be a stressful and time-consuming process. Searching for the perfect place, choosing a good neighbourhood, finding the right team, securing financing, dealing with legal matters, and all the paperwork that goes along with can be overwhelming. Thankfully with the help of a few technological advances, many of these processes are getting easier. Here’s a look at all the ways technology can make buying or selling a home easier.
Online Listings
One of the biggest ways technology has helped the real estate industry is by bringing the search for homes online. Online listings offer photos, videos and a written description of the home so you can narrow down your search before visiting homes in person. With a selection of helpful filters, you can narrow your search to only homes that are within your budget and have the features you’re looking for. Realtor.ca is one of the most popular real estate listing sites, but there are numerous websites and apps that offer a wide range of listings in every city. You can view our current listings here.
Customized Searches
Not only are we able to search for homes online, Realtors® now have software that allows them to set up custom searches for their clients. Now, when a home that meets their criteria hits the market, buyers can be notified before the home is even listed.
Virtual Tours
Virtual tours have revolutionized how we look at homes online. Now we can “walk though” a home while viewing the listing without ever leaving the comfort of our own home. It allows buyers to get a sense of the layout of the home and offers a much better perspective of the scale of the home than photos.
Drone Footage
In the past if we wanted to see a large lot, the adjacent properties, or the immediate neighbourhood around a home, we had to visit in person and walk the property. Now, drone footage allows sellers to show off great features like landscaping, outbuildings, and large properties. And buyers can get a full view of the area before visiting in person.
Neighbourhood Info at Your Fingertips
Technology also allows us to really get to know a neighbourhood before we settle in. Online searches can give us information about schools, amenities, or even crime rates in a given neighbourhood. And online map searches can show where the nearest parks are, how far the closest bus stop is, or what the other houses in the area look like.
Online Documents and Digital Signatures
There was a time when buying a home involved a LOT of paperwork. Documents had to be signed in-person and either delivered by hand or faxed back and forth. This process has become much simpler with the introduction of digital contracts and electronic signatures. Today documents are available online and clients can sign with secure e-signatures allowing the whole process to be done remotely and without any paper copies.
Virtual Meetings
Even though we can sign documents electronically, sometimes you still need to have meetings. Virtual meetings became a necessity during the pandemic, but their convenience and time saving merits mean they are here to stay. You can now meet your lawyer and mortgage broker virtually which eliminates travel time and makes scheduling much easier for everyone.
But technology can’t do it all! If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Ottawa, a trusted team of professionals is the best way to ensure the process will go smoothly. Contact us today to see how we can help put technology to work for you! With the right team and the latest tools, we can find your dream home or find the right buyer for your property.